Lanesborough Approves $10M Budget, Warrant Articles at Annual Meeting
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — About 85 residents affirmed 27 warrant articles, including an fiscal 2022 budget of $10,148,561, at a sometimes boisterous four-hour annual town meeting Tuesday night.
Bri Morrison, a candidate for Select Board in June 15's election, kicked off the voting early with a motion to postpone the meeting altogether, citing low attendance that she felt reflects a general lack of accessibility to the proceedings.
Morrison suggested a lack of provided child care and American Sign Language or Spanish languages interpreters, and the absence of documents available in Braille could all serve as barriers to participation for residents.
"It's very concerning to me the casual flippancy of which we have such a small representation of the town," said Morrison, before making a formal motion for postponement. "It's not going to be a representative democracy, and if that's like what we love about this country, then that's, like, something we need to honor and protect — instead of just an oligarchy government, which is the privileged few that are able to come here tonight, because their schedules and lives permitted it, that they get to decide what laws get adopted by the town."
This motion led to some of the first back-and-forth between residents, in a meeting that was rife with out-of-order comments, bickering and speaking interruptions, and no little amount of tension in the room. It was ultimately defeated 70-10.
Two hours were spent considering the town budget, with dozens of questions from a small handful of residents, most of them clarifying what expenditures were for or questioning aspects of the way various items were listed.
More pronounced differences of opinion emerged over the FY22 police budget, as about 20 minutes were spent in a volley of motions to increase or alternately decrease the police budget by $10,000 Morrison launched discussion by expressing "unease" with the idea of increasing police funds.
"There's no scientific evidence to suggest that increase in policing decreases crime," said Morrison. "So for you as a town to suggest that we increase the amount of money that's put toward police funds, to me just seems very unwise."
Donald Dermyer, another resident who spent considerable time at the microphone Tuesday, countered her comments with a motion to increase the police budget by $10,000, which narrowly failed in a 46-38 vote. Morrison followed up this with her own motion, to decrease the police budget by the same amount, which failed 75-7, leaving the departmental budget line item unchanged.
Soon after, Morrison also motioned to decrease the town's contribution to Mount Greylock Regional School District by $160,000, an amount approximately equivalent to the salary of its superintendent, citing concerns about bullying a family member experienced that she felt had gone unsatisfactorily addressed by administration.
"I think if Williamstown wants that [a superintendent], they can front that," she said. "We need to stop acting like there's an equal wealth distribution between Williamstown and Lanesborough. We can save money by letting them pick up more of the tab."
This motion went without a second, thus did not go to a vote.
The only change that was ultimately passed to the proposed town budget was an amendment to increase it by $25,000, in order to fully fund a request from the town's Recreation Committee for a basketball court at Laston Park.
The only warrant article that passed by unanimous vote was for the appropriation and transfer of $3,750 to provide 5 percent matching funds for a grant to purchase a new compressor for air-bottle maintenance.
Some significant changes to town bylaws were also approved by voters present on Tuesday. A re-numbering and re-codification of the town's bylaws was passed by a two-third majority of 56-8 as the crowd began to dwindle in the later evening hours. Also approved was a change to the town's zoning bylaws, moving the zone that contains the former Berkshire Mall to a mixed commercial one. The new zoning of the site was developed by the Planning Board in response to a reuse study of the property completed in 2019.
A 28th warrant article consisting of a citizen petition by Dermyer to make Lanesborough a "sanctuary" city from state and federal gun laws was passed over by residents without a vote. After making dozens of trips to the microphone on Tuesday, its petitioner left abruptly right before his petition was considered, citing the late hour.
Town counsel stated that even if Lanesborough residents approved the petition, it was highly unlikely it would be accepted by the state attorney general as valid.
Further questions arose about the petition's validity when it was alleged by Lanesborough resident Casey Conry that one or more of the petition's 10 qualifying signatures was a forgery. Conry noted that his brother's signature is misspelled "Conroy" in the petition, and that Dermyer had told him he would be withdrawing the petition when he had confronted him about it previously.
"He knows it's a forgery, and he still put it forward," said Conry, who motioned to have the article "passed over," without a vote on its proposal. That motion passed 54-6, bringing the four-hour meeting to a close.
Tags: lanesborough_budget, town meeting 2021,
