Adams Fire District to Hold Special Meeting on June 16
ADAMS, Mass. — The Adams Fire District will hold a special meeting on Thursday, June 16, to debate two bylaw amendments, including one that would have customers pay some fees directly to the town.
The Prudential Committee reviewed and approved the warrant for the meeting on Monday. Article 1 would move the collection of fire protection and street lighting fees to Town Hall as a separate line item on town tax bills.
Article 2, if approved, will add language to Article XIII of the district's bylaws that gives the Prudential Committee authority to declare a state of water shortage. The committee can charge penalties for violations during a shortage that varies based on severity, ranging from a verbal warning to a $300 fine.
Voters disapproved these and other bylaw amendments at the district's annual meeting on May 24. The district has excluded the remaining bylaw changes proposed at the annual meeting from this warrant.
"We didn't change any little things in the bylaws whatsoever. All we focused on was what had to be done to collect properly and the drought," Fletcher said.
The proposed change to the fire protection and street lighting fees resulted from a class-action lawsuit last year against the district. A Superior Court judge found that the district did not have the authority to charge for anything other than water, according to an 1873 act by the Legislature.
In other business, the committee reviewed an Open Meeting Law complaint that alleges the district did not properly advertise its annual meeting.
The complaint, made by resident Catherine Foster, says the district did not post the meeting in the Town Hall of either Adams or Cheshire. Foster filed and recently won the class-action lawsuit against the district.
"I would like the meeting votes invalidated with a new meeting scheduled and noticed in a manner that allows all voters an opportunity to attend the public meeting and vote," Foster wrote in her complaint.
The committee believes it did not violate the Open Meeting Law and says it posted the meeting at Adams Town Hall. District Counsel Stephen Pagnotta said the district has six customers in Cheshire, but they do not live within the boundaries of the district.
"The district does not include Cheshire and, historically, those Cheshire residents who benefited from water from the fire district did not and were unable to vote in fire district meetings and elections," he said.
Foster's complaint also alleges an email communication from Fire Chief John Pansecchi violates the law. Pagnotta said this is untrue, as Pansecchi is not a member of the Prudential Committee.
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