Dalton to Hold Special Town Meeting Oct. 19
DALTON, Mass. — Dalton will be holding a special town meeting at Wachonah Regional High School at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19, to vote on four articles.
Voters will decide whether to expand the scope of the Wahconah Regional High School project to include a new track at an added cost of up to $45,000 a year to the town.
The Select Board will also be meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 11, to vote on whether or not it will support the track.
Article 2 will to see if the town will approve a transfer of funds from the General Stabilization account to the Police Outside Detail.
The Finance Committee will discuss on Wednesday, Oct. 12, whether the amount presented to the town will be $5,000 or $10,000.
Article 3 of the warrant is to see if the town will approve a transfer of funds from Sewer Stabilization to Project Account 932 in the amount of $720,000. These funds would be used toward addressing inflow and infiltration into the sewer system, as found during a source evaluation study.
The Finance Committee will also hear the town manager's presentation on using $360,000 from American Rescue Plan Act funds and $360,000 from Sewer Stabilization.
Article 4 of the warrant will authorize the payment of unpaid bills from the previous fiscal year. The cost of these bills is approximately $143 and requires a 9/10ths vote.
The board also accepted the Police Department's Municipal Road Safety Program Grant in the amount of $19,192.04.
The town had used this grant many years ago due to short staffing making it difficult for the town to apply but due to the departments and Administrative Assistant for the Dalton Police Department Beckie Whitaker's efforts, they have been approved for the grant again.
The grant will cover a bike and pedestrian rodeo in the Spring of 2023 where they will inspect bikes and hand out helmets, educational materials, and reflective vests and bans. It will also cover the enforcement and monitoring of crosswalk violations and extra patrols.
In other business:
The board voted to rescind Nancy Persson and Deborah Horth's appointment to the Americans with Disabilities Act Committee.
Persson has been part of the committee for a while. Executive Assistant Alyssa Maschino said she was not able to speak to Persson but was informed by her daughter that she is not in good health.
"Just want to say thank you to Nancy for her volunteer work on the ADA committee to this date and I appreciate your time and effort," Select Board Chair Joseph A. Diver said.
Horth moved out of Dalton about five years ago and Maschino said she has been unable to contact her. Diver said he thanks Horth for her work as well.
The board approved the appointment of Lynn Clements to the ADA Committee, effective Sept. 27 through June 30, 2022.
• James R. Duryea Jr. was appointed as a permanent sergeant, effective Sept. 27.
Duryea has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, has been with the department full time since 2016 and has been the department K9 handler since 2017. He is also the union association president.
He is the department's step six instructor and pistol, rifle, shotgun, and less-lethal instructor.
"A couple of things about Sgt. Duryea is he has absolutely immense respect from the officers, our department, and I couldn't be happier to have him in this position," Police Chief Deanna Strout said.
He will be going to field training officer school in November so he will also be one of the department's training officers.
• Heather Durant has left her position as assessor's clerk and a replacement will be hired. Patty Malay Nichols was welcomed as the new assistant town clerk.
• Resident Richard Hall addressed the board to remind residents of the town rate for electricity rights.
"Ratepayers will continue to enjoy the stable rate of $0.09603/kWh which is 30 percent lower than Eversource's winter Basic Service rate of $0.13702/kWh," from a text with the electricity aggregation price.
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