Southwick residents cast votes during Special Town Meeting in 2023 in the Southwick Regional School auditorium.
Reminder Publishing file photo
SOUTHWICK — When residents gather in the auditorium at Southwick Regional School on Tuesday, May 20, they will be asked to vote on 28 articles that include borrowing for road repairs, requested allocations by the Community Preservation Committee and two citizens’ petitions.
On Monday night, the Select Board approved the warrant for the annual Town Meeting and Special Town Meeting.
The first six articles on the Town Meeting warrant are those voters must weigh in on every year like authorizing the Select Board to sell or trade obsolete equipment or accept grants.
Article 7 was requested by Town Clerk Christie Myette to renumber the town’s bylaws and make non-editorial revisions to make them consistent and have appropriate number sequencing. Each revision will be footnoted, according to the article’s language.
Article 8 is to rescind accepting a parcel of property at 13 Berkshire Avenue approved by annual Town Meeting last year.
In 2023 the family that owns the 1.8-acre property approached the town to ask if it would consider accepting it as a donation.
However, when researching the property’s deed, the town found there were discrepancies in how the property was conveyed. With that information, it stopped the process to accept it.
The borrowing authorization of $16 million for the town to build its own fiberoptic network is Article 9. Requested by the Select Board, if approved, the borrowing would occur over several years as money is needed to build out the network.
The 10th article is asking voters to approve the town’s annual budget. After months of meetings by the Finance Committee and Select Board, the budget being proposed is 2% above last year’s. Included in the article are capital expenditures that will be paid for using free cash. A few of the expenditures include one new officer for the police department at a cost of $93,130, one police cruiser for $58,000, a bunkroom remodel at the Fire Department for $250,000, and for the DPW $125,000 for road repairs and $80,000 for a new trash compactor at the transfer station.
These are only four of 15 expenditures across the town’s department’s that will be paid for using $879,000 in free cash.
Of the total of free cash available, $3,941,350, the Finance Committee and Select Board chose to add just over $2.1 million of it to the town’s operating budget.
Article 11 will ask voters to approve borrowing $1 million for roadway construction.
Article 12, requested by the Conservation Commission, will ask voters to amend the Local Wetland Application Fund as a revolving fund to be used by the commission to pay expenses for the administration of the Wetland Act bylaw.
Spending limits for the town’s other revolving accounts is Article 13.
Voters will be asked to accept Revere Road, and a portion of Salem and Concord road, as a town road in Article 14.
Article 15 is related to Article 14, in that it asks voters to grant the town authority to take easements on Revere Road by eminent domain, which are not to exceed $20,000, which will be paid for with free cash.
Article 16 is asking voters to appropriate $737,164 for the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District to cover tuition costs for Southwick students who attend school out of district. The amount covers tuition of $612,000, $99,919 for transportation of those students, and $25,000 for special education. A portion of this appropriation will be reimbursed to the town by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Article 17 is asking voters to approve the Regional School District assessment of $14,404,483.
Voters will be asked to approve borrowing of $515,000 for two boiler projects and $192,000 to rehabilitate the track in Article 18.
Articles 19, 20, 21, and 22 are requested by the CPC. Article 19 is the committee’s annual budget, Article 20 will ask voters to approve the allocation of $66,650 for the alum treatment of Congamond Lakes, and Article 21 is seeking approval of $677,000 for the installation of six pickleball courts at Whalley Park.
For Article 21, there is also a motion that must be made to appropriate $462,009 and $207,990, what was originally allocated for the pickleball courts during the Annual Town Meeting in 2023. Combined, those will cover the $670,000 needed for construction.
Article 22 is a CPC request asking voters to approve a $100,000 for the rehabilitation of the school district’s track.
The bylaw developed to establish regulations on all town-owned property is Article 23.
Article 24 is a proposed nuisance bylaw that would establish regulations for areas not owned by the town. It is possible this article will be removed from the warrant during the consent agenda if the town attorney hasn’t given it the green light to be included.
Article 25, requested by the Planning Board, is asking voters to approve a new Accessory Dwelling Unit bylaw.
Article 26, also requested by the Planning Board, is to amend the zoning bylaw related to site plan review. It will need amending to include language about the ADU bylaw.
The last two articles are citizens’ petitions.
Article 27 is a proposed bylaw to require hunters to get permission to hunt on private property only with the consent of the owner or trustee.
Article 28 will ask voters to repeal the town’s short-term rentals bylaw. The bylaw was adopted at the 2023 Town Meeting.
The Special Town Meeting will start at 6:15 p.m., on Tuesday, May 20 with the Annual Town Meeting starting at 6:30 p.m.
There are three administrative articles on the Special Town Meeting warrant that need approval, including annual snow and ice appropriation of $270,000.
