The Town of Pembroke held a public forum to go over procedures and articles for next week’s Annual Town Meeting.
Town Moderator Steve Dodge says extensive work has gone into planning for the meeting to make sure it is conducted in a safe manner.
“The articles that are on the warrant are just the absolutely necessary articles to get the town rolling,” said Dodge. “There will be other Town Meetings later this calendar or fiscal year. We’re not sure what they’re going to look like but those articles, the bylaw articles, the community center articles, and other articles that were on the original warrant but were pulled off will be addressed at a subsequent Special Town Meeting.”
For safety, masks will be required at the meeting. The Selectmen have lowered the quorum to 25 percent – or 38 people. The warrant includes a consent agenda with non-controversial articles. Temperature checks will be conducted before the meeting, and an overflow room will be set up for residents in the cafeteria. Boom microphones will be set up so people will not have to touch them if they want to speak.
Article 3 is for the $64 million operating budget. Town Manager Bill Chenard says it does include some layoffs for the town and schools.
“Moving forward, we’ll be adjusting our projected revenue stream as more information becomes available with meals tax, excise tax, local receipts, and with state aid projections,” said Chenard. “As the Moderator said previously, given the COVID restrictions, we will have another Town Meeting where we can make budget adjustments, and hopefully add to these budgets.”
The school budget was increased by $200,000 over the last fiscal year.
School Superintendent Erin Obey says they’re planning on hybrid models for learning within the current budget, and submitting for CARES Act funding for cleaning and other equipment.
Capital projects include $102,000 from the water surplus fund for well testing between Pleasant and Washington Streets. Additional capital projects include $50,000 for pothole repair equipment, and repairs to the DPW barn.
Projects funded through the Community Preservation Act include $80,000 for ADA improvements to the Town Landing beach. A second recommendation includes $30,000 for ADA equipment and resurfacing the Mattakeesett Street Playground. Recommendation C is for $50,000 to go towards the Veteran’s Memorial Park project.
There are 15 articles in total on the Town Meeting warrant.
Dodge says people have questioned as to why the meeting was not planned for an outdoor venue.
“A number of towns have had it outside. First of all, as we got later in the summer, there’s EEE, which is a threat. There just wasn’t a good venue to do it, and the weather is always a factor,” said Dodge. “We had to take a number of things into consideration, there was some talk about perhaps piggybacking on the high school graduation. It just logistically would have been impossible.”
The Pembroke Town meeting is set for 7 p.m. on July 28th at the High School. Residents are urged to arrive at 6.
The Pembroke Town Meeting warrant and procedures can be found here.
