Below are the Special and Annual Town Meeting Warrants:
Monday, April 25th
Middleborough High School Auditorium
7:00pm
Special Town Meeting:
Annual Town Meeting:
Article 12: $160,000 for a new dump truck for the Water Department.
Article 13: $150,000 for 2 Chevrolet trucks with plow attachments for the Water Department.
Article 16: $42,150 from the Historic Resources Reserve for interior painting as part of restoration at the Oliver House.
Article 18: $50,000 from the Budgeted Reserve for restoration efforts at the Nemasket Hill Cemetery Meeting House.
Article 19: $44,000 and $136,000 from reserve accounts for continued restoration at Oliver Mill Park.
Articles 21-25: These 4 articles pertain to updating and revising the Town Charter.
Article 21 has already generated the most controversy as it proposes to modernize the language in the Charter by changing all pronouns to gender-neutral.
The Board is split on its support for this article.
“This is an absurd article based on political correctness gone crazy,” said Rosenthal, who doesn’t support the article.
Charter Study Committee Chair Brian Giovanoni explained this is how many other municipalities in the state have approached this. “This was discussed at length for many meetings. We looked at all options. This was voted on by the committee as the way we want to approach it,” he said.
Fellow Committee member Paula Fay concurred that “other communities are making these changes.”
Board Chair Leilani Dalpe supported the article: “Despite legislation and administrative polices, there is embedded gender bias, and we’re all guilty of it. It’s subliminal and not all inclusive. I support this.”
The Select Board voted down its support of Article 21 by a narrow vote of 2-3.
Article 26: $52,480 to reimburse around 57 families of students who had their 2020 Senior Class Trips cancelled last April because of states shutting down.
Families spent $2,150 per student for this trip. The school district worked hard to get the actual travel company to refund the money that it did. That company has since gone out of business. Most of the families received reimbursements of $1,120, almost half the initial deposit, back in August.
Many attempts were made after to get the insurance company to honor the claims for the rest of the refund. The School District and families have since filed claims with the Attorney General over disputes with the insurance company. The claims have gotten little response.
The end result is the Town wants to make things right with these families.
The vote itself is to authorize a home rule petition submitted to the General Court that would allow the town this reimbursement, which would come from Free Cash.
Article 30: Renaming the intersections of Center Street, North Main Street, Wareham Street, and South Main Street – the Four Corners – in honor of Norman E. Record, former Middleboro police officer and veteran.
