Published September 17, 2020

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — Sixteen articles have been approved for inclusion on the October Town Meeting warrant by the Select Board.

The meeting, originally scheduled for Monday night, October 5, will instead be held on Saturday morning, October 3 at 11 a.m., most likely on the football field, if weather permits, due to concerns about COVID-19 (see related story).

To prepare for the meeting and in an effort to potentially cut down on the need for extended debate on the floor of Town Meeting, the Select Board members invite the public to participate in their informational hearing on all 16 warrant articles at 8 p.m. on Monday, September 21.

This meeting will be held remotely, via Zoom, and the log-in and meeting ID number will be posted on the board’s agenda by Thursday afternoon, Sept. 17. Go to the home page of the town’s website (www.northreadingma.gov) and click on the “calendar” tab where the links to the agenda of every currently scheduled public meeting may be found, downloaded or printed. (The state Open Meeting Law requires agendas to be posted within 48 hours of a public meeting, not including weekends and holidays.)

Participants can either dial in to listen and participate in the meeting by phone or sign into Zoom to “watch” the meeting participants, address the members if they wish, and also see any documents shared on the screen by the board.

The meeting will also be broadcast by Norcam and streamed live on Norcam’s Facebook page and posted later on YouTube. It will also be covered by the Transcript.

Town Meeting warrants will arrive by mail to all residential addresses prior to Monday’s meeting. The warrant is also posted electronically on the town’s website where it can be viewed, downloaded and printed.

The informational hearing held by the board prior to the August Special Town Meeting on the Seven Acres Turkey Farm drew a larger than average audience and many questions

were posed by the public. Nearly 215 voters subsequently attended that outdoor Special Town Meeting.

The warrant is as follows:

• Article 1: Hear and Act on Reports of Town Officers and Committees

• Article 2: Prior Year Bills: Authorizes the town to pay any outstanding bills that arrived after the start of the new fiscal year July 1.

• Article 3: Transfer Funds to Capital Improvement Stabilization Fund.

This fund has a current balance of $794,983. These funds are used to make capital purchases to help reduce the need for the town to borrow money for some projects, and to pay debt service.

• Article 4: Appropriate Money to Stabilization Fund Funds in this account are available to spend on any lawful purpose but it is typically used as the town’s “rainy day fund” for unexpected emergencies. It has a balance of $3,618,882.

• Article 5: Transfer Funds to Other Post Employment Benefits Liability Trust Fund (OPEB). This fund is the town’s reserve account used to pay for future health and pension costs for retirees. It has

a balance of $2,193,479.

• Article 6: Appropriate Money to Participating Funding Arrangement Fund (PFAF).

The Select Board has proposed transferring the town’s share of surplus funds from the FY20 employee health insurance program, if any, into the PFAF, which is a reserve account used by the town to pay the town’s portion of future employee health insurance costs. The town should know prior to Town Meeting the amount of funds available to be turned back into

this account.

• Article 7: Amend FY 2021 Operating Budget.

Recommendations will be made at Town Meeting by both the Select Board and the Finance Committee on whether the town’s FY21 operating budget approved June 29 needs to be amended.

• Article 8: Rescind Authorization to Borrow.

This is a placeholder in case there is a need for the town to rescind bond authorizations that are no longer needed, such as if a project has been completed or abandoned.

• Article 9: Amend FY 2021 Capital Budget.

Recommendations will be made at Town Meeting by both the Select Board and the Finance Committee on the floor of Town Meeting if there are any amendments necessary to the FY21 capital budget, which had been pared back due to the uncertainty in the amount of state aid the town would receive this spring.

• Article 10: Appropriate Money for Special Counsel Legal Expenses. Recommendations will be made at Town Meeting by both the Select Board and the Finance Committee on the floor of Town Meeting as to whether additional funds will be needed by the town related to the negotiations, mediation and/or litigation with the consultants and architects of the Secondary School Building Project.

• Article 11: Appropriate Money for Martin’s Pond Water Treatment: Members of the Martin’s Pond

Reclamation Study Committee reported to the Select Board earlier this summer of the need to continue the fight against invasive species in the pond, in particular Eurasian/variable milfoil. Without this treatment, the pond would become a swamp, the group reported.

They are seeking $25,000 and the treatment would have a three-year guarantee.

The last appropriation was made six years ago for $50,000 and the last time the pond was treated for milfoil was three years ago. Some funds remain in the account from the original appropriation. However, there is not enough remaining for a proper application of the necessary treatment next spring, when it will be most effective, they reported.

If the MPRSC waited to request the funds at next June’s Town Meeting they would not be available to spend until at least July 1 when the new fiscal year begins.

If appropriated, the MPRSC would use the funds it currently has left to treat two other types of invasive weeds currently taking hold, like fanwort and curly pond weed. They also had divers pull weeds up by hand in 2016 and the members themselves often pull up the weeds, such as water chestnuts, during outbreaks, filling rafts and boats with them and bringing them ashore.

• Article 12: Fund Town Building Repairs

The town typically seeks to appropriate about $50,000 annually to keep up with necessary repairs to town owned

buildings. Recommendations will be made at Town Meeting.

• Article 13: Appropriate Money for Historical Buildings:

This is a new request to assist in the upkeep of the many restored buildings on the grounds of the Rev. Daniel Putnam House at 27 Bow St. Volunteers from the Minit and Militia and the Historical Society have been maintaining these buildings for decades through privately raised funds, in-kind donations and their own labor. Recommendations will be made at Town Meeting.

• Article 14: Fund Hazard Mitigation Plan Update.

This plan expires in 2021. Recommendations will be made at Town Meeting by the Select Board and FinCom.

• Article 15: Accept MGL Chapter 33, Section 59 – Effect of Military Service on Salary, Seniority and Leave Allowances of Public Employees.

This is a request to accept a provision of a state law that provides certain pay and benefits to town employees who are required to take leave when called upon for military service.

• Article 16: Fund Route 28/Main Street Study and Redesign.

This is an article proposed by the Community Planning Commission (CPC) and recommended by the Select Board to fund a traffic study and a 25 percent design to update the Route 28/Main Street corridor. The Finance Committee will make its recommendation at the Town Meeting.