By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — A quorum of 150 registered town voters is required to be in attendance for the Special Town Meeting on Monday night, March 6.
The meeting is scheduled to be called to order at 7 p.m. by Town Moderator John Murphy in the gymnasium at North Reading High School, 189 Park St., provided that the quorum is met, therefore those planning to attend should arrive earlier than 7 p.m. so that they may be checked in by the town’s poll workers, receive their voter ribbon to affix to their shirt or jacket, and find their seat in the gym. If the quorum is not immediately met the moderator has the discretion to wait until enough voters arrive to meet the quorum. (Hint: It is not fashionable to be late if it can be avoided.)
The warrant for this Special Town Meeting has but one article. It was called by citizens’ petition and proposed by lead sponsor Adam Austin, 42 Main St., Unit 4. Austin obtained 345 signatures that were certified by the Town Clerk’s Office. A minimum of 200 signatures is required when a citizens’ petition is requested to be heard outside of a Town Meeting warrant or Special Town Meeting warrant not called by the Select Board itself.
With the submission of the certified signatures, the Select Board is obligated to vote to call a Special Town Meeting to be held within 45 days, which was done. A citizens’ petition is just that: a petition that was drafted by a citizen or group of citizens. The town did not participate in the drafting of the petition to be heard March 6.
Reverse changes to betterments
The purpose of the warrant article on March 6 is to amend the town’s General Bylaw Chapter 25 pertaining to special “assessments” known as “betterments” essentially back to its original language as it existed prior to last June’s Annual Town Meeting before the voters amended it and it was subsequently certified in October 2022 by then-Attorney General Maura Healey.
Town and elected officials have previously stated at public meetings and Town Meeting that the original betterment language was not workable for a large public works project such as the wastewater (sewer) project the town is proposing for Main and Concord Streets and portions of Park Street, North Street and Lowell Road. That language would require the town to pick up 50% of the costs of such projects, subject to the availability of funds — which can be through taxation, debt exclusion overrides of Proposition 2 1/2 (such as was done to fund the construction of the NRHS/MS), and grants and reimbursements that may be available from state and federal sources.
As explained by Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto, Select Board member Stephen O’Leary, and others at the many meetings where this has been discussed, the original betterment bylaw was more suited to smaller projects, such as when the residents of a private way request to have a water line installed or their dirt road paved and they have enough abutters willing to fund half the cost. For a large infrastructure project such as wastewater more flexibility was needed in how costs are assessed.
For the residents of single family homes and condominiums along the proposed sewer route, as well as small business owners, the cost to them to fund the $130 million project, as revealed in workshop meetings held during the fall, was simply too high, with too many unknowns and they felt would drive them out of the community.
The Select Board members categorized the meetings in the fall as the starting point for the discussion, not the end point. Realizing how unpopular those proposed funding plans were with abutters as well as supporters in other parts of town who felt the assessments were too high even if financed over 20 or 30 years ($46,000 for single family home; $36,000 for condos plus decommissioning costs of existing septic systems and other costs), the plans were scrapped in November and the working group and town’s consulting engineering firm Wright Pierce have been working on new funding proposals during the winter.
Public Informational meetings
The first meeting where the funding will be discussed with the members of multiple boards is slated to take place tonight, Thursday, March 2 at 7 p.m. The hybrid meeting will be held in person at the Distance Learning Lab at NRHS and the meeting can also be accessed via Zoom (link on the town website under the calendar tab), by audio (dial in to listen) and via livestream on the Facebook Norcam page or local access cable channels. In attendance to discuss the proposal will be the Finance Committee, Community Planning Commission, Board of Health, Economic Development Committee and School Committee. It is open to the public.
A complete schedule of in-person and virtual meetings during which members of the public will also be invited to address the board and town officials is also listed on the town website. Three public outreach meetings are being held on Wednesdays, March 8, April 5 and April 12; the Select Board will take a vote on the wastewater project funding plan during its Monday, March 27 meeting.
With the additional Special Town Meeting on March 6, the town is currently on track to have four Town Meetings this year as the Select Board has already set the dates of the annual Town Meeting for Monday, June 12 and the fall Town Meeting for Monday, October 2. The board will potentially call its own Special Town Meeting on the proposed wastewater project borrowing for Monday, May 15, but no vote on that date has occurred. If this date is selected the Public Informational Meeting on that Special Town Meeting would be held on Monday, May 8 by the Select Board.
If the wastewater project is approved at Town Meeting by a two-thirds majority the town would be required to hold a debt exclusion override vote within 90 days.
