Published in the May 1, 2017 edition.

By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD — Annual Town Meeting gets underway tonight at 7 in Veterans Memorial Auditorium at the Galvin Middle School. Voters will consider 29 articles, including the town’s $87 million FY 2018 budget, plus $2.1 million in proposed capital spending.

Also on the warrant is an article requesting funds to expand and upgrade the Walton School, a proposed ban on plastic shopping bags as well as articles seeking to prohibit recreational marijuana businesses in town.

Article 1 is the FY 2018 town budget. Traditionally, the budget is presented, discussed and voted in sections broken down as General Government, Protection of Persons and Property, Human Services, Public Works, Public Service Enterprises, Education, Unclassified, Benefits & Administration and Light Department.

Article 2 will be the proposed $2.1 million Capital Outlay budget for FY 2018. A list of proposed capital items will be presented and discussed.

Under Article 3, Town meeting will be asked to appropriate $2.8 million for the Capital Projects/Debt Service Fund. This is the account that is used to pay bonds issued to fund capital projects.

Article 4 will ask Town Meeting to vote to authorize the Board of Assessors to accept $877,950 from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department as the WMGLD’s “in lieu of taxes” payment.

Under Article 5, voters will be asked to fund a collective bargaining agreement between the Town of Wakefield and the Wakefield Municipal Administrative, Supervisory and Professional Employees’ Association for the period of July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020. Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio will present the contract details.

Articles 6 and 7 will ask Town Meeting to fund collective bargaining agreements between the town and its two police unions for the period of July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020. Maio will outline the provisions of those contracts.

Article 8 asks the town to fund a collective bargaining agreement between the Town of Wakefield and the Wakefield Firefighter’s Union Local 1478 International Association of Firefighters, AFL-CIO for the period of July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2020.

Article 9 asks voters to raise and appropriate from free cash or transfer from available funds a sum of money to indemnify certain police officers and firefighters of the Town for medical, surgical and hospitalization expenses as a result of injuries received by the officers/firefighters in the performance of their duties. The town self-insures its first responders for line-of-duty injuries. This fund is replenished periodically.

Under Article 10, voters will be asked to supplement the current year’s Fire Department budget by $200,000 to cover unanticipated overtime costs in the past year due to injury and illness.

Under Article 12, the School Committee will ask Town meeting to appropriate approximately $5.7 million for upgrades and expansion of the Walton School on Davidson Road.

Article 13 is a routine annual article authorizing the Board of Selectmen to accept, or take by eminent domain proceedings, conveyances or easement from time to time, giving the Town the right to construct and maintain drains, sewers, water lines, retaining walls and streets. Typically a $1 appropriation is attached to this article.

Article 14 will ask Town Meeting to raise and appropriate $1,699,705 for the collection and disposal of trash and recycling.

Under Article 15, voters will be asked to fund the federally mandated National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) at a cost of $100,000.

Article 16 seeks $200,000 to supplement the Chapter 90 funds received from the state for roadway maintenance.

Article 17 would appropriate $50,000 for new sidewalks.

Article 18 requests $855,000 for repairs and improvements to the drainage system, primarily on New Salem Street, including repairing a culvert.

Under Article 19, the DPW will seek $100,000 for the purchase and installation of flow gauge meters at three locations in the drainage system. The meters will provide information to aid the town in the management of drainage.

Under Article 20, the DPW is seeking a vote to authorize the Board of Selectmen to apply for, receive and expend without further appropriation a $1,017,000 grant/loan from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority for the purpose of funding the town’s infiltration/inflow removal program, and further to appropriate a sufficient sum of money to fund the Town’s portion of the costs of the program.

Article 21 will ask Town Meeting to transfer from the Sewer Surplus Revenue Account $971,160 for the design, renovation, upgrade and construction of two sewer pumping stations.

Article 22 seeks to transfer from the Water Surplus Reserve Account $165,000 for the replacement of water mains at various locations throughout the Town.

Under Article 23 voters will be asked to transfer from the Water Surplus Reserve Account $160,000 for upgrading the Broadway Water Treatment Plant.

Article 24 will ask Town Meeting for $75,000 from the Water Surplus Reserve Account for maintenance of the Town’s water pressure tank located on Sydney Street.

Articles 25 will ask Town Meeting to vote to amend the Zoning Bylaws to prohibit all recreational marijuana-related businesses in all zoning districts in the town. This article will require a two-thirds majority to pass.

Article 26 will ask Town Meeting to vote to amend the General Bylaws to prohibit all recreational marijuana-related businesses in the town of Wakefield. This article will require a simple majority.

Article 27 will seek voters’ approval of a moratorium on any retail or commercial recreational marijuana businesses in Wakefield through June 30, 2018. According to the language of the article, “The regulation of recreational marijuana raises many complex questions concerning law, planning and public safety. The Town cannot adequately address those questions until the Commission issues its regulations. The purpose of this temporary moratorium is to provide the Town time for study, reflection and decision concerning the said regulations and the challenges posed by recreational marijuana.”

Article 28 is the result of a citizen petition that seeks to amend the General Bylaws to prohibit the distribution, use or sale for checkout or other purposes of thin-film, single use plastic bags at any retail or grocery store in Wakefield. The penalty for violation would be a written warning for the first offense, a fine of $25 for a second offense and a fine of $50 for the third and any subsequent offense.

Article 29 seeks to amend the Zoning Bylaws to include art/craft studios as an allowed accessory use in residential neighborhoods.

Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio anticipates that it will take three nights to complete all business on the Annual Town Meeting warrant.