Navigating the debates, clarifications, and pronouncements, points of order, private ballots, and shows of hands, Westford’s annual Town Meeting voters took all of March 25 and the evening of March 27 to make operational decisions for the town for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
A sizzling 27-article warrant took more than a day to complete due to at least four major articles: an override of Proposition 2 ½, a push to amend an agricultural preservation restriction, the use of Community Preservation funds to renovate the town-owned building at 65 Main St. known as the Roudenbush Community Center, and the $110 million fiscal 2018 operating budget (Article 12).
Town Moderator Retires
It was Town Moderator Ellen Harde’s last Town Meeting. After 25 years, Harde retired her gavel, leaving an open seat for others to fill. A slideshow presentation chronicling her life in Westford punctuated the Saturday session between the first and second half of the meeting.
Harde ran the meeting with a firm and fair hand, void of sentimentality. Her style said Selectman Chairman Andrea Peraner-Sweet was to lead “with grace, with charm, with calm, with a sense of humor, and with a firm hand when we needed it.”
Harde nudged several voters back on topic as they voiced opinions at the microphones, reprimanded one voter for an impolite tone of voice, and reminded more than one speaker about the “Paul Cully seven minute rule.” Cully is the former chairman of the Affordable Housing Committee who suggested that opinion speakers limit their comments to seven minutes.
Proposition 2 1/2 Override
With almost 900 votes cast on the morning of March 25, the gathering may have been among the best attended town meetings in recent memory. Knowing that Harde would take up the article to help teachers earn more, earlier in the day, supportive parents and educators turned out in droves to approve a Proposition 2 ½ override. The vote was 687 in favor to 204 against.
“With 891 secret ballots cast, the motion carries…,” said Harde. “…with a Proposition 2 ½ override the next step is to go to the ballot on May 2.”
Selectmen voted 3 to 1 to 1 to put the measure on the ballot. Selectman Don Siriani voted against, and Selectman Mark Kost recused himself from the vote because his wife, Lenore, is a Westford teacher at the Crisafuli School.
Although the Town Meeting vote represented nearly 1,000 residents, there are almost 14,000 registered voters in Westford and some of the town’s senior population, representing 10 percent of the town’s population of 22,000, are voicing opposition to a tax increase. According to the U.S. Census, the average income in Westford is $121,600 with 3 percent at poverty level.
Cameron Senior Center Staff Elder Outreach Coordinator Annette Cerullo reminded town officials of the financial challenges some seniors are facing, noting that some are living on social security income of only $30,000 and barely getting by.
Proposition 2 ½ is a state law limiting property tax hikes to 2.5 percent plus new growth. An override is a permanent tax hike.
The School Committee is proposing to raise $1.6 million over three years to bridge a 6 percent gap in teachers salaries as compared to teachers in comparable communities.
Drew Gardens
A developer’s efforts to build a farm-to-table restaurant on a residentially zoned parcel at 66 Boston Road ended in defeat. Groton Developer Ebrahim Masalehdan purchased the 9 acres in February 2016 for $650,000 with the hope of amending one of three 3-acre Agricultural Preservation Restrictions on the front portion of the land where a rundown vacant country store now stands. But a group of conservationists opposed Masalehdan’s concept and fought to keep the land undeveloped. The group argued that the three APRs were established in the late 1990s to keep the land for agricultural use only.
The debate continued on Town Meeting floor, but opposition seemed to crystallize when Planning Board Chairman Dennis Galvin spoke publicly on the matter for the first time.
“I want to shift the focus to the abutters,” he said.
Beside the issue of amending the APR, there is the matter of zoning, Galvin said.
“In allowing this APR amendment, you are allowing commercial use in a residential zone,” he said. Galvin cautioned residents to reconsider because permitting a restaurant on the site could set a precedent that meant “anyone can flip a switch and you could end up living next to something very interesting.”
The measure failed 462 opposed to 226 in favor.
Roudenbush Community Center
It was on the floor of Town Meeting when many residents learned that a pending $7 million renovation of 65 Main St., known as the Roudenbush Community Center could be the demise of the Roudenbush organization.
Voters approved, 244 to 42, the borrowing of $6.3 million against Community Preservation funds plus an additional $712,600 for renovating the building. But they also learned that a renovation would require the Roudenbush employees to vacate the building and the organization to find space for offices, workshops and classes.
Community Preservation funds in Westford are collected from a 3 percent property tax surcharge as well as state matching funds that can be used for historic and land preservation, recreation, and the creation of affordable housing.
Renovations are scheduled to begin on Sept. 1 and will be completed in December 2018, according to Bill Kenison, the town’s facilities technician and engineering inspector. That would leave the Roudenbush organization with just 18 months on its existing lease extension after returning to the building.
The most recent lease between Roudenbush and Westford began on July 1, 2010 and ended June 30, 2015. The contract permitted a one-time extension of five years. The Roudenbush organization is currently in the midst of that extension. The term ends June 30, 2020 and cannot be extended.
According to Town Manager Jodi Ross, the town is required to issue requests for proposals for the lease beginning July 1, 2020. An RFP is a bidding solicitation with no preferential treatment.
But supporters worry that the cost of relocating elsewhere in town and the loss of revenue for some popular classes that will no longer have a meeting place could be the end of the Roudenbush organization.
The matter came to a head when former Roudenbush board member Bob Waskiewicz came to the microphone.
“Doing this now without a plan to go forward for the Roudenbush will take a center that employs 65 to 70 people, never one of those salary dollars coming out of the town of Westford… You move us out of there…, you are killing Roudenbush Community Center. We are not economically…able to go forward and return,” Waskiewicz said.
As debate continued, selectmen consulted Town Counsel John Giorgio who advised that the town could issue an RFP right away for a lease that would begin in 2020. The option would allow the Roudenbush organization to apply for a new lease this year and learn quickly whether employees could re-occupy the building in 2018.
Meanwhile selectmen made a decision to appease the community.
“The Board of Selectmen just voted unanimously, 5 to 0, to issue an RFP that will continue the use of the building as a community center,” said Peraner-Sweet.
The selectmen’s decision meant that while Roudenbush would not be guaranteed it would be awarded another lease to the building, the residents would be assured that the building would remain a community center.
The 1897 historic building needs new electrical and mechanical systems said resident Bob Jefferies, an architect, and a member of the Community Preservation Committee.
“If we delay any longer on this it’s going to get worse and at a certain point it just won’t function,” he said of the building.
Operating Budget Approved
Voters approved a $110 million operating budget, which included $56,717,000 for the School Department.
Correction: This story was updated on March 29 to say Selectman Mark Kost recused himself form the Proposition 2 1/2 override.
