LONGMEADOW — Town officials are planning a Town Meeting next month that won’t address any of the usual business.
The Dec. 9 meeting is necessary for procedural reasons set out by the state, but town officials are hoping to keep attendance to a minimum in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“It is my intent to convene the special town meeting for the purpose of hearing motions to take no action on the warrant articles by consent agenda, then dissolving the meeting,” Moderator Rebecca M. Townsend said in an announcement Tuesday.
Townsend has postponed Town Meeting multiple times due to the pandemic.
The Select Board held an emergency meeting via Zoom on Monday after the state Department of Revenue notified Longmeadow’s Finance Department on Nov. 18 that it would not be able to certify the town’s tax rate while there is a pending Town Meeting warrant that includes financial articles.
Without a certified tax rate, the town cannot send out tax bills, said Financial Director Paul Pasterczyk. Any long-term delay would have an impact on the town’s cash flow and ability to pay bills, he added.
“It behooves us to do whatever we can in order to alleviate this in a timely manner,” said Pasterczyk.
Typically, the tax rate is set in late November or early December, according to Town Manager Lyn Simmons. Longmeadow is on a quarterly property tax billing system. By law, third-quarter bills need to be postmarked by Dec. 31.
On Monday, Townsend, Simmons and members of the Select Board discussed remedying the “technical issue,” as Townsend described it. They agreed the circumstances require a simplified Town Meeting where no action is taken on any of the warrant articles.
Townsend said she was surprised when she learned of the state requirement. She sought several different avenues to deal with it, but nothing else was possible, she said.
“This abbreviated form of a meeting would be necessary, because we are still in a pandemic and because there is a real expectation from our citizens during the pandemic,” she said.
Select Board member Mark Gold questioned why the Select Board should choose not to do anything with the warrant articles.
“In my mind, some of these are important,” said Gold. “If we’re going to go through the trouble of holding a Town Meeting, why not just vote on the critical items?”
Townsend said Pasterczyk indicated the warrant articles were not necessities.
“Longmeadow citizens are smart enough to know that this is a technical solution to a technical problem,” Townsend said. “We’re doing this strictly because of this surprise from last week. No one wants to do this. We’re doing this because we have to.”
Some of the articles on the warrant that concern zoning cannot be taken up anyway because the Planning Board has not held a public hearing on them, Townsend said.
Townsend recommended the Select Board reduce the Town Meeting quorum of 50 to no less than 10% of that number. Doing so would acknowledge the continued threat of COVID-19, she said.
Simmons said Select Board could not vote to reduce the quorum during Monday’s meeting. The vote would need to be posted at least seven days in advance.
In June, the town paid $12,467.25 to hold an outdoor special Town Meeting, according to Simmons. Next month’s meeting would be minimal, as the board would use equipment it already owns and would not bring in an outside sound company, she said.
Voters who have questions about the Town Meeting may contact Townsend at rtownsend@longmeadow.org.
"plan" - Google News
November 26, 2020 at 05:15AM
https://ift.tt/2JaY3RB
State requirement prompts Longmeadow to plan no-action Town Meeting - MassLive.com
"plan" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2un5VYV
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "State requirement prompts Longmeadow to plan no-action Town Meeting - MassLive.com"
Post a Comment