A sketch for an affordable housing project, money to replace a failed generator at the Chilmark School and a change in job description for the town treasurer are all in front of Chilmark voters when they convene for their annual town meeting Monday night. The meeting begins at at 7 p.m. in the Chilmark Community Center. A quorum of 25 voters is needed. There are 30 articles on the warrant. Moderator Janet Weidner will preside for her second year.
After winning overwhelming approval in four towns last week, the housing bank question will come before Chilmark for a pivotal vote on both the town meeting floor and in the ballot box. If approved in both places, it will cement the needed approval for the housing bank coalition to send a home rule petition to the state legislature.
At the town meeting Monday voters will take up a $12.5 million operating budget, an 11.8 per cent increase over last year.
The biggest spending article asks voters to approve a total of $501,000 to go into various town stabilization funds. If approved, $250,000 would go into the general fund and $200,000 would go into the highway stabilization fund, while the fire department would receive $25,000 and $26,000 would be put in the police vehicle stabilization fund. The highway fund is getting a large injection of cash because those funds have been used up, town administrator Timothy Carroll said.
“We’ve used up the road maintenance money, and it’s time to put money back into that account,” Mr. Carroll said.
Setting aside money allows for easy access when town projects call for it, but it also puts the town in favorable standing with lenders, Mr. Carroll said.
“[Auditors say] hey, they’ve got 10 per cent of their operating budget set aside for uncommitted funds, so they’re in good fiscal shape, therefore we’ll give them a high bond rating,” Mr. Carroll said. A broad outline for an affordable housing project on a portion of roughly 16 acres of town-owned land at Peaked Hill Pastures will also come before voters. The plan calls for building 10 rental units and four owned units. Two of the ownership units would be built by a developer while the town would oversee the development of the other two. Voters will be asked to put $250,000 toward the first phase of developing a public works garage. The highway, shellfish and harbor departments have a storage shed at Peaked Hill which would need to be moved to make room for the affordable housing project, Mr. Carroll said. The garage, which would be built on town-owned land behind the capped landfill off Middle Line Road, would serve as the new storage space.
“Replace a 1950s one-car garage and a bunch of storage boxes and a tent with a metal building with four-to-six bays in it and a storage room,” Mr. Carroll said. “It’s a garage more than it is a building.”
A pair of articles, one seeking $33,000 to support maintenance costs for the Martha’s Vineyard Public Safety Communication System and another seeking $13,000 to buy an electric vehicle for the harbor department, saw the finance committee split 3-3 on whether to recommend the articles.
The six Island towns have agreed to pay for some of the maintenance of the sheriff department’s communication system, Mr. Carroll said. But some members of the finance committee said there are expenses being billed to the towns which they did not sign up to pay for. “For instance, they had to pay $30,000 to Comcast for some service somewhere. And that’s an operating expense, not a maintenance expense,” Mr. Carroll said.
This summer the harbor master’s staff will oversee traffic in Menemsha for the first time instead of the police department. The police department has been using an electric vehicle for Menemsha parking enforcement for the last few years, so Mr. Carroll said some finance committee members wanted to see it transferred to the harbor department instead of buying a new one.
“The police department said they would like to keep [the vehicle],” Mr. Carroll said. “And the harbor master wanted to buy a golf cart that would have a truck bed on it.”
Two separate articles ask voters to spend money on new equipment for the police and fire departments. One seeks $52,000 so the police department can purchase a new marked cruiser. The other asks for $9,000 to go toward a new UAV-drone for the fire department.
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The annual town election is Wednesday. Polls are open from noon to 8 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center. There are a total of 15 positions up for re-election; only one of the races is contested. Robert Henry Rosenbaum is challenging incumbents Eric Glasgow and Susan Murphy for a spot on the financial advisory committee. There are also five questions on the ballot. One is for the Islandwide housing bank question.
There are two Proposition 2 1/2 override debt exemption requests: one for the new firehouse and Tri-town ambulance building and one for a project to upgrade the HVAC system at the Chilmark School.
The school is asking for $86,503 to replace its ailing generator. The generator needs to be replaced immediately, Mr. Carroll said, and cannot wait for the overall HVAC project which has stalled as the town struggles to find a bidder to meet its price point.
“There were a couple of power outages this past fall and winter and the school was unable to be open during that time frame,” the town administrator said.
Another ballot question asks to change the town treasurer from an appointed to elected position. There is also a corresponding article on the town warrant. Both need to pass in order to go into effect, Mr. Carroll said.
“We’re just following the state statute,” Mr. Carroll said.
A final, nonbinding ballot question asks voters to join a regional initative calling for the decommissioned Pilgrim nucelar power plant to withdraw plans to dump radioactive waste into Cape Cod Bay.
