Wellesley plans to post its Annual Town Meeting Warrant—the list of articles to be voted on at the meeting—later this month. But the Select Board previewed a preliminary draft of the warrant at its meeting last week (starts at about the 66-minute mark of Wellesley Media recording). The deadline for submitting articles was Dec. 23.

Town Meeting is slated to start on April 26, later than usual.

Executive Director Meghan Jop described the warrant as having nothing unexpected, and being “fairly straightforward.”

town meeting warrant — Wellesley Executive Director Meghan Jop previews a preliminary draft of the warrant during Select Board meeting (screenshot from Wellesley Media recording)

The warrant items include plenty of the usuals, such as appropriations (supplementary ones still being worked through) and budget items, and spending for special capital projects, such as a new weed harvester to be funded via Community Preservation Act monies. Grove and Walnut Street projects are among Department of Public Works efforts that could be included. Asterisks dotted the preliminary draft warrant shown during the meeting as certain items still need to be fleshed out and finalized.

One interesting item for the business community is the possible reduction of seats from 50 to 30 required to apply for an alcohol license (Select Board discussion on this and other Town Meeting warrant matters is on the agenda for the Jan. 11 meeting).

Other notable items:

The Commonwealth’s declaration of Juneteenth Independence Day (June 19) as a state holiday will require an update to the town’s human resources policies.
Amendments to town zoning and other bylaws are also on the warrant. These address issues such as “Definitions for family, dwelling and related items.”
Only one citizen petition is listed, regarding rezoning property at 2 Edgemoor Ave. from Single Residence District 10 to Business.