Wellesley Select Board mulls Town Meeting articles on first responders, legal notices & veterans

The Wellesley Select Board on Monday stepped up its focus on 2025 Annual Town Meeting, voting to co-sponsor some articles it has already discussed and considering a handful of newer ones. The warrant for Town Meeting closed today, Dec. 18, for submissions by departments (other than the Select Board Office) and from citizens.

The Board voted by a count of 4-1 to co-sponsor articles about converting the Wellesley Housing Development Corp.. into an Affordable Housing Trust and rezoning property at 156 Weston Rd., a move also related to affordable housing (See “Housing articles appear headed to Wellesley Annual Town Meeting”).

The Board voted unanimously to co-sponsor with the Climate Action Committee an article putting in place bylaw amendments “to establish customer opt-in for single-use serviceware and single serving packaged condiments.” Initiated as a grassroots effort, this is aimed at changing restaurant and customer behavior, and has been dubbed “Skip the Stuff.” Proponents have been doing the rounds at town bodies, including the Board of Health, for the past few months.

New articles to consider

The Board also discussed some possible Town Meeting articles.

One would allow non-civil service fire and police personnel to live up to 35 miles away from Wellesley rather than up to 25 miles. This is in consideration of housing being so difficult to afford in or near town, but balancing that issue with the need for first responders to live relatively nearby to do their jobs. A member of the fire department raised this with town leadership, and when the police got wind of it, asked to get in on this too, according to Corey Testa, Wellesley’s assistant executive director. Approval for this would need to come from both Town Meeting and the state.

The firefighters have actually already worked this into their contract with the town, so if such an article were to pass at Town Meeting and become a special act with the state, it could quickly go into effect. For the police, such a change would need to be included in their next round of bargaining.

Board members had some questions on this matter, such as the cost of living difference between 25 and 35 miles away, and discussion will continue.

Another possible article focuses on allowing the town to publish legal notices (say that the Town Meeting warrant is closing…) on “a newsworthy digital source” only, rather than being forced to publish them in print newspapers as an outdated state law requires. The issue here is that fewer and fewer people read print newspapers, and are more likely to see notices if published on more frequented digital platforms, like The Swellesley Report or perhaps a legal notice repository set up by the town.

Note that the town can run notices in both print and online, which it has done. Though we’ve been working with State Rep. Alice Peisch’s office for years to bring changes to state law that would eliminate the print newspaper requirement, and Rep. Peisch has been persistent in pursuing this, with some recent success on a community level in Lincoln. Getting a change approved at the town level through the state would bypass having to wait for a state-wide change to be made, though Rep. Peisch continues to work on that. Progress is being made on this front in other states as well.

The Board expressed support for this change. Board member Tom Ulfelder said: “I think the question really that we’re trying to address is what form of communication makes it most likely that somebody would see it…” Discussion by the Board and town leadership included ideas for researching how people in town currently get information, and perhaps pairing online communications platforms with physical ones within town.

The Board separately discussed support for the HERO Act, a comprehensive—and expanding—legislative package from the state dedicated to the welfare of veterans. Support would expand Wellesley’s tax exemptions for veterans, taking factors like the consumer price index into consideration. While only dozens of military veterans in town currently take advantage of exemptions, support for the HERO Act’s new provisions could save veterans hundreds of dollars or more per year.

The board was supportive of this. Marjorie Freiman said “We often wish we could do more and here’s an opportunity to do something…”

Also on the table was discussion of a new bylaw regarding the Wellesley Cultural Council, known best for distributing state grants for projects in the arts and humanities. This would more formally recognize the council’s existence, and define its terms of office and its scope. There also could be consideration of expanding the Council’s charge.

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