Wellesley Town Meeting 2023 wrapped up on night #7, with Moderator Mark Kaplan saying “I’ll see you all in the fall!”

Before we got to that point, though, some final business had to be taken care of on April 24 in a meeting that lasted past 11:30pm. The scorecard for Town Meeting is now complete.

Wellesley Media recording

Enough abstaining

During his opening remarks, Kaplan urged Town Meeting members to vote Yes or No on motions rather than abstaining, unless they had a really good reason to do so (such as a financial conflict of interest). As many as 10 abstentions were counted on a couple of motions earlier during Town Meeting, and Kaplan was informed by some that there appeared to be an “unusually high” number of abstentions, especially on tough issues.

“I just want to remind everybody here that you’ve been elected to cast votes on behalf of the people who sent you here. And your constituents are entitled to know how you vote on all issues, but most particularly on tough issues,” Kaplan said.

Battery PILOT

Wellesley’s on the cutting edge in working with nonprofit Citizens Energy to house a battery storage farm next to the Municipal Light Plant building off of Rte. 9 west at Municipal Way, and this 20-year project requires some fancy financial footwork. Thus the motion under Article 31 for the Select Board and Board of Assessors to come to terms on a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement with Citizens Energy to smooth its payment of personal property taxes on the gear, valued in the millions, that would sit on the roughly 4 acres of land leased from the MLP.

(PILOT agreements are rare in Wellesley, though the town does have 1 with Babson College.)

The nearly 5 megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS) will be designed to enable the town to shave its peak electricity usage, which in turn should save the MLP $8M over 20 years, and that should save customers money. The town would use power from the BESS during peak demand times—likely a wicked hot day in August—rather than from the usual grid. Power from BESS could also be used to support municipal buildings in the event of a major outage, and Citizens could use power for other uses, though Wellesley would always have first dibs.

MLP Board Chair Paul Criswell did the honors of explaining electricity bills, which consist of power, capacity and transmission segments, and the ins and outs of the battery storage system.

Some questions were raised about the safety of the BESS, filled with the type of lithium-ion batteries we’ve all heard explosion and fire horror stories about. Criswell said Citizens Energy has a good safety track record (including with its BESS in Holyoke) and that the Wellesley Fire Department has OK’d the plan.

The motion on this article passed, with just 3 “No” votes and 1 abstention.

Whew, we plowed through all 1 million hours of Town Meeting footage. Please consider contributing to Swellesley to sustain our independent journalism venture

Making quick work

Not to be underestimated given the challenges municipalities have hiring and retaining good employees were articles related to town jobs. Article 32 updated HR policies, including a new one that addresses employees who wind up working in a higher job classification than their salary applies to,  and [Read more…]

Week 3 of Wellesley Annual Town Meeting began on April 10 with a proposed amendment to split the 2 items in Article 19 on the warrant—appropriate $100K from free cash to fund an equity audit and adopt an anti-bias and anti-racism resolution.

Neither Advisory, the article proponent (Lina Musayev: “We really believe that one [part] is not is not worth much, if anything, without the other.”), nor Town Meeting went for that. But they did agree on a later amendment to change some wording in the resolution. The main motion passed easily, but not before emotional testimony from Town Meeting members. Overall, the topic was discussed for about 2 hours, and about 2 dozen people spoke.

Suzie Littlefield stated her support for Article 17 before sharing a story about learning the disturbing history of her home and some 90 others built during the 1940s and 1950s in the former Boulder Brook Farm neighborhood. They had been subject until 1970 to rules (aka, convenants) disallowing ownership or occupancy by non-whites other than domestic servants.

“As I reflected upon this information I realized that many of my friends who are my neighbors would not have been able to live in our neighborhood in the not so distant past…” she said. “We can only move forward as a society if we own the past and vow to do better.”

Others expressed their support for Article 17 as well. “If we want to live in a town that welcomes people and celebrates the diversity that makes our community richer, we need to make an honest and impartial assessment of the structural policies and systems that exist in our town,” said Town Meeting member Ezra Englebardt.

Others, such as Tamara Sielecki-Dzurdz, spoke against Article 17, which she said “wrongfully condemns our town.” She pondered whether acknowledging historic bias and racism might open the town to liability down the road (town counsel said later he does not see that possibility). Sielecki-Dzurdz also shared some of the town’s history, including a pattern of accepting people (such as Italians) after some initial bias, and also being a leader in some areas, such as through early participation in the METCO school program that brings students from Boston into Wellesley. “I haven’t found evidence of institutionalized bias, obviously notwithstanding communities within the area that may have imposed some bias…” she said. She opposed the notion starting with an assumption of racial bias and auditing from there.

Questions also arose about what the true benefit of an audit will be, other than for the consultants that conduct it. One speaker asked if it might be possible to start research in-house rather than spending $100K with an outside firm and then possibly more once results of the audit are released.

Select Board member Ann-Mara Lanza said other audits reviewed by Wellesley are fairly recent, so the results that can be highlighted are still largely at the recommendations stage. She cited a broader audit conducted in Arlington, that among other things, revealed that renters don’t feel like part of the community, and that Arlington is now looking at staffing that will address renters’ needs.

(Follow the Town Meeting scorecard to track voting.)

Town Meeting members sure are busy

The test question on April 10, to make sure the electronic voting system was working, asked Town Meeting members whether they had filed their taxes yet. Only 88 of 156 voted “Yes,” with 52 “No” votes and 24 abstaining (“not sure what that means,” quipped Moderator Mark Kaplan, who noted lots of remaining work for local accountants).

Hardy gets a buffer, Warren Building getting HVAC relief

Under Article 19, Town Meeting was asked to authorize the transfer of just over $1M not spent on completed school projects to be used for contingencies on the new Hardy Elementary School project. Town officials and school kids with shiny shovels and hard hats recently got construction underway on that project, and the school is slated to open in fall of 2024.

With the rising cost of just about everything in recent years, concerns rose that the town would face a shortfall in funding the Hardy project and be forced to cut some desired components. Wellesley went into the new year on budget ($56.3M for construction), but proceeded cautiously. “We knew that either the guaranteed maximum price, the GMP, would come in lower than expected and we would not need any more funds, or we would have to come back to Town Meeting. And in reality, both of those things happened,” said the School Committee’s Catherine Mirick. “The GMP is lower than we had estimated and we still need some funds to replenish our continency.” She noted that of the 11 Massachusetts School Building Authority projects bid last year, they all had to ask their communities for more funds.

Wellesley residents approved debt exclusions to fund construction of new Hardy and Hunnewell elementary schools in December 2021.

Article 19 Motion 1 passed almost unanimously.

Night 3 of Town Meeting ended with Facilities Management Department Director Joe McDonough’s pitch on behalf of the Permanent Building Committee and Select Board for funds to renovate the cooling and heating system at the Warren Building used by the Recreation and Health Departments. As usual, McDonough came armed with grim photos to make his case for improvements (he showed icicles that smashed on the ground near the rear entrance).

The improvements will make for a vastly healthier building in terms of consistent temperature, cleaner air, and greener everything. More specifically, Article 20 sought $531,075 in design funds for the project. That’s about a tenth of the total estimated construction cost budget.

Construction is scheduled to get underway in June 2025, and occupants will relocate to the Upham Elementary School, which will be closed by then. The plan is for the project to be done by November, 2025.

Everyone who voted, voted “Yes.”

Seeing the light

Am I the only one mesmerized by the aurora borealis at Town Meeting? Cool phenomenon.

Fired up on Night 4

Night 4 of Town Meeting on April 11 began with unanimous approval to spend up to $885,000 on a new fire engine to become the town’s primary one. The new engine would feature many safety improvements for firefighters, and will be housed at the Central Street station when delivered in 2 years. It will replace a 2009 model as Engine 1.

Guess it’s time for us to think about replacing that workhorse in our driveway, which has been fighting family fires since 2008…

Caught in a trap

Wellesley restaurants owners, including those that would like to someday not have “Coming Soon” signs on their storefronts for months or years, have long deplored the town’s grease trap approval process. Article 25 sought to give the town more leeway in granting, approving or abandoning easements for grease traps in public rights of way, and Town Meeting voted its approval, with just 1 “No” vote and 1 abstention.

The town has mandated exterior grease traps for food-oriented businesses since 2009 to keep clog-inducting junk out of Wellesley’s sewer system. But Amy Frigulietti, assistant executive director for the town, said of this slippery subject: “The Select Board believes that the current process, which requires Town Meeting approval in order to grant the necessary easement, and therefore can only occur no more than a few times a year, is not conducive to the town’s goal of facilitating economic development.”

Stormwater Utility Enterprise Fund

The Board of Public Works kicked off a series of article discussions with requests for approval of going for some interest-free loans for sewer rehab, cleaning water mains, and more. No problem, Town Meeting was good with all that, and it was on to Article 29 regarding the Stormwater Utility Enterprise Fund…whatever the heck that is.

What it is, per the Board of Public Works, is a way for the town to more equitably cover increased costs of managing stormwater in light of stricter government regulations that include everything from public education to phosphorous controls aimed at not polluting the Charles River. The state recommends this approach to sustainably funding stormwater management, said David Cohen, director of the Wellesley Department of Public Works. Wellesley’s DPW and board have been making the rounds with other Wellesley governmental bodies since 2021 pitching this plan.

Property owners are going to wind up getting a bill for this, separate from their regular property tax bills, based largely on their stormwater impact (i.e., their impervious area…which in Wellesley amounts to more than a quarter of its area). Oh well, at least your property tax bill will shrink… uh yeah.

The program, which Town Meeting approved via Article 29 by a 111-52-4 tally, is slated to go into effect at the start of fiscal year 2025 (July 2024), with about $2M in FY24 expenses covered via taxes and borrowing (presumably to be repaid via American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds). The average single-family homeowner can expect a new annual bill for about $225, and the DPW plans a public hearing on fees next spring before they are put in place.

The highlight for some here is that Wellesley College and others in town that are exempt from certain property taxes (to be clear, the college is still 1 of the town’s top taxpayers), will get hit with stormwater management bills. And in fact, a Wellesley College rep spoke at Town Meeting after the school had already reached out to Town Meeting members on the subject (the college says the fee will amount to the equivalent of a 15% tax increase for it)

A motion to amend the article focused on requiring the Board of Public Works to calculate the revenue of the fund from taxable parcels from the past fiscal year so that the Select Board can use that “avoided tax impact” figure in crafting the annual town budget. Proponent Michael D’Ortenzio stated during his introduction of the amendment that he appreciated the DPW’s work on the fund proposal, but that “my concern is that what we’re creating here is a new permanent tax above the tax cap of Proposition 2.5 without voter approval. Generally, when you generate more revenue from municipal services that is above the tax cap, you have to get permission of the voters. Here, you don’t need it legally” because it is a fee, not a tax. Fees must be paid by choice, he said, though in this case, the choice not to pay would entail removing your house and driveway. “For most taxpayers, this won’t feel like an optional fee, but very much like a new tax,” he said.

(The very bringing forth of a motion to amend did trigger some discussion of a need to update this process to avoid delays at Town Meeting for Advisory Committee deliberations and to give Town Meeting members more of an opportunity to mull motions. “I think we have learned from last night and tonight that some change in that procedure is required and my hope as moderator is the Select Board will take appropriate action at some point to come forward with a bylaw to correct the situation,” Moderator Mark Kaplan said.)

As for this motion, the Board of Public Works said that voters, via Town Meeting, would have their say on the enterprise fund and DPW budgets going forward. it was narrowly voted down 76-81-9. A simple majority was required for it to pass.

Regarding the main motion, proponents said the fund would be 1 approach to helping the town get a handle on rising taxes by separating out a fee for stormwater management. Questions were raised about incentives for property owners to reduce their impervious surfaces to score abatements or credits as well as how expenses will be accounted for differently (for example, personnel costs associated with stormwater management would shift to the fund). One Town Meeting member warned that an unintended consequence of the new fee is that some property owners might decide to build their garages closer to the street to avoid building long driveways—a look that might fly in the face of historical housing design protocols.

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Wrapping it up with housing

The last 2 articles discussed on night 4 of town meeting dealt with housing issues.

Article 24, which Town Meeting approved unanimously, gives the Select Board authority to petition the state to allow the town—via a Special Act—to use Community Preservation Act funds for improvements to Wellesley Housing Authority properties. Those funds currently can be used for preservation, but not renovation. As the Select Board’s Ann-Mara Lanza said, the town could have used the funds to fix a hole in the roof, but not to upgrade facilities for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. The Community Preservation Committee’s Barbara McMahon noted that all the Housing Authority properties were built before the CPC was even a thing.

Article 30, also approved unanimously, allows for use of $310,000 in state payments generated from 40R project development (The Nines at Wellesley Office Park) to support Housing Authority capital projects. These improvements would benefit those using wheelchairs, as well as sight- and hearing-impaired residents.

Only a handful of articles, including those focused on a green building code and a citizen petition on outdoor lighting research. The action picks up again on Monday, April 24.

Previous coverage:

• Wellesley Town Meeting week #2 recap: $2M school budget cut denied; Omnibus passes; Weston Road project delayed; More housing allowed at Wellesley Park; Sprague bathrooms a go; Equity Audit discussion to be continued
• Wellesley Town Meeting week #1 recap: Back in person; Public servants remembered; Article 8 (budget) to be continued…

Wellesley’s Annual Town Meeting, which this past week was back in-person at the middle school for the first time in 3-plus years, brought to bear the sort of spirit you just couldn’t muster online.  The WMS jazz band performed, the Wellesley Fire Department honor guard brought dignity and bagpipes, red-shirted Wellesley Educators Association members made their presence felt outside and inside the venue, and both the masked and unmasked seemed happy to be together serving as the town’s legislative arm.

Here’s a recap of some of this past week’s highlights, which took place Monday and Tuesday in what will be just 2 nights of what Moderator Mark Kaplan warned Town Meeting members would likely be at least a 6-session affair. Look for Town Meeting to skip ahead to Articles 19 and 20 (Hardy Elementary School funding, Warren Building HVAC funding) on Monday, April 3.

We’ve embedded Wellesley Media’s recordings of nights 1 and 2 near the bottom of this post, and you can find the warrant, Advisory Committee report, and more at Wellesley’sTown Meeting page.

Memorial resolutions for town servants who passed

Memorial resolutions were read for 6 public servants and Town Meeting members who died over the past year (resolutions are embedded below):

• Nancy Wiswall Erne
• C. Joseph “Joe” Grignaffini
• Sarah Higgs Pedersen
• Gordon Francis Kingsley
• Angela Ryan Donovan
• Helen Pogue Laird Robertson

Among the impressive accomplishments: “As a resident of Precinct F, Angela [Ryan Donovan] developed an interest in Town Meeting and served as a Town Meeting Member with perfect attendance from 1978 to 1994.”

Technical difficulties & Go Bruins!

For the most part, electronic voting via handheld devices worked, though it took some trial-and-error.

One of the test questions asked was whether the Boston Bruins would win the Stanley Cup, and Town Meeting voted resoundingly that they would.

Story time at Town Meeting

As Wellesley Public Schools Supt. Dr. David Lussier likes to say, “budgets do indeed tell stories.” So do some elected town officials, especially those that grew up here, as seen during Town Meeting.

Board of Public Works Chair Scott Bender, sharing his respect for the town’s DPW workers before summarizing the budget, harkened back to his days as a 2nd grader in Wellesley when a teacher asked him to make a board showing what he’d like to do when he grew up. “I had 2 things on my poster board—it was an astronaut and a sidewalk plow driver…so I was quite taken by the DPW at an early age…”

School Committee Chair and Town Meeting member Leda Eizenberg, in introducing the first school budget segment, referenced the last time she stood at a mic at that spot in the middle school was as a student in 1992 when she sang “a very shaky solo in a Gershwin medley.” She shouted out music teacher Ann Tomashefsky, who taught her then and now teaches Eizenberg’s kids at Upham Elementary School.

Smooth sailing through start of Article 8

As seen in the Town Meeting Scorecard, motions have passed easily so far at this year’s meeting, with roughly 200 of 240 elected Town Meeting members voting on most motions, and not more than 4 votes against any motion yet.

Motions addressed so far include the Consent Agenda, split across 2 motions under Article 3. That knocked off 12 articles in a flash.

Article 2 merely acknowledged the presentation of the town-wide financial plan and 5-year capital plan by Executive Director Meghan Jop and CFO Sheryl Strother, and a motion on this passed easily. One feel-good moment from that presentation came via a slide titled “Budget Guidelines FY24” whose first bullet point stated: “No Override.”

Jop was back on the second night of Town Meeting for further budget discussion under Article 8, along with presenters from the Board of Public Works, Board of Trustees of the Wellesley Free Library, and Wellesley Public Schools.

The town’s revenue, such as from licenses and permits, has bounced back strongly since the height of the pandemic, Jop said. Some 87% of the town’s revenue comes courtesy of your ever-soaring property taxes.

On a non-budget note, Jop also warned the crowd that “your cut-through is ending,”referring to the shutdown of Town Hall for the next 18 months beginning next week, as it undergoes interior renovations. Town offices will be taking up residence at 888 Worcester St. (Rte. 9 east).

More discussion will take place this week at Town Meeting when members dive into the FY24 omnibus budget, which includes town spending plans, including for schools. The town has presented a balanced operating budget totaling $201,363,593, with the proposed school budget at $87,832,188.

In some foreshadowing of what to expect when Town Meeting tackles Article 29 for establishment of a stormwater utility enterprise fund, DPW Director David Cohen and BPW Chair Bender were asked several questions by Town Meeting members about that fund, including its tax impact on the department’s budget. The DPW over the past year-plus has marketed the stormwater utility enterprise fund as not an additional tax, but rather a fairer way to pay for the town’s stormwater management efforts.

Among the good news shared about the DPW, the department made its smallest request ($225K) in 9 years for supplemental funding to handle snow removal and other such winter costs.

Before the main act—schools—Marla Robinson shared an update on the libraries, which as it turns out, will be conducting a cybersecurity audit, as has the town, and as the schools are planning.

Dr. Lussier was clearly the town official that Town Meeting members most want to query. He shared the school budget’s context and details (which includes assumptions that take into account settling with the teachers/staff union), and gave an update on the “rare, once-in-a-generation opportunity to build 2 new elementary schools” and the smoother-than-expected swing space efforts that have allowed construction of Hunnewell to move along. Lussier also answered factual and clarifying questions only—as instructed by the moderator—during his hour or so at the mic at Tuesday’s roughly 3-hour meeting.

Questions were raised by Town Meeting members on several topics, including the 14% increase in out-of-district tuition that the state hit Wellesley and the rest of Massachusetts towns and cities with, and that put schools slightly over the town’s 3% budget increase guidance. Communities have been used to less than 3% annual increases, with FY23 being 2.54%.  Town meeting members also wanted to know about WPS administrative costs and where that money was coming from to conduct various surveys.

Town Meeting members also asked about enrollment, such as how the school handles exit interviews for those leaving WPS before graduating and whether overall staff size is increasing (even as enrollment falls). The schools have gone to great lengths to explain a dramatic decrease in enrollment in recent years, as more families chose private schools or home schooling in the face of uncertainty about public school rules during the pandemic. Lussier pointed to projected declines more in line with those pre-pandemic, and cited research showing the impact of lower birth rates on the school population here. Wellesley Public Schools expect a drop in enrollment of 76 students in the next school year, even as new housing such as The Nines have added a few dozen kids to the system.

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