Wellesley Special Town Meeting, featuring just 13 articles, wrapped up (aka, “dissolved”) in a single session on Nov. 3 in about 3.5 hours. Town Meeting approved more than $8m in funding for three major capital projects: A new Recycling & Disposal Facility (RDF) administration building; an RDF baler machine; and team rooms at the high school track and field.

There were no motions on two of the articles, and another four were bundled into a consent agenda on which Town Meeting voted approval in one fell swoop. So Special Town Meeting in the end had limited business to take care of. The presentation/discussion/vote regarding a citizen petition from a couple of high school students seeking to pave the way for 17-year-olds to vote in town elections consumed the last hour of the meeting.

You can review a recording of the meeting on Wellesley Media. You can check out the voting results on the town website—all but three motions were settled by a voice vote; you can view the individual voting results from the three motions determined by electronic votes. Town Meeting has 240 members, and at most, 202 voted on any article electronically.
 

Big ticket items

 
The big winner at Special Town Meeting was the RDF, which had funding approved for a new administration building and a new baler, a machine that compacts materials to make them easier to transport, store, and possibly sell as raw materials for new products. Town Meeting voted 185/10/1 in favor of the motion under Article 5 for the RDF admin building, and unanimously by voice vote for the baler funding.

Thomas Goemaat of the Permanent Building Committee presented Article 5, regarding funds to construct the RDF admin building.

A feasibility study was funded and conducted between 2018-2020, but the PBC held off moving forward because it was too busy with other projects, such as new school buildings. Design funds were approved last year, bringing us to the construction funding request at this Special Town Meeting. The PBC put the project out for bid, and got 12 bidders to respond.

During the design process PBC looked at either redoing the current building or constructing a new one, and decided on the latter. Going with a new building better addresses public and staff traffic flow, and won’t impede upon other existing buildings. What’s more, providing swing space won’t be required while the new building goes up.

Goematt described the condition of the current building as “pretty terrible,” “quite horrible,” and “awful” during parts of his presentation. While the building is an unacceptable place for Department of Public Works employees to work, it also fails the public—for example, there are no public bathrooms.

The recommendation based on the design study was for a 3,300 sq. ft. facility, which represents a 50% increase to accommodate everything from new offices to more storage to separation between staff and public areas. Unlike the current building, the new all-electric one would accommodate solar panels based on its location.

The request for was $5.5m, with plans to start construction early in 2026 and have the building ready for move in a year later in early 2027.

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Town Meeting members who spoke expressed support for the project, but also asked questions. Marla Robinson observed that seemingly 60% or more of homes on her street use private services for trash/recycling pickup and that that number seems to keep rising, and encouraged the RDF to do more to make residents aware of its services. She also recommended raising fees that private collection companies pay (this was one of several suggestions made during Special Town Meeting by members to make sure the town is charging enough or looking for new opportunities to charge those who do or might want to use its facilities).

Heather Degarmo Shaw asked about the need for more space, the gap between top bidders, and how the project would fit into the town’s budget. On the budget question, Wellesley Executive Director Meghan Jop said the project would invole a 10-year borrowing and would fit within the town budget. There were were also questions from others about the payback math on the solar panels.

Regarding the baler, Department of Public Works Director David Cohen made the case to spend $1.2 million ($800k from the baler stabilization fund, $400k from cash capital approved at Annual Town Meeting) for this essential piece of RDF equipment.

This new medium-sized product would replace a 1996 baler purchased for $400k that has surpassed its expected lifespan through aggressive maintenance. The machine bales about 800 tons of plastic, cardboard and other recyclables per year, and by baling recyclables the town is not only about to sell much of it (and at a higher cost than loose materials) but keeps its storage needs down.

“We’re proud of the value this ongoing investment has provided the community over the years,” Cohen said.

The town has four bids in hand for the baler. A new stabilization fund is being proposed for eventual replacement of the new baler.

Part of the back story on the team rooms is that the town scaled back its high school building plans years ago to secure outside funding, and compromised on locker room space as part of this. The new standalone team rooms are an attempt to make up for some of that lost space, and the current plan is to support the football team in the fall and the girls’ lacrosse and softball teams in the spring. Dedicating the team rooms to those sports will in turn free up space in the locker rooms at the high school for other sports during those seasons. Wellesley High has an extremely high rate of student participation in athletic programs.

The separate 1,652 sq. ft. team rooms building has been in the works for some time, with Annual Town Meeting approving funding in 2018, but the project didn’t go forward for various reasons. Chow termed the latest team room effort to be “a reboot.”

Design and permitting work was funded through a $175k appropriation at Annual Town Meeting last year, and this time around the School Committee was seeking about $1.8m (with about $400k from the outside field fund defraying the requested amount). Bids are in hand, and the goal is to open the team rooms in a year.

Some questions were raised about whether there were any Massachusetts School Building Authority-related restrictions in place regarding investment in the team rooms—the MSBA partially funded the high school building—but Chow said there were not. Questions were also raised about the size and location of the structure and whether it will be large enough (Athletic Director John Brown said he felt confident it would be).
 

Updating the property assessment software

 
For something completely different, the motion under Article 8 was a request for $190,000 to fund software to be used by the Board of Assessors to collect, analyze, and report property appraisal data for residents, businesses, town departments, and the state’s Department of Revenue. The board is responsible for estimating the fair market value of all property in town.

Board of Assessors Chair Arthur Garrity said the board might better be called the Department of Data Analytics given what it really does.

Nearly as impressive as the RDF’s long-in-the-tooth baler is that the town’s Computer-assisted Mass Appraisal system has been cranking since 1997. Garrity said the software has done well by the town but could create problems for Wellesley in meeting state standards if the software is stretched much thinner. “If we don’t do something to improve our reporting and data management capabilities there is a risk that the DOR might ultimately disallow our analysis, which would potentially create havoc at the time it comes to set the tax rate and there’d be dire consequences as a result. The time has come for us to develop a new system…,” he said.

Special Town Meeting agreed and the motion passed by voice vote.
 

17-year-old voters

 
The last matter of business for Special Town Meeting was Article 13, a citizen petition brought forth by Dana Hall School senior Anya Khera and Wellesley High senior Kourosh Farboodmanesh. Both are Town Meeting members, and the article follows a somewhat similar article from the 2024 Annual Town Meeting submitted by Khera and a since graduated Wellelsey High student (last year’s article failed to pass).

The students, who alternated newscaster style in presenting the article, addressed issues that Town Meeting had with the 2024 citizen petition in the new article (such as that residents age 16 or 17 would also be allowed to run for townwide offices) and explained what was different this time around. The big one: Last year’s article sought to pave the way for the local voting age to be lowered from 18 to 16, whereas this one more modestly aimed to lower it to age 17.

More specifically, as summarized by the Advisory Committee, the proponents sought Town Meeting authorization for the Select Board to place a non-binding public opinion advisory question on the March 2026 town election ballot, and if voters approve the question, to petition the state to enact special legislation allowing qualified Wellesley residents aged 17 to vote in Town elections.

Khera said the move to lower the voting age would allow greater representation and participation in local elections, and their effort in Wellesley is part of a broader national movement that she is involved with. “Vote 17 is grounded in the belief that our political system is stronger and more effective when it is inclusive,” she said.

Town Meeting members complimented the students on their effort in bringing a stronger article to Special Town Meeting, and voted 101-85 to approve it. Though not without reservations from some in part because the town could vote favorably on a ballot question but then the Select Board might not act on it.

Some said they supported the intent of the motion but had issues on procedural grounds. Also raised, as was the case last year, were concerns that the students don’t have enough economic stake in the town to vote on certain issues that would affect property owners or those who rent (though one speaker referenced the spending power that students do have at places like Shake Shack).

Among those who spoke most strongly in favor of the motion was Ezra Englebardt, who ticked off the many responsibilities that 17 year olds already have in town. “We should encourage the civic mindedness in all of our children in town to care about these issues and to find ways to participate in our town government,” he said.
 

Miscellaneous

• Pay IT: Town Meeting got off to a fast start when the motion under Article 2 to amend the IT Job Classifications & Salary Plan was presented and approved in the span of about 8 minutes. HR Director Delores Hamilton described this as being the “very last piece of our job classification and compensation study that was passed at Town Meeting in the spring.” She noted that the town’s IT department, like those in many other communities, has had a separate pay schedule than other departments for more than 20 years given the “constantly changing skills required and the evolving technology.” In most cases the minimum pay for Wellesley IT workers was brought up significantly, and the maximum was raised in some cases, too.
• TMI at TM?: During discussion of the team rooms one Town Meeting member and one administrator tossed out their height and weight in making a point about the size of the building vs. the size of football players. Perhaps a new tradition has begun for Town Meeting member introductions.
• Speaking of football: The electronic voting test question at the start of the meeting asked Town Meeting members if they thought the red hot New England Patriots would make the Super Bowl. The results: 97 yes, 81 no, 5 abstain. (“A lot of doubters in the hall,” commented Moderator Mark Kaplan. Actually sounds wildly optimistic to us.)

Wellesley’s appointed Advisory Committee, which vets articles and the motions under them ahead of town meetings, has completed its report for Special Town Meeting, which kicks off on Nov. 3 at Wellesley High School. Advisory’s report, which includes its recommendations on the 13 articles and underlying motions, has been posted online and is heading to Town Meeting members’s physical mailboxes.

The 57-page document summarizes motions, lays out their possible ramifications, and explains why Advisory made its recommendations. Advisory recommended favorable action on all motions, and for the most part did so with 0 or 1 “no” votes. The closest vote was on Article 13, a citizen petition to lower the voting age to 17 for local elections, and even that had a favorable vote of 10-4.

Also included on the warrant are articles for RDF Administration building construction funds, funds for team room construction at the track and field, and funds for modernized assessor’s reporting software.

Town Meeting is Wellesley’s elected legislative body, and consists of 240 members who represent the public.

Anyone can attend Special Town Meeting, though limited actions are allowed by those who aren’t Town Meeting members. The sessions will be shown live on Wellesley Media and recordings will be posted.

Due to vacant Wellesley Town Meeting member seats in Precincts A and C, the town is seeking registered voters who would like to fill these vacancies and represent their precinct at Special Town Meeting, which is slated to kick off on Nov. 3.

There are two seats open in Precinct A and three in Precinct C (see Precinct map).

Interested candidates should contact Town Clerk KC Kato at kckato@wellesleyma.gov.

A special election will take place on Oct. 7. Only Town Meeting members in these two precincts may vote to fill the vacancies.

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Wellesley’s 13-article Special Town Meeting warrant has been posted, and it includes items on a variety of topics from funding a new Recycling & Disposal Facility (RDF) administration building to allowing for accessibility ramps at the Wellesley Square commuter rail parking lots to updating the animal control bylaw regarding dog kennels.

Wellesley Executive Director Meghan Jop told the Select Board this week that the hope is that Special Town Meeting could be completed in two sessions. It’s set to start on Nov. 3 at Wellesley High School. Town Meeting is Wellesley’s legislative branch, and it meets in the spring for Annual Town Meeting, and typically in fall for a Special Town Meeting.

The details of articles will become clearer once motions under those articles are shared with the Select Board Office by late September.

Beyond those topics cited above, the Special Town Meeting warrant also includes articles related to funding an improved baler at the RDF and funding team rooms at the Hunnewell track & field complex. Public Works is also requesting the setup of a new account for addressing PFAS remediation via settlement funds from 3M and DuPont.

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The Board of Assessors seeks funding to overhaul its data collection, analysis, and reporting software. No doubt all those whopping assessments can burden a software platform.

Also on the warrant are Human Resources clean-ups regarding its policies and procedures, and job classification system.

Regarding the animal control regulations bylaw, the town seeks to comply fully with Ollie’s Law, designed to ensure dog safety at kennels. Town Clerk KC Kate explained the intricacies of this and other bylaw updates at the Aug. 26 Select Board meeting, about 16 minutes into the Wellesley Media recording.

The last article on the warrant, #13, is a citizen petition that seeks to allow 17-year-olds to vote in town elections. The article aims to get this non-binding public opinion advisory question on the next municipal election ballot:

Shall a special act approved by the [November] 2025 Special Town Meeting authorizing 17-year-old United States citizens residing in the Town of Wellesley to vote in municipal elections, but not to run for Townwide office, be submitted to the General Court for enactment?

A bid to lower the local voting age from 18 to 16 at the 2024 Annual Town Meeting was rejected by Town Meeting members.

The Wellesley Advisory Committee will hold a public hearing on the warrant articles on Wednesday, Sept. 24.

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Town of Wellesley 2025 Special Town Meeting

The Select Board will convene a Special Town Meeting on Monday, November 3, 2025, at 7:00 P.M at the Wellesley High School Auditorium, 50 Rice Street. The Warrant for the Special Town Meeting will close at 12:00 pm on Friday, August 22, 2025.

Any person desiring to have an article included in the Warrant for the Special Town Meeting shall submit a petition signed by not less than one hundred (100) registered voters of the Town. Any such petition shall be submitted to the Town Clerk for signature verification.

After being signed by the Select Board, the full text of the Special Town Meeting Warrant will be available from the Select Board Office located at 525 Washington Street and will be posted at the Town Clerk’s Office at 525 Washington Street, Police Station at 485 Washington Street and on the Town’s website (www.wellesleyma.gov).

Motions to be offered to the Special Town Meeting must be submitted digitally to the Select Board Office at sel@wellesleyma.gov by 5:00 pm on Friday, September 26, 2025.

WELLESLEY SELECT BOARD

Kenny Largess was voted in as a first-time Select Board member in March. The Swellesley Report reached out to him after that to propose doing monthly updates on what it’s like becoming a Select Board member, with the idea of giving others who might be inclined to serve in public office a better sense of what such a commitment entails.

Wellesley Annual Town Meeting spanned six nights spread across the first half of April, with the budget, housing, school AC, and tennis/pickleball among the topics that garnered the most attention and discussion. For new Select Board member Kenny Largess, whose formal role was limited at the legislative body’s sessions to presenting Article 6 (Town Clerk salary adjustment), taking it all in left him gave him an expanded view of many topics the Board will be dealing with in the weeks and months ahead.

RIOs

“The citizens’ petition regarding Residential Incentive Overlays (RIOs) was likely the most controversial Article at Town Meeting—and one I fully supported,” Largess said. “Although the petition received 61% of the vote, it fell short of the two-thirds majority required for approval. The strong level of support, however, signals significant interest in reform.”

(See also: “Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #6: RIO motion sparks lively housing debate, falls short of votes”).

The Planning Board even before Town Meeting had begun started the process of forming a RIO Task Force. That body will be tasked with reviewing the RIO zoning bylaw and, as a group make recommendations to the Planning Board for zoning bylaw changes to be brought before the next Annual Town Meeting in 2026.

Largess will be right in on the action: He’s the Select Board’s liaison to the task force.

Rethinking the budget

On the second night of Annual Town Meeting, the body took up a motion to split the $94M school budget (more if you include shared services) from the entire omnibus budget. Town Meeting voted down the motion (67 yes-141 no-1 abstain), but this likely won’t be the last we hear of this idea, especially if Wellesley winds up facing an override or debt exclusion vote in the near future.

Largess didn’t support making such a significant change as splitting out the school budget “without proper analysis, but I do believe Wellesley should review the omnibus approach.” As he notes,  “Town Meeting members [currently] must vote to approve or reject the entire budget as a single package. In practice, rejecting the budget is highly unlikely, as it would leave the Town without funding.”

“Taking the budget in smaller parts could allow for a more targeted review of individual budgets without risking a shutdown of the entire town government, leading to a more thoughtful and robust conversation,” Largess said.

Seniors and sports

Largess was supportive of Town Meeting’s vote to raise the income eligibility cap for the Senior Property Tax Deferral Program from $50,000 to $103,000 and index the cap to inflation going forward. The aim is to give more seniors on fixed incomes the ability to defer property taxes and remain in their homes.

“The Select Board opposed automatic indexing by a 1-4 vote (me being the 1). I believe it is important to give future Boards the flexibility to offer continued tax relief to seniors as costs rise. The amended Article passed with strong Town Meeting support, and participation in the program is expected to grow,” Largess said.

One of the highlights of Town Meeting for Largess was seeing Kourosh Farboodmanesh — a junior at Wellesley High School (and key contributor to Largess’s Select Board campaign)—propose an amendment to the Hunnewell courts article on night #4 that was approved. “Kourosh
presented his case thoughtfully and persuasively, and it was inspiring to watch his amendment ultimately pass with the support of Town Meeting,” Largess said.

A loooong meeting

Not that the town didn’t get a lot done during Town Meeting, but it took a long time. Each of six sessions clocked in at three-plus hours, plus individual town bodies met in advance of these sessions to prep.

Largess would like to see Wellesley explore ways to make Town Meeting more efficient. He pointed to Needham Town Meeting sessions that took about half as much time.

“The length of Town Meeting could discourage participation in Town government, especially for residents with young children,” he said.

One way to speed things up would be to move more items onto the consent agenda. He also recommends limiting discussion time on articles that are very likely to pass by large margins, he said, pointing to the “Skip the Stuff” article on night #5 that passed by a 155-16 margin. The presentation and discussion combined lasted for about half an hour.

Largess said the amount of time he spent doing Select Board duties across the three weeks of Town Meeting “was considerable”—probably a total of 40 hours. Subsequent weeks have been quieter, maybe 5 hours a week (this included school vacation week).

Non-Town Meeting highlights:

• “I recently had the opportunity to meet with the Friends of Wellesley Council on Aging. During my visit, I toured the Tolles Parsons Center, and spent time with Wellesley seniors and the dedicated staff. It was a pleasure to connect with members of our senior community and hear firsthand about the issues that matter most to them.
• I held my first Select Board office hours recently and set aside 90 minutes to meet with residents and hear what was on their minds. I really enjoyed the chance to connect with people one-on-one, and I am looking forward to doing it again soon.

More: Wellesley first-time Select Board member Kenny Largess jumps right into it (April 15)

A citizen petition seeking to amend a controversial zoning bylaw was the main event on the sixth and final night of Wellesley Annual Town Meeting. The motion under Article 42 narrowly failed to get the required two-thirds vote needed to pass on Tuesday night at the middle school, but did spark a broader town effort to reform the residential incentive overlay (RIO) bylaw (see Wellesley Media recording).

The vote was 123 for the motion, and 79 against—so 10 votes short of passing (see how Town Meeting members voted).

It wasn’t for lack of trying on the part of the resident who brought forth Article 42 and many who did support an effort to return the RIO zoning bylaw to its original state from 1998. But those against the article, and in favor of other possible ways to revise the planning tool, also made strong cases during a Town Meeting segment that lasted for some two-and-a-half hours. The discussion, which included voices of some three dozen residents, was civil despite strong feelings about the issue from different sides.

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Peter Welburn, a Town Meeting member and lifelong Wellesley resident, culminated his efforts for RIO change via the citizen petition route at Town Meeting after numerous previous presentations before the Advisory Committee (which vets Town Meeting articles), the Planning Board, and Select Board. Welburn said he was compelled to bring the citizen petition forward based on requests over the past couple of years from people, some of whom he met at neighborhood meetings and other housing meetings in town, to refocus the RIO bylaw away from allowing multifamily housing in single- and general residence districts. The bylaw allows development of 24 units per acre.

“When the RIO was originally proposed in 1998, the intent was to really encourage denser residential development in commercial areas,” Welburn said. As he explained, the town opened up RIOs to all districts in 2019 as it negotiated with developers of a couple of proposed 40B projects widely seen as overreaches considering their locations.

While all town residents are encouraged to follow Town Meeting, we’ve got your back juuust in case you didn’t catch it. Please consider supporting The Swellesley Report with a tax-deductible donation for the readable kind of news coverage you’ve come to expect from us.

His citizen petition did not attempt to overturn changes to the bylaw introduced in 2019, but rather focused on the districts where the overlay could apply. “I was really just trying to respond to the feedback I got from residents, and that feedback was about one thing: Location, location, location,” said Welburn, who lives near the site of a proposed condo development in the Cliff Estate area that did not pan out last year in the face of neighborhood and town opposition. Welburn described the proposal as recommending a strategic change for the town, rather than having Town Meeting debate one RIO development proposal after another, as it has done over the past year. He also argued that Wellesley has been quite supportive of housing development, including through its MBTA Communities compliance and meeting the state’s threshold on affordable housing stock.

Welburn said he’s supportive of a Planning Board-led effort to create a RIO task force, though contended there was no need to put off the changes proposed under Article 42 before that task force gets going.

Tom Taylor, chair of the Planning Board, followed Welburn to the podium and opened by saying: “At its most basic level, we agree that the RIO bylaw needs to be thoughtfully reviewed, improved, updated as an important zoning tool that has saved the town twice before. We don’t believe Article 42 is a change that is a net benefit to the town.” The change would be overkill in restricting RIOs to too few districts, he said, including potential developable areas such as Barton Road and Morton Circle, where Wellesley has older public housing complexes.

Taylor went on to say that Town Meeting has already shown an ability to discern what it considers to be good vs. bad RIO plans. The Planning Board also agrees with those who spoke at the past Special Town Meeting about waiting on RIO changes until the Strategic Housing Plan is completed.

“As a town, we are nowhere near consensus on this topic, and I would argue that looking at the bylaw with a group of dedicated citizens [via the RIO task force] is a better way to achieve useful change that the town will buy into,” Taylor said. The goal is to produce results from the task force in time for Annual Town Meeting next year, but he acknowledged this is an aggressive timeline.

Town Meeting members and other Wellesley residents spoke for and against Article 42.

Town Meeting member Ann-Mara Lanza, an active housing advocate, praised the opportunity to discuss this matter in a public forum. She voiced opposition for the article, in part because removing a tool from the table could hamper efforts to address the various housing needs in town, whether for seniors, new families, or first responders. “Each time we discuss a housing tool there’s always the prediction that that particular tool will result in a flood of unmanageable new housing,” she said, but pointed to this not materializing, such as with accessory dwelling units and RIOs.

Another opponent of Article 42, Phyllis Theermann, spoke on behalf of the grassroots Sustainable Wellesley group and cited the need for more multifamily housing to help the town achieve its sustainability goals. “Denser housing uses less materials, and is much more energy efficient than single-family housing…,” she said. “This citizen petition limits the ability of Town Meeting to consider future sustainable housing options.”

Lina Musayev acknowledged the concerns about change in neighborhoods that come with new developments. “I’m not asking us to give up what we love about our neighborhoods. I’m asking us to ask how we can improve them, make us better. If we believe in equity, and I know we do because we passed an anti-racism and anti-bias resolution as a town… if we believe in climate sustainability, if we believe in opportunity, then we have to make room for more homes, for more neighbors. And yes, some change…”

In describing her opposition to the citizen petition, Leda Eizenberg also pointed to what the town could gain by diversifying its housing stock. “I do think one of the ways we decrease demand is to increase supply,” she said.

Among those speaking in support of Article 42 was Ann Rappaport, who described it as providing a “much needed pause” to possible RIO developments, especially those that come to Town Meeting without development agreements. As it is, the RIO bylaw “tends to seem like a blank check to me,” she said.

Several members referenced the current bylaw allowing developers to lead the process; some vilified “greedy developers,” though also acknowledged developers need to charge a lot for housing given how much land costs.

Town Meeting member Tad Heuer, a zoning and land use attorney, supported Article 42 and reminded fellow members that the expanded RIO zoning bylaw was a defensive reaction to hostile 40Bs. “The purpose of zoning is to provide deliberative certainty in land use, both to those who want to build and to those who are already there. It is not meant to be deployed on a property by property basis. That is literally why we call it zoning… because it creates zones,” he said.

Gig Babson said she supported Article 42 and that the most important factor was the quantum of vote, which has changed since the original RIO bylaw emerged. As verified by town counsel, a majority vote now applies, per statute, when a motion would make multifamily housing development easier; the two-third threshold applies to motions that would make building multifamily housing harder. “That’s the most important point of why I believe we should support this [main motion to amend the bylaw]. That things have changed, not by our doing, but by the state’s doing, and that will allow the imposition of a RIO wherever it is in town by a majority vote. It’s much easier to get a majority vote than a two-thirds vote,” she said.

Town Meeting member Roy Switzler also supported Article 42, and aired concerns about how bringing multifamily developments to single-residence districts could hurt property values. “I don’t want to see Wellesley become a Newton or Brookline,” he said, adding that as a longtime real estate broker, he has told clients that anything built next to a single-family home other than another single-family home reduces home values.

With Article 42 failing to pass, it’s on to the RIO task force, which will include town officials as well as members of the public.

While there was no formal opportunity for Article 42 proponent Welburn to weigh in on the voting results before the meeting was dissolved, we followed up with him.

“I was blown away by the way Wellesley Town Meeting members came together to debate RIO reform last night.  It was a master class in civic engagement – not just for the Town, but for the entire country,” Welburn said. “With passion, respect, and clarity, the community took a major step forward on RIO reform.  A 61 percent vote for change makes one thing clear—momentum is building to update the RIO Bylaw.”

More:

• Town Meeting begins
• Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #2: School budget stays bundled
• Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #3: School AC a hot topic
• Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #4: Amended tennis/pickleball court plan bounces original one
• Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #5: Tax breaks; Skip the Stuff; Legal notices; Affordable Housing
• Wellesley Annual Town Meeting ends: RIO motion sparks lively housing debate, falls short of votes

Wellesley Annual Town Meeting entered its fifth night on April 14, with moderator Mark Kaplan giving the legislative body a brief pep talk at the start expressing his confidence that it should be able to get its business done over that session and the next on Tuesday.

Veteran & senior tax breaks

The first few articles focused on giving qualifying veterans and seniors more generous tax breaks.

Article 28 focused on allowing Town Meeting to grant qualifying veterans additional property tax relief tied to changes in cost of living. This would be allowable under the state’s new HERO Act, and municipalities adopting it would be partially reimbursed by the state.

Currently, fewer than 50 veterans in town take advantage of existing fixed-amount tax relief offerings by Wellesley, according to Board of Assessors Chair Arthur Garrity. Passing the motion would result initially in an 8 cent increase on property tax bills for owners of single-family homes based on the median assessment. By voice vote, the motion under this article passed unanimously.

So did the motion under Article 29, which would allow the town to double the exemption available to qualifying veterans (these exemptions range from $400 to $1,500, before doubling). This would result in a $2.37 property tax increase for owners of single-family homes based on the median assessment.

Article 30, also sponsored by the Board of Assessors, would allow more seniors to defer their property taxes. Currently, only those with gross receipts of no more than $50K can qualify, but this motion for a special act through the state’s general court would up that to $103K (Wellesley upped the amount from $20K to $50K in 2002, so it’s been a while). Wellesley took a look at what other like communities were doing on this front to come up with a number.

Only a dozen people are in the Wellesley senior tax deferral program, even with a very low interest rate barely above 0, and they’ve deferred about $1M in property taxes. The Board has proposed $103K as a ceiling to entice more people to participate, but with caution that not too many do (this could lead to increased administrative costs and a bigger tax burden on others). Deferred taxes , with interest, must be paid when property is sold.

Before Town Meeting got a chance to vote on this motion, member Michael D’Ortenzio introduced a motion to amend it. He referred back to his grandparents, who lived in town, and told of how many of their friends had to leave because they could no longer afford to do so. So D’Ortenzio proposed tying the deferral cap to inflation, just as Article 29 did for veterans tax relief (currently, the number for gross receipts that would qualify someone for tax deferral would be $109,000). Newton, Sudbury, and Brookline have adopted such language, while other communities have no cap, leaving it up to their Town Meeting and Select Board. Making this change would “future-proof” the tax deferral program, D’Ortenzio said.

The Advisory Committee voted favorable action on this 11-1, though the Board of Assessors and Select Board did not support the change. Several Town Meeting members spoke in support of the motion to amend. Doug Smith said he’s watched seniors being forced out of town because they couldn’t afford the high taxes, and that “we need to find a way to give them an opportunity to stay here, and that’s sort of what this does.”

The motion to amend passed by a vote of 126/55, and the amended motion passed 177/6.

Skip the Stuff

Article 35, known as the Skip the Stuff article (see our earlier coverage ahead of Town Meeting), was formally sponsored by the Climate Action Committee, Board of Health, and Select Board, with others behind it as well. It passed Town Meeting by a 153/16 vote.

Wellesley Sustainability Director Marybeth Martello kicked off her presentation about this proposed town bylaw amendment with all-too-rare Town Meeting props, in this case some packaged single-use utensils. The “stuff” that this article is encouraging people to skip when they get take-out from restaurants.

“Do you happen to have a drawer full of these kinds of utensils? Maybe you have a stash of ketchup packets that you’re reluctant to throw out, or perhaps a drawer full of chopsticks,” she said. “If you’re answering yes, Article 35 is for you.”

The idea behind this article, and a wider movement across the state, country and world, is to stop automatically handing out single-use utensils and condiment packets, and only do so when people request them. The goal is to save restaurants money and save a bunch of waste. Many restaurants, and online delivery firms, already require opt-in for single-use items.

Backers of this article have emphasized they see this as an educational opportunity for restaurants and the public, and aren’t out to punish restaurants. There will be three written warnings before any fines, and those start at $50. The Health Department isn’t looking to do heavy policing on this change, which takes effect Jan. 1.

Town Meeting members did ask quite a few questions. Topics included enforcement resources required (minimal, per the Health Department), whether restaurants will post notices about the rule change (yes, with the town’s help), and whether restaurants, coffee shops, etc. were surveyed (yes, most).

After numerous questions had been answered, Town Meeting member Lisa Sewall, whose family runs four restaurants, said “We’re really overthinking this, and I think maybe the bylaw wasn’t written very specifically… Every restaurant in town will welcome this with open arms. What we’re talking about is… all of the packaging, all the condiments that you don’t need…”

People would have clapped, if they were allowed to… As Moderator Mark Kaplan said at an earlier meeting: “One of the ground rules we have is no applause, no booing, no signs of pleasure or displeasure.”

‘The Swellesley Report’ article

Not officially The Swellesley Report Article, but Article 32 would allow the town to post certain legal notices on digital platforms only, rather than adhering to an outdated state law that requires notices to be published in print newspapers that few now read. Digital platforms could include those ranging from the town website to independent news outlets like ours. To be clear, town bodies can currently post notices in both print and digital publications, but often default to just the print newspaper. The goal here is to allow the town to publish notices wherever it feels the most people will see them. Arlington and Lincoln are two communities that have recently passed such updates to their rules.

When the Planning Department recently posted notices on The Swellesley Report, we were able to share with department leaders statistics on how many people had clicked on the notice headline. It’s anyone’s guess as to how many people see notices in newspapers, other than looking at subscription numbers and assuming some portion of subscribers saw the notices. The town spends about $3,000 a year on print notices.

One Town Meeting member recommended that digital notices be published more than once in case people miss the first post (just as would be the case in print, though once that newspaper is at the RDF, it’s gone; that original digital post is still online). The town actually has been posting notices twice on our site, and we’ve also offered to have a standing tab on our home page for legal notices to make them easier to find.

Another Town Meeting member advocated for posting online and in print, for full transparency.

Notices to abutters on certain projects would still be sent by mail.

The motion passed by a vote of 153/33. The Select Board would still need to get the state’s approval on this change.

Bills have also been circulating to make changes on this topic across the state.

Making the move to an Affordable Housing Trust

Article 34 focused on converting the Wellesley Housing Development Corp., into the Wellesley Affordable Housing Trust (AHT).

The Housing Development Corp., was established in 1998 to preserve and make available affordable housing in town, but in reality, the organization has very limited powers, and generally needs to go through the Select Board to get much done, said Chair Micah O’Neil.

About half the municipalities in the state have established trusts.

Town Meeting members had questions regarding how the formation of this trust could affect the town’s North 40 land and whether the Select Board might be ceding too much authority to a trust with a more limited focus than the Select Board.

One motion passed 140/41/1, and a second (amending the zoning bylaw to reflect the change to a trust) by voice vote.

Where first responders live

Article 31 would allow non-civil service police and fire personnel to live up to 35 miles from town, whereas they currently must be within 15.

The cost of housing around here can make it tough for these employees to live so close, and advances in the use of mutual aid among communities has made it less vital for first responders to live so close.

Town Meeting member Ann-Mara Lanza rose in opposition to the article, describing this motion as a way for Wellesley to push its problem with a lack of affordable housing off on other communities, and that having these people live so far away could make them easier hires for other cities and towns.

This article passed by voice vote.

More:

• Town Meeting begins
• Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #2: School budget stays bundled
• Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #3: School AC a hot topic
• Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #4: Amended tennis/pickleball court plan bounces original one
• Wellesley Annual Town Meeting night #5: Tax breaks; Skip the Stuff; Legal notices; Affordable Housing
• Wellesley Annual Town Meeting ends: RIO motion sparks lively housing debate, falls short of votes