Other Articles
See complete warrant at: https://www.winchester.us/DocumentCenter/View/10460/2023-Fall-Town-Meeting-Motion-Book.
Article Number, Article Title, Warrant Page
1 Hear reports of Town Officers, Boards and Committees, including Finance Committee 1
2 Hear Planning Board Report 1
3 Vacate seats of TMMs for failure to attend meetings 1
4 Hear Capital Planning Committee Report 1
5 Appropriate money for Capital Planning Projects 1
6 Appropriate money for improvements at Leonard and McDonald Fields 2
7 Amend vote of Article 18, Spring 2021 Town Meeting to increase appropriations for Muraco Elementary School Culvert 2
8 Amend vote of Article 22, Fall 2022 Town Meeting to increase borrowing for Arbor Lane 3 and Wendell Street pumping station
9 Appropriate money for community lead service water line replacement 3
10 Authorization to lease land 3
11 Authorization to purchase land 3
12 Appropriate money for Winchester High School repairs/remediation 3
13 Transfer money from Free Cash to SPED Reserve Fund 3
14 Accept provisions of the 4th paragraph of Section 3 of Chapter 40 of MGL 4
15 Appropriate money from Parking Meter Funds to Town Center Parking Account 4
16 Transfer money from Free Cash or other available funds to the Traffic Calming account 4
17 Appropriate money for Davidson Park and Washington Street Park 4
18 Appropriate money to pay for acquisition and installation of solar panels on Lynch Elementary School 4
19 Authorize Select Board to enter Power Purchase Agreement 4
20 Appropriate money to supplement the Opioid Settlement 4
21 Rescind any borrowing or portion thereof previously approved by the Town 5
22 Transfer funds to Employee Healthcare and Health Insurance Stabilization Fund 5
23 Transfer funds to supplement the Eversource account 5
24 Transfer funds to supplement or reduce FY24 budgets 5
25 Transfer funds from Water and Sewer Retained Earnings to supplement or reduce FY24 budget 5
26 Transfer funds from Recreation Retained Earnings to supplement or reduce FY24 budget 5
27 Appropriate money from PEG Access and Cable Related Fund 5
28 Transfer funds to pay prior fiscal year expenses 5
29 Amend Chapter 2, Section 4.1, of the Code of By-Laws 6
30 Amend Chapter 2, Section 4, of the Code of By-Laws 7
31 Amend Chapter 18, Section 6(a), of the Code of By-Laws 7
32 Personnel Board report 8
33 Hear Report of the Community Preservation Act Study Committee 8
34 Authorize transfer of funds to reduce the tax levy for FY24 8
35 Accept committee reports, dissolve old committees, authorize new committees 8
Comments
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Details from Ken Pruitt's "Winchester Sustainability Newsletter" on Article 31:
The second vote, which is Article 31, would amend the Public Shade Tree Bylaw to help reinvigorate the Permanent Street Tree Committee (PSTC) by updating its membership. The PSTC assists the town in the planning, funding, and implementation of street-tree planting and maintenance. The PSTC suspended meetings at the onset of COVID-19 and only recently resumed informal meetings. The proposed bylaw amendment would add a Climate Action Advisory Committee representative and the Sustainability Director (as a non-voting member), and make other technical changes intended to improve the committee’s functioning. It is hoped that a newly constituted PSTC, working closely with the Department of Public Works and others, will be able to help Winchester significantly increase the number of street trees and improve their management.
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Regarding article 22, The article would max out the healthcare stabilization fund to 10% of annual expenses by adding $1m just weeks after that policy limit was set by the Select Board. Furthermore, only increases in healthcare beyond 5% annually would be considered eligible expenses, again based on this brand new policy. While I am pleased we as a town are so flush with cash we can stash away $1M, I worry that we will again be told that capital is underfunded.
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Re Article 8 - Does the debt service end up in our water rates?
