Selectmen discuss warrant for Oct. 22 Town Meeting
By Catie Foertsch Contributing Writer

Westborough - At their Sept. 11 meeting, the selectmen took a look at the draft warrant for the upcoming Fall Town Meeting and asked Town Coordinator Henry Danis to bring more information to their next meeting Tuesday Sept. 25 on several articles including a request for a sidewalk plow, surveillance cameras and a new bylaw to ban Jet Skis from Lake Chauncy.

The selectmen will then vote Sept. 25 to finalize the warrant for the Monday Oct. 22 Town Meeting.

The draft warrant currently contains 13 articles. The first article asks the town for money to fund raises in new contracts for the town's nonschool department unions and the last article asks the town for money for raises in new contracts for the school department's unions. Amounts have not been specified, as negotiations are ongoing.

The second article asks the town to approve the hiring of a Department of Public Works (DPW) employee, at a salary of $24,400. The hire would not expand the DPW, but would fill one of two positions that have been vacant since the economic crunch a few years ago. Danis told the selectmen that the DPW would come to the 2008 Annual Town Meeting to ask for another hire to fill the second position.

Article Three asks for $93,500 to purchase a sidewalk plow to clear snow from downtown sidewalks. Article Four asks for $20,000 for surveillance cameras for the town's water treatment plant.

Article Five asks the town to adopt Section 18 of Mass General Law 32B. If adopted, the law would require the shift of all eligible retirees from town health insurance plans to Medicare Part B with supplemental plans through the town. The shift is being proposed as a cost-savings measure.

Article Six asks the town to ban Jet Skis and other personal watercraft from Lake Chauncy, because, Danis said, there have been major problems with Jet Skis endangering swimmers.

"People are not using them [Jet Skis] responsibly and they're creating issues with them," he said. "People are bound to get hurt."

Article Seven asks the town to allow town board and committee members to miss a single session of an adjudicatory hearing, which is a hearing that leads to a ruling by the committee that carries the weight of law. Affected committees would include the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board.

Article 12 asks the town to change the start time for Annual Town Meetings from 1 p.m. on the second Saturday following Town Elections to 10 a.m. on the same day. The purpose, Danis said, would be to add a few hours to the Saturday Oct. 22 Town Meeting

Town Meeting session and hopefully eliminate the sometimes-necessary Tuesday night session, or even to allow a shorter session on Monday night.

Other articles on the warrant ask the town to sign an agreement with Hopkinton to allow two Hopkinton households to receive Westborough town water, to spend $7,000 for a software license for the Police Department, to authorize fiveyear contracts for the country club's golf professional and superintendent, and to raise money to develop plans for a public safety complex or fire station on the town-owned Vee-Arc property on Milk Street.