By K.B. Sherman, Contributing Writer
Grafton – A short special town meeting May 9 preceded the Annual Town Meeting in Grafton. The first order of business was approving an amendment to Article 2, Section 15, of the Grafton General Bylaws to allow electronic voting. The introduction of electronic handsets last year had been controversial, with one voter standing and condemning the practice as a way to cheat on voting and thus destroy the democratic process.
At the meeting, Town Moderator Raymond Mead first tried the handsets to ensure that they were working properly. The handsets passed the test and the meeting moved on.
Most of the nine articles on the Special Town Meeting warrant dealt with general housekeeping matters such as moving funds from one account to another to deal with such items as moving $103,596 – the cost of weekend snow plowing during the past winter – to the snow and ice account. One voter questioned the cost considering last winter’s relative mildness, but the article passed handily.
Other articles on the warrant dealt with a small amount of money for the Open Space Reserve, the Historic Preservation Reserve, and the Affordable Housing Reserve. $81,750 was approved for the assessor’s cyclical revaluation. All nine articles were handily dispatched in 20 minutes.