Board approves postponement of Annual Town Election and Town Meeting
By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter
Shrewsbury – The town of Shrewsbury has joined a growing list of communities that has postponed its annual town election, which was scheduled for Tuesday, May 5, possibly even waiting until the November presidential election.
The Board of Selectmen made the decision at a special meeting April 7 held via remote participation to postpone the election, as well as the annual town meeting (ATM), which was scheduled to begin Monday, May 18.
Town Moderator Chris Mehne also participated in the discussion.
“We now have more flexibility to deal with continuances of Town Meeting for reasons of weather or health and safety emergencies,” he noted. “I see it as a joint responsibility between the Board of Selectmen, the Manager and the Moderator to look at what is the best interest of the town and town government. “
Board Chair Maurice DePalo noted that the town could postpone the Town Election up until June 30 without any special state legislation required.
“Anything after June 30 would require an act of the legislature,” he noted. “The Town Meeting itself, we can set the date and after the date is set the Moderator is allowed to postpone the Town Meeting in 30 day increments, 30 days after the State of Emergency is declared, so there could be a certain amount of time that we could do this beyond June if it’s necessary.”
Selectman Beth Casavant inquired if they were to postpone the ATM beyond the end of the fiscal year, “How would we proceed with funding essentials at that time?”
Town Manager Kevin Mizikar assured her that provisions for that eventuality have been made at the state level.
The Board then unanimously approved moving the election and ATM to a future date to be determined.
Selectman Jim Kane suggested that the town election be moved to the fall to be held in conjunction with the presidential election scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3.
“As much as we all hope that things are back to some degree of normality, I don’t see the reason to spend the money on a spring election this year. We are getting some sense from Mr. Mizikar as to the budget challenges we will be facing in addition to those that are already present,” Kane said. “All of the elected positions in town are filled, the boards are functioning and our town is not under represented at this time.”
The Board agreed that it will discuss this issue at its Tuesday, April 14 meeting.
In related business, in order to provide some financial relief to residents due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Board approved changing the 4th quarter property tax bill due date from Friday, May 1 to Monday, June 1, extending the deadline for property tax exemptions from April 1 to June 1, and to waive interest and penalties for certain bills (but not SELCO bills) if paid in full by Tuesday, June 30.
