Dear Editor,
The library is one of the most important places in a town and on Saturday, December 10th Westborough will hold a special town meeting on its library’s future. A citizen’s petition was brought forth by a group of voters (including me) who felt that the circumstances of the vote in October did not match the importance of the decision being made. The vote was held after 10:30pm on a rainy Monday evening when no childcare was provided. Many of our town’s older residents do not drive in the dark. Many residents old, young, and with early morning jobs were asleep by then. A state law requires towns with open town meetings to hold special town meetings when petitioned by 200 or more voters. Our petition gained 575 signatures in 5 days.
The upcoming special town meeting will be held on Saturday at 9am and childcare will be provided. While this does not ensure all interested voters are able to attend, these circumstances do allow for more involvement from more members of our community, which is always a good thing.
I will be voting in favor of the library building project because the library is one of the town’s most important, welcoming, and accessible institutions. I want to support the work that the community and staff have put into the ten-year planning process, and to take advantage of the $9 million the state is offering. The choice is not this project or no tax increase, because the library is badly in need of repairs and is not ADA compliant. The choice is between this library project and another project—or series of projects—that will address baseline repairs and code-compliance, likely end up costing almost as much, and not result in the library that Westborough needs and deserves.
I look forward to seeing our town turn out for this important vote, and I will be supporting the community when I vote Yes on Articles 1 and 2 at the Special Town Meeting on December 10.
Sincerely,
Brittany Jacobs
Westborough
