Marblehead meeting posts busy warrant

MARBLEHEAD – The Warrant for the May Town Meeting, posted Wednesday, contains 51 articles – and seven of them have to do with construction of a new transfer station and the clean-up and closing of the town’s former landfill.That project is one of four major debt exclusion items facing Town Meeting and the voters this year: the others are the Pleasant Street traffic upgrade, which required two more articles, an expanded sidewalk repair plan and the Glover-Eveleth School construction. The Abbot Public Library is also seeking funds for capital improvements.Under the guidance of Town Moderator Gary Speiss the voters finished action on last year’s 50-article Warrant in one night, taking just under three hours. It was the first one-night Town Meeting in nearly 10 years and so far there are no predictions for 2010.Article 20 concerns raising money to cap the old landfill, raze the old transfer station and build a new one. Articles 21-26 deal with the clean-up and remediation work connected with closing the old landfill.The Board of Health and the board’s consultants are still calculating a cost figure for the state-ordered project, but the cost has been estimated in excess of a previous estimate of $11 million.Article 29 is the $750,000 plan to increase sidewalk repairs and Articles 30 and 31 deal with a proposed $1.6 million Pleasant Street traffic improvement plan.Article 38 is a new bylaw authorizing police to ticket motorists who send or receive text messages while driving. Fines range from $35-$150.Articles 40 and 41 involve restrictions on the bike path and land adjacent to the Chadwick Lead Mill site at 485 Lafayette St., where NL Industries has begun a clean-up of hazardous materials in the soil.Article 42 proposes artificial turf for the Marblehead High field.Article 44 covers the town’s participation in the new North Shore Agricultural and Technical School district, including a share of the cost of a new $133 million high school.Article 46 covers construction of a new elementary school to replace the Glo0ver and Eveleth schools.