SAUGUS — Water was the word of the night.
Town Meeting members convened Monday night for the first session of their annual meeting, voting unanimously on articles related to water, sewer, water pipelines, and stormwater.
It took longer for Moderator Stephen Doherty to read an eight-page proposed bylaw change that would bring the town in compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards — and for members to discuss it — than it did for the nearly four dozen elected members to pass the other four articles.
The bylaw change, which ultimately passed, is intended to regulate discharges to the town’s storm drainage system for the protection of water bodies, public health, and the environment, and to improve water quality, and reduce erosion, according to the warrant.
Pollutants listed in the document include paints, solvents, automotive fluids, yard wastes, rubbish, pesticides, fertilizers, animal wastes, rock, sand, salt, soils, construction wastes, and others.
“We have been working on this for some time now, a couple of years,” said Town Manager Scott Crabtree. “This is what is needed to do to put us in compliance with the EPA.”
Stephen Horlick, precinct 8, questioned why fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides wouldn’t be exempt from the list of pollutants because they are used so frequently.
“They do leach out and they do go out to the sewers,” said Horlick. “Everybody uses them or their lawn wouldn’t be good.”
But not everyone agreed.
“Someone mentioned exempting herbicides and pesticides,” said Ann Devlin, precinct 1. “I think the opposite — if you live near a stream or river you should be more conscious of what you’re putting on your lawn.”
He proposed an amendment that included the exemption, which ultimately failed.
A separate amendment proposed by Michael Serino changed the language to allow only Town Meeting to set fees for violations of the bylaw, rather than the Department of Public Works, which will enforce it. It passed 24 to 17.
“I don’t think any single town employee should be setting fees,” said Serino, who added that it is typically the duty of Town Meeting or the Board of Selectmen.
Members also voted unanimously to authorize the borrowing of $1,324,000 at 0 percent interest from the MWRA Local Pipeline Assistance program to improve and replace water mains.
Twenty-five thousand dollars was transferred from Water Enterprise Fund’s expenses to salaries and from the Sewer Enterprise Fund’s expenses to salaries to cover costs of overtime related to several water main breaks.
Town Meeting will meet again on May 21, rather than next Monday, to give the Finance Committee more time to make its recommendations.
