A number of articles will be presented at this year’s Town Meeting in Marblehead that seek to alter or reverse bylaws that were created as a result of Town Meeting 2023.
Despite Town Meeting members approving the change of Select Board terms to three years and voting for a seasonal leaf blower ban, other residents have brought forward articles that seek to change those decisions.
Article 49 on the Town Meeting 2024 warrant seeks to rescind the motion made at last year’s Meeting that changed the Select Board terms from one year to three years. Marblehead was previously the only municipality in the Commonwealth that still used one-year Select Board terms before Gov. Maura Healey officially signed the article into law.
Sponsored by Dwight Grader and others, Article 49 states “To see if the Town will vote to rescind the approved motion, which was made under Article 44 of the May 2, 2023 Annual Town Meeting, or to vote to change any subsequent Bylaw created as a result of that vote to make the elected term of the Select Board to be one year elected terms.”
This June would be the first year that the 2023 bylaw would begin to take effect. In order to stagger the terms properly, the highest two vote recipients would receive a three-year term, the third and fourth highest vote recipients would receive two-year terms, and the fifth would receive a one-year.
However, if this year’s article passes, the new terms will be rescinded before the first election it would have taken effect.
Another article hopes to have the seasonal leaf blower ban, passed at Town Meeting 2022, extended to a year-round ban. Last year, an article aiming to remove the ban failed to pass. This year’s article, sponsored by Sabrina Velandry and others, seeks a vote to “modify the seasonal ban on gas leaf blowers to a year-round ban.”
The topic has been well discussed and controversial over the last several years in town. Proponents of the ban have argued at past Town Meetings that gas-powered leaf blowers can cause hearing damage and are harmful to the environment, while landscapers in town have rebutted that they are essential to their work.
The current ban starts on Memorial Day and runs until Labor Day. Velandry, in another article, seeks to have the town vote to omit Chapter 75-2 in the bylaws, which cites leaf blower exceptions.
Chapter 75-2 currently states that “a representative chosen by the Board of Selectmen may allow the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in any situation that is deemed an emergency.”
Both issues are expected to draw varying opinions when Town Meeting commences on Monday, May 6 at 7 p.m. inside the Veterans Middle School auditorium.
