MARBLEHEAD — Marblehead voters tackled 52 articles last week at Town Meeting, and while many hot ticket items have earned their time in the limelight, many have also slipped through the cracks.
The passing of Articles 19-21 allowed the Town to appropriate sums of money to fund collective bargaining agreements (CBAs).
Article 19, which addressed the police CBA, passed with a 90% in favor, and the Town can now appropriate $140,000 from free cash to fund the CBA for fiscal year 2026. Article 20, which was for the Marblehead Municipal Employee Union CBA, passed with 92% in favor, and the Town can now also appropriate $140,000 from free cash to fund the CBA for fiscal year 2026. Article 21, which touched on the firefighters’ CBA, passed with 95% in favor, and the Town can now appropriate $150,000 from free cash to fund the CBA for fiscal year 2026.
Article 25 asked the Town to vote in favor of zoning bylaw changes in regards to floodplain districts.
“A floodplain district is designated by the federal government, from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), that basically details where there’s flood risk in areas throughout the United States,” Alex Eitler, town planner, explained. “This has been an ongoing approach to public safety to prevent and maintain and assure that those who are within floodplain districts and those who are outside of those floodplain districts are aware of the risks of potential flooding.”
He said the Town received a request from FEMA early last year to update Marblehead’s flooding bylaws “to be consistent with the new sanctions, and that not only includes updating maps but also updating terminology in our existing bylaws.”
Prior to the Article’s passing, with 93% in favor, Eitler said he encourages community members to “come and inquire” about if their homes are in a risk area. He added, though, that “not much has actually changed in terms of updating map panels.”
Article 28 was a Home Rule Petition which established a means-tested senior citizen property tax exemption, and it passed with 93% of the vote. Select Board member Dan Fox said that “this is a highly targeted tax rate for Marblehead seniors” which does not become applicable until “the senior has received all State benefits.”
“We’re going to make sure that we maximize State benefits before they take any benefits from the Town of Marblehead,” he said.
Fox added that being “means-tested” meant that people must meet certain criteria to be eligible, such as being 65 or older and being a Marblehead resident for at least a decade.
Article 31 passed with 73% of voters in favor, meaning the Town can now “change the Coffin School building and grounds from school purposes to general municipal purposes” and ultimately “transfer the care, custody and control of (it) to the Select Board for further reuse.”
Select Board member Moses Grader explained that Article 31 came to be because “the school determined that they no longer need the property for school purposes, and they voted to transfer it to the Select Board.” He added that the last time the Town did this was with the Gerry School in 2019.
Article 32’s passing, with 97% in favor, shifts the “care, custody and control” of the Gerry School Playground, also known as the Elm Street Park, from the Select Board to the Recreation and Park Commission.
Article 37 passed with 96% of voters in favor. Its passing allows the Marblehead Police Department to now hire officers who are over the age of 32. Police Chief Dennis King explained why this matters.
“Recruiting and retaining police officers is very challenging right now. (The number of) people interested in becoming police officers is at its lowest in decades,” King said.
King said he should be able to submit his hiring recommendations to the Select Board based on “all positive attributes, skills and abilities, while also giving (candidates) credit for life experiences and professional development they have before becoming an officer.”
He added that during the last two hiring cycles, King has had “excellent candidates who were just over the age restriction.” Now he will be able to hire any qualified candidate without that age restriction.
