To our Readers:
In an effort to keep our community informed during the public-health crisis, we will post local virus-related information free of charge.
If you have any crisis-related stories, please submit them to ([email protected]).
For comprehensive daily news, home delivery and online only subscriptions are available via itemlive.com.
COVID casts confusion in Town Meetings
By Thor Jourgensen | March 28, 2020
Town Meeting — an annual spring tradition in small Massachusetts communities — is clouded this year by coronavirus as moderators wrestle with decisions to postpone meetings.
Lynnfield’s April 27 Town Meeting draft warrant is set with a 14-article warrant covering town finances, liquor license and zoning changes.
But with town government working in remote mode, Moderator Joe Markey, after consulting with town officials, said the meeting most likely will be postponed to May 27, subject to Lynnfield Middle School auditorium’s availability on that day.
Saugus Town Meeting is scheduled for May 4 and Moderator Stephen Doherty said a decision must be made by the second week of April to postpone or hold Town Meeting.
He will draw on advice from the Board of Selectmen, Town Manager and health officials to make his decision. Saugus has 50 elected Town Meeting members, making social distancing compliance or video conferencing a challenge.
“I have an expectation it is going to be postponed. We’re in the initial weeks of social distancing. The general feeling is we’re going to get out of this later than sooner,” said Doherty.
Town Meeting is democracy at its most basic in Massachusetts and moderators like Doherty and Markey know how seriously residents take the annual meetings and any alterations to them.
“No voice is too small at town meeting,” Markey said.
But moderators also know that social distancing and isolation orders as coronavirus continue make mass assemblies all but impossible.
Swampscott Moderator Michael McClung has pored over Gov.Charlie Baker’s municipal governance legislation expanding the flexibility already granted to moderators under state law to allow Town Meeting to take place after June 30 if there is still a declared emergency in effect.
“Since Swampscott’s annual Town Meeting is still two months away, we have some time to wait and see how the current situation evolves. We will continue to work in close coordination with the Commonwealth, and make decisions that provide for the safest Town Meeting possible, whether that’s on the original date in the original location, or requires a different approach altogether,” McClung said in a statement.
Nahant traditionally held town election and Town Meeting on the same day, turning a spring Saturday into an all-day celebration of democracy, complete with book and baked goods sales.
Town Meeting voted in 2019 to set different days for the election and Town Meeting after state finance officials suggested that a Town Meeting held at a later date would provide local officials more opportunities to fine-tune budget planning.
The election is currently set for April 25 and Town Meeting for May 6.
“We haven’t made a decision yet. We will have to soon — circumstances are evolving by the hour,” said Town Administrator Antonio Barletta.
Factors contributing to a decision to hold or delay include factoring in the time a printer contracted by the town needs to print ballots. One consideration dominates decision making.
“The most important thing to myself and the Board of Selectmen is public safety and health,” Barletta said.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].