GILL — At a Town Meeting that had to table an incomplete budget for a later meeting in June, the 45-minute affair Monday evening breezed by with few items contested.
Voters allowed the Selectboard to add safety zones to control speeding, implemented a 3 percent local sales tax on retail marijuana and approved school spending for next year.
All 14 articles on the warrant were passed, most of which went by unanimously at the meeting held at Gill Town Hall with a few dozen in attendance.
The remaining articles, including the annual operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, will be settled at a special Town Meeting June 19, beginning at 7 p.m.
Voters agreed to accept $148,221 in state Chapter 90 highway aid funds for road maintenance such as repaving and guardrail projects.
A $1,619,622 budget for its portion of the Gill-Montague Regional School District was approved quickly. The “general fund” and “all funds” budgets both increased by 0.5 percent, and Gill’s overall share of the school budget increased by 0.2 percent.
The town happily voted to allow the Selectboard to accept a gift of land from Renee Jenkins of 19 Boyle Road.
The piece is 0.08 acres and is deemed “historically significant” since it is where Herbert B. Hastings’ old blacksmith shop used to stand. The property has an assessed value of $900 and its annual taxes are $15.46.
“We think it’d be an extraordinary addition to the town’s history,” Historical Commission Chairman Ivan Ussach said.
A healthy amount of debate preceded a vote that allows the Selectboard to create designated safety zones, likely at the section of Mount Hermon Road in front of the new Bolger Center for Childhood Education. A safety zone has an enforceable speed limit of 20 miles per hour.
A handful of residents questioned whether this vote, which passed by majority, will set a precedent for other preschools and day care centers to request a 20 mph zone in front of their locations.
The Selectboard countered this thinking, saying the article allows for case-by-case decision making by them, and acknowledges the specificity of this individual case.
“I don’t know if the can of worms we’d open with this would necessarily be so smelly considering there would be three elected officials in town making this decision,” Selectman John Ward said.
For this project, speed bumps were discussed and subsequently dismissed as they would cause wear and tear on the road and require winter upkeep. Also, a “school zone” wasn’t applicable for the area since these zones are only for grades 1 through 8.
In what the town moderator explained as a “what if” article, residents agreed to pass a 3 percent local tax on retail marijuana, the maximum amount allowed by the state.
Currently no recreational marijuana dispensaries have expressed interest in opening in Gill, the moderator said.
The tax passed unanimously and with just one question of clarification.
The town voted to edit part of the Agricultural Commission bylaw to more reliably receive a quorum. This now requires the commission to consist of three to nine members. There are currently four members on the commission, but the town’s bylaw had set membership at seven people and to achieve a quorum, it had needed all four members be present.
Similarly, the town voted to edit part of the Finance Committee bylaw to require the committee have between five and nine members to better achieve a quorum. The Finance Committee’s membership is set at seven. There were only five members until late April, when a sixth joined.
In preparation to celebrate Gill’s 225th year as a town, the town agreed to use $3,000 from “available funds.”
The Selectboard has permission to research, develop, and participate in a contract “to aggregate the electricity load of residents and businesses,” with the option for individuals and businesses to opt out. The intent is to be able to buy power for less by buying in bulk.
A total of $1,881 from the Quintus Allen Fund, a trust fund used for educational expenses in Colrain, Gill, Leyden and Shelburne, will be used to support Gill Elementary School.