CONWAY — After more than three hours deliberating a number of articles on Saturday’s 26-article Town Meeting warrant, which included the approval of an increase in the town administrator’s salary, voters still had to consider a series of proposed amendments to the town’s marijuana bylaw.
The meeting began at 1 p.m. at the new highway maintenance facility on Fournier Road, with as many as 150 residents present.
Kicking off the meeting, a number of residents said they were not in favor of the $6,000 pay raise for Town Administrator Tom Hutcheson, according to Selectboard member Phil Kantor, who was also against the raise.
The raise, which Selectboard Chair John O’Rourke said brought Hutcheson within the range of compensation of other town administrator salaries, was discussed as a line item in the overall town budget presented in Article 2.
O’Rourke noted in an email following Town Meeting that the salaries of town staff were frozen and departments were asked to make voluntary cuts as a result of the pandemic and the related financial uncertainty.
The total salaries frozen came to $16,000, according to Hutcheson, referencing the town budget book.
In other efforts to reduce the operating budget, Hutcheson volunteered to forgo $2,700 in expenses for conference fees and mileage, at the same time O’Rourke and Selectboard member Bob Armstrong volunteered to forgo their $1,800 stipends. Those savings in particular amounted to a $6,300 savings in the budget.
Some residents, however, objected to the fact Hutcheson’s raise comes at the same time other town staff were seeing a pay freeze, according to Kantor.
But ultimately, it was felt that Hutcheson’s contract, which was recently approved by the Selectboard, should be honored.
“The feeling was … we should honor the contract,” Kantor said.
The $6.2 million budget, therefore, passed as presented.
Kantor also said there was a disagreement over two line items in Article 10, which sought approval for the Highway Department to purchase a bucket loader and compact loader, priced at $50,000 and $30,000, respectively. Both line items were turned down by voters.
Article 26, which was submitted by citizen’s petition, took up at least the last hour of the meeting, Kantor said.
The article, which was submitted by residents Susan and Gary Fentin, was aimed at amending zoning bylaws pertaining to adult marijuana establishments. The petition was discussed in a public hearing on April 16.
The petition’s proposed amendments included increasing setback requirements, putting more onus on developers to research the potential adverse effects of their marijuana establishments, and being more exhaustive in terms of what is included in their list of potentially hazardous materials.
The Planning Board, however, had a number of concerns with the proposed amendments on the petition, and was not in favor of the article as it was written.
The details of those concerns were provided on handouts Saturday that were separate from the warrant article, Kantor said.
“People objected to the fact they didn’t get to read it in advance,” he noted.
Kantor said the town has, in the past, taken a more conservative approach to marijuana, compared to neighboring towns. Some argued at the meeting that the town has over-regulated such development.
“The argument against that prevailed … and that was that we need to do more to protect the character of neighborhoods,” he said.
Ultimately, the citizen’s petition did not pass, and the town sided with the Planning Board. A revised zoning bylaw, however — with a number of changes and corrections — passed by one vote, according to Kantor.
Prior to the reading of warrant articles, Kantor said both town officials and state Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, recognized Planning Board member Joe Strzegowski for his nearly 40 years of consecutive service to the town.
Strzegowski, who currently serves on the Planning Board and the Wastewater Committee, previously held roles on the Selectboard and in emergency management. He was presented on Saturday with a certificate and a banner in appreciation of his years of service.
An earlier version of this article erroneously reported the total cost savings as a result of freezing the salaries of town staff members.