SHELBURNE — Over the course of three and a half hours on Saturday, roughly 60 Annual Town Meeting voters approved all but one of the 28 articles, with a citizen’s petition that would have declared the town a Human and Pollinator Sanctuary the sole item voted down.
“Apparently we were the first community to have seen that particular article,” Selectboard member Robert Manners recounted Monday. “It was written by a gentleman from Charlemont and residents from the town submitted it, (though) none of the residents who had submitted it ever showed up at the Town Meeting.”
Issues arose with the article due to a lack of information and clarity voters felt would have been necessary to fully support it.
“It was kind of an advisory article, but I think it was a good learning experience for the petitioner,” Selectboard Chair Andrew Baker said Monday, explaining that while he was empathetic to the message, in the past, the Selectboard has even rejected Planning Board articles because they were unclear in what they were working to accomplish.
This specific article involved concerns over microwave radiation, though Manners agreed, saying, “It was a little vague in what they were looking for, and people had concerns about the language of it and were concerned that it wasn’t a tight article.”
The voters ultimately came to a split conclusion — the article was defeated by a majority vote. Town Clerk Joe Judd said the lack of confidence in the information presented and of original signers present at the meeting most likely had an impact on the outcome.
The most-discussed items on the Town Meeting agenda that passed included the town’s assessment to the Mohawk Trail Regional School District and Shelburne’s joining the Pioneer Valley Mosquito Control District.
With Article 23 came initial confusion, but later clarity and discussion, about whether Shelburne should join the mosquito control district. Baker said the confusion stemmed from exactly what the voters thought they were voting on. Once the article was clarified, voters decided it was a good idea to join the group.
In passing the article, Shelburne will not be part of state-sanctioned aerial spraying and instead is able to have a service that allows testing for disease-bearing mosquitoes.
Without much discussion, bylaws in Article 26, regarding small-cell installation of 5G towers, were passed.
Also approved easily was the placement of funding that Shelburne received from the Showtime television production “Dexter” into the Civic Beautification Fund. That $20,000 can be used for village improvement projects, Baker said, and he looks forward to gathering input about projects that would benefit the community. Just one of the ideas the town has been exploring is turning the empty lot of the now-closed Singley Furniture on Bridge Street into a public/private pocket garden.
This year, following the business conducted at Annual Town Meeting, Shelburne still has more than $300,000 in its stabilization budget, according to Baker. He said that spending was reasonable and within town means, especially considering the events of the past year that left funding so unsure due to COVID-19.
At almost every Annual Town Meeting, Shelburne has a tradition of honoring a resident who has “gone over and above serving the town of Shelburne.” Judd said that this year, the town report was dedicated to Marion Taylor for the various projects she has been involved in throughout Shelburne.
“Her fingers are deeply ingrained in the restoration of the Bridge of Flowers, the spawning of the Village Information Center and heavily involved in the restoration of the Village Business District, among many other things,” Judd recalled.
He also mentioned that Town Collector Maureen Pike was honored for her 45 years of service to the town, as she is retiring this year.