GILL — Annual Town Meeting was brief Monday evening as all but one of the 24 warrant articles passed without issue.
Around 30 residents filled the second floor of Town Hall for the meeting. Voters approved 22 of the 24 articles unanimously, while Article 19 (to fund a condition assessment of the town’s roads and road-related infrastructure) passed by an overwhelming majority. However, residents voted to pass over Article 21 (to allocate funding to remediate water, humidity and mold from the Town Hall basement) at the recommendation of the Finance Committee, which cited a need for further financial research.
Spending articles proposed on the warrant were each recommended 4-0 by the Finance Committee.
“The whole budget was developed jointly … so we were on board all the way through as we built the budget,” Finance Committee member Allen “Tupper” Brown said.
The meeting, which began at 6:30 p.m., concluded in less than two hours.
Amid concerns from residents that Gill would be nonsensically imposing stricter, unnecessary dog control rules on its own volition, officials clarified that Article 5 is merely a matter of updating Gill’s bylaws to be up-to-date with state standards.
“This is a law,” Town Counsel Donna MacNicol explained. “You’re subject to this whether it’s a bylaw or it’s a state law.”
MacNicol continued by saying that if the article weren’t to pass, “it just means Gill’s bylaw is going to be outdated and basically defunct.”
Former dog control bylaws in Gill have been “nowhere near as extensive” as the state-inspired regulations adopted at Monday’s meeting, Selectboard Chair Greg Snedeker said previously. The new bylaws add rules for annual licensing, treatment and other areas of concern that better enable regional Animal Control Officer Kyle Dragon to do his work in coherence with state regulations.
To reassure residents that leash laws will not be too prohibitive, MacNicol highlighted Section 3 of the bylaws, which specifies that dogs properly under control may still be let off-leash in the public spaces that had been allowing it.
“I think that with any dog bylaw, the point is that your dog has to be under control,” she said. “It’s dogs that are unleashed and not under control that are an issue.”
Article 17 involved appropriating money for a new Pierce Responder 4×4 Attack Pumper for the Fire Department. This model, which will cost around $410,000 and take roughly one year to build, will have 360 horsepower, a Cummins L9 engine, 1,250 gallons-per-minute pumping capacity and a 750-gallon water tank.
The new vehicle will be an upgrade of considerable magnitude from Gill’s current 1987 engine, which “does not meet any NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) standards and is lacking in safety features,” as described in the Fire Department’s letter to the Selectboard. A lack of doors in the rear seating area, lap-only seatbelts and an open cab were identified as problematic.
Approval of the article enabled the transfer of $25,000 from the capital stabilization fund, $75,000 from the general stabilization fund and borrowing of up to $141,407 for the purchase of the vehicle.
“In addition, the Selectboard has voted to use $168,593 of the town’s ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to defray the town’s cost of this new piece of fire apparatus,” the warrant’s explanation reads.
Deputy Fire Chief William Kimball noted the Selectboard will have to put the 1987 engine out to bid. He expressed pessimism that the vehicle would sell for anything but “scrap value,” basing his hypothesis on knowledge from past purchases in surrounding communities.
Toward the end of the discussion, Snedeker praised the Fire Department’s advocacy for the new engine.
“I believe it’s a little smaller,” he said, “but it’s also better suited for our town and the rural roads we have. … I think it’s a very good find on their part and I commend them for their research.”
Other approved articles involved supporting the statewide Fair Share Amendment; accepting Cove View Lane as a public way, which allows the town to receive Chapter 90 funding for its maintenance; expanding Recreation Commission membership flexibility; the purchase of an International Model CV515 dump truck; and appropriating $20,000 to install a new roof at the Riverside Municipal Building.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.