WENDELL — Voters at Saturday’s Annual Town Meeting adopted all 33 articles, including amendments to zoning bylaws on solar arrays, transferring control of the Veterans Memorial Revolving Fund to the Selectboard and rescinding an article adopted at a previous Town Meeting.
Article 30, seeking to amend the zoning bylaws pertaining to solar arrays, inspired discussion among the residents who convened on the town common. The Planning Board, led by Chair Molly Doody, presented its ideas for developing solar power while also protecting the town’s forests and wetlands through a PowerPoint, which was printed in a document given to voters. The plan contains regulations such as site plan reviews, forbidding projects from being located on protected natural areas or slopes in excess of 10%, and requiring projects be located at least 400 feet from a well.
Part of the bylaw changes involved disallowing standalone battery energy storage facilities. Noting that building a battery storage facility would reduce taxes, one resident proposed changing the bylaw to allow them. Others objected, however, on the grounds that it was inappropriate to propose an amendment for an article that was coming before the town after an extended process.
While the town was going over the budgets for various departments, Police Sgt. Steve Gould spoke about his position. Gould noted that most of his calls are related to medical emergencies, with very little crime. He said he tries to spend time at the Wendell Country Store to get to know the public better.
Multiple residents expressed concern over what they feel are inadequate response times, to which Selectboard member Gillian Budine said the board plans to have a conversation with the police about the issue later this year. Wendell has been getting its policing services through an inter-municipal agreement with Leverett since the retirement of longtime Police Chief Ed Chase in late 2020.
Voters unanimously shifted control of the Veterans Memorial Revolving Fund from the Cemetery Commission to the Selectboard, which Financial Coordinator Douglas Tanner advised is more appropriate.
The town also rescinded an article adopted at the April 6 Special Town Meeting. That article pertained to transferring $35,000 from the Stabilization Fund to a new Capital Equipment Account for a Highway Department tractor. However, that fund had yet to be established by the time of the Town Meeting.
“We tried to make a transfer to an account that didn’t exist,” Tanner recounted previously. “The easiest thing to do is to just take it back.”
Other meeting highlights included allocating $40,000 in the budget to pay for storm repairs and transferring $5,000 from the Stabilization Account to buy new turnout gear for the Fire Department.
It was the first Annual Town Meeting for Glenn Johnson-Mussad, who became Wendell’s town coordinator in late January.
“It went extremely well. It was a gorgeous day,” he said by phone Monday afternoon, “and I was impressed with the level of rigor that people brought, in terms of really asking questions … and the preparation of everyone involved, to really be able to answer those questions.”
Domenic Poli contributed reporting for this story.