COLRAIN — Voters will be asked to approve a $850,000 fire truck purchase, petition the Legislature to allow the fire chief and deputy chief to continue working past the age of 65, and consider a series of bylaw amendments at a Nov. 4 Special Town Meeting.
The meeting will start at 6 p.m. at Colrain Central School, 22 Jacksonville Road. Voters will decide the fate of 11 warrant articles.
Petitioning the Legislature
Articles 3 and 4 ask voters to petition the state Legislature for special legislation allowing Fire Chief Nick Anzuoni and Deputy Chief Kevin Worden to continue their fire suppression work, despite being past the age of retirement, 65.
“There’s a mandatory retirement age of 65. If we want them to continue past that, we have to ask for a special legislative act,” Town Administrator Diana Parsons said.
Anzuoni told the Selectboard that the Fire Department has four members over the age of 65, but only two need special legislation. Under Massachusetts General Law, members who engage in fire suppression duties must stop responding to scenes by the age of 65. However, the town can request legislation to allow members to work until they are 70.
Anzuoni said the department has one firefighter over the age of 70 who will be stepping down. Another member who is over 65 assists with payroll and emergency dispatch, but not fire suppression, so they are able to continue their work. Still, Anzuoni, 66, and Worden, 65, will need special legislative acts.
He added that the interpretation of the law has changed over the years. Previously, the understanding was that volunteer departments were able to keep members working past 65, but now the interpretation is that, as the chief’s position involves a stipend, the department is considered paid and must comply with the law.
Until Town Meeting voters approve the request to seek legislation and the Legislature approves it, Anzuoni and Worden are unable to direct crews on scene, but can continue administrative duties, including fire inspections.
“It puts us in a strange situation,” Anzuoni said. “We’re trying to bring [the department] in line with the laws. Bottom line is liability; that’s what it all comes down to. Our hands are tied.”
Fire truck
At Annual Town Meeting in May, voters approved spending $850,000 on a new apparatus for the Fire Department. On Nov. 4, Special Town Meeting voters will be asked to confirm that this expenditure is acceptable with Article 2.
Parsons said it is the same truck the town is purchasing, and with the same funding sources, but the vote required a two-thirds majority, and the moderator failed to note that the article required two-thirds approval before the vote was taken. So, the town is bringing the article to a vote for a second time, just to ensure that the proper procedure is followed.
“It’s just housekeeping,” Parsons said.
The truck will be paid for by a combination of $350,000 of free cash, $200,000 from the Fire Vehicle Stabilization Fund and by borrowing $300,000.
Bylaws
The meeting will also discuss proposed amendments to the Finance Committee bylaw and the creation of a Council on Aging bylaw. Parsons said that changes to the Finance Committee bylaw would “clean it up” and require committee members to elect a vice chair.
While the town has a Council on Aging, the bylaw creating it in the 1970s was not properly submitted to the Attorney General’s Office for final review and approval. To legitimize the council, residents will be asked to approve a bylaw stating the Selectboard shall appoint nine members to the council, whose duties will be identifying the needs of the town’s seniors and to “promote or implement services” to meet these needs.
Voters will also be asked to reapprove amendments to the town’s solar bylaw, and approve new bylaws creating a floodplain overlay district and regulating short-term rentals, which residents had previously voted to support at a Town Meeting in June 2024.
“It wasn’t recorded properly, so now we need to do it again,” Planning Board Chair Robert Slowinski said at a bylaw hearing earlier this month.
Other articles include:
- Appropriating $31,000 for Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School student transportation.
- Approving an easement of town-owned land from 17 Main Road to the owners of 15 Main Road, as the septic system installed at 15 Main Road slightly crossed the property line onto town property.
The full warrant will be posted to the town website.
