Colrain voters support 15-member Council on Aging

COLRAIN — The Colrain Council on Aging will be able to accept up to 15 members after successfully passing two amendments on the floor of a Special Town Meeting on Tuesday.

Eighty-two voters passed 10 of the 11 articles, including reaffirming approval of a $850,000 fire truck purchase and petitioning the Legislature to allow the fire chief and deputy chief to continue working past the age of 65. However, voters agreed to skip Article 6, an amendment to the bylaw on street numbers that would require larger number signs, as officials said the town is not yet ready to implement the changes and they are cognizant that residents and property owners may not be ready to replace their signs, either.

“The reason for passing over this article is that we’ve only had one meeting with the department heads,” Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Worden said. “We thought it was too quick before the frost settles into the ground and we’re not going to be ready.”

None of the 10 approved articles sparked discussion or debate. However, Article 7, a bylaw creating a Council on Aging, did spur two amendments.

The town has had a Council on Aging since a bylaw was approved by voters in the 1970s. However, the vote results were not properly recorded and submitted to the Attorney General’s Office, requiring the town to vote again on a bylaw. The Selectboard and Council on Aging members have been at odds over the bylaw, as the Selectboard proposed the Council on Aging be limited to just nine members to match the size of other councils in the region. Members of the council, which currently consists of 12 members, have advocated for having up to 15 members.

On the Town Meeting floor, Council on Aging Chair Janice Barnes proposed amending the number of members in the bylaw to 15, and resident Michael Slowinski suggested that the bylaw be amended to detail the schedule of term lengths for a 15-member body.

With a total of 15 members, the council will have five members with three-year terms, five members with two-year terms and five members with one-year terms.

Special Town Meeting voters gave their blessing to both amendments and approved the Council on Aging bylaw as amended.

The meeting adjourned less than 45 minutes after it was called to order, with Moderator Joe Kurland thanking residents for partaking in “the tradition of democracy.”

“I’d just like to say thank you to everybody who cares enough to participate in town government,” Kurland told voters.