TURNERS FALLS — Among the nearly 50 articles debated during Montague’s six-hour town meeting on Saturday were measures to fund improvement projects at Montague schools and libraries.
The meeting also included more standard articles, like funding the town’s budget, its Police Department, the Montague share of Franklin County Regional Technical School, the Gill-Montague Regional School District, the Water Pollution Control Facility and the Turners Falls airport.
The town’s operating budget, the portion of the overall budget that covers employees in town hall and other governmental expenses, increased by 2.75 percent. That included a substantial increase to the IT and technology budget for an IT consultant and about $4,000 in one-time expenses for setting up and licensing emails for certain town boards and board members.
There was debate on how the town funds certain departments, with questions about why certain expenses are singled out instead of incorporated into a department’s operating budget — specifically, with the Police Department.
The debate was during a request for $15,000 from the department, which would fund firearms, bulletproof vests, Tasers and other department needs.
Town Building inspector David Jensen said that there isn’t proper oversight of the department’s budget.
“I think there’s criticism with a lot of these special articles,” he said. “They should have been predictable,” said Jensen. “They should have been budgeted for.”
He said that any additional funding should be included in the department’s initial budget, not accounted for in a separate article.
“This is just another place to grab money and not do the proper planning and I think it’s appropriate, that if the police department runs out of money, we ought to know about it, and we ought to know why,” he said.
John Hanold, chair of the town’s finance committee, said there’s a reason that certain expenses that aren’t annual but one time, go into discretionary funds that may be authorized separately.
“There is oversight on how it’s being spent,” Hanold said.
Beyond standard funding, the voters approved capital improvements to the schools and town libraries, including replacing water heaters and electrical wiring at Hillcrest and Sheffield schools. The town also approved funding for a new air ventilation system and repairing the roof at Carnegie Library.
In addition to those two improvements, the town also voted to fund a $45,000 building assessment study of all three of the town’s libraries, to help gauge future repairs and renovations.
The town also secured $5,000 in funding for a new website and $4,500 for new public records request software.
The warrant had a total of 47 articles, with four of those being petitioned articles by voters in the community.
One of the petitioned articles was brought by Richard Widmer of Millers Falls to secure $1,500 in funding for community-building activities in the village. Some in the room had concerns about authorizing a non-governmental person to request town money, but the town clarified that Widmer would have to get his project request approved by the Selectboard down the road.
“I think we have a desire to send a signal to Millers Falls to capture the energy that’s there right now,” Town Administrator Steve Ellis said of the article, which was eventually approved.
Widmer attends a lot of town meetings and moved to Millers Falls about two years ago. He said he met with his constituents before the town meeting and brought several questions and suggestions from them.
“He showed interest in this community from day one,” Police Chief Chip Dodge said. “I support Mr. Widmer and his goals.”
Two were non-financial resolutions: one to limit the influence of money in politics, which passed unanimously, and another to establish a policy on undocumented immigrant detainer requests, which passed with an amendment that gives the town more flexibility to adjust it.
Only two articles failed, one by request of those presenting it, who asked for more time. The other was an article requesting the town generate a Municipal Light Plan, which failed. The measure was left over from previous efforts to bring high-speed internet to parts of Montague with no internet access.
Reach Miranda Davis at 413-772-0261, ext. 280
or mdavis@recorder.com.