BUCKLAND — Voters gave their blessing to all 24 articles at Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, including a budget enabling shared-policing services with Shelburne and a $151,262 override to support the fiscal year 2024 budget.
About 70 residents attended the meeting at Mohawk Trail Regional School, which began by swearing in Elizabeth Cerone as temporary town clerk in the absence of Karen Blom.
Voters decisively approved the policing transition, thus folding the Buckland Police Department and merging with Shelburne, a move that has been explored over the past year with help from a $200,000 state grant. The measure passed with only three people opposed.
“One thing to understand is that the police department is going to be the Shelburne Police Department,” noted Greg Bardwell, chief of both departments. Bardwell went on to outline that an advisory board that is being created through the inter-municipal policing agreement will include himself as well as residents and Selectboard members from both communities. “It’s going to be a much more involved police department.”
Upon combining police forces, there are plans for a new police office in Buckland Town Hall, a shift from Buckland having its own Police Station at 69 Conway St. According to Town Administrator Heather Butler, the Selectboard will be deciding in the coming months what to do with the existing station.
Voters also approved a $151,262 override question to support the fiscal year 2024 budget. After the Finance Committee crafted the budget of $5.67 million, which represents a 7.9% increase over the current year’s figures, the committee found the number to be $151,262 over the legal limit. Members cited a rise in the cost of students attending Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School; the Department of Public Works budget, which includes a new hire; general government costs like building maintenance and cybersecurity; and the planned switch to shared policing as drivers of the increase.
With the article having passed at Town Meeting, the question will now be placed on the election ballot. The town election is set for Tuesday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Funding discussions continued during the passage of several articles relating to the Mohawk Trail Regional School District, including the town’s portion of the district’s $25.2 million budget for FY24. This roughly $2.79 million assessment, addressed by Article 8, represents an increase of 3.97% due to the state’s calculations that set a town’s required minimum contribution.
Articles 22 through 24, also about the Mohawk Trail Regional School District, involved regional agreement amendments that would revise the funding formula for town assessments. Should the town assessment formula change, it would better align with the state’s funding formula by factoring in School Choice students and residents who opt to attend a charter school. Although Buckland voters approved the proposed changes, not all towns in the school district have given the changes their blessing.
Some debate arose during discussions of Article 21, which involved joining the Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts. An affirmative vote means a Buckland representative will join the environmental nonprofit’s advisory board.
Resident Janet Sinclair voiced skepticism over the organization’s intentions.
“[The Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts] is a Boston-driven, money-driven effort,” Sinclair argued. “What we’ll be doing is enabling and encouraging stuff coming into our region that we can’t even foresee. … The amount … of money that’s coming in to encourage certain land practices is shocking.”
The Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts, which formed in 2013, is a grassroots program focused on conserving forests and supporting sustainable management with relation to economic development in rural communities. It includes member towns in western Franklin County and northern Berkshire County.
Joining the partnership could create a pathway for Buckland to benefit from more environmental grants, one resident pointed out.
“I’m not really understanding what the downside is,” resident Jeff Gang commented.
The article ultimately passed with only a handful of votes against it.
Other articles that were approved involved expenses at the Shelburne Falls Wastewater Treatment Facility, the Upper North Street Reconstruction Project and creating a stabilization account for opioid settlement money.