SHUTESBURY — An appeal to the Legislature to have state agencies find ways to show more respect for those who don’t identify as male or female is one of many items on the docket for Saturday’s annual Town Meeting.
Other highlights include approval of “small touches” projects aimed at improving the quality of life for residents and placing a moratorium on marijuana establishments.
Discussion and voting on the 30-article warrant begins at 9 a.m. at Shutesbury Elementary School, 23 W. Pelham Road.
The warrant includes an article requesting Sen. Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, to have the state provide a non-binary, transgender or equivalent option, or give people the right not to disclose such information, when the state is seeking or mandating gender information on things like driver’s licenses and state-issued identifications.
Select Board Chairman Michael DeChiara said the idea is to make the state a more inclusive place for all residents.
The Select Board in March sent a letter to the Registry of Motor Vehicles urging a standard, non-stigmatized option.
“Most compelling to our decision is our understanding that transgender people in our society are made to feel invisible because they are not recognized or reflected in the binary structure and traditions of our society,” the board wrote.
The warrant includes what are being called “small touches” projects in which residents were encouraged to submit ideas for making the town a better place.
Those ideas being recommended include using $20,000 in free cash to build a bandstand gazebo at a site to be determined.
Like other communities, Shutesbury will deal with the coming legalization of recreational marijuana. The town is planning a temporary moratorium that will be in effect until Dec. 31.
Voters will also be asked to approve a $6.44 million budget that is $197,145, or 3.2 percent, higher than the current year’s $6.25 million budget.
Included in this proposal is $2.04 million for the elementary school, which is up $91,763, or 4.7 percent, from this year’s $1.95 million budget, while the $1.78 million assessment for the Amherst-Pelham regional schools is just $40,018, or 2.2 percent, higher than the current year $1.74 million assessment.