WENDELL — Residents made known their eagerness for high-speed Internet by agreeing Thursday to use $70,000 in stabilization fund money to take necessary steps toward a broadband network.
Voters opted nearly unanimously to transfer $20,000 to finance a pole survey for the network and to transfer $50,000 to pay for the network’s design.
Wendell is one of several towns that have investigated ways to bring in broadband. It was also one of the first WiredWest member-towns to reach the goal of getting at least 40 percent of its residents to register in advance with WiredWest for high-speed broadband and one of the first to move independently of WiredWest, by notifying the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI) last fall that it had secured borrowing for its broadband build-out and were ready to move forward with it.
Broadband Committee Co-Chairman Ray DiDonato explained a pole survey entails counting all the public utility poles in town and assessing their condition. Committee member Allan MacIntire said Verizon would conduct the pole survey. He also said it was not yet known who will design the network.
Thursday’s deliberations were the continuation of the annual town meeting that began the day before, when residents voted unanimously to accept the requested $2,277,715 operating budget for the next fiscal year, before opting at 10:15 p.m. to adjourn. The 49 voters in Town Hall on Thursday paled in comparison to Wednesday’s 79.
Declining enrollment was cited as the reason the schools and education budget increased from $1,104,865 to $1,195,404.
Although the budget might not have sparked much controversy, meeting decorum caused some tension.
During discussion of the schools and education budget, Moderator Kathleen Nolan accused Finance Committee Chairman Douglas Tanner of having a private conversation with Dan Haynes, the director of finance at Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District.
Nolan objected almost immediately when Haynes approached Tanner in the front of the room about an amount that appeared in two places in the proposed budget. Haynes told The Recorder nearly $11,900 for debt service was included in both a schools and education budget line item and a separate warrant article, and he went to give Tanner suggested wording for a proposed motion to remove the duplication.
Nolan told the two men to take their private conversation outside and Tanner appeared to become frustrated. Nolan and Tanner began to try to speak over each other and Nolan pounded her gavel. She told Tanner his conversation with Haynes was out of order.
“It’s not,” Tanner shot back. “It has to do with the budget.”
Tanner told the roughly 80 voters in attendance to momentarily hold off on voting on the school budget and followed Haynes to the back of the room to the section designated for non-voters. He quickly returned to his table and made the motion to amend the schools and education budget figures. The motion passed unanimously.
Tanner later told The Recorder he followed Haynes to ask if it mattered which article the money was removed from and learned it did not. It was removed from the schools and education budget. He said his exchange with Haynes was appropriate and related to the budget.
“He’s the director of finance (for Mahar). I’m chairman of the Finance Committee. We talk about nothing but business,” he said after the meeting.
Nolan told The Recorder she understands the conversation was relevant but she objected because only two people were privy to what was being said. She said they could have asked for a brief recess to discuss the matter.
Before adjourning, voters unanimously rejected an article asking to transfer $34,500 from the stabilization fund for a town center walkway design and survey.
You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 258. On Twitter: @DomenicPoli