WORTHINGTON – Voters on Saturday passed a fiscal year 2017 budget of $2,878,234, and elected Harriet Plehn of West Street to a three-year term on the Select Board. Participating in the meeting were 156 of the town’s 933 registered voters, a 17 percent turnout. 

The new budget carries a $32,975 increase from the current year’s budget and includes $1,017,887 for the Worthington School District, $315,335 for vocational education and $307,338 for general government.

This has been the first year of operation for the Worthington School District and the school spending plan was approved by a large majority.

“This is a real affirmation of the commitment that Worthington has for its local school,” said Gretchen Morse-Dobosz, Principal of the R.H. Conwell Elementary School. “It is a very fiscally responsible budget that also takes nothing away from staffing or from the curriculum.”

In a 66-64 vote, residents approved a resolution to “support the building of a fiber-to-home Broadband network providing ubiquitous service to all possible residences and businesses in Worthington.”

The original resolution was amended on the floor to include the words “fiber-to-home” because many at the meeting felt it was the only reliable option for high-speed internet service.

Finance Committee Chairman Joe Boudreau said the insertion of “fiber-to-home” was too limiting.

“This is forcing the town to decide on one technology before hearing about all of the other options,” Bodreau said. “I don’t think people that opposed the resolution are against fiber, I just think they want to be able to weigh all the options.”

But Select Board member Charlie Rose maintained that there “really are no other viable options.”

“We need to send a message to the state that we have waited long enough, and that fiber is the only real choice that will meet the needs of our town,” Rose said.

Worthington is a member of the WiredWest Cooperative, which is currently working towards providing a regional fiber optic network for towns that currently have no access to Broadband service.

In a 63-57 vote, the town also agreed to contribute $1,000 to WiredWest to help support the cooperative’s work.

“WiredWest has done an unbelievable amount of work on behalf of our town and I think we need to support them,” Rose said. “I would hate to see a regional solution come off the table.”

After a lengthy discussion, voters also approved a $11,449-per-year pay increase for the town’s administrative assistant. Before the increase, Patricia O’Neal had been earning $37, 279 a year.

While some at the meeting felt a 33 percent increase was an unreasonable jump in pay for the position, others argued that it had been notoriously underfunded for years.

Select Board member Evan Johnson said that the town had explored the salary ranges for similar positions in other towns and had discovered the Worthington position was between $7,000 to $11,000 under par.

“This is a very important position for the town. If Peggy was to leave, we would not be able to hire another person at that salary,” Select Board member Richard Wagner said. “It is also important to do because I feel we have a history in town of underpaying positions held by women.”

Voters also approved spending $33,785 for the purchase of four sets of “structural firefighting personal protective equipment” to replace outdated gear as well as two sets of self contained breathing apparatus, to replace existing, obsolete equipment.

At the close of the meeting, State Rep. Stephen Kulik presented outgoing Select Board member Richard Wagner with a certificate of recognition by the Massachusetts House of Representatives, for his 18 years of service on the Select Board.

Harriet Plehn, of West Street won a three-year term on the Select Board, besting opponent Willard L. Brown of 111 Huntington Street, 172-30. Plehn, who was surrounded by well-wishers after the meeting, said that she was very happy to have been elected and looked forward to beginning her tenure. 

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