WORTHINGTON — Voters at Saturday’s annual Town Meeting said ‘yes’ to large-scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaic projects in town by approving a bylaw that promotes such installations.
In other business, voters agreed to buy a new dump truck for the Highway Department for $222,000 and authorized an investigation into pay equity among town employees.
Eighty-six of the town’s 937 register voters attended the morning meeting, which lasted two hours.
They approved a fiscal 2018 budget of $2,967,796, an increase of $28,400, or 0.6 percent, over the town’s current budget. The budget earmarks $1,071,830 for the Worthington school district, and $213,055 for vocational education.
The solar bylaw was created to promote installations with a minimum capacity of 250 kilowatt-hours, which would cover about 5 acres, said Jay Dwight, chairman of the Planning Board.
The bylaw will also provide standards for the placement, design, construction, operation, and removal of these installations, as well as addressing public safety, and minimizing impacts on scenic, natural and historic resources.
The bylaw, which addresses commercial installations, was created by the Planning Board at the request of the Select Board.
Finance Committee member Paul Dunlevy objected to the bylaw’s passage, saying that in its current state, it was not well written, as a number of important technical points were absent.
“This bylaw has flaws,” Dunlevy said. “I agree with the goal of having a solar bylaw, and I would agree to help re-write it, but I don’t think you should pass it as it is now.”
Dwight said the bylaw was modeled after a draft solar bylaw provided by the state.
“We used that as the blueprint. The process took about 18 months. This bylaw doesn’t differ from other towns that are not dissimilar from ours,” Dwight said.
Dwight added that it does not restrict the creation of solar installations on farmland as long as there is no agricultural preservation restriction on that land.
Steve Smith, chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, said he was satisfied with the bylaw, which then passed by a vote of 78 to 8.
In another 74-8 vote, residents approved spending $7,800 to hire a service to perform a survey on municipal employee job descriptions, and compensation.
“This would make sure that our positions are in the same ballpark as other towns,” Selectman Charlie Rose said.
According to Finance Committee Chairman Joe Boudreau, the purpose of the review is to “look at the relative equity of job descriptions and what we pay each individual across the town.”
Boudreau said that while the town did a similar study five years ago, that study was not as thorough as town officials had hoped.
“This will take it much further than the pervious survey and add to it,” Boudreau said.
Boudreau also said that the Finance Committee is looking to institute a step system in the municipal job descriptions so that employees will be able to know the range of salary within each position.
Meanwhile, the new dump truck will be funded through town’s stabilization fund and will not affect the tax rate. It will replace the department’s 2000 Freightliner plow truck.
State Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, presented retiring Select Board member Evan Johnson with a citation of recognition from the state for Johnson’s 12 years of service on the Select Board.
Steve Smith, who ran unopposed in Saturday’s election, will fill the Select Board seat left open by Johnson’s departure.
In the annual town election, with 150 ballots cast, Amanda Brooks-Clemeno was elected to a three-year term on the Worthington School Committee.
Joseph Boudreau, John Dearie and Bart Niswonger were all elected to the new Municipal Light Board.
The following candidates and incumbents were elected:
Jeffrey Cranston, assessor, three-year term; Diane Brenner, Board of Health, three-year term; Cynthia Manley, cemetery commissioner, three-year term; Joseph Boudreau, and Gretchen Eliason, Finance Committee, three-year terms; Bart Niswonger, Finance Committee, one-year term; and Kevin O’Connor, moderator, three-year term.