WHATELY — Annual Town Meeting voters approved this year’s 37 warrant articles in quick succession Tuesday evening.
The warrant included a $5.3 million town operating budget, which passed following minimal discussion, and a number of revisions pertaining to the town’s large-scale ground-mounted solar bylaw.
The meeting began at 6 p.m. on the field across from Whately Elementary School. Voters sat in chairs spaced roughly 6 feet apart and voted by raising yellow cards.
To introduce the budget, Finance Committee Chair Paul Antaya said the committee and the Selectboard worked the last few months to level-fund the town’s operating expenses to address financial uncertainties at both the state and town level due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall, the budget presented to residents Tuesday represented a 0.13 percent decrease over the current fiscal year’s budget, down from the roughly 4.2 percent increase originally proposed.
Spending was reduced for general government, education, public safety, insurance and benefits, and debt.
“Whately Elementary and Frontier Regional stepped up and pulled back,” Antaya said. “Without their help, I don’t know if we would have met that goal of level funding.”
The town approved a level-funded budget of $1.8 million for Whately Elementary School, and a contribution of $980,824 toward the Frontier Regional School budget, a 1.7 percent increase over the current budget.
Addressing one resident’s concern about education-related cuts, Whately Elementary School Principal Kristina Kirton said as of Tuesday, there have been no layoffs or changes to programming at the school.
In other business, the town approved the transfer of $8,000 from fiscal year 2019 free cash to pay for the repairs of two skylights at Whately Elementary, which Superintendent Darius Modestow said were leaking.
Articles 35 to 37 on the warrant, which were related to the town’s large-scale ground-mounted solar bylaw, were recommended by the Planning Board.
The approved revisions, including a friendly amendment that was approved on the floor, were designed to improve safety standards and site restrictions for battery storage equipment at solar facilities; specify capacity and power output at such facilities; and require remediation for taking productive farmland out of production, among other things.
Judy Markland, a member of the Planning Board, said the proposed revisions were considered over three public hearings, and the board aimed to balance the need for renewable energy with the rights of property owners and abutters, and the town’s desire for growth in agriculture.
“It’s important to realize that there is a benefit to solar as well as keeping the town rural and agricultural,” said Selectboard member Frederick Orloski. “I’m glad to see the Planning Board has tried to address that.”
Voters also approved Article 33, which amends an existing town bylaw that pertains to Chestnut Plain Road, including North Street, Haydenville Road and Conway Road — four roads that had previously been designated by the town as Scenic Roads.
The bylaw makes the maintenance of the roads, specifically work that deals with trees in the area, more manageable and less costly, explained Donna Wiley, chair of the Historical Commission.
Specifically, the revision requires a public hearing, with few exceptions, in cases where trees on these public ways need to be cut down, or stone walls need to torn down, buried or relocated.
The meeting adjourned just over an hour and fifteen minutes after it began.