SHUTESBURY — Establishing community choice aggregation that could provide residents with more green-sourced electricity, opposing the use of artifical turf in the new track and field project at Amherst Regional High School and adopting a $6.91 million municipal operating budget for keeping intact existing services are among decisions voters will make at annual Town Meeting Saturday.
The session on the 33-article warrant will be held on the field behind Town Hall, 1 Cooleyville Road, beginning at 9 a.m., with annual town election running from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside Town Hall.
If adopted by voters, community choice aggregation would allow the Select Board to research, develop and participate in a contract to aggregate the electricity load of residential commercial and municipal buildings, either on its own or with other communities. The neighboring towns of Pelham and Amherst have already joined with Northampton to seek ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by investigating electricity suppliers, seeking competitive bids on source options, and contracting with an electrical supplier.
A petition article asks Shutesbury residents to join Pelham voters in expressing concern about the use of artificial turf, and the potential for PFAS contamination, for the interior field of the rehabilitated high school track. School officials and those supporting the project have said the turf is needed to allow more flexibility for sports teams and reduce maintenance costs.
The $6.91 million fiscal year 2024 budget is up $226,334, or 3.4%, over this year’s $6.68 million budget. More than one-third of the increase can be attributed to the elementary schools, with that budget rising by $83,722, or 3.7%, from $2.25 million to $2.33 million.
The regional schools assessment is virtually flat, with that going from $1.55 million to $1.56 million, a $13,781 increase, or less than 1%. Voters will also be asked to amend the regional agreement and the method used to calculate how each of the four towns are assessed.
Other adjustments include around $25,000 additional wages for town employees, excluding schools, legal fees going up $25,000 from $15,000 to $40,000, and adding $14,990 for solid waste, with $5,000 of this associated with waste disposal from Lot O-32, where the new library would be built. There is also an additional $10,436 for the fire department to cover call member wages, bringing that line item to $24,964, and a $10,000 appropriation for an assistant town clerk.
The balanced budget, if passed, would bring the tax rate from $18.44 per $1,000 valuation to $19.16 per $1,000 valuation, according to the Shutesbury Finance Committee report.
School-related projects are among the capital items, including $100,000 from capital stabilization for the new asphalt roof at the elementary school, $45,900 for a school security camera system and $33,300 for higher-than-anticipated school HVAC system costs, as well as $31,000 from free cash for new floors at the school’s kitchen.
Other spending includes borrowing $120,000 to buy a backhoe, $60,000 from capital stabilization for the Locks Pond culvert project, which has increased in cost due to two-year delay, and $35,000 from free cash for environmental permitting costs associated with drawing down Lake Wyola.
For Community Preservation Act spending, $10,000 would go to restore historic gravestones at the West Cemetery, and $5,000 would go to the Shutesbury Conservation Commission for developing a parking area and related signs at Lot R-15, a conservation property purchased from Kestrel Trust.
Another $150,000 is sought to pay costs of PFAS mitigation construction activities around town that would be used at the Select Board’s discretion.
Other articles include increasing the membership of the Recreational Committee from seven to 11 members, adopting the Lake Wyola Dam bylaw that will prohibit access to the dam and allow fines to be issued, and a home rule petition for use of associate members for the Planning Board.
The only contest on the ballot is for two, three-year seats on the School Committee, with four residents, none of whom are incumbents, seeking the positions.
Mary Lou Conca of Wendell Road, Anna Cederberg Heard of Cushman Road, Nathaniel Charles Longcope of Town Farm Road and Jeremy Mailloux of West Pelham Road, are the candidates.
All of the candidates except Longcope submitted statements about their interest in the positions for the town newsletter, published on the town website.
Mailloux, who has three children, works as an English teacher at Franklin County Technical School in Turners Falls. “I want to play a role in keeping our school the strong and independent heart of our town,” Mailloux wrote.
Heard, who has two children in the public schools, will advocate for appropriate and cost-effective resources and support for administration and maintaining buildings. “Our family moved to Shutesbury in part because of its elementary school and community that supports the curiosity and development of every child,” Heard wrote.
Conca, who has worked as substitute in Union 28 schools and as a preschool teacher, is part of the Restorative Justice Working Group, an Amherst Regional School Committee subcommittee. “I have a vested interest in assuring all children receive an equitable education,” Conca wrote.
Incumbents are running unopposed for the remaining seats. They include Rita Farrell for a three-year seat on the Select Board, Norene Pease and Garrett Simonsen for three-year positions on the Board of Health, Walter Tibbetts for a three-year seat on the Cemetery Commission, Melanie DeSilva and Patricia S. Oullette for three year terms as library trustees, Deacon Bonnar, Steven H. Bressler and Michael Joseph DeChiara for three-year terms on the Planning Board, and Grace Bannasch for a three-year term as town clerk.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
