SOUTHAMPTON — Southampton has rescheduled a previously postponed special Town Meeting to Saturday, Dec. 6, where officials will ask residents to vote on roughly 10 articles, including the transfer of $300,000 to revive expenditures to pay health insurance increases.
The special Town Meeting will be held at 10 a.m. at Norris Elementary School.
Select Board Chair Christine Fowles said the reason for rescheduling the meeting later in the year is to give the public as much time to review the warrant. The town hopes having it scheduled on a Saturday will allow more residents to attend.
“We’re hoping that timeframe helps residents get out to the election and do their civic duty to help the town,” Fowles said.
The warrant for the upcoming meeting will be posted on the town website in the coming days.
The meeting was previously scheduled for Sept. 30 before being postponed, having to remove an article requesting $11.97 million in funding for a new senior center.
While the new warrant has not been released, Town Administrator Scott Szczebak said it will not be much different from the previous draft of the 11-article warrant shown at a previous meeting on Sept. 2, minus the senior center article. Minor adjustments will be made.
Without the senior center, the largest article asks to transfer $318,922 to help cover the cost of the Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust increased rates. The town has already paid the amount of the approximately 40% increase, totaling roughly $550,000. This transfer will just replenish the amount spent, pulling money from multiple areas, including stabilization funds, public safety items and the William E. Norris Elementary School.
The senior center article was removed due to financial concerns, amid the health insurance spike. Szczebak said it was not the right time to move forward with the senior center, but it will be likely be revisited next fiscal year.
The Select Board plans to add another article that asks to transfer approximately $60,000 from the Water Department to repay the town for a previous project.
Other articles expected for the December meeting include transferring $6,691 to the conservation agent, transferring $5,907 to the health director/agent, appointment of Finance Committee, appropriate $50,000 to get matching funds from Kestrel Land Trust, and appropriate $426,900 to obtain a Local Acquisition for Natural Diversity Grant for 27 acres of land.
Here is the warrant draft from Sept. 2:
