PLAINFIELD — Voters at Saturday’s annual Town Meeting approved raises for police officers and the chief as proposed by the department, while a bylaw that would have extended development buffers around wetlands and other freshwater features went down to defeat.
On the police funding issue, the Police Department put forward a salary funding request of $129,090, while the Finance Committee’s recommended funding of $114,366 would have still provided raises for the town’s two full-time and two part-time officers.
The amount approved for the current fiscal year for police salaries is $107,892.
The matter generated significant debate, but in the end the department’s desired raises passed.
“I have never experienced a Town Meeting where citizens have voted to increase from the recommendation of Finance and Select Board,” said Kimberley Longey, a former Select Board member and current member of the Plainfield police working group. “This was a first.”
She also noted that two members of the Finance Committee who hadn’t voted for its recommendation opposed it at Town Meeting, and said that people aren’t communicating with each other on the policing issue.
“They’ve formed their opinions,” Longey said.
The salary increases were part of more than $3 million in Town Meeting expenditures that were passed.
Another item of major debate at Town Meeting was an article that would have extended development buffers around wetlands and other freshwater features in town. While this wetlands protection bylaw, which was supported by the Conservation Committee, received majority support, it did not receive the two-thirds support required to pass.