A proposed land swap and making a library position full-time dominated discussion at Rindge’s deliberative session on Saturday.
One warrant article on the ballot this year asks voters to approve a transfer of a 3.9-acre portion of Wellington Field to abutting landowner Kathleen P. Van Dyke, who in turn will give the town a 17-acre portion of her abutting land – a net gain of 13.1-acres to the town.
The land swap would connect Wellington Field to a landlocked parcel of land already owned by the town, bringing the field to 49.6 acres.
Three different amendments were proposed to the article, as residents were concerned about the potential for development.
“I’m very nervous about giving a town-owned parcel of land to a developer,” resident Judy Unger-Clark said. “That’s the bottom line… I’m looking for some sort of assurance that if the town is giving up town property, it will not become part of a development around this man-made lakefront property.”
Two of the amendments were passed: one to verify that there are no federal restrictions against transferring the property – as there was concern that federal funds used in connection with the town-owned piece of land – and another that added a deed restriction against development to the town-owned parcel.
An amendment asking for a conservation easement to be required on the land given to Van Dyke failed after Conservation Commission chairman David Drouin said the measure was commendable, but hard to pull off on such a small parcel of land.
Jedadiah A. Paquin, a land surveyor who represented Van Dyke on Saturday, and Roberta Letourneau, a friend of Van Dyke, both tried to assure those in the audience that Van Dyke – the widow of deceased developer Robert Van Dyke – has no interest in developing the land to the west of Wellington Field.
A few residents asked if the article could be removed from the ballot, citing a lack of information available for the meeting, but Moderator Charlie Eicher said that only article language can be amended at the deliberative session.
Selectman Robert Hamilton said he abstained from recommending the warrant article, not wanting to influence voters one way or another, and urged those who wanted the article removed from the ballot to vote no on March 12.
More people spoke to a petition warrant article requesting $8,000 to make the Ingalls Memorial Library’s youth librarian position full time than any of the other 23 articles on the ballot, with many voicing their support for the library and the proposed increase.
“I’d like to see a little bit of investment in people once in a while,” resident David Lister said, after pointing out many of this year’s warrant articles and vehicle and equipment-related. “I think this probably would have been recommended by everyone if the library had wheels.”
Making the position full-time will create a more attractive position for the library and will help to better serve a demographic in town that is using the library now more than ever, Library Trustees chair Karla MacLeod said.
MacLeod clarified that the $8,000 needed for the position would only make the position full time for half a year, meaning the cost to having the position full time would increase by another $8,000 in the following year.
Budget Advisory Committee member Cheryl McCabe-Charron said she opposed the increased cost due to statistics pointing to decreases in birth rates and school enrollment.
“I’m not disputing that we don’t have a wonderful staff at the library… I just would like to go into this with eyes wide open,” McCabe-Charron said.
Many of the ballot’s articles were brought up and explained without much discussion to a crowd of about 60 registered voters during the roughly three-hour-long meeting.
This year’s proposed operating budget is $4,053,509, a 1.9 percent increase or $74,885 over last year’s approved total.
Finance Director Laurie May said many of the increases in the budget were contractual or mandated.
If the proposed budget is not passed, a $3,986,883 default budget will be implemented.
Selectmen sold many of the warrant articles during the deliberative session by saying they would have no tax impact or little to no increased tax impact over the previous year.
Some of this year’s largest capital expenses – $315,000 for a grader, $195,225 for a dump/plow truck, and $55,000 to change over to a new assessing and tax collecting system – are proposed to be paid for through the town’s unreserved fund balance.
The unreserved fund balance currently has $488,500.90 in it and has largely been filled due to the town selling off tax-deeded property over the past few years, town officials said.
In the case of vehicle purchases, the town will also seek trade-in value.
One article asks voters to take $145,000 from the Electric Light Trust Fund to purchase emergency generators for the highway garage, town office, recreation center building, and the Meeting House.
Two articles on the ballot seek town shut down the town’s special revenue fund for the transfer station in favor of a revolving fund so that money generated from transfer station permits, punch cards, and recyclables can be used to offset the operating budget of the town’s transfer station.
Selectwoman Roberta Oeser said the move to a revolving fund would save the town an estimated $30,000 in future operating budgets.
An $8,000 warrant article to replace the town’s streetlights with LED streetlights would also save the town money in future years, according to Hamilton, as the energy costs and maintenance savings would pay off the purchase in about a year and a half.
The largest article to be raised via taxation other than the budget is $90,000 for the second payment in a five-year lease-to-own agreement for a fire truck, meaning there would be no additional tax impact over last year’s approved warrant articles.