Berkley gears up for July 27 Town Meeting

BERKLEY — The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic now include lowering what one town feels it needs to pass important municipal business.

The selectmen on July 22 decided it will only require 25 voters to attend the July 27 annual Town Meeting, rather than the normal 100-person quorum.

Selectmen chair George F. Miller noted this was being done to ensure the 18-article warrant garners enough approval votes whether or not fewer residents attend this year because of coronavirus pandemic concerns.

"This would be on a temporary basis," he said. "We don't want to do this in the future. We have to continue town business with or without a pandemic."

Town Administrator Heather Martin-Sterling noted the law allows a town to reduce a meeting quorum no lower than 10 percent of the existing quorum.

"My thought was to reduce it to at least a 50-person quorum," Town Moderator John Blake responded. "But I guess 25 is OK too."

Martin-Sterling then reported good and bad news on the select board's other town meeting attendance concerns.

She said town counsel has informed her that Berkley would need a court order to allow Zoom-streaming the meeting so more people could participate.

But Monday's Town Meeting, she added, will be able to offer a separate space in the cafeteria for voters who are unable to wear a mask. Video and audio equipment will be included to allow people there to fully participate.

The town meeting is scheduled for July 27 starting at 7 p.m. in the Berkley Community School gymnasium, 59 South Main St.

The other pandemic-inspired rules on July 27, Martin-Sterling said, will include that every voter must wear a mask. Also the table of town officials must be 10 feet away from the rows of seats, and town officials must also wear their masks unless they are speaking.

The highlight of Monday's meeting warrant will be a $17,754,667 spending proposal for the FY2021 budget. Finance Committee chairman Joseph Freitis explained after the select board meeting that next November's Special Town Meeting will then ask voters to approve $19,744,144, which will equal a total $19,989,467 budget for FY2021.

Freitis said this budget total will be a three-percent decrease over the current fiscal year's $20,334,660 town budget. He said the Finance Committee was able to propose a budget reduction this year because it has always proposed a less than three percent increase each year. "Doing this has put us in a positive position," he said. "We've never overspent. It's given us the flexibility to be able to manage the current operational needs of the town and protect our stakeholders, the taxpayers."

The warrant also asks voters to decide on three measures proposed by the Planning Board. One article would change a Planning Board member's term from three years to five. The second would allow better permitting for use of corner lots, and a third would allow a commercial permitting proposal at 113-120 Padelford St.