Chilmark voters will decide a range of issues at their annual town meeting next week, including whether to back the Islandwide housing bank and the possible purchase of land that could become new headquarters for Tri-Town ambulance.
Special and annual town meetings begin on Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the Chilmark Community Center. There are 36 articles on the annual town meeting warrant and one on the special town meeting warrant. Longtime moderator Everett Poole will preside.
The annual town election is Wednesday in the Chilmark Community Center. Polls are open from noon to 8 p.m. There is one contest on the ballot, a race for cemetery commissioner between incumbent Judith Flanders and Maxwell McCreery. James Malkin is running unopposed for a second term as selectman.
Four questions also appear on the ballot requesting Proposition 2 1/2 overrides and additional assessments to cover several town and regional initiatives.
On Monday Chilmark will become the fifth Island town to vote on the controversial housing bank. As in other towns, there are two articles, one seeking approval for a home rule petition to enact the bank and a second article that would create a funding mechanism using money from the short-term rental tax.
The housing bank has been fiercely debated across the Island and in lengthy discussions on town meeting floors. It was voted down last week at annual town meetings in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Tisbury. West Tisbury approved the article to establish the housing bank, but postponed a vote on the funding mechanism until later this month.
The Chilmark finance advisory committee voted 4-0 (with three members not present) to not recommend both housing bank articles. The town selectmen also oppose it, saying more time is needed to work out the details.
“I think we’re saying as a town that we support affordable housing, we just don’t support the housing bank in its current iteration,” said selectman Bill Rossi at the board’s meeting Tuesday.
Another related article by petition calls for three per cent of the short-term rental tax collected to be put into the Molly Flender Municipal Housing Trust, with a provision that it would be transferred to the housing bank only if it is enacted. The article is not recommended by the finance advisory committee.
The largest request on this year’s warrant is for $900,000 to buy the Emmett and Kathie Carroll property, a 1.4-acre parcel abutting town hall on Middle Road. Town leaders hope to use the property for a new building that would house the Tri-Town ambulance. Selectmen signed a purchase and sale agreement in December for the property. The agreement hinges on voter approval.
On Tuesday selectmen unveiled renderings for a new regional ambulance headquarters and fire station that will be presented on the town meeting floor. The proposed Tri-Town building would be situated on the Carroll property at 399 Middle Road with a walking path connecting to a new fire station built on the current site next to the town hall.
“It fits, it will work, we can do this. It’s something that needs to happen,” said selectman and board chairman James Malkin about the proposal.
“I hope it passes,” added Tri-Town chief Ben Retmier.
Voters also will be asked to approve $200,000 to pay for initial design costs for the proposed new EMS building and fire station.
“It would only be the first phase of the architect’s job. It’s not the full appropriation to do the project in the end,” said town administrator Timothy Carroll.
Both requests also need approval at the ballot box on Wednesday.
Voters will take up a $10.2 million budget, a one per cent increase over last year. Education expenses are a large part of the budget at $3.25 million.
“Education is a big piece of everyone’s taxes,” Mr. Carroll said. “The importance of educating our youth cannot be understated.”
In other education spending requests, voters will be asked to pay the town’s share of four projects for repairs and renovations, two at the West Tisbury School and two at the Chilmark School.
Another request comes from the high school, which seeks roughly $49,000 as the town’s share of a feasibility study to explore possible new construction or renovations at the regional school. Oak Bluffs voters rejected the request for their town share last week, leaving the regional initiative in limbo.
“The article is now moot because one town voted against it . . . but we’ll bring it to a vote,” said Mr. Malkin.
At the single-article special town meeting, voters will be asked to give approval for the high school to spend $350,000 in excess and deficiency (E and D) funds on design work for the new track and field project.
Mr. Malkin said he will oppose the article.
“I think this is an operating expense that should have been in there budget. I think this is the wrong way to get the money,” he said.
Voters will take action on two student-driven environmental initiatives. One would ban the release of lighter-than-air balloons and the other would ban single-use plastic water bottles. Both initiatives have passed in most Island towns in town meetings this month and last year.
Another home rule petition would grant the board of health more control over herbicide use in town.
Voters will take action on county requests for $31,000 to fund five regional social services programs. A five per cent administrative fee that the county tacked onto the spending requests this year sparked debate in Tisbury and West Tisbury last week, with the fee eliminated in some cases and not in others.
Two other county articles seek nearly $16,560 to fund county other post-employment benefits, and $27,607 for the regional communications center, contingent on ballot approval.
Affordable housing is a theme in Community Preservation Act requests this year. Voters will be asked to approve $60,000 to help pay for the planned expansion at the Aidylberg elderly housing complex in Oak Bluffs, and separately, the acquisition of land for future housing for homeless residents by Harbor Homes of Martha’s Vineyard.
A lengthy zoning bylaw amendment spells out fencing requirements for private swimming pools, while proposed language changes for the town’s solar installation bylaw will allow Chilmark to become eligible for grants under the state Green Communities program.
Voters also will be asked to approve:
• $169,000 to go into town stabilization funds for public safety and highway departments;
• $19,379 for the Youth Task Force, and Adult and Community Education;
• $85,000 to buy and install an HVAC system and backup generator for the Community Center;
• $39,000 for fire department equipment upgrades;
• $45,000 for a new police cruiser;
• $66,000 to buy new ambulance portable defibrillators.
“I hope the Chilmark residents come and participate in the town meeting and come to the election afterward,” said Mr. Carroll.
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