Aquinnah has scheduled a special town meeting to reconsider the regional high school budget after voting it down with Chilmark and West Tisbury earlier this month.
The select board voted this week to set a town meeting for June 14 at 7 p.m. in the Aquinnah town hall. Residents will weigh in on seven warrant articles, most pertaining to the regional high school.
The three up-Island towns had previously rejected the budget at their annual town meetings in protest of the school’s lawsuit against the Oak Bluffs planning board. The school has been trying to install an artificial turf field on-campus, but the project was denied by the planning board.
After some deliberation, the regional high school committee opted to send back the same budget that had been previously rejected.
Aquinnah will join Chilmark in also having two non-binding petition articles that request the commit to all-grass playing fields and refuse anonymous donations over $5,000 for issues pertaining to the turf lawsuit.
Although both have been reviewed by Aquinnah town counsel Ron Rappaport, it’s unclear whether the articles, if passed, will hold any political power, town administrator Jeffrey Madison said in the select board meeting Tuesday.
“Counsel has said they were presented by petition, put them on as presented by petitioners and just leave it at that,” Mr. Madison said.
Non-binding resolutions in Massachusetts are a way for voters to send a clear message to officials, but don’t require action to be taken.
Other articles include a raise for the town building inspector, funds to repair the Dukes County Health Access building, and a proposed general bylaw amendment to ensure Aquinnah can participate in the state’s all-electric pilot program.
In response to high turnout at the annual meeting, town moderator Michael Hebert has ordered 50 more of the voting clickers Aquinnah uses to tally votes electronically, he said. Last meeting, some votes had to be counted by hand when attendance surpassed 100 voters.
Town officials said they were pleasantly surprised by the turnout.
“We were hoping to have 40 people there to have a quorum,” select board member Tom Murphy said.
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