Chilmark voters elected a new selectman, pledged money for studying town ponds and approved a hefty budget hike at the annual town meeting and election this week.
Voters elected real estate agent and Chilmark Store owner Bill Rossi for a three year term to the board of selectmen on Wednesday. Mr. Rossi won with 186 votes. He succeeds longtime selectman Frank Fenner, who did not seek reelection after four terms. A late write-in campaign by Alan Porter earned him 54 votes.
Chilmark voters made speedy work of their annual town meeting on Monday night at the Chilmark Community Center, approving an overhaul of the town personnel bylaw, a new set of rules for swimming pools and tennis courts and a $7 million budget in two hours flat.
A total of 107 voters attended; longtime moderator Everett Poole presided over the session.
The budget, up $238,000 over last year, includes a 2.6 per cent cost of living increase for town employees, the highest on the Island. Chilmark town employees received no increase last year.
A one-year moratorium on wind turbine applications and an array of housing initiatives, including a bylaw that addresses the thorny issue of inheritance for the children of affordable housing recipients, top the list of business for a double-header special and annual town meeting in Chilmark next week.
The meeting is Monday night in the Chilmark Community Center; longtime moderator Everett H. Poole will preside. The special town meeting begins at 7:30 p.m., immediately followed by the annual town meeting at 8 p.m. There are a total 31 articles on the two warrants.
Chilmark voters opted for smaller government and a quieter town at Monday’s annual town meeting, approving a reduced town budget and stricter new noise bylaws.
The budget cuts, however, amounted to the lightest of prunings — about $6.64 million for fiscal year 2010 compared with 2009’s $6.68 million appropriation — after the meeting rejected proposals for a more serious attack on staff costs.
Despite the small size of the crowd, the debate among Chilmark voters at their annual town meeting this week was passionate and at times heated.
On Monday night voters gathered at the Chilmark Community Center to take up a 27-article warrant. Moderator Everett H. Poole presided.
A total of 113 voters attended, well over the quorum requirement of 25.
It was a meeting which saw a rare moment when Mr. Poole laid aside his gavel for the third time in his 31-year career to speak from the floor.
The Island's troubled fishing industry will be a major
focus of the Chilmark annual town meeting on Monday night.
In a town meeting warrant otherwise characterized as "very noncontroversial" by the chairman of the Chilmark board of
selectmen, J.B. Riggs Parker, "the shellfish articles will
obviously get much of the attention on the meeting floor."
