STERLING — A fall special town meeting has been scheduled for Monday, Oct. 16.
The meeting was prompted by a citizens’ petition about the Board of Health; once a petition is filed, the town is required to schedule a meeting.
After the meeting was scheduled, a few more articles were received, bringing the total to nine articles.
In addition to the first citizens’ petition, a second was received, also dealing with the Board of Health. Along with the business articles, voters will be asked to fund two special elections to fill a state senate vacancy and the special town meeting itself.
Town Administrator Bill Caldwell told the Select Board that the two special elections — the primary on Oct. 10 and the regular election on Nov. 7 — to fill Anne Gobi’s senate seat, will cost $8,000 total to run.
It will cost the town $7,000 to run the special town meeting.
The meeting will start with town business, then cover the citizens’ petitions.
One article authorizes the Select Board — by gift, purchase, eminent domain or otherwise — to acquire 67 Holden Road (1.05 acres), for a fire pond. Another is to acquire 6 Michael Lane (.9 acres) from the developer for drainage.
Another article corrects a May vote on voter registration. It allows town offices to move voter registration from Saturdays to Fridays, for local voting.
Voters will be asked to set up a fund to hold opioid funds from a lawsuit settlement onto which the town signed. Caldwell said the amount, right now, is about $8,700, but more money could be coming. The money can only be spent for specific purposes.
Voters will be asked to transfer $30,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund to equip a cell tower with public safety equipment on Kendall Hill. Caldwell explained the request is coming now, with the scheduled special town meeting, rather than waiting for the spring town meeting, because it is cheaper to do the work while the tower is being built.
The regional school district has also put an article on the warrant to amend the regional school agreement to reflect the latest population figures. The calculations include weighted voting.
The first citizens’ petition is to “urge the Board of Health to rescind their Dec. 8, 2022, revisions to Sterling Subsurface Disposal System Regulations” by deleting mandates for deep observation hole inspection requirements.
As part of the summary, advocates wrote: “In no less than three separate Mass. DEP statutory documentation sources, a deep hole soil evaluation is a last resort and is not required as it goes against the Mass. DEP’s overriding theme that the Title 5 should be accomplished with minimal disruption to the involved resident’s property.”
The second citizens’ petition calls for $10,000 to audit the Sterling Board of Health “to examine the systems, programs and financial data” to provide “independent assurance that our community’s financial interests are paramount and that statements are reliable, accurate and complete.”
The motion for the article calls for the money to come from “available reserve funds.”
The meeting will be held Monday, Oct. 16, starting at 6:30 p.m. in the Chocksett Middle School Gym, 40 Boutelle Road.
