PAXTON — Before taking up the turkey drumsticks, the town will be taking up its gavel for a bit of town business the week of Nov. 20.
A special town meeting is set for Nov. 20, starting at 7 p.m. in the Paxton Center School cafeteria. The meeting will address 11 warrant articles that range from spending to modifying the agreement between the five Wachusett Regional School District towns.
Among the spending articles, most seeking to use funds from the town’s so-called free cash, is funding for an interim town administrator while Town Administrator Heather Munroe is out on maternity leave starting in December. Voters will be asked to allocate $15,000 for that use.
The Select Board is interviewing four candidates for that temporary position.
Voters could accept an amended WRSD agreement that alters voting division. If passed, the amendment would set the total committee at 17 members, and increase Holden’s members from six to seven in the plan to reduce the overall size.
All of the district’s towns — Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland and Sterling — will have their member votes weighted to achieve the proportional votes based on town population to achieve the one-person, one-vote objective.
The plan was to reduce the large size of the committee over the course of several years, trimming one from Sterling and two from Holden in 2023. The two would be eliminated from Holden and one from Rutland for the 2024 town elections.
The amendment would eliminate only one from Holden for the 2024 election, instead of two.
The target would divide the 17 members as follows: seven from Holden, three from Rutland and Sterling, and two each from Paxton and Princeton.
The effect would be to slightly decrease the weight of each Holden member’s vote and increase the weight of other towns’ members. Paxton’s would rise from 0.88 to 0.94.
In another article, voters will ask be asked to consider amending the current revolving funds bylaw to add a town building rental/lease fund to allow use of rental or lease fees for property maintenance costs.
Other articles include:
• Paying a prior year bill to the Worcester Water Department;
• Increasing the Cemetery Commission budget by $1,800;
• Increasing the elections/registrars budget by $6,000 to cover the special state senate elections;
• Funding $20,000 for the Public Safety generator repairs;
• Cover $4,613 to purchase a replacement mower for the DPW;
• Amending the Water Enterprise, which uses ratepayer fees for its operations;
• Allow the town to authorize the town administrator as chief procurement officer to enter into a postage machine lease for a term in excess of three years but not more than five years; and
• Accept Olivia Knoll as a public way.
