Budgets, land use planning funds OK’d on Town Meeting Night 1

Outgoing Select Board Chair Mark Howell called it a “down payment” on a multimillion-dollar public building spree.

It wasn’t the unanimous acclamation that other spending requests received Monday, but Town Meeting voters ultimately approved $600,000 for “municipal facilities planning” that leaders say will keep them on track. 

“It’s a big deal, [and] it’s extremely important to the town and to its future,” resident Lydia Rogers said as she called for transparency in the process.

The allocation will fund studies and other work as officials consider how to replace aging public works and public safety facilities. Leaders are also discussing consolidating scattered municipal offices.

The funding request was one of just a few articles that drew debate on the first night of this year’s Annual Town Meeting. When it came time to vote, it passed 251-70.

“It seemed uneventful,” resident Shelley Amster said moments after the evening’s final gavel at Acton-Carlisle High School. 

Public input

Acton is far from a groundbreaking ceremony on any of its building projects. 

This week’s $600,000 allocation will help firm up details and vet preliminary recommendations from the town’s Land Use Working Group, Howell said.

Public officials heard questions and criticism about the level of public input so far, and voter Mark Gailus flagged “serious mistakes and omissions” by the working group.

Gailus has been among those sounding an alarm after officials tabbed Acton’s Peter Spring Field off Bedford Street as an alternative site for a new public works building, if a preferred location at the former MCI-Acton prison doesn’t work out. 

Neighbors and environmental advocates say construction at the field would displace Blanding’s turtles, an endangered species. 

Dozens have packed meetings in recent weeks, and speakers brought a turtle named “Bubbles” to a mid-March Town House session. 

“Everyone in Acton is a stakeholder,” Gailus said Monday. 

Leaders have promised more public engagement. They insist the Land Use Working Group process was just the beginning of their discussions. 

Working group recommendations call for a new fire headquarters in West Acton, a renovated or rebuilt police HQ somewhere in town, and a new public works campus, preferably at the former prison. 

The group included Peter Spring Field in its report but also listed the schools’ Ripley Administration Building as an alternative site for a public works yard.

Clickers and candy bars

Questions on the $600,000 planning allocation aside, more than $150 million in town and school budgets for the 2027 fiscal year sailed through Acton’s citizen legislature. These included town and school operating and capital project budgets.

“There wasn’t anything controversial,” resident Janet Wolahan told The Acton Bridge.

Officials also won a 228-55 vote to open a new conservation fund. 

The account could let the town snap up open space from sellers who might not be willing to wait for the traditional Town Meeting land acquisition process. 

A total of 471 people checked in to vote during night one of Town Meeting, according to Town Archivist Nate Smith. The crowd thinned over time, and only 285 residents weighed in with their electronic voting “clickers” on the evening’s final tally. 

Some Concordians scrolled on laptops and phones. One voter lounged across three rows of seats in the CCHS gym bleachers. Another voter, Merill Comeau, tackled an intricate embroidery project between votes. 

The Finance Committee sat at a table stocked with mandarin oranges and fun-size candy as members intermittently chimed in on articles.

Officials have discussed how to increase participation, but attendee Eric Green said he wasn’t surprised by the low turnout.

“It’s a vote of confidence that most people don’t feel the need to come to Town Meeting,” he told The Bridge. 

“The work is being done by people they trust,” he said. “The town’s running well.”

Celeste Katz Marston and Trace Salzbrenner contributed reporting.