Information for Meeting of Town Meeting
Tuesday June 14, 2022 6:30 PM EDT

SIGNED WARRANT IS ATTACHED

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
WORCESTER, SS:                           

To one of the Constables in the Town of Barre, in the County of Worcester.

Greetings:
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Barre, qualified to vote in town elections and town affairs to meet at the Ruggles Lane School Auditorium, 105 Ruggles Lane, Barre, MA 01005.

TUESDAY, THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF JUNE 2022 AT 6:30 P.M.

then and there to act on the following articles: 

ARTICLE 1
PAYMENT OF BILLS FROM A PRIOR FISCAL YEAR
Sponsor: Select Board
[Two-Thirds Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to transfer from available funds the sum of $51,618.36 to pay for bills of a prior fiscal year (FY21), or take any other action relative thereto. 

ARTICLE 2
PAYMENT OF BILLS FROM A PRIOR FISCAL YEAR
Sponsor: Select Board
[Two-Thirds Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to transfer from available funds the sum of $6,509.80 to pay for bills of a prior fiscal year (FY22), or take any other action relative thereto. 

ARTICLE 3
FY 2023 WATER ENTERPRISE FUND 
Sponsor: DPW Commission 
[Majority Vote Required] 

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, borrow or transfer from Water Receipts a Sum of Money for the operations and maintenance of the municipal water system for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022; or take any other action relative thereto. 

ARTICLE 4
FY 2023 SEWER ENTERPRISE BUDGET 
Sponsor: DPW Commission 
[Majority Vote Required] 

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, borrow or transfer from Sewer Receipts a Sum of Money for the operations and maintenance of the municipal sewer system for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022; or take any other action relative thereto. 

ARTICLE 5
FY 2023 TRANSFER FROM AMBULANCE RECEIPTS RESERVED 
Sponsor: Fire Chief  
[Majority Vote Required] 

To see if the Town will transfer from Ambulance Receipts Reserved the sum of $475,000 to fund the FY23 Omnibus Budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022; or take any other action relative thereto. 


ARTICLE 6
FY 2023 OMNIBUS BUDGET 
Sponsor: Select Board 
[Majority Vote Required] 

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate a sum of money to pay town charges and expenses for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022 and vote to fix salary and compensation of all elected officials of the Town in accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 41, Section 108, effective July 1, 2022 and make all appropriations for the same; or take any other action relative thereto. 

ARTICLE 7
FY 2023 OMNIBUS BUDGET- SCHOOLS 
Sponsor: Select Board
[Majority Vote Required]
 
To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate a sum of money to pay school charges and expenses for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022 in accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 41, Section 108, effective July 1, 2022 and make all appropriations for the same; or take any other action relative thereto. 

ARTICLE 8
PEG ACCESS AND CABLE RELATED FUND  
Sponsor: Select Board
[Majority Vote Required] 

To see if the Town will vote to transfer the sum of $25,000 from the PEG Access and Cable Related Fund to operate the Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) Access and Cable Related Fund established pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44, Section 53F ¾ for fiscal year FY2022; or take any action relative thereto. 

ARTICLE 9
REVOLVING FUNDS 
Sponsor: Select Board
[Majority Vote Required] 

To see what spending limits the Town will establish for revolving accounts established pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44, Section 53E ½ and the Town’s Bylaws Chapter 48, Section 1, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022; or take any other action relative thereto.  

ARTICLE 10
REVOLVING FUNDS 
Sponsor: Police Department 
[Majority Vote Required] 

To see if the Town will vote to eliminate a revolving fund under and subject to the provisions of Chapter 44, Section 53E ½ of the Massachusetts General Laws which was established by the Town on June 18, 2019 under Article 5, as the depository for the K9 Cruiser Replacement and transfer the existing funds into the Barre Falls Dam revolving fund. 







ARTICLE 11
FY 2022 SNOW REMOVAL OT/PT ACCOUNT 
Sponsor: DPW Commission 
(Majority Vote Required) 

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, borrow, transfer from available funds a sum of money to the Fiscal Year 2022 Snow Removal Over-time/Part-time Account; or take any other action relative thereto. 
ARTICLE 12
FY 2022 SNOW REMOVAL EXPENSE ACCOUNT 
Sponsor: DPW Commission 
(Majority Vote Required) 

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, borrow or transfer from available funds a sum of money to the Fiscal Year 2022 Snow Removal Expense Account; or take any other action relative thereto. 
ARTICLE 13
AMEND ARTICLE 12 OF THE 2002 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING  
Sponsor: Finance Committee
(Majority Vote Required)

To see if the Town will vote to rescind the vote under Article 12 Repair Bridges of the June 17, 2002 Annual Town Meeting; or take any other action relative thereto.

ARTICLE 14
AMEND ARTICLE 11 OF THE 2003 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING  
Sponsor: Finance Committee
(Majority Vote Required)

To see if the Town will vote to rescind the vote under Article 9 Repair Bridges of the June 19, 2003 Annual Town Meeting; or take any other action relative thereto.

ARTICLE 15
AMEND ARTICLE 19 OF THE 2004 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING  
Sponsor: Finance Committee
(Majority Vote Required)

To see if the Town will vote to rescind the vote under Article 19 Repair Bridges of the June 14, 2004 Annual Town Meeting; or take any other action relative thereto.

ARTICLE 16
AMEND ARTICLE 30 OF THE 2021 ANNUAL TOWN MEETING  
Sponsor: Finance Committee
(Majority Vote Required)

To see if the Town will vote to rescind the vote under Article 30 Town Hall Roof of the June 15, 2021 Annual Town Meeting; or take any other action relative thereto.

ARTICLE 17
CAPITAL REQUEST - Purchase & Equip a New Ambulance
Sponsor: Fire Department
[Two-Thirds Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, borrow, or transfer the sum of $305,000 to purchase and equip a new ambulance, or take any other action relative thereto.



ARTICLE 18
CAPITAL REQUEST -Purchase & Equip a New Fire Truck
Sponsor: Fire Department
[Two-Thirds Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, borrow, or transfer the sum of $700,000 to purchase and equip a new fire truck, or take any other action relative thereto.

ARTICLE 19
CAPITAL REQUEST - HVAC Replacement at Station 2
Sponsor: Fire Department
[Two-Thirds Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, borrow, or transfer the sum of $18,000 to replace the HVAC system at Fire Station 2, or take any other action relative thereto.

ARTICLE 20
CAPITAL REQUEST -Ruggles Lane Parking Lot
Sponsor: QRSD
[Two-Thirds Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to raise and appropriate, borrow, or transfer the sum of $54,000 to pay for a parking lot repairs at the Ruggles Elementary School, or take any other action relative thereto.

ARTICLE 21
CHAPTER 90 GRANT
Sponsor: Select Board
 [Two-Thirds Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to accept any and all state highway assistance funds authorized by the state legislature and approved by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation- Highway Division under the so-called Chapter 90 Highway Assistance Program to be expended for the maintenance, repair and construction of Town roads in anticipation of reimbursement under the direction of the Select Board for work on roads located on the State Aid Primary System as approved by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation-Highway Division, and further to authorize the Treasurer/Collector, with the approval of the Board of Selectmen, to borrow money from time to time during Fiscal Year 2023 up to the reimbursable amount, for the period from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023, in anticipation of reimbursement of said highway assistance in conformity with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 44, Section 6A, or take any other action relative thereto. 

ARTICLE 22
TREASURER/COLLECTOR BORROWING 
Sponsor: Select Board
  [Two-Thirds Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Treasurer/Collector, with the approval of the Board of Selectmen, to borrow money from time to time in anticipation of revenue for the twelvemonth period beginning July 1, 2022, in accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 44, Section 4, and to renew any note or notes as may be given for a period of less than one year, or take any other action relative thereto.

ARTICLE 23
CHOOSE TOWN OFFICERS
Sponsor: Select Board
 [Majority Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to choose all other town officers, agents and committees not elected by ballot or appointed, or take any other action relative thereto.



ARTICLE 24
REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES
Sponsor: Finance Committee
 [Majority Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to accept the reports of the Select Board, Finance Committee, School Committee and any other department or committee and act thereon, or take any other action relative thereto.

ARTICLE 25
AMEND THE CODE OF THE TOWN OF BARRE
Citizens Petition - Richard McDonald Jr
 [Two-Thirds Vote Required]

To see if the Town will vote to change the zoning district for property located at 323, 377-395 Stetson Road, Assessors Map E, Lot 31 and Map H, Lot 173 and described in the Worcester District Registry of Deeds Book 49455, Page 387 and Book 54561, Page 186 to business commercial; or take any other action relative thereto. 

ARTICLE 26
RESOLUTION
Citizens Petition - Neil Anders
[Majority Vote Required]

Whereas the history of the State of Massachusetts is replete with instances of conflict between the European Colonists and the Native Nations of the region who first extended the hand of friendship to the Colonists on their shores in 1620, and helped them to survive starvation during the settlers’ first winters on their land;

Whereas members of the Native Nation for whom the State of Massachusetts is named were ambushed and killed by Myles Standish, first commander of the Plymouth Colony in April of 1623, barely two years after the Pilgrims arrived;

Whereas the Colonial broadsword held by a white hand above the head of the Native man on the Massachusetts State Flag and Seal is modeled after Myles Standish’s own broadsword, borrowed for that purpose from the Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth by the illustrator Edmund Garrett in 1884;

Whereas the belt binding the Native’s cloak on the Flag and Seal is modeled after a belt worn by Metacomet, known to the English as King Philip, who was among the Wampanoag leaders that resorted to a mutually destructive war in 1675-76 in defense of the Native lands against Colonial encroachment; 

Whereas the proportions of the body of the Native man in the Flag and Seal were taken from a Native skeleton unearthed in Winthrop, the bow modeled after a bow taken from a Native man shot and killed by a colonist in Sudbury in 1665, and the facial features taken from a photograph of an Ojibwe chief from Great Falls, Montana, considered by the illustrator to be a “fine specimen of an Indian,” though not from Massachusetts; 

Whereas the history of relations between Massachusetts since Colonial times and the Native Nations who continue to live within its borders includes the forced internment of thousands of so-called “praying Indians” on Deer Island, in Boston Harbor, where they died by the hundreds of exposure on the winter of 1675, the enslavement of Native people in Boston, Bermuda, and the Caribbean Islands, the offering of 40 pounds sterling as a bounty for the scalps of Native men, women and children in Massachusetts beginning in 1686, increased to 100 pounds sterling for the scalps of Native adult males by 1722, half that amount for Native women and children;

Whereas Native Nations within the boundaries of Massachusetts were legally considered wards of the state until the nonviolent action of the so-called Mashpee Rebellion of 1833 led to the granting of Native self-rule by the Massachusetts legislature in 1834, as if the sovereign right of Native self-government was the Massachusetts legislature’s to confer;

Whereas Native Americans were legally prohibited from even stepping foot into Boston from 1675 until 2004, when that last law was finally repealed;

Whereas the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Colonists at Plymouth Plantation, which gave rise to the long chain of genocidal wars and deliberate policies of cultural destruction against Native Nations of this continent, occurred in the year 2020, affording every citizen of the Commonwealth a chance to reflect upon this history and come to an appreciation of the need for better relations between the descendants of the Colonial immigrants and the Native Nations of the Commonwealth;

Whereas the land area now known as the Town of Barre shares a rich Native history with modern tribal Nations like the Nipmuc, who inhabited this area for thousands of years before the first colonial settlers arrived in 1733;

Now, therefore be it resolved that the Town of Barre hereby adopts this resolution in support of the work of the Special Commission Relative to the Seal and Motto of the Commonwealth established by a Resolve of the General Court in 2020 and appointed by the Governor to recommend changes to the current flag and seal of Massachusetts, and in support of a new seal and motto for the Commonwealth that may better reflect our aspirations for harmonious and respectful relations between all people who now call Massachusetts home. The town clerk shall forward a copy of this resolution to Senator Marc Pacheco and Rep. Antonio Cabral, co-chairs of the Joint Committee on State Administration, who serve as members of the Special Commission Relative to the Seal and Motto of the Commonwealth, and to Senator Anne Gobi and Representative Donald Berthiaume with the request that they continue their support for the work of the aforementioned Special Commission. 

ARTICLE 27
RESOLUTION
Citizens Petition - Neil Anders
[Majority Vote Required]

Resolution in support of the Town of Barre voting to mandate that the town department heads provide weekly administrative reports to town administrator be published in their entirety without omission, excepting where to do so would violate the law or violate a person’s right to privacy and that likewise all committee and board heads (chairpersons) be to provide annual or other durational time report be published to the town website in a timely manner not to exceed 48 hours from the date of receipt so that citizens maybe be appraised of the workings of the town in a timely manner.

ARTICLE 28
RESOLUTION
Citizens Petition - Neil Anders 
[Majority Vote Required]

Resolution in support of the Town of Barre voting to mandate that the town warrant be kept open for no less than 30 consecutive days prior to each town meeting to facilitate citizen involvement.
●	Whereas, in the past, the time has been too limited and unclear as to when the warrant is open for petitions being presented. 
●	Whereas, it is imperative for a sound democracy to have clear and concise rulers of governance.
●	Whereas, to avoid arbitrary and capricious implementation of time limits being implemented. 

ARTICLE 29
RESOLUTION
Citizens Petition - Neil Anders
[Majority Vote Required]

Resolution in support of the Town of Barre voting to mandate that the town place the town’s financial records for all sources and uses of funds and all pertinent charts, records, and informative declaratives regarding town finances to be placed on line to the town’s web site and that said open sources of information be done in a timely fashion not to exceed one week length of delay from the availability and that the posting be preferably done as a single write system.
●	Whereas, informed towns citizenry makes for contented citizenry.
●	Whereas, the public actions of Barre require more transparently so that the everyday workings of our town be open for all to see. 






ARTICLE 30
RESOLUTION
Citizens Petition - Neil Anders
[Majority Vote Required] 

Resolution in support of the Town of Barre voting to raise and appropriate, borrow or transfer funds of $15,000 to clean up or take any legal action on 1000 West Street’s derelict property, or take any action relative thereto.
●	Whereas, the Town of Barre has been requested to take legal action on said property and has chosen not to accomplish the basics of remedying the public nuisance issue nor to address the potential for the site being hazardous waist, 21e site. Additionally, said site harbors further potential health hazards, building code violations, and violation of the fire department’s safety directives during the fire at said property and afterward by not having taking such actions as might have been needed to negate these impediments.
●	Whereas, the lack of the Town to take responsibility to abate the nuisance has brought harm to abutters and other towns persons alike, having to witness such impediments to their property and town’s scenic beauty.
●	Whereas, such allocation of funds could be retrieved from the sale of said property in the future. 
●	Whereas, said property holds dominant visibility for anyone entering Barre from North and West and shows Barre to be a neglected community and makes the Town unsuitable for development. 

ARTICLE 31
AMEND THE CODE OF THE TOWN OF BARRE
Citizens Petition - Neil Anders
[Majority Vote Required]

Resolution in support of the Town of Barre voting to pass a By-law regulation that the Town or its officers may not engage in the procuring of any loans that would exceed to life expectancy of the project or item to which the appropriation is related.


You are directed to serve this Warrant by posting an attested copy thereof on the bulletin boards at Ruggles Lane School, 105 Ruggles Lane; Barre Town Hall, 2 Exchange Street; Town Clerk’s Office, 40 West St. (basement), Henry Woods Building, 40 West Street – 1st floor; Woods Memorial Library, 19 Pleasant Street; 50 Main Street; and Barre Senior Center 557 South Barre Road.
 
Hereof, fail not, and make due return of this warrant with your doings thereon, to the Barre Town Clerk at the time and place of said meeting as aforesaid. Given under our hands this 31st day of May, 2022 A.D. 

				s/Maureen Marshall, Chair
				s/Gregory O’Sullivan
				s/John Dixson
 				   BARRE SELECTBOARD


CONSTABLE’S RETURN OF SERVICE

Worcester SS:

Pursuant to the within Warrant, On June 1st_, 2022, I have notified and warned the inhabitants of the Town of Barre by posting up attested copies of the same on the bulletin boards at:


			 LOCATION 						TIME
	Ruggles Lane School, 105 Ruggles Lane at:			1:41 p.m. 
	Barre Town Hall, 2 Exchange Street at:		 	1:45 p.m. 
	Town Clerk’s Office, 40 West Street (basement) at:		1:37 p.m.
	Henry Woods Building, 40 West Street 1st floor at: 		1:39 p.m. 
	Woods Memorial Library, 19 Pleasant Street at: 		1:50 p.m.
	50 Main Street at:                                                      		2:00 p.m.
	Barre Senior Center, 557 South Barre Road at:        		1:55 p.m.
	6/1/2022					s/Dennis G. Fleming               
        Date Signed                              	Constable of Barre



Returned to the Barre Town Clerk at 2:00 p.m. on the 1st day of June, 2022 A.D.
          s/Ellen M. Glidden				s/Dennis G. Fleming
           Barre Town Clerk                 			             Constable of Barre