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AUBURN, Mass. – The special fall Town Meeting will convene Tuesday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. at Auburn High School, 99 Auburn St., where Town Meeting members will vote on whether to adopt 22 articles.
Selectmen approved Tuesday’s warrant, drafted by the town manager, on Oct. 2. Most articles deal with housekeeping items, such as transferring money from one account to another.
The fall Town Meeting usually “focuses on fine-tuning the budget,” Selectman Kenneth Holstrom said.
“There could be department heads that need something for their departments to keep themselves moving,” Holstrom said. “It opens the doors for articles to be put in, so the work of the town can continue.”
However, one article relates to building a new middle school on West Street.
The school department will ask the Town Meeting to “appropriate a sum of money from General Fund revenues to the Stabilization Fund” to purchase 6.6 acres from the Masonic Lodge for a new middle school. The Massachusetts School Building Authority gave unanimous approval for the new school at its October board meeting, but this approval is contingent on Auburn purchasing the land from Masonic Lodge.
In addition, the school department will ask the Town Meeting to “appropriate a sum of money from General Fund revenues to the Auburn School Department Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2013 to fund transportation costs for homeless students to their educational program.” The school district spends about $12,000 each year transporting homeless students.
And the Department of Public Works will ask the Town Meeting to accept Gilbert Way as a public way. Gilbert Way, located off Barnes Street on the Millbury line, would be 370.66 feet long. The DPW also wants Town Meeting approval for making Regis Drive a public way. Regis Drive, located near the intersection of Bryn Mawr Avenue and Oxford Street North, would be 946 feet in length.
Auburn is a Town Meeting Representative Government in which Town Meeting members vote. The town has 120 Town Meeting members elected from five precincts.
The public is welcome to speak about an issue Oct. 23, but only Town Meeting members may vote.
Download a copy of the warrant articles below.
Attached: (special_town_meeting.pdf)
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