Huntington selectmen Darlene McVeigh, Chair Ed Renauld, Karon Hathaway and Moderator George Peterson at Wednesday’s Special Town Meeting at Stanton Hall.
HUNTINGTON – The Huntington Board of Selectmen met immediately before the Special Town Meeting Wednesday to vote on whether to recommend its over-minimum contribution of $703,366 to Gateway Regional’s FY18 budget (7/1/17-6/30/18). Wednesday’s vote was the third on the budget this year, with residents from Huntington, Russell and Chester having defeated it at their Annual Town Meetings in the spring and at Special Town Meetings over the summer. Blandford, Middlefield and Montgomery had passed the budget at their Annual Town Meetings, and did not have to re-vote. Four out of the six member towns are required to vote for the budget for passage.
At both earlier meetings, the Huntington selectmen had voted not to approve the budget, although the board members had changed following elections and the start of the fiscal year. Wednesday, they were split on the decision.
Chair Ed Renauld, the sole incumbent on the board, said at the time of the Annual Town Meetings, the school wasn’t working with the towns on the budget. Since it was voted down then and at the Special Town Meetings, the district has set up budget meetings facilitated by the Massachusetts Association of Retired Superintendents (MARS) and sent a letter asking the towns for representation.
First term selectman Karon Hathaway asked for the total reduction for Huntington in Version #3 of the budget, and was told it was $23,300. “It’s not the dollar amount, it’s the process,” Renauld said, adding that fixing the process is the answer. “By not passing the budget, why would they work with us,” he said.
Darlene McVeigh, who is also a first time selectman and former chair of the Finance Committee, said that Huntington’s contribution was altogether $120,000 over last year. She agreed that the problem was not financial. She said no matter what happened at the vote, she would continue to attend School Committee meetings and regional meetings, and continue to bring the issues to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Division of Local Services, the state legislative delegation and the Lt. Governor.
“I hope we can make progress. We have to start talking and exploring options,” McVeigh said.
After more discussion, the selectmen couldn’t come to an agreement, with McVeigh and Hathaway recommending voting against the budget, and Renauld in favor. “Now that they’re including us in the process, you have to give it a chance,” Renauld said. They agreed to give no recommendation at the Special Town Meeting immediately following, but both McVeigh and Renauld said they would explain why they had come to their decisions.
At the start of the Special Town Meeting, Renauld asked for a moment of silence for four Huntington residents that had passed away in the last week, all of whom had served at one time as selectmen; Jeffrey McKittrick, who resigned as chair in March, and for whom Renauld expressed gratitude for mentoring him as a new selectman; Earl “Cricket” Heath, who was better known as the longest tenured constable in the state at roughly 60 years service; and longtime residents and former selectmen Beverly Keeney and Sharon Lumbis.
Huntington residents line up to vote for passage of the Gateway ’18 budget.
The sole article on the agenda was then read by Moderator George Peterson, who opened the meeting for discussion. Resident Steve Hamlin asked how the town got to the vote, and Renauld answered that it had been voted down at the Annual Town Meeting and Special Town Meeting.
Another resident asked for the recommendation of the Finance Committee. Renauld said there is no Finance Committee since McVeigh and Hathaway, who also served on the Finance Committee, became selectmen. He said if anyone was interested in serving, to contact Town Hall.
Renauld then said the selectmen were split and not able to come up with a consensus after recommending a no vote at the two earlier meetings.
Resident Lois Smith asked how much the budget had come down. Gateway Business Manager Stephanie Fisk said the Gateway budget was reduced by $54,000 from Version 2 to Version 3.
McVeigh said at the last two meeting she had made considerable commentary, and had recommended not to approve the budget. “Tonight, I’m not here to tell you that, I’ll let you decide,” she said. She did add that Gateway has serious issues, and Huntington, as a member town, has serious issues. She said in June after the budget was defeated, Gateway set up five joint budget meetings and invited town officials. Since August, they started facilitating discussions after the second no vote.
“Unfortunately, the only leverage the towns have is to vote down the budget,” McVeigh said. After a few more remarks by McVeigh, and before Renauld had the opportunity to state his reasons for recommending a yes vote, the question was called, and the vote to move the question passed.
Residents then voted by secret ballot. In the end, 46 voted in favor of the article, and 37 voted against it, effectively passing the Gateway budget for the current fiscal year by becoming the fourth town to vote for it.
Following the vote, Fisk expressed relief. “I’m relieved that we can move on from FY18 and start working with the facilitator on FY19,” she said.
The town of Russell, which had joined Chester and Huntington in defeating the Gateway budget twice before, also met on Wednesday at the same time as Huntington’s Special Town Meeting. Finance Committee member Derrick Mason reported that Russell defeated the Gateway budget for the third time, with a vote of 18 yes and 42 no on the above minimum assessment version 3.0.
“The 60 fine Russell voters can take pride in the way they conducted their Special Town Meeting. All sides and opinions were voiced, heard and respected. School Committee and Finance Committee members urged everyone to continue to engage and participate in the ongoing discussions of the Joint Planning Committee in addressing the Gateway budget and visioning process,” Mason said following the meeting.
