Huntington selectmen Darlene McVeigh, Ed Renauld, Karon Hathaway and Helen Speckels, administrative assistant.
HUNTINGTON – At Wednesday’s meeting, the town’s Board of Selectmen discussed the upcoming Special Town Meeting (STM) scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m. to re-vote on the Gateway Regional budget for ‘2018, which began on July 1. Huntington residents previously voted down the budget twice, once at the Annual Town Meeting, and at a STM in August.
The sole article to be voted on at the Oct. 18 meeting is to see if the town will raise and appropriate $706,366 for Huntington’s share of the over-minimum contribution to the budget for Gateway Regional School District. That amount has been decreased by $23,427 from the first version of the budget at the Annual Town Meeting.
Selectman Chair Ed Renauld said the selectmen will hold their regular meeting on Oct. 18 immediately prior to the Special Town Meeting, at which time they will vote on whether to recommend the article.
The selectmen also went over the process for the STM with Moderator George Peterson, Town Clerk Kathleen Thomas, and Assistant Town Clerk Linda Hamlin, due to some difficulties with the vote which had to be retaken at the August meeting.
Thomas said following that meeting, she spoke with the state Elections Division to get more direction on the process. She said traditionally non-voters sit in the back of the hall. It was agreed to check all voters against the voter list at the start of the meeting, hand out the slips for the secret ballot, and put out chairs in a separate section for non-registered voters.
