Upton Election Monday and Town Meeting Thursday

Upton will be holding an election on Monday, May 2 and the Annual Town Meeting on Thursday, May 5.

There are two contested races taking place in the town election. Gary Daugherty is challenging incumbent Ken Picard for a three-year seat on the Board of Selectman and Pamela Goodwin is challenging incumbent Millie Galeone for a seat on the Upton Housing Authority. The rest of the races are uncontested.

The election will take place on Monday at Nipmuc Regional High School Gymnasium, 90 Pleasant Street. Voting is open from  7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Annual Town Meeting is being held on Thursday, May 5 at Nipmuc in the Auditorium and will begin 7 p.m. There are 28 articles on the Warrant, below are a few highlights.

• bylaw to regulate the maintenance of trees on public property
• bylaw to address discharge of water which may create a hazardous condition on a public way
• to join the Central Massachusetts Mosquito Control Project
• purchase of 13 defibrillators and one training unit for police/fire
• costs related to repairs of Fiske Mill Bridge
• Consultant to complete a work study
• A Request to get “a sense of the town” regarding 1.4 million dollar under-ride

The last two mention above are articles placed on the warrant by residents and  highlighted below.

Article 27 requests the town spend up to $8,000 for and independent consultant to complete a work study of the positions of Assessor of Taxes, Treasurer/Collector, Assistant to the Treasurer, and Assistant to the Assistant of the Treasurer for the purpose of reviewing job descriptions and fair market value of those positions.  Please read the full article on the warrant, this is an abridged version. 

Article 28 is requesting the BOS to get a sense of the town and consider placing a 1.4 million dollar under-ride before the taxpayers to reverse the override passed last year for the school budget.

If Article 28 were to pass and the selectman placed a 1.4 million dollar under-ride before the taxpayer and they voted in favor of an under-ride the Town would then have to develop a plan and make cuts in the budget equal to that amount of money.  According to Town Manager Blythe Robinson, “Because the School district is a separate entity, we can’t obligate them to reduce their budget.  So if it only can come from the Town I think all services would be impacted.”