Among the 38 articles on the Town Meeting warrant next month are nine citizen petitions.
A handful of them, however, are expected to be withdrawn, according to town officials. On Friday, April 17, the Select Board received email notification from Precinct 7 Town Meeting member Paul Joy, the petitioner, of his intention to withdraw warrant articles 9, 10, 12, 13 and 14. He does not plan to withdraw his sixth petition, Article 11, which seeks to amend the General Bylaws by adding a new section requiring fiscal impact statements and public hearings for zoning warrant articles.
Joy declined to comment further on his reasons for withdrawing the five petitions.
“I think [what’s next is] the moderator’s discussion with the petitioner,” said Select Board Chair Matt Taylor. “Our job is to enforce the citizens right to have the petition added to the warrant; the moderator does the how of the process.”
Citizen petitions, which can be filed by any registered voter of Belmont, require the signatures of 10 registered voters to be included on the warrant for an annual Town Meeting.
“Good policy comes from collaboration. The residents who engage with our elected officials, volunteer committees and staff are the ones who make Belmont the best it can be,” said Select Board member Taylor Yates in response to Joy’s notice. “That’s why we love hearing from residents and working with them on things they care about.”
Article 7, submitted by Precinct 7 Town Meeting member Tom Foley, seeks to clarify and establish dates for annual Town Meeting warrant submissions.
“Where this came from was a general concern I had over the last two years with the date that was set for closing the warrant, which was early January for 2024 and 2025, and which was significantly earlier than had been the case in the past,” Foley told Select Board members at their meeting last week.
Article 8, submitted by Precinct 5 Town Meeting member Tommasina Olson, seeks to amend the General Bylaws to give Town Meeting exclusive naming authority to name or rename town assets by majority vote. This would include buildings, parks, squares and parcels of land, according to the Town Meeting warrant.
“I felt the purpose of this article was to address an action, which I felt took away the rights of the people,” Olson told the Select Board last week, referring to last summer when the town was discussing the naming of the new rink.
Olson expressed frustration with the Select Board’s handling of the issue, arguing that residents, specifically Town Meeting members, should have the right to name assets in town. Taylor contended the Select Board had not overstepped, but rather was granted the right to name town assets in Massachusetts General Law. Further, the Board used the Town Meeting vote when ultimately deciding to keep the rink named for Skip Viglirolo, while naming the whole facility for the town.
Finally, Article 15, submitted by former Town Moderator Michael Crowley, seeks to authorize the Select Board to petition the state for a special act to authorize remote or hybrid Town Meeting or special Town Meetings.
“The ultimate goal is… to ensure Belmont has the opportunity to have hybrid Town Meetings going forward,” Crowley told the Select Board. “I think you know the benefits — put simply, participating in local government should be accessible and convenient.”
Through home rule petitions, three other communities — Concord, Wayland and Lexington — have asked the state for legislation granting them permanent authorization to hold meetings in hybrid and remote formats, according to Crowley. To his knowledge, no action has been taken on those requests.
“Whether the Legislature takes specific actions on these requests or not, I do view it as another form of a prod to state the case that Belmont desires and needs to have this authority on a more permanent basis,” he said.
The state has set June 2027 as the expiration for the current authority to hold hybrid meetings. Crowley said that in March 2025,more than 60 municipal leaders from across Massachusetts wrote to the legislature requesting that the option for remote and hybrid access be made permanent.
“I think Town Meeting is very supportive of hybrid, and this is a way to affirm their support,” said Yates.
Town Meeting is scheduled to begin May 4 at 7 p.m. at Belmont High School. It will be held remotely.
