By Beth David, Editor
Fairhaven Town Meeting members will face 26 articles on the warrant of the annual TM on Saturday, 5/3/25. TM members will be asked to vote on a $61.7 million budget. All departments were asked to cut budgets this year. The School Department is requesting an additional $1.3 million. Town meeting must be presented with a balanced budget by law.
This year, the town got a bit creative by paying off the Fire engine debt early with free cash to free up about $100,000 per year.
Interim Town Administrator, George Samia, compared it to the movie, “Around the World in 80 Days with David Niven.” At one point in the movie, Phileas Fogg, buys the steamboat and burns everything to keep it running. This year, said Mr. Samia, we burned everything, so there is nothing left for next year.
He said the town keeps losing on the revenue side.
Precinct meetings for TM members will be held on 4/30/25 and will be available at www.FairhavenTV.com
TM members will also be asked to consider adopting a charter for the town, instead of being regulated only by bylaws. The Charter Committee (CC) had not quite finalized the document by press time, and was scheduled to meet on Wednesday, 4/23, which is past press time.
In a phone interview, Chairperson Morgan Dawicki said he expected the committee to finish up this week to be able to email the final version to TM members and have hard copies made in time for them to review it before May 3.
Mr. Dawicki said the Charter leaves most bylaws in place. It consolidates the three Special Acts that the town has: Town Meeting as a Representative Town Meeting; Town Administrator Act; the special act creating the Board of Public Works.
It also defines the roles and responsibilities of officials and boards and committees.
Having a charter creates a framework for town government, under which bylaws are still in place and can be added. Instead of individuals needing to hunt around for any Special Acts governing the town, the Charter will have all that information in one place.
When changes need to be made, they can be made in one document instead of three separate efforts for each special act.
No changes are recommended to the BPW Act.
The most significant changes are to the TA Act, the Planning Board and the School Committee.
Mr. Dawicki said that the committee will consider some changes to the document that is currently online at its meeting on 4/23.
The TA changes are mostly some language changes that clarify the checks and balances that seemed to be lacking. On matters that require Select Board approval, the new language clearly states that the SB must give prior approval, as it was a point of contention with the last TA who had a habit of bringing changes to the board for approval after the decisions were made. It also adds department restructuring to the list of things needing prior approval.
“It’s just creating clarification. It’s not taking any power away,” said Mr. Dawicki, adding that it makes sure the SB and TA are cooperating.
The charter also clarifies which tasks the TA has sole authority on and which ones require prior approval from the SB.
The CC recommends changing the School Committee from a six-member board to a seven-member board to avoid tie votes.
The changes to the Planning Board are still under discussion, said Mr. Dawicki. The PB is an eight-member board that traditionally had four-year terms. But that was changed at the 5/4/24 Annual Town Meeting to three-year terms.
According to the CC’s executive summary, they have proposed changes based on feedback from the Planning Board to keep the eight members, but to change the term back to four years. Town Counsel advised that the change cannot be made through bylaws, so it needs to be in the charter.
However, Mr. Dawicki said that the CC may decided to leave it at three years. The reason the eight-member board does not have an issue with tie votes is that the PB requires six positive votes for a special permit.
The CC also discussed making it a nine-member board with the three year terms.
The Charter includes regulations for all elected boards: Select Board, BPW, Planning Board, School Committee, Housing Authority, Town Moderator, Board of Health, Commission of Trust Funds, Town Clerk.
It also includes Finance Committee, Finance Department, Capital Planning Committee, Board of Assessors.
It also includes the procedures for the Recall of Elected Officers, but makes no changes to it.
After adoption by Town Meeting, the charter will have to be approved by the legislature and then approved by voters in a general election.
The Charter will be reviewed by a charter committee in three years, and then in nine years. It can be amended, however, at any time by a vote of Town Meeting.
Any changes to the charter must be approved by the legislature.
Documents are available on the CC page of the town website at https://fairhaven-ma.gov/charter-committee/
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