Town meeting rejects annual report

SHARON — What should have been a short routine town meeting Feb. 22 became extended as town residents voted not to accept the town’s annual report from the Board of Selectmen (BOS). It is extremely rare for voters to reject a town report.The meeting had four agenda items: accepting the town report; amending a land use application fee ordinance; approving the lease renewal for 67 Main St.; and approving an expenditure for repairs for the Mitchelltown Road bridge project. About 26 people, including media representatives, attended the meeting.John Mathews, who was a selectman for several terms but was not re-elected in the 2011 election, stood at the meeting and said, “[First Selectman] Robert Loucks’ remarks in his letter in the annual report are incorrect.”Mathews said Loucks wrote that he, Loucks, had tried to get the Board of Selectmen to seize the Mitchelltown Road bridge by eminent domain so repairs could be made. Mathews said that in fact the first selectman, who owns property on Mitchelltown Road, had recused himself from discussions on the bridge.Jessica Fowler, chairman of the town’s Long Range Planning Committee, said, “So many people in this town have worked very hard to accomplish a great deal of positive things. This letter [Loucks’ letter to the town in the annual report] does not recognize how hard people are working to build up our town. It does not portray who we are.”Mathews made a motion for the town meeting to reject the report. It was rejected by a hand vote of 10–7.Another motion was made to accept the report without the first selectman’s letter. The town meeting moderator, Tim Parry, said he did not know if that was legal.After further discussion, an amended motion was passed to accept the annual report, minus Loucks’ letter, subject to clarification from the town’s attorney on its legality.Loucks agreed to seek the town attorney’s opinion at the beginning of the next week. If the town attorney agrees that the report can be accepted minus Loucks’ letter, that could be the end of the discussion. In that case, some pages of the report would have to be reprinted as Loucks’ letter is on one side of a two-sided page.If the attorney feels such a motion is illegal, Parry said, then the selectmen would have to redraft the annual report and bring it to a special town meeting for voter approval.In response to a question, Town Clerk Linda Amerighi said, “The public record of this meeting will show some people present objected to Mr. Loucks’ letter.”In an interview with The Lakeville Journal following the meeting, Loucks said, “I stand by what I wrote [in the letter in the town report].”He added that, “The whole process in connection with the Mitchelltown Road bridge repair project is costing the town an extra $40,000 to $50,000 in attorney and engineering costs because of the way it was handled, due to the demands of the Metzs and others. The town had to do extra things and jump through hoops. It is my belief the whole thing became political and personal.” Motions that did passIn other business the town meeting approved an amendment to part of the Sharon Zoning Regulations, page 19-15.2C, increasing the fee to petition a change of zone to $200.The meeting also voted to approve renewal of the lease on the town-owned building at 67 Main St. to Tri-State public Communications, Inc., and its NPR radio stations WHDD AM and FM for an additional three years.In the prior lease, Tri-State was allowed to sublet unused space in the building on the second floor, but only to nonprofit organizations. In the new lease, Tri-State can sublet to anyone.In the last item on the agenda, the town meeting granted permission for expenditures up to $59,467.74 for the Mitchelltown Road bridge repairs. These expenditures will be taken from the town’s undesignated fund and will be reimbursed and paid back by with state LoCIP funds (Local Capital Improvement Program), as approved by the Board of Finance.Town Treasurer Tina Pitcher, who attended the meeting, said LoCIP monies are usually received from the state within a month of submission for reimbursement.