At Town Meeting (which begins this coming Monday night, May 4, at 7 p.m. in the Marblehead High School field house), voters will decide whether to send a general override question to a town-wide ballot in June. Given the severe cuts our schools, town services and infrastructure are facing, this is one of the most consequential decisions Marblehead has faced in many years.
The budget and override articles fall later on in the warrant (Articles 23 & 29) and likely won’t come up on their own until well into the evening. Two things concern us about that:
First, decisions this consequential deserve full and open discussion with as many residents in the room as possible. And of particular note, the childcare offered by Recreation and Parks closes at 10 p.m.
Second, there’s a practical deadline. Ballot questions need to be finalized 35 days before the election, which means the override must be decided by midnight on Monday, May 4, according to the Select Board.
For both reasons, at the start of Town Meeting we will make a subsidiary motion to Article 1 to bring Articles 23 & 29 forward and address them at the beginning of the meeting. We will work with Town Meeting leadership and the Select Board to ensure our motion includes all articles that must properly precede the budget and override, so the process is handled correctly and respectfully.
If you support putting the override question in front of all Marblehead voters:
- Come to Town Meeting on Monday night.
- Get there early — the line to check in may be long.
- Vote YES on the Article 1 motion to take Articles 23 & 29 out of order.
- Vote YES on Articles 23 & 29.
- Stay as long as you can, and plan to return Tuesday night if needed — every article on the warrant is important and your voice matters
More information is available at formarblehead.org/townmeeting.
Matt Hooks, Nanepashemet Road
Kate Thomson, Bubier Road
Co-chairs, For Marblehead
