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IPSWICH — Despite earlier indications, there will not be a Special Town Meeting on July 28, nor a subsequent ballot vote on August 11, to revote on additional funding for the public safety facility.
The Select Board changed course during an emergency meeting last Friday, eliminating those dates over concerns including availability of the YMCA polling location and timely legal advertising in the Ipswich Local News.
It now appears that the Special Town Meeting will either be held in late August or as regularly scheduled in October. The subsequent ballot vote is legally required to occur within 8-15 days after Special Town Meeting.
Summer or fall?
Noting her office will already be juggling the state primary and general elections, Town Clerk Andrea Pappalimberis has recommended the October track for Special Town Meeting. This way, the subsequent ballot vote could simply be included on the state election ballot, she said.
Selectperson Carl Nylen agreed, warning a summer vote could “cause confusion” and “call into question the quality of the vote because people will be away” on summer vacation.
“Making the decision to hold a second vote is not something any of us would take lightly,” he added. “We have to make sure the process we have around it is flawless.”
In order for the borrowing request to be approved, it would have to pass by a two-thirds majority at the Special Town Meeting and a simple majority at the polls.
By a vote of 358-190, the additional funding request fell just eight votes short of the required two-third majority at last month’s Special Town Meeting. And though the subsequent ballot vote could not move the project forward, 59.9% of voters still supported the measure at the polls.
The board briefly discussed scheduling again on Monday but pushed their final decision back another week. They also reaffirmed that there will not be a Special Town Meeting in July.
Financial penalty
But delaying the vote could carry a financial penalty. While the additional borrowing request stood at $9.8 million last month, Public Safety Facility Committee member Robert Donohue recently estimated that pushing the vote back to the fall will increase the ask to around $10.1 million due to rising costs.
Selectperson Sarah Player also argued that holding a “stand alone” Special Town Meeting in the summer would give the project “more airtime” and encourage “more thorough debate.”
“This project has suffered enough,” Selectperson Charles Surpitski said, arguing in favor of a summer vote. “I think it’s ridiculous to continue to push this can down the road.”
Citizen queries
Several citizens, meanwhile, came out in force at last week’s emergency meeting to criticize the Select Board for holding a revote at all.
Noting that Chair Michael Dougherty did not support the maneuver, resident Paul Calebaugh alleged that Surpitski has a “prejudice to support” the new facility because he’s a former police chief.
“This project was voted down not because the people think that police and fire don’t deserve a new facility, but because of the cost. It’s extraordinary. We are in a capital funding crisis,” Calebaugh said.
Resident Helen Weatherall, another opponent of additional funding for the project, said she was “appalled” that the board was calling for a revote and that board members should be “deadly embarrassed.”
“If you need a further explanation of why people don’t make the effort [to attend Town Meeting or elections] anymore and say that Town Hall will just do what Town Hall wants to do — you’ve got it lying right in front of you,” she said. “If you don’t do the right thing, you’ve got a dirty mark on your name forever.”
