Yes, the gazebo back on the table in Lancaster – Worcester Telegram

LANCASTER - The saga of the gazebo might never end.

Currently, the production company associated with axed Netflix TV show The Society is scheduled to move the gazebo back to its final place on the Town Green during the week of Nov. 5.

Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco said that was their drop dead date as the production company no longer exists and the corporation itself has to dissolve.

But several residents, including those on the Town Green Committee, wanted the move postponed until the Town Green Committee made its recommendations - and also until they could request from the Board of Selectmen a charge to that committees charter, to extend their say over anything and everything that is or could go on the Town Green.

The ad-hoc town green committee is for signage, not the gazebo Selectman Walter Sendrowski said repeatedly.

This issue is larger than signage, said committee member and Historical Commission Chairman Heather Lennon, and the gazebo move needs further study.

Multiple residents wanted Pacheco to ask the production company to set aside the approximately $8,000 it will cost to move the gazebo 500 feet on the Town Green and give it directly to the town, or otherwise delay the move.

The town is not hostage to a company and its our Town Green, resident Linnea Lakin said.

Eventually, Pacheco agreed to find out if the production company was willing to change plans.

Sendrowski said he thought the whole issue of leaving the gazebo on the Town Green had been decided at a previous town meeting and was a done deal. But he was corrected by former Selectman Mark Grasso that the town meeting vote had been a nonbinding resolution that selectmen at the time (including Sendrowski) had chosen to abide by as custodians of all town property.

I never thought Id be discussing this again, Grasso said.

A special meeting of the selectmen may be called in order to decide if the charter of the Town Green Committee should be expanded, prior to the scheduled move of the gazebo.

Additionally, the ADA compliance of the gazebo was discussed.

Resident Win Clark said it needed a design review before installation to avoid a big ugly ramp like what was there before, and common sense needs to be applied. In addition to aesthetics, Pacheco pointed out that the previous installment had the ramp not in compliance because it was pointed in the wrong direction so the new one would already look better.

Question 3

Due to an error by the secretary of state, the printed ballots missed important language in the explanation of Question 3, asking Lancastrians to pass the Community Preservation Act. One of three exemptions, the residential exemption excluding the first $100,000 of valuation from the new tax, was omitted entirely.

Resident Victoria Petracca, one of the authors of the ballot question, said the exemption was one of the major points of the proposed law, causing the tax increase to be less than $1 a week for most households. It also wouldnt ratify what was passed at town meeting if the language was incorrect.

As a result of the mistake, 1,980 ballots were reprinted with the right part underlined and in red and some were re-sent to voters, including 23 overseas voters. Residents doing in-person early voting before the new ballots arrived were given official letters changing the text along with their ballot.

People who have already voted by mail have the opportunity to change their mind by calling and spoiling their ballot, then redoing it by mail or in person, Town Clerk Dianne Reardon said. She said ballots remain valid unless a resident chooses to spoil it and cast another.

Town meeting

The special town meeting this autumn will focus on the budget so that the tax rate can be set, with no capital requests and few other articles.

For financial reasons, it has to be held before Dec. 1, so selectmen scheduled it for Monday, Nov. 23. The backup date will be the Nov. 30.

Proceedings will be held both indoors and outdoors at the Mary Rowlandson School.

The citizens petition at the last town meeting, filed by Roy Mirabito, to prevent residents from serving concurrently on the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals was not approved by the state attorney generals office because it was not attached to a specific town bylaw.

Mirabito said he would have reworked the original article if he had known of the error, and that assistance being guided through the procedures would have helped. Pacheo explained that a citizens petition is the citizens responsibility, without policy or legal support from the town. Only government petitions follow the town process.

To avoid it being rejected by the state again, Mirabito asked for and received endorsement by selectmen for it to become a selectmens article and receive advice from town counsel. It passed 2-1, with Sendrowski voting no.

However, its possible selectmen will decide to only have articles on financial matters and Mirabitos petition might have to wait until spring.

In other business

The next selectmens meeting has been moved to Nov. 9 at5 pm.

After multiple discussions at recent meetings, former Selectman Alix Turner said the Board of Selectmen may have already passed a name change to Selectboard over seven years ago. Pacheco will check the bylaws and old meeting minutes.

The Route 2 bridge detour was called a nuisance by Pacheco as it causes vehicles to be redirected from Lunenburg Road to go around Fort Pond Road and Shirley Road, which is a residential area not used to that much thru traffic. Pacheco said MassDOT is trying to accelerate getting the bridge back online, but it will take three to six months.

A $5,000 grant was received by the town clerk to provide safes for the towns vital records dating back to the 1800s that are documented on paper and cant be electronically replicated.

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Yes, the gazebo back on the table in Lancaster - Worcester Telegram