Town Administrator Mallory Aronstein would like to share information about various warrant articles to be considered at the Town of Swansea’s upcoming Special Town Meeting later this month.
The Town of Swansea’s Special Town Meeting is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 24 beginning at 7 p.m. at the Joseph Case High School, 70 School St.
At the meeting, 16 warrant articles will be presented and voted on, including one citizen’s petition. The Special Town Meeting Warrant includes multiple articles for funding requests, two new bylaw requests – Nuisance Houses and Sewer Commission – and more.
To view the complete Warrant for the Special Town Meeting, click here.
Other articles included in the Warrant is an article to appoint a Treasurer/Collector rather than keep the position as an elected one; an article seeking to amend bylaws to merge the Park Commission with Recreation functions for a single elected Park and Recreation Commission; and a funding request for the design for a renovated or new town hall as recommended by the Capital Building Committee.
A notable item on the Special Town Meeting Warrant is Article 15, which will ask the town to vote to appropriate funds not exceeding $19 million for the purpose of funding the library expansion and renovation project that was previously approved at the Spring 2017 Annual Town Meeting.
The Town of Swansea received a commitment of $6.8 million in the form of a reimbursement grant from the state’s Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) Library Construction Grant Program in 2017. This grant will reimburse $6.8 million in funding back to the Town over a five-year period upon the completion of mandated construction benchmarks. Once reimbursed, the project cost for the town of Swansea will be $12.2 million.
The reimbursement grant from the MBLC is contingent on the Town of Swansea approving $19 million in funding up front at the upcoming Special Town Meeting. The funding plan approved by the Board of Selectmen will be to utilize $15 million in certified free cash and borrow $4 million which will require a two-thirds vote at the Special Town Meeting.
Information sessions about the Swansea Library Expansion Project will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 2 p.m. at the Swansea Council on Aging, 260 Ocean Grove Ave., and on Monday, Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the E.S. Brown School Gym, 29 Gardners Neck Road.
To learn more about the project, click here to read a Frequently Asked Questions sheet.
“We have several articles on our upcoming Special Town Meeting Warrant that seek funding requests to improve upon town facilities, including our library expansion and renovation project, which in turn will help us to better serve the needs of our community,” Town Administrator Aronstein said. “We encourage all community members to familiarize themselves with the articles being voted on and to attend any information sessions the town is hosting ahead of the Special Town Meeting.”
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