Truro is transitioning to in-person meetings, but remote access to all meetings (except town meeting) continues. Go to truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch for further instructions.
Thursday, June 24
- Climate Action Committee, 10:30 a.m.
- Historical Commission, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, June 25
- Finance Committee, 8 a.m.
Saturday, June 26
- Annual Town Meeting, Truro Central School, 10 a.m.
Monday, June 28
- Local Comprehensive Planning Committee, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, June 29
- Annual Town Election, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Truro Community Center
Conversation Starters
Town Meeting Tune Up, Election Reminder
Masks will be required, as will keeping a distance of six feet from others, at the annual town meeting on Saturday, June 26 starting at 10 a.m., even though the meeting will take place outdoors at the Truro Central School ballfield.
There are 43 articles on the warrant, including some that will demonstrate the tensions between the majority of the select board and other affordable housing advocates and the planning board. Article 37 aims to make the zoning board of appeals an elected board; Article 28 aims to make the board of health elected. These two are sponsored by the people who are angered by Article 18, a petition by Raphael Richter to make the planning board appointed by the select board rather than elected.
Although the majority of planning boards in Massachusetts are appointed, Truro is one of a minority that elect the planning board, often in uncontested races.
In Barnstable County, ZBAs and boards of health are almost all appointed.
Still, anonymous letters have been mailed to Truro residents from those who want all regulatory boards elected, according to Mike Snell, who said he was offended by anonymous “illiterate political solicitations through the mail, even if we agree with the sender’s position.”
Article 10, another article petitioned by Raphael Richter, requests $150,000 from free cash to give $7,500 child-care vouchers to parents of two- and three-year-olds who cannot be accommodated by the town’s free school-based preschool.
The select board offered a slightly different version of this in Article 9, which proposes to grant $112,000, from free cash, for vouchers to two-year-olds only.
Though these and other articles will generate debate, the budget, at least, looks uncontroversial. It totals $21,689,100, an increase of $641,465 or 3.05 percent.
There will be no override or debt exclusions on the election ballot on Tuesday, June 29, and all the town board races are uncontested. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Truro Community Center. —K.C. Myers