The fall Town Meeting attracted 356 residents to Rockport High School.
Two amendments were offered to the article to turn the former library over to the selectmen for sale. Both failed. One would have pushed the vote on the library back until next spring's Town Meeting, to give residents more time to consider the recommendation by the Building Study Committee. The other amendment asked that a walkway on the property between Jewett and Cleaves streets remain a public walkway.
Selectmen Joseph Lisi said that since March 1, 2003 when the Trustees of the Library gave the building to the town, the library has been in disrepair and only used to store town records. He reassured voters the exterior of the building would not be changed and that the town doesn't have the resources to take care of the building.
Patricia Koechlin of the Finance Committee said the town needs to make prudent use of its assets and that the proceeds of the sale would go to fund several capital projects.
"There are no lack of projects in town that would benefit from this money," Koechlin said. "And if the building was sold to a for-profit entity, the town would also benefit with real estate taxes."
Lisi added that it would be a mistake for the town not to sell the property, and hoped it would be a competitive bidding situation.
John Bruce, chairman of the Building Study Committee said, "the Carnegie Library is a lovely building" and the town has tried to find a use for it but no department has come forward with a plan.
William Brundage, a neighbor to the building, said the library is falling a part as it stands now, and the town is lucky it's still there.
"The building isn't sufficient for anything but private use," he said. "It looks like the dickens, and is basically an abandoned building."
Granite Street resident Toby Arsenian, however, said it didn't strike him as prudent to sell real estate for capital improvements, because once its sold it's gone forever. He added that "when Town Hall is torn apart" to install a new elevator, the library might be a suitable place for an Town Hall annex to fit departments with temporary office space.
Some department officials disagreed, however.
"I know this building like the back of my hand," DPW commissioner Donald Atkinson said. "I know what the DPW needs, and the building has insufficient space."
Apple Cart Road resident Eric Hutchins said that when the building is sold, the best sale is not to the highest bidder, but to a use that is in the town's best interest. Town Administrator Michael Racicot said there have been a few ideas for the use of the building, including a private citizen who would like to turn it into a private repository for scientific and mathematics documents.
Following the hourlong-plus discussion, Town Meeting voters were visibly and audibly restless, and breezed by many of the next articles on the agenda. That is until the third to last article, the vote on the possible sale of the Haven Avenue lots.
Selectwomen Roxanne Tieri said prior to 1998, two years after the town sold three lots on the same street, the town would have been able to sell the lots without Town Meeting approval. In 1998, however, a bylaw was put into place requiring a two-thirds vote on the sale of tax title lots.
June Michaels, member of the Finance Committee, said the town needs revenue from this type of source as it could easily gain nearly $1 million, which could be used to trade the three one-acre lots to purchase open space of roughly 20 acres elsewhere in town.
Many of the town voters were still present as the hour approached 11 p.m., and, after an amendment to reduce the 20-foot rights of way easements failed, the vote to sell the lots also failed the required two-thirds vote, 149-95.
Before the vote, Hutchins questioned how the money would be spent - if it would go directly to a fund to purchase open space or be available for capital improvement projects as well - but Michaels said the town can't appropriate funds to certain causes until it actually has the money.
Some residents, including Bearskin Neck resident Leslie Asare, didn't see any objection to selling the land other than people in the neighborhood wanting to have as few people as possible in the area.
Neighbors, however, voiced their concerns regarding the limited open space in town, and the possibility of the selectmen selling more land in this area, stating a precedent that the town had sold three lots at a time so it didn't seem that much at one time. In 1996, however, only seven subdivisions were made on the property the town acquired through a land court decision in the 1960s.
Tieri immediately retaliated to that comment, saying it was an outright lie.
"The selectmen don't have any intention to sell any other land," she said. "Where is it?"
Once the vote was decided, reminiscent of April's Annual Town Meeting, swarms of voters headed for the doors, leaving about two-thirds of the original audience still in their seats.
The following is a full recap of the articles Town Meeting voted on last night:
Article A: Use town money to pay $11,667.37 to pay unpaid bills from National Grid from previous years.
Vote: Passed.
Article B: Use $157,469 from the town's stabilization funds to balance the fiscal year 2007 town budget. Since April's Annual Town Meeting, the town has found ways to cut the budget deficit to this amount from the original $438,000, by adjusting several town department budgets to the tune of $59,296 less than the original, including cutting $63,625 from both the Finance Committee and the Rockport schools. In multiple town department meetings, the need for an override in the future has been discussed, because town officials said money from reserve accounts, including the stabilization fund to balance the budget, is becoming limited, and either town services will need to be cut or the town will have to find new revenue sources.
Vote: Passed.
Article C: Hear and receive the annual report and recommendations of the Community Preservation Committee.
Vote: Passed.
Article D: Use money from the community preservation fund for the following purposes:
* $75,000 for Action, Inc., for its rental/mortgage assistance program. The program assists residents who have fallen on hard times by subsidizing their rent or mortgage for six months to a year and helping them to create feasible budgets. This would be the third year of the organization's program in Rockport.
* $91,600 to restore the historic church steeple, clockworks and facade of First Congregational Church of Rockport, and to authorize the Rockport Historical Commission to accept a historic preservation restriction. The church is the home of the town's clock, was the first town meeting house and was fired upon by the British from Sandy Bay during the War of 1812. This was the first time the town would approve the use of CPC funds for church purposes, which raised separation of church and state issues, but town council members stated the use of the funds didn't fall under that jurisdiction, as it was mainly for historic preservation.
* $35,000 to restore the windows of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport on Cleaves Street, and to authorize the Rockport Historical Commission to accept a historic preservation restriction. The congregation raised $90,600 thus far for the project, and is the second oldest Universalist church in the United States.
* $20,000 to restore and preserve the American Legion bandstand on Beach Street. The Department of Public Works would provide the labor for the project, which would restore the structure to its original appearance.
* $33,680 to cover administrative expenses for the Community Preservation Committee, including, but not limited to, appraisals, land surveys, copying, postage, legal notices and other costs.
Vote: Passed.
Article E: Set aside $74,117 in the community preservation fund for later use for historic preservation, open space and community housing.
Vote: Passed.
Article F: Fund and implement an agreement between the town and MCOP, Local 156, AFL-CIO, the superior police officers union. This effects the two sergeants of the Rockport Police Department, giving them 21/2 percent raises for the first two years of the three-year contract, and 3 percent in the third.
Vote: Passed
Article G: Spend $123,697 from Chapter 291 of the Acts of 2004 and $56,695 from the Chapter 122 of the Acts of 2006 under the provisions of Section 32(2)(a) of the General Laws Chapter 90.
Vote: Passed
Article H: Reauthorize selectmen to see three tax title properties on Haven Avenue.
The sale of the three lots will give the town at least $600,000, town officials said, which would be used for capital projects, such as the purchase of other land in town. Town Meeting approved the sale in 2005, but voted it down in this spring's Town Meeting. The authorization to sell the land was only good for one year, but town officials said the town wasn't represented well at this past meeting, which is why it is up for discussion again this time around. Some residents said they were against the vote for multiple reasons, including subtracting open space in town and on the general principle that the sale was rejected in April. Others, including Caleb's Lane resident Harry Shore, said they were for the sale, but the rights of way easements surveyed - one of the reasons the sale was postponed last year - take away too much buildable land on the property to make them worth selling.
Vote: Failed.
Article I: Fund and implement the agreement between the town and AFSCME Council 93 AFL-CIO Local 1679 Municipal Employees Foreman and Supervisors Unit. This effects 10 municipal employees, giving them 21/2 percent raises for the first two years of the three-year contract, and 3 percent in the third.
Vote: Passed.
Article J: Appropriate money for the following capital projects:
* $15,000 from the White Wharf repair money to repair and replace wharf pilings. The money was left over from project costs in the White Wharf restoration.
* $45,000 from borrowing for design and architecture work for the Community House. The estimated cost to restore the entire building is $1.5 million, and this money would go towards the design to restabilize the first floor for community use. The first floor currently can only house 65 people, from its original 273-person capacity. This takes a two-thirds vote.
* $304,322 from borrowing to reconstruct the Mill Pond Dam. FEMA has already promised to reimburse the town this money upon project completion. This takes a two-thirds vote.
* $42,000 from the water and sewer enterprise funds and a transfer from the Front Beach rest-rooms project to a Department of Public Works site programming study. Town officials said the DPW yard on Upper Main Street is too small for the departments' needs, and the last improvements to the facilities were in 1955.
Vote: Passed.
Article K: Amend the town bylaws concerning animal control. The changes would increase the fines for violations, including dogs not on leashes, on public beaches and not collecting dog feces on public land. The new fines would be: first offense, $25; second offense, $50; third offense, $100; fourth and subsequent offenses, $200 each. The bylaws are Chapter 10, "Public Peace and Order," B. Animal Control, Section 10, provisions 3 to 7. The violation of any other provision in this bylaw or in Sections 136A through 174B, inclusive, of Chapter 140 of the General Laws shall be punished by a fine not greater than $100 for each offense.
Vote: Passed
Article L: Accept the provisions of Section 23D of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 39 allowing members of any municipal board, committee or commission not to be disqualified from voting in an adjudicatory hearing solely due to the absence from no more than a single session of the hearing at which testimony or other evidence is received.
Vote: Passed.
Article M: Vote to be put on hold. To see if the town will implement the agreement between the town and AFSCME Council 93, AFL-CIO Local 1679 Municipal Employees General Unit.
Vote: None.
Article N: Transfer control of the Carnegie Library to selectmen for the purpose of selling the property. Minimum purchase price would be $506,800.
The Carnegie Library hasn't been used in 13 years, and town officials said no town department would like to use the space for municipal purposes. The heat has been turned off for about the past three years, and mildew has spread throughout the building. Town officials said four groups have expressed interest in the building, but only one proposal, to turn the building into a private repository for scientific and mathematic documents, has been submitted to the Board of Selectmen's office. Town officials said it would cost about $670,000 to repair the building, not including mildew removal, and an additional $600,000 to install an Americans with Disability Act-regulated elevator. Still, many residents have expressed their desire to hold this vote off until next spring's Annual Town Meeting because more people tend to attend that meeting, and it would give the town departments the winter to reconsider if they could use the library for their purposes.
Vote: Passed.
The town also accepted a resolution by the Planning Board, originally presented by Toby Arsenian in April's Annual Town Meeting:
"Be it resolved that we, the voters of Rockport, at this town meeting acknowledge the need for more affordable housing in Rockport; reaffirm the town's commitment to provide affordable housing, with preference for residents of the town, and town employees; consider Chapter 40B as written is a usurpation of the proper function and authority of town government; urge the Great and General Court to amend Chapter 40B so that it supports local zoning and long-term planning within the mission of expanding affordable housing; request that the Commonwealth further support local zoning and long-term planning by undertaking the necessary housing needs analysis to identify better the need for affordable housing, and undertake statewide and regional planning to support towns in protecting key resources that should not be subject to Chapter 40B proposals; and direct the Board of Selectmen to bring this resolution to the attention of our elected representatives, the Honorable Anthony Verga and the Honorable Bruce Tarr, as well as the Honorable Mitt Romney and the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
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