NAHANT — Residents voted, by a large majority, to approve all 16 warrant articles presented during Nahant’s socially-distant Town Meeting Saturday.
In the interest of keeping this year’s meeting as small as possible, 2020’s docket was whittled down from 28 articles to 16 earlier this month when Nahant’s Board of Selectmen opted to remove all controversial warrant items, including two pertaining to Northeastern University, they worried had potential to draw a large crowd of voters. “Our primary duty is to protect the health and well-being of Nahant voters, and part of that is minimizing the number of people in attendance during the pandemic,” Board of Selectmen Chair Mark Cullinan said of the decision Sept. 8.
The remaining 16 articles — identified as “essential” by both state and local officials — were considered crucial to keep the town running through the 2021 Fiscal Year and exclusively covered Nahant’s most pressing budgetary needs.
Among those approved included Article 2, which asked the town to vote on fixing the salary of all elective town officers as provided by Chapter 41, Section 108; Article 3, which asked the town to authorize the payment of prior Fiscal Year bills; and Article 15, which asked the town to accept gifts or grant money for a number of local organizations and entities, including Nahant Lifesaving Station, Greenlawn Cemetery, and the town’s Recreation Commission.
Per usual Town Meeting protocol, roughly 80 in-person attendees at Saturday’s COVID-concious event — held at the Flash Road athletic fields behind the fire station — were read the text of each article as adopted by the Board of Selectmen, followed by recommendations made by the Advisory and Finance Committee.
Although they were asked to follow a specific, “communion-style” route to the podium in keeping with state-mandated social distancing guidelines, residents were still encouraged to ask questions and state their opinions about proposed articles.
“The Town Administrator and all the people who have helped out with this did a fantastic job,” said resident Molly Conlin of the town’s extensive safety measures. “I’m a retired nurse and I feel quite comfortable.”
She said that even during a pandemic, she felt it was important to attend in order to make sure residents of Nahant are represented in the voting process.
“I’ve not missed a town meeting since we moved to Nahant in the 70s,” she said. “I’m here so we have enough people to vote on issues that are (being discussed).”
Despite the changes, Town Hall Assistant Bobbie-Jo Blair, who aided in planning the event, said she felt this year’s meeting was “very successful.”
“This meeting was necessary in order to continue operations in this town, to properly appropriate the funds needed to continue those operations, and that’s what we really accomplished,” Blair said. “Health and safety was of the utmost importance and was echoed throughout the entire process.”