Town Meeting plans announced

It’s a go for Annual Town Meeting on June 13 — but (happily for some, perhaps) it will be a lot shorter than usual.

The meeting has been stripped down to 22 warrant articles, with 19 of them voted on as a bloc on the consent calendar.  Residents will be asked to vote on only three other items: a $828,945 supplemental funding request from the School Building Committee, capital items for the Water Department, and the allocation for free cash. Votes on the rest of the articles that were planned before the Covid-19 pandemic, including the citizens’ petitions, will be postponed to a Special Town Meeting in the fall.

The meeting will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 13 in the Hartwell parking lot under a tent (allowing social distancing and handicapped accessibility), with outside seating also available. Other details:

• Check-in will begin at 8:15 a.m.
• Masks are mandatory for all workers and attendees; gloves are strongly encouraged. Social distancing guidelines will be enforced.
• There will be a voting card system.
• Presentations about warrant articles will be available ahead of time online on the town’s 2020 Annual Town Meeting web page.
• In case of rain, the meeting may be convened and then quickly postponed until later in the day if the weather forecast is favorable. Any last-minute changes will be communicated through a reverse 911 call to Lincoln households.

The Finance Committee has revised the budget it approved earlier this year, when Town Meeting was scheduled for March 25. Among the changes:

• Estimate revenue from a projected 3.4% increase to a decrease of about 16%, representing a projected decline of approximately $500,000.
• The appropriation to the reserve fund has been increased by $200,000 to a new amount of $753,111.
• The appropriation to the Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) liability fund for retirees was reduced by $200,000 to $350,000. This proposed change from the original recommendation remains within the committee’s OPEB policy given the latest revenue and expense projections.
• After adjusting some of the component items, the total capital request from the Water Department is now $270,000, up from $250,000. This motion may be amended at Town Meeting but will involve either transfers or bonding, which would require a two-thirds majority vote.

The Finance Committee will hold a town budget question-and-answer meeting on Zoom about a week before the June 13 town meeting, with date/time and login details to be announced.

The following information is available on the 2020 Annual Town Meeting web page:

• Moderator’s declaration
• BOS moderator memo
• 2020 warrant
• Finance Committee memo
• Article list
• Consent calendar
• Financial section and warrant for 2020 Annual Town Meeting
• Memo from School Building Committee
• 2019 Annual Town Report

The town election will also be held outdoors at the same location on Monday, June 15 for the legally required minimum of four hours (noon–4 p.m.). Early voting and absentee voting are encouraged.