Acton’s Annual Town Meeting begins on Monday, May 5 and continues on Tuesday, May 6. The Town will vote on budgets, zoning and bylaw changes, issues brought forward by Citizens’ Petitions, and others.
Town Meeting happens at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School at 36 Charter Road. Each night, check-in opens at 6:00 p.m. in the cafeteria. The meeting begins promptly at 7 p.m. in the auditorium, with additional seating in the field house if needed.
Town Meeting is the legislative branch of Acton’s government. Everyone registered to vote in Acton is eligible and encouraged to participate in Town Meeting by voting and making public comments on articles of interest to them. People who are not registered Acton voters are welcome to attend and sit in the non-registered-voter section.
The Town Meeting warrant was mailed to every home in Acton and is also available at the Town Meeting website. The warrant contains the official text of each of the 41 articles that will be voted on, along with an explanation (“summary”) of the article. In addition, the warrant includes practical information for participating in Town Meeting, plus messages from the Select Board, town moderator, town manager, Finance Committee, School District superintendent, and a multiyear financial model from the Acton Leadership Group.
Video presentations about many of the articles, given by proponents of the article, are available now at ActonTV. In addition, Moderator Jo-Ann Berry’s videotaped preview gives new (and returning) Town Meeting participants a sense of the goals and history of this form of governance, along with practical information for attendees. ActonTV also livestreams the meeting for viewing at home.
As discussed at the moderator’s meeting on Wednesday, April 30, the scheduling for the two days of Town Meeting is expected to be as follows.
- Monday, May 5:
- Consent agenda Articles 2 and 14-29
- Article 1: Choose Town Officers (including electing a Trustee of West Acton Citizens’ Library)
- Articles 3-9: Town and school budgets
- Article 10: Community Preservation Funds
- Tuesday, May 6:
- Consent Articles 34-36
- Article 11: Home Rule Petition Related to Acton Memorial Library
- Article 13: Authorize Real Property Disposition – 13 School Street
- Article 30-33: Amend and adopt Bylaws and Zoning Bylaws
- Article 37-41: Citizens’ petition articles.
Although this is the announced plan as of the Acton Exchange publication deadline, articles may be reordered or omitted.
Warrant Article 7 is “Authorize Borrowing for Construction of New Public Works Facility at 14 Forest Road.” The proposed borrowing would require an override of Proposition 2½; for such borrowing to move forward, voters must approve it twice, once as a majority at the Town election polls, and once by a 2/3 majority vote at Town Meeting. In the April 29 election, this borrowing was proposed as Question 1, and it did not pass.
On May 1, Chair of the DPW Building Committee Dean Charter told the Acton Exchange in an email that he planned to give an abbreviated presentation of the project at Town Meeting on Monday and ask for constructive input from the voters. The plans had been discussed at the moderator’s pre-town meeting meeting on April 30. A tentative meeting of the Department of Public Works Building Committee scheduled for Thursday, May 1 was canceled. “Discuss next steps for Department of Public Works Building project” is on the agenda of a Select Board meeting for Monday, May 5, 5:30 p.m., immediately prior to the opening of Town Meeting, in room 123N at the high school. (The Board traditionally meets right before Town Meeting to wrap up any loose ends.)
As explained in the warrant, the “consent agenda” comprises articles that are usually recurring and that are not expected to generate controversy, as designated by the Select Board. Consent agenda items are marked in the warrant with an asterisk (*). The consent articles are voted on as a unit and passed without debate. However, if two or more voters want to discuss an article that is included in the consent agenda, they may call out, “Hold”, in which case that article is removed from the consent agenda, discussed, and voted on by itself.
As spelled out in the Town Charter, Town Meeting may include Petitioner’s warrant articles. Referred to in the 2025 warrant as Citizens’ Petition articles, these are articles brought forward by ordinary citizens, rather than by the Select Board or a department of Town government. The Charter requires ten signatures to place a petition on the warrant for Annual Town Meeting. Citizens’ Petition articles are scheduled at the very end of the Town Meeting agenda.
One by one, each non-consent article is displayed on a large screen and read aloud by the Moderator. Then, a proponent explains the article. After that, Town Meeting participants can comment or ask questions. Participants wishing to make a comment line up behind either a pro- or a con-microphone, and comments are taken alternatively from the pro- and con-sides of the issue. Comments are limited to two minutes.
Hand-held microphones are available for voters unable to stand at the microphone. Words spoken by presenters and commenters are auto-transcribed into text (similar to subtitles) for the hard of hearing and others. The auditorium will have two screens showing the transcribed text.
Voting for some articles may be by voice. For articles that require a 2/3 vote to pass or where the voice vote is too close to call, voting will be by means of hand-held clickers, which are handed to voters as they enter the auditorium (or field house if that overflow space is used). The moderator will provide a lesson in how to use this year’s new, improved clickers before voting begins.
Parking is available at lots surrounding the high school. Individuals with limited mobility are invited to enter the building via the entrance nearest to the auditorium and register at that entrance rather than in the cafeteria (see map below). Unfortunately, the deadlines for transportation, additional ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accommodation, and childcare already passed on Friday, May 2. The van tends to wait outside Town Meeting but for more information, call 978-844-6809 weekdays.
