In a rare sub-one-hour Town Meeting, Dartmouth delegate voters authorized funding for various projects in town departments, approved definition changes for zoning bylaws and officially accepted new roads into the town.

The most unusual article at the Oct. 18 Town Meeting, and the only article not to be voted through, came from a citizen petition that aimed to change the Town Bylaws to require that the Town pays at least 65% of insurance costs for Town employees. The town currently pays 40%  to 46%. 

Town Counsel Anthony Savastano said he worked to find similar cases of bylaws changing town bargaining agreements at Town Meeting, and determined from those cases that the item was illegal. A member of the crowd shouted a motion for “indefinite postponement” of the article, which passed by a show of hands. 

Just before the article was voted down, Select Board Chair David Tatelbaum said he applauds “the spirit of what the article is trying to do,” and said the newly formed long range capital planning committee will be looking at collective bargaining agreements as well. 

The only article that generated debate at Town Meeting was the funding of capital planning projects, which also was the subject of controversy for weeks before Town Meeting. After a mishap that left School Committee and Department of Public Works members asking for additional funding of capital planning projects — and no time for the Select Board to alter the warrant — alternate funding sources had to be arranged for high school roof repairs, school fire system upgrades, and a DPW pump heater repair.

At the Oct. 16 Select Board meeting, Capital Planning Committee member Gary Carreiro said the funding for the heater would come from existing funding sources, the high school roof would receive enough funding from the reserve fund to get started on repairs and the fire system upgrades would wait until Spring Town Meeting for funding, which was agreed to by the District 1 fire chief. 

At Town Meeting, School Committee member and Town Meeting voter John Nunes asked why an amendment could not be raised to address these funding items, to which the moderator responded that it was outside the scope of Town Meeting. 

Instead, delegates voted on funding projects for various town departments. The largest expenditure will go to the Department of Public Works, which received $1 million for road maintenance and improvements, and another $220,500 for a dump truck with a plow. 

Director of Public Works Tim Barber, when asked why $1 million for road repairs was necessary, said the department typically asks for $1 million in the fall to supplement road repair costs throughout the year. 

The Community Preservation Committee recommended two articles authorizing funding for two projects: renovations for the Dartmouth Cultural Center to make it handicap accessible, and the acquisition of land to protect the town’s aquifer and allow for future water drilling. Both articles were approved by Town Meeting. 

A series of articles appropriated money to stabilization funds. Town Meeting also approved appropriation of another portion of its opioid settlement funds, which amount to $85,000 this year. 

Another set of articles creates new public ways in town, including Kyle Jacob Road, Magnolia Lane, Ivy Way and Sunflower Drive. The latter three are from a housing development on Faunce Corner Road, the section north of Old Fall River Road.