Town Meeting approved all but one request at its fall meeting Tuesday, Oct. 15, indefinitely postponing a citizen’s petition calling for a “health insurance study.”

The petition requested the Select Board to appoint a committee, who would then study the potential effects and benefits the town and its employees could receive from the Medicare for All in Massachusetts bill currently in the state legislature. 

The bill calls for a single-payer healthcare system, which means doing away with the role of private health insurance corporations, and creating more savings for employees, according to the Mass Care website.

According to the request, the committee would then present its findings at the next Town Meeting.

However, Town Counsel Anthony Savastano said the request was not legal for several reasons, including due to it not being written as a warrant article, contradictions within the request and it would require Town Meeting to have authority over the Select Board.

An amendment was made to the article, striking the section that states, “appointed by the Select Board.” However, with no other authority to do so and the other legal complications with the request, Savastano said it was still not valid.

Proponents of the request argued the bill, if passed, could relieve some of the “tension” caused by rising insurance costs.

Peter Knowlton of Precinct 6 said, “We have a fiduciary responsibility for our employees and for our town to provide the best possible quality health insurance that we can.”

Some of those who spoke on the request said while they would be in support of this “grassroots effort,” they believe it could be done another way and a vote of approval at Town Meeting, under the circumstances, would not benefit the effort.

Interim Co-Town Administrator Chris Vitale said the town does have a group that continues to evaluate its health insurance in order to find ways to mitigate costs, but that scope does not include the focus on the proposed bill highlighted in the request.

Select Board Chair Shawn McDonald pointed out that studying the effects of pending legislation could be tricky, with potential changes coming out of the state house.

He said, “What it all comes down to is what each taxpayer is willing to afford for healthcare because ultimately, paying for these benefits comes from the taxpayer.”

The town’s current contribution rate is 54%, with the high deductible plans going as high as 70%, McDonald said, adding it all depends on a town’s tax base. 

“We have to decide, do we want to pay more for a better community to live in?” McDonald said, “I don’t have a problem having another set of eyes looking at our health insurance, but pending legislation — I don’t know — because it’s going to be a different animal when it comes out.”

The remaining Town Meeting items were all approved, granting $25,000 in Community Preservation funds to the Northern Scenic Greenway and approximately $6.3 million for the town’s Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Plan. 

The Northern Scenic Greenway is a proposed 5.4 mile pathway along Old Fall River Road that would connect Westport to New Bedford, as a part of the South Coast Bikeway Alliance’s ultimate goal of forming a 50-mile continuous system of bike paths, multi-use paths and bike lanes that would connect Rhode Island to Cape Cod.

The approved funds will go toward the approximately $200,000 survey of the preferred route, according to Buddy Baker Smith, Community Preservation Committee chair. 

Sandy Medeiros, chair of the bikeway alliance, said the total construction costs, if completed, are estimated to be approximately $6.3 million.

Baker Smith said the funding is the “local match” for the Mass Trails’ $160,000 grant for the project. Additionally, the bikeway alliance has contributed $15,000.

Though approved, Town Meeting members had questions on the Capital Planning Committee’s funding request, including in regard to potential increases in operating costs.

Gary Carreiro, interim co-town administrator, said under the town government’s section, there were two items that would result in future increases to operating costs.

The $10,000 for “Town Multi-Factor Authentication Software Implementation — Town Offices,” will increase costs by approximately $4,000 annually and the $24,376 for “Datto Backup Software Implementation — Police Department” will increase costs by about $21,000 annually, according to Carreiro.

Municipalities are vulnerable to cyber attacks unless properly protected. He added bond holders are also now considering climate resiliency and cyber attacks when picking borrowers.