Wakefield Town Council Notes -- February 12, 2024

Here’s a summary of our last Town Council meeting, held on Monday night:

- We approved annual budgets for the Information Technology department, Wakefield Police Department, and Lucius Beebe Memorial Library for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2025. The budgets approved account for $9.9 million, or about 9% of total town spending. In aggregate, these budgets will increase by 4.4%, driven by contractual obligations, and increased costs for computer software, maintenance, and equipment.

- The Council had a discussion about possible uses for four Town-owned properties, including land on Butler Avenue, the Hurd School, 5 Common Street, and the upper floors of the Senior Center. Possible uses discussed included single-level housing targeted to seniors at Butler Avenue, affordable housing at the Hurd School and 5 Common Street, and additional office and community space at the Senior Center. Next steps include remediation of environmental contamination at the Butler Avenue site, public tours of the Hurd School to solicit resident ideas for reuse options, inventorying of office space needs from Town departments, and development of more specific architectural plans and estimates for potential renovations to the Senior Center and 5 Common Street.

- The Town Council scheduled Wakefield's Annual Town Meeting for Monday, April 29th at 7:00 PM at the Galvin Middle School; if a second night is needed, Town Meeting likely would reconvene on Thursday, May 2nd at 7:00 PM. Proposed warrant articles must be submitted to the Town Administrator's Office by noon on Friday, March 1st. The warrant likely will include two citizen petitions for zoning changes, one of which would create a marijuana establishment overlay district at Audubon Road, and the other of which would create a self-storage establishment overlay district at the corner of North Avenue and Quannapowitt Parkway. The Council referred both of these petitions to the Planning Board for public hearings.

- We approved a license change for Floramo's Restaurant on North Avenue to reflect an upcoming change to their business name, two one-day liquor licenses for events at the Americal Civic Center and Crystal Community Center, a Second Hand Dealer license for Rada Boutique on Main Street, and two restaurant licenses. The Council also approved the election warrant for the presidential primary on March 5th, and accepted donations to the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library and Town of Wakefield Council on Aging

- The Town Council approved the issuance of $30.5 million of bond anticipation notes related to the high school building project. These notes are short-term borrowing instruments that will be refinanced later this fall as part of a larger borrowing package for the high school. While the 3.18% net interest rate for these notes is very favorable due to Wakefield's AAA bond rating, we hope to secure an even lower rate later this year if interest rates fall before then.

Our next meeting will be on Monday, February 26 at 7:00 PM. As always, all residents are welcome to join us at the Wakefield Community Access TV studio, or on Zoom.