On Monday, May 6, Hopkinton will hold Annual Town Meeting, followed by a Special Town Meeting on May 7.

Hopkinton’s Town Meeting form of government vests all legislative authority in the citizens, who alone have the power to approve town spending.

eHop’s Town Meeting 101 is an excellent primer on what attendees should expect. For the history of Town Meeting, and to understand why the town meeting format comprises just 5% of local governments in the US, see HopNews’ controversial essay Town Meeting No Longer Serves Hopkinton.

Here’s everything you need to know to prepare for the meeting, and to inform your vote.

Schedule of Events

• Monday, May 6 @ 7:00 PM – Annual Town Meeting will be held.
• Tuesday, May 7 @ 7:00 PM – Special Town Meeting will be held.
• Location: Hopkinton Middle School
  • The meeting is open to all Hopkinton residents that are registered voters.Child care will be available
  • The meeting will be moderated by Ellen Rutter.
  • Voting will be performed electronically.Attendees are encouraged to arrive early to check in, receive their electronic voting clicker, and find a seat. There will be a practice vote to ensure all attendees are familiar with how to use their clickers.
  • Large crowds are expected and will overflow into the Brown Gym as needed.

Agenda for Annual Town Meeting – Monday

There are 52 items for voters to consider on the Annual Town Meeting warrant, and another 5 on the Special Town Meeting warrant the following evening. Should Annual Town Meeting go long, it will be suspended until Tuesday and will resume following the conclusion of the Special Town Meeting.

While many of the articles are commonplace and require an affirmative vote for Town Hall to function, there are several that may spark discussion, and we’ve summarized them below.

Article 1: Approve the Annual Town Report

It’s always the first item on the warrant, and it’s always quickly approved. But did you read the 2023 report? In the article Town Reports: Inconsistent, Erroneous, and Unanimously Approved by Voters, HopNews explored the problems that plague town reports, which include inconsistencies in both format and content from one year to the next, particularly with respect to the town’s financial reporting.

In our review of the 2023 report there are a few items worth noting.

• The value of “the average Hopkinton home” has been increased from $753,300 to $852,400. This is significant because that average is used in all tax projections that the town will reference during the meeting. For example, when presenting the $48 million Hopkins project to voters, the Appropriations Committee will state something like “The estimated tax impact would be $504 in the peak year, or 4.0% on the $12,454 tax bill for Hopkinton’s average home, valued at $852,400.”
  • Unless your home is worth $852,400, your mileage will vary. HopNews has created an interactive tax calculator to help readers understand the personal impact of the capital projects that will be requested at Annual Town Meeting.
• Beginning on Page 54, the Human Resources department reported the results of a employee engagement survey. The survey was sent to about 160 employees and HR received just 90 back. HR reported that “Most Hopkinton employees are satisfied with their jobs, feel positively about working for Hopkinton, and plan to stay working for the Town.” The survey also highlighted some areas of improvement:
  • Employee trust in overall leadership could be improved.
  • Although three-quarters of employees felt the overall quality of services provided by the Town of Hopkinton was excellent or good, only half favorably rated the Town for generally acting in the best interest of the community. Roughly 4 in 10 employees gave positive scores to their overall confidence in Hopkinton government and to the overall direction that Hopkinton is taking.
  • About 7 in 10 of employees felt very or moderately confident in their supervisor, half felt confident in senior staff/leadership, and 3 in 10 said the same for the leadership of Council/elected officials.
  • Further, at least 6 in 10 positively rated the Town on promoting workforce diversity, attracting employees from diverse backgrounds, and recruiting diverse people into positions of organizational leadership.
• The Water Department reported that last year they provided 392,971,000 gallons of water to residents.
  • What wasn’t reported is that roughly 78 million gallons of that water is lost and unaccounted for, which will likely will add significant delays in the MWRA permitting process. Thus far DPW has not offered a plan to reclaim more of our unaccounted for water. Fun fact: 78 million gallons of water is enough to fill 118 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Article 7: Approve the Town Budget

The FY 2025 town budget forecasts revenues of $123,521,182, a 9.1% increase in the budgeted revenue level last year. The Appropriation Committee identified several factors driving the increase.

• The tax levy is increasing by $4.8 million, with $2.2 million tied to the statutory 2.5% increase
• New growth from 2024 and expected growth in 2025 will add to the coffers
• New billings to property owners for the Elmwood School replacement and Hopkins Addition (if approved)

Operating Budget

The line-item budget reveals that for every department, the Appropriation Committee recommended exactly what (previous) Town Manager Norman Khumalo and the Select Board requested. No department saw cuts in their operating budget this year, and almost every department was level-funded. There are notable increases for Parks & Recreation (24%), the Library (18%), Waste Collection (10%), and Engineering (10%).

Debt Payments

Taxpayers will cough up $73 million in principal and interest payments on debt in FY 2025, which constitutes 71% of the Operating Budget. “Debt at these new unprecedented levels is very likely to have a deleterious effect on the Town’s bond rating, currently a Standard and Poors AAA, which allows for borrowing at the very lowest possible interest rates,” states the Appropriation Committee report (read our in-depth analysis).

The town will carry at least $51 million in debt beyond 2028, an amount certain to increase if the Hopkins Addition passes.

Capital Requests

The School Department continues to demand the most money from taxpayers, constituting a full 58% of the $111 million in capital requests over the next 5 years. A large portion of that is the $48 million Hopkins Addition. Other projects include a replacement for the high school track, districtwide HVAC replacement and Loop Road paving.

Curiously, the Facilities department has earmarked $20 million for Center School Re-Use Construction beginning in FY29. Presumably this number will disappear if the Center School is sold to a private developer.

Article 17: Digitization of Records

Like all governments, Town Hall excels at creating paperwork. We have so much paper that we have several buildings just for document storage, even renting part of the basement at 77 Main Street to house filing cabinets.

State and Federal records retention laws require the town to keep certain documents for a period of time. This article would allow the IT department to outsource the digital scanning process to a third party who will bring those records into an online, searchable format, ultimately improving access and saving the town money.

Article 19: Hopkins Renovation and Addition

The School Department will come before Town Meeting to request $48,550,000 in funding to support a renovation and addition to the Hopkins Elementary School.

The national average class size in the US as of 2022 was 24 students, and in Massachusetts it was 19. Hopkins currently hosts 26 in the fifth grade class. Hopkins was built to support 628 students in total and now has 687 enrolled. By 2035 this number is expected to reach 803, according to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

The unprecedented numbers forced the administration to make several adjustments to support the burgeoning class size. Hopkins was built with a large multipurpose space that educators used for specialized reading instruction, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) training, and other support services. This space has been dismantled in favor of classrooms. Those students have been moved to smaller spaces, including the principal and assistant principal’s offices. The principal and assistant principal now share an office, which was formerly a conference room. The library has also been divided to create classrooms.

The major renovations include a new kitchen, cafeteria, music room, band room, STEM rooms, small group rooms, science rooms, nurse suite, loading dock, and specialized classroom spaces. Site work will include repaving and reconfiguration of the vehicle drop-off driveways, campus roadway, parking lots, and a play field and courts.  The new addition will include geothermal mechanical systems and many green features in the building.

Approving this measure will add a significant debt load to Hopkinton taxpayers, which is currently forecasted at nearly $500 at the peak year for the average Hopkinton home. If history is any indication, it is a tradeoff Town Meeting voters will show they’re willing to make.

Article 33: Purchase of Municipal Parking

Town Hall is requesting $2.9 million to purchase the parking lot and adjacent land behind Bill’s Pizzeria (now BoMain). The proposed design would add 123 spaces to the existing 66, for a total of 189 total spaces.

This has been on the agenda before and failed to gain approval. In 2019, Town Meeting voters debated spending $1.5 million to develop the parking lot. Many residents felt the land was unsuitable and the measure was defeated by 62% of voters. The measure was also on the November 13, 2023 Special Town Meeting agenda but was a last-minute scratch.

The town currently rents parking from Saint John the Evangelist church for $16,000 per year, and this article could eliminate that cost.

Article 36: Specialized Energy Code

After it failed to pass in November, the Sustainable Green Committee has returned with the same article. It asks voters to adopt the Municipal opt-in Specialized Stretch Energy Code, which will regulate the design and construction of buildings in town for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The Stretch code was established at the state level in 2009 as part of implementing the Green Communities Act of 2008.

This code will only apply to new construction; renovations and additions are governed through existing code.

The primary changes in the new code are:

• Pre-wiring: New buildings that use fossil fuels must pre-wire for future electrical needs, including building heating, water heating, cooking, clothing drying, and electric vehicle charging. For example, if new construction chooses to install a gas furnace, it must also have the wiring necessary for an electric heat pump.
• Solar: New buildings that use fossil fuels must install solar onsite.
• Exemplary Performance for Large Homes: New single-family homes greater than 4,000 square feet must be all electric or certified Zero Energy where solar panels offset energy usage.
• Exemplary Performance for Large Multi-family: New multi-family homes greater than 12,000 sq ft must use the “Passive House” design principles for a highly efficient building.

At the 2023 Annual Town Meeting, voters approved a 2045 Net Zero target. This initiative aims to help the town reach that goal.

Article 39: MBTA Communities Zoning Bylaw

This article asks the voters to adopt the recommendation of the Zoning Advisory Committee, Principal Planner John Gelcich, the Planning Board and Select Board in creating three new zoning overlays in Hopkinton to comply with State law.

For a primer on the MBTA Communities Law see our article MBTA Zoning is coming to Hopkinton (whether we want it or not) and listen to Episode 15 of the HopTake, where Planning Board Chair Gary Trendel and HopNews Editor-in-Chief Peter Thomas interview Ed Augustus, Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities. Secretary Augustus shares his perspective on the housing problem, how the MBTA Communities Act can solve them, how other towns are grappling with the new law, and the consequences if Hopkinton chooses not to comply.

Although much debate is to be expected, there really is no choice in the matter. If Hopkinton does not submit a plan to the State by December 31, 2024 we will very likely be sued by the State’s Attorney General, just as the town of Milton has.

Article 51: The Strong Chief / Weak Chief Statute

In a typical year there are clerical changes to be made, and voters rarely (if ever) resist. But this is not a typical year.

Article 51 is sponsored by the Select Board, and seeks to change the Town Charter “striking out the text ‘M.G.L. c.41 §97‘ and inserting in place thereof the following text: ‘M.G.L. c.41 §97A’” (emphasis added).

We explored this seemingly benign change in January. At the heart of it, MGL 97A allows the police chief more power to control their department, specifically when it comes to policymaking.

Section 97 (commonly known as the Weak Chief statute) reads in part:

There shall be a police department established under the direction of the selectmen, who shall appoint a chief of police and such other police officers as they deem necessary. The selectmen may make suitable regulations governing the police department and the officers thereof.

Section 97A (commonly known as the Strong Chief statute) reads in part:

There shall be a police department established by the selectmen, and such department shall be under the supervision of an officer to be known as the chief of police. The selectmen of any such town shall appoint a chief of police and such other officers as they deem necessary. The chief of police in any such town shall from time to time make suitable regulations governing the police department, and the officers thereof, subject to the approval of the selectmen; provided, that such regulations shall become effective without such approval upon the failure of the selectmen to take action thereon within thirty days after they have been submitted to them by the chief of police.

The primary difference is that under Section 97A, the chief of police has the power to make the policies and procedures that govern the department, not the Select Board. While the Select Board still has the authority to audit the policies, if they do not object in a timely matter, the policy is enacted.

Former Town Manager Khumalo has previously claimed that the police chief in Hopkinton has always been a “strong chief”, an assertion several readers with long memories have said is incorrect. Nonetheless, a conflict exists between Chief Joseph Bennett’s current contract, which says he shall command as a strong chief, and the Town Charter, which says he is a weak chief. Given Bennett’s waning popularity it will be interesting to see how voters react to this article.

Agenda for Special Town Meeting – Tuesday

Articles 2, 3 and 5 are the ones to watch on Tuesday night.

Article 2: Replace the HVAC at the Fire Station

When it rains outside it rains inside Fire Station #1, forcing our firefighters to deploy buckets to catch it. This is because the HVAC units have reached end of life and need to be replaced. See our article When it Rains, It Pours. On our Firefighters to get a complete picture of what our first responders face at the fire house.

Article 3: Woodville Fire Station repairs

The Woodville Fire Station has sat abandoned since the pandemic for myriad reasons. The Fire Department would like to bring it back online to help with response times to that side of town. During snow days it can take as long as 14 minutes for a fire truck to make it to a resident at the end of Spring Street.

In late 2022, then Deputy Chief Gary Daugherty, Jr. walked us around the Woodville Station to show us the extent of the repairs needed.

Article 5: Appoint Sgt. Timothy J. Brennan

Perhaps the most hotly debated item on either evening will be the citizen’s petition that requests the Select Board reappoint Sgt. Tim Brennan. By Town Charter, the Select Board is the appointing authority for all police officers in town, therefore any vote on the matter by Town Meeting is symbolic only. But pass or fail, it will send a clear message to the Select Board, which will be recomposed on May 20.

Sgt. Tim Brennan was fired by the Select Board on February 8, 2024. The Board was split 4-1, with Amy Ritterbusch, Shahidul Mannan, Mary Jo Lafreniere, and Irfan Nasrullah voting to terminate Brennan, and Chair Muriel Kramer voting to keep him.

Brennan served the town for more than 20 years and was swept up in the scandal that has engulfed the police department since former Deputy Chief Jay Porter was indicted on child rape charges. Brennan was terminated at the recommendation of Chief of Police Joseph Bennett after a messy Loudermill hearing. Subsequently, Chief Bennett came under intense scrutiny by some members of the Select Board for releasing Porter’s victim’s personal information and a perceived lack of leadership. Bennett continues to be the subject of complaints from citizens at Public Forums.

Brennan’s firing provoked the ire of many town residents, who felt that he had been unfairly treated. Residents held protests and spoke at several public forums, criticizing the Select Board for failing to consider the needs of Porter’s victim and for opening the town up to civil liability, among many other reasons. Remaining unsatisfied, a group of citizens formed a coalition to recall the Select Board, an effort that has collected more than 3,000 signatures to date. They also gathered the signatures required to put forth this citizen’s petition.