Hamilton Select Board Votes to Pursue Outdoor Annual Town Meeting June 20

HAMILTON — May 11, 2020 — Hamilton Select Board votes 5-0 to pursue an outdoor Annual Town Meeting on June 20 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The unanimous preliminary vote, taken at a joint session with the Finance and Advisory Committee on May 11, is contingent on a favorable recommendation from the Board of Health following its meeting the next day. Town Manager Joe Doyle warned the boards that failure to hold a budget town meeting before July 1 would force the town onto a restrictive one-twelfth monthly spending authorization that would block free cash transfers, stabilization fund contributions, and collective bargaining increases. Town Accountant Marisa Loomer said timing was her primary concern, noting the state division of local services was already asking for one-twelfth submissions "as soon as possible." Board of Health Chair David Smith reported Hamilton had logged just 23 total COVID-19 cases with no new cases in nearly a week and argued an outdoor, masked, distanced meeting represented the lowest-risk conditions for transmission. The boards also heard that the Hamilton Affordable Housing Trust has committed $500,000 toward an 18-unit mixed-income rental project on Willow Street, which developers Rebirth Companies project will place all 18 units on the town's Subsidized Housing Inventory at roughly $28,000 per unit.