By Theresa Knapp 

Hopedale held a Special Town Meeting on Nov. 26 in the newly renovated Dennett Auditorium at the Hopedale Junior-Senior High School.  

Town Moderator Eugene Phillips conducted the meeting which lasted just over 30 minutes. 

The warrant contained 10 articles, nine of which were heard and passed unanimously except for one nay-sayer. 

Action included: 

Article 1: To pay prior year bills. Unanimous. 

Article 2: To borrow $1.8 million to install a new roof on the Junior-Senior High School and to acquire property on Overdale Parkway. Special Town Meeting voted to divide out the two separate issues. 

Select Board member Glenda Hazard explained the action. 

“Originally the two expenditures were together and we initially thought that they would both be debt exclusion questions and now they have differing funding sources,” said Hazard. 

“The first motion would pay for a much-needed high school roof which I think I can safely say most of us, at least the Select Board and the School Committee, feel is an absolute necessity,” said Hazard. “And the second would help us settle a long-standing lawsuit by purchasing two parcels of property from Ricardo Lima and Blackbrook Realty and that’s to be considered separate and has a separate funding source which includes comm presser funds as well as agift from the Hopedale Foundation.”

Article 2-A: To appropriate a $4.1 million debt exclusion to install a new roof at the Junior-Senior High School. This money would be used in addition to $1.8 mil appropriated by Town Meeting in 2023. Unanimous. It will now have to pass at a special town election to go into effect. Unanimous. 

Article 2-B:  To appropriate $1.4 million to enable the town to acquire 13 parcels of land on Overdale Parkway for conservation purposes. Funding will come from the Community Preservation Act and The Hopedale Foundation. This passed unanimously and with a round of applause.  Unanimous. 

Article 3: – To close out two old accounts. Unanimous. 

Article 4: To amend the zoning by-law related to accessory dwelling units. One dissenting vote.  

Article 5: To accept a veterans’ tax abatement annual cost of living increase. Unanimous. 

Article 6: To authorize the Sewer Department to borrow $170,000 for the engineering, design and bidding services necessary to construct the required sludge thickening upgrades at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Unanimous. 

Article 7: To transfer $37,495.33 within the Water Department budget. Unanimous.

Article 8: To transfer $8,309.58 within the Sewer Department. Unanimous. 

Article 9: This was related to repairs for the fire station but was passed over at the request of the Select Board. 

Article 10: To amend the Assessors’ Department FY25 budget. Unanimous. 

For the full warrant, visit www.hopedale-ma.gov. To watch the recording, visit www.townhallstreams.com.