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February 15, 2011 Meeting Minutes
Hingham Town Hall
Present: Committee Members Manning, Asher, MacCune, Ellison, Eldredge, Friedman, Innis, Kirven, Marwill, Power, Pyles, Dwyer, Farrell
1. Call to order
Chair Jack Manning called the Advisory Committee meeting to order at 7:03 PM.
2. Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the February 10, 2011 meeting were approved by a unanimous vote of the members present.
3. General Discussion
Jack expressed his desire to avoid a supplemental warrant if at all possible and encouraged the members to be proactive in moving their assigned articles through process. There was a discussion of expected dates when articles would be ready for AdCom hearings.
4. Warrant Articles
The following articles were heard and approved by unanimous vote of the members:
Article A: Hannah Lincoln Whiting Fund
Article B: County Cooperative Extension Service
Article C: Reports of Various Town Committees
Article D: Report of the Personnel Board
Article E: Salaries of Town Officers
Article H: Assume Liability for DCR on Rivers, Harbors, etc.
Article I: Building Department Revolving Fund
Article J: Elder Services Revolving Fund (approved at $50,000)
Other warrant articles scheduled for hearings, including articles K, L, M, N, Z and XX, were deferred to future AdCom meetings.
There was a discussion as to the legality of certain warrant articles presented by Bernard Manning. It was noted that the Board of Selectmen, which is responsible for presenting the final warrant to the Town, did not have authority to pull citizen petition articles on the basis of legality.
5. Open Forum
Dennis Friedman suggested modifying the Financial Policy average annual debt service guideline from 5%-7.5% of Total Annual Expenditures to 7.5%-10%. After some discussion, the general consensus was to leave the existing guideline in place.
6. Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 10:08 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Greg MacCune, Secretary