Finishing in less than four hours, the Mattapoisett Spring Town Meeting started with 125 eligible voters. By the end of the night, only 65 voters remained and all but one of the 41 articles on the Town Meeting and Special Town Meeting Warrants had passed.

With few contentious items on the Warrant, many articles passed with little or no discussion.

Residents raised some questions over an appropriation to fund a town-wide compensation analysis for $12,000 to be performed by an independent company.

Voter Paul Osenkowski said, “It just seems like an awful lot of money. I don’t think we should be spending $12,000 for this kind of study.”

Selectman Paul Silva responded that evaluating the town’s compensation against area towns could save Mattapoisett much more than $12,000. “This isn’t just salaries, it’s total compensation,” he said. “It’s small change because a one percent mistake can cost us $100,000.”

Town Administrator Mike Gagne said the analysis might show over compensation as well as under compensation and would be helpful data for contract negotiations with town employees.

Several articles like the sick leave liability reduction funding and the appropriation for other post employment benefits, were part of the town’s continuing efforts to create funds that mitigate future expenses. The town also voted to add $144,837 from free cash to the Capital Improvement Stabilization fund.

“This community has a very important distinction in having reached an amount equal to about 10 percent of your operating budget,” said Gagne. “That’s a substantial achievement.

A few residents questioned the police department’s need for six sedans, an SUV and a motorcycle, in relation to the Capital Plan Funding article, which included a new $31,900 police cruiser.

Police Chief Mary Lyons answered, “If we could do it with less cruisers, than we would. We use the cruisers 24/7 everyday.” The residents voted unanimously to support the article.

The Community Preservation Committee’s articles to fund the restoration of the Center School Clock, repair the Cushing Cemetery Fence, fund work on the Bike Path and pay for a plan to explore affordable senior citizen housing options all passed with little comment as did a host of water and sewer department articles.

An article to approve the Zoning Bylaw Amendment dealing with the new FEMA floodplain maps passed unanimously as well. Before the vote, resident Linda Cavanaugh encouraged fellow voters to approve the article, which determined the town’s eligibility for national flood insurance and FEMA aid.

“We can think about this in terms of ourselves and down the line as some of these houses will naturally come up for sale. The value of them will drop considerably if they cannot get insurance,” she said.

The only article not voted on dealt with paving several dirt roads and was brought by various petitioners. The Finance Committee did not recommend the article, and after much back and forth with Town Moderator Jack Eklund, Highway Surveyor Barry Dunham, the Selectmen and residents, the motion was withdrawn. For more information, please read our article here.

At 10:13 p.m. the meeting officially closed. With Town Meeting ending in a single night for the second year in a row Eklund said, “This is a new Mattapoisett record.”