Here are the posted open, public Southborough committee and board meetings for this week* along with my selected highlights from the agendas.
Annual Town Meeting is this Saturday. That means I expect more meetings to be posted later this week than usual for committees to discuss their positions on Articles or prepare presentations/talking points.
For an updated list of meetings, visit the Town website. (Scroll down for details on a meeting that popped up last week after my weekly post.)
These days, some meetings are over zoom, some in-person, and others are hybrids that allow both participation through both options. (Most, but not all, can be participated in, watched live, and replayed from home.)**
Monday, March 20, 2023
- Capital Improvement and Planning Committee Meeting, 7:30 pm @ zoom only (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Updates on other committees, Discuss any presentation on Gonkplex Article, Update on Capital Articles for Annual Town Meeting
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
- SHOPC/Capital Planning Subcommittee Meeting, 8:30 am @ zoom only (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Review/Comment on Revised Draft of Report of Subcommittee on 21 Highland Street Affordable Housing
- Trails Committee Meeting, 8:30 am @ 251 Boston Rd (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Pre-bid site visit for Peninsula Trail Construction Invitation for Bid 2023-01
- Southborough Housing Authority Meeting, 5:30 pm @ Southborough Housing Authority, Colonial Gardens Community Room, 49 Boston Road (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Discuss grant funded Community Garden; Policy Revision plans; Check processes and electronic signatures; Tenant/public concerns; Change orders for housing capital projects (bathroom upgrades and heat pumps)
- Affordable Housing Trust Fund Committee Meeting, 6:15 pm @ Town House Hearing Room (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Approve meeting minutes
- Select Board Meeting, 6:30 pm @ zoom only (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Utility pole hearings; MassDOT 24-hour HCVE restriction for Flagg Road; Discuss Tercentennial Committee; Request to set SCAC at 5 members; Prep for Annual Town Meeting; Review memo to CPIC RE: sidewalk construction and repair
- Municipal Technology Committee Meeting, 7:00 pm @ zoom only (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Review Tech Articles for Annual Town Meeting (Public Safety Radios and tech related to Emergency Communications Center) Town website update; Town and Schools Tech status updates
- Neary Building Committee Meeting, 7:00 pm @ zoom only (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Update on MSBA Status; Vote on MSBA Enrollment Data/Letter or discuss next steps to meet deadline
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
- Board of Assessors Meeting, 4:15 pm @ Town House Hearing Room (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Motor vehicle excise tax abatements; Discuss performance appraisal form / evaluation review process; FY23 budget status; software upgrade status
- Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting, 7:00 pm @ zoom only (agenda and materials) Agenda Highlights: Hearing on Policies and Procedures; Application Instructions, and Revised Application Forms; Discuss Conservation’s Town Meeting Articles to amend zoning bylaws on Stormwater and Erosion Control; Citizen Petition Article to amend zoning map
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Editor’s Note: I expect more meetings to be scheduled for this day by committees preparing for the meeting. Those typically include the Select Board and Advisory Committee. You can look for those to be posted here.
- Planning Board Meeting, 12:00 pm @ Trottier Middle School, 49 Parkerville Road (Hearing Materials): Although the agenda has yet to be posted, the Board will hold (and close) its continued hearings on the zoning Articles on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant. (Those are listed in their prior meeting’s agenda here.)
- Southborough School Committee Meeting, 12: 15 pm @ Trottier Middle School Room 131,
49 Parkerville Road (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Preparation for Annual Town Meeting - Regional School Committee Meeting, 12:15 pm @ Trottier Middle School Room 129, 49 Parkerville Road (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Preparation for Annual Town Meeting
- Annual Town Meeting Meeting, 1:00 – 5:00 pm and 7:00 – 11:00 pm @ Trottier Middle School Auditorium, 49 Parkerville Road (Warrant, other materials) For more details, see related coverage.
Looking Back:
Below are meetings from last week that were posted after I ran last week’s list:
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
- Historical Commission Meeting, 7:00 pm (agenda) Agenda Highlights: Discuss 19 Main Street site visit and 5 Cordaville Rd; Chair’s Report on 42 Main St, 84 Main st 84 Turnpike Rd, St. Mark’s Park Working Group, Downtown walking tour, Demolition Delay bylaw, Old Burial Ground Flag Policy, and Civics Action Project by students at Trottier Middle School; CPC and PILOT Committee representation; Discuss Public Comment Policy (No video has been posted yet. You can check to see if one gets uploaded here.)
*I don’t include closed Executive Sessions unless the agenda indicates the possibility of some action in an open public session at the opening or closing of the meeting.
**Details on watching meetings remotely:
- Town Committee/Board Meetings:
- If in-person meetings don’t also advertise a zoom option, assume that it won’t be broadcast or captured on video.
- To remotely participate in meetings that allow zoom, click here.
- Cable Access — Southborough Access Media has resumed broadcasting the regular evening meetings for the Select Board, Planning Board, and Zoning Board of Appeals that take place in the Town House Hearing Room. (Those meetings will still allow zoom participation.) View SAM’s live and replayed broadcasts via their Government cable access channel (Verizon-38 and Charter-194).
- To live stream (or view later) remote or hybrid meetings (even those covered by Southborough Access Media) over the internet, use the Town’s YouTube Channel for Remote Meetings. (The meetings covered by SAM can also be streamed on their website here, and eventually on SAM’s YouTube Channel.)
- School Committee Meetings:
- Subcommittee meetings and some special meetings are only available to attend/view live (in person or by “webinar”) with no later rebroadcast.
- Regular Southborough School Committee meetings are generally broadcast live by Southborough Access Media here and on Verizon-37 and Charter-192. (Video replays are also usually made available through their YouTube channel within a couple of days.)
- Regular Regional School Committee meetings (or Combined meetings based at Algonquin) are live broadcast by Northborough Cable Access here and on Southborough’s Education Channel (Verizon-29 and Charter-194). The meetings are also eventually rebroadcast and available through NCAT’s VideoOnDemand player and YouTube channel (though that can take several days).
- Other:
- Southborough does participate in some regional collaboratives hosted in other towns. Those committees follow their own rules and may not offer a way to re-watch zoom meetings.
