by Frank Schroth

According to sign in sheets at the Town Clerk’s office, 38 Town Meeting Members have missed two or more sessions — or may have showed up but failed to sign in. Twenty member signatures are missing from all three sessions and another 18 failed to sign in twice. There are 279 town meeting members.

Precincts 7 & 8 had highest rate of signatures missing all three days with 5 members each. Precincts 4 & 9 had 3, Precinct 5 had 2 and Precincts 2 & 6 had 1 member each.

As is usual, town meeting attendance tapers off as the week goes on. On opening night of town meeting there were 247 member signed in, that dropped to 234 on Tuesday and to a low of 217 on Thursday.

Town meeting resumes this evening at 7:30pm and is expected to wrap up the remaining articles. These articles include but are not limited to establishing a Fire Space Needs Committee and amending the bylaws to add the Consolidated Facilities director to the Capital Improvement Planning Committee.

At last Tuesday’s session Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Denis Keohane gave a presentation in support of Article 20, Appropriation for the purchase of Deer Run Lane property. This property sits adjacent to the Milton Cemetery and the purchase is in support of the cemetery’s expansion. Mr. Keohane said he had negotiated a deal with the owner, Paul Sullivan, to purchase the non-buildable lot for $175,000. He said the property had been appraised at $239,000. The lot is non-buildable as it lacks frontage. Keohane went on to say that as the town lacks funds, he had approached the Copeland Foundation. The Copelands agreed to donate $175K to make the purchase. Keohane received the check at Newcomb Farms. Town Meeting Member and Assessor Bill Bennett asked if the fact that the property was about to be foreclosed on would influence the sale and if property could be purchased at a lesser amount. Keohane stated he did not know anyone knew of that, but that he did. The lender, who he also knows, was committed to the sale to the town and would likely have asked for more than the $175K according to Keohane. The article passed unanimously.