ATHOL – Voters will decide on a 10-article warrant at Monday night’s Special Town Meeting.
The meeting will take place on Monday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.
Article 1 seeks a transfer of $40,000 from a salary line item to fund the legal budget for the fiscal year.
“That is in large measure to a suit that was settled, together with legal costs for litigation,” said Town Manager Shaun Suhoski.
The suit, he added, had to do with rooming houses in single-family residential zones. Town Counsel John Barrett said the lawsuit was brought by James Parmenter, who wanted to establish a sober house at 217 Spring St.
In October of 2025, the Zoning Board of Appeals denied Parmenter his request for accommodation, which would have allowed him to house five people in the residence, pending installation of sprinkler and alarm systems, after which he wanted to increase the number of residents to 10 or more.
Barrett, citing a confidentiality agreement, did not disclose details of the settlement, saying that the funds sought in Article 1 are strictly for legal bills, not the settlement itself.
The suit, said Suhoski, “Drained the entire legal line item, essentially all of it for this fiscal year. But when you try to put a dozen people into a single-family residence without the life safety systems, our special services department takes note of that. And we have ambiguity in our zoning definitions.”
It is proposed that the transfer come from funds that had been set aside to cover an outstanding union contract, according to Suhoski.
“In Article 5, we will ratify that contract,” he explained. “We had budgeted what we felt was enough to cover the outcome of that contract, and it was. So, we want to transfer the unused funds to cover legal costs.”
Article 4 calls for amending the bylaws relative to the town’s responsibility for upkeep of private roads in Athol. Those repairs will take place, according to the article, only when the superintendent of the Department of Public Works deems them warranted in order to make the road safe for travel, subject to speaking with the town manager for the availability of funds. Repairs may include pothole patching and grading of gravel surfaces.
The article expressly forbids major work, such as reconstruction, paving, tree trimming or removal, widening, drainage system installation, utility work or capital improvements.
A special committee set up to write a new bylaw governing repairs to private roads voted last month to limit Article 4 to minor repairs. The panel plans to begin meeting again to discuss how major repairs to private ways could be handled by the town and abutters.
Other articles include a transfer of $46,900 from the ambulance reserve account to pay for new cardiac monitors and other emergency medical supplies for the Fire Department ambulances, and a transfer of $3,500 from the Parking Benefits District Account to purchase a storage unit for parking meters, meter replacement parts and related materials.