PELHAM – Five miles per hour may decide life or death for a pedestrian in an accident.

“The difference between 30 (mph) and 25 is that at 25 you don’t always kill somebody if you hit them, and at 30 you do,” said David Shanabrook, vice chair of the Select Board. “It’s a significant difference if there’s walkers on a road.”

The Select Board has worked to reduce the speed limit in town center for about three years. On Sept. 6, board members discussed warrant articles for a fall Special Town Meeting planned for Oct. 15, including an article to reduce speeds in thickly settled areas. The article is the result of a long process of discovery by town officials that revealed the limits of local authority to change speed limits and a long forgotten override vote.

“There’s some aspect of Amherst Road, where the speed limit was established at 40, and the upper part at 45 mph, and that we – the municipality – had no authority to change it, even if it’s thickly settled,” said Select Board Chair Robert Agoglia. “So apparently there was some kind of an override. This is what we were told.”

Shanabrook was skeptical of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) decision, but relayed that Police Chief Gary Thomann had no reservations about reducing speed limits in densely populated areas. Shanabrook clarified for the board that state speed limits for thickly settled local roads, as opposed to state highways, is 30 mph. The warrant article will ask voters to authorize the Select Board to establish 25 mph speed limits in those areas, of which there is currently only one. The town has no designated business district, the other type of area covered by Massachusetts General Law Chapter 90, Section 17c.

“The law basically now is that if an area is thickly settled…and posted, in Massachusetts the speed limit is 30 (mph),” Shanabrook said. “What this allows us to do is to post a 25… Otherwise, it has to be 30.”
If town voters authorize reduced speed limits, Shanabrook informed the board, two options are available. The town may post signage at each entry point, informing motorists that thickly settled areas all have 25 mph speed limits. The other option is to post speed limits at each thickly settled area. All would have the same speed limit.

“We could look at other areas and ask that they be studied, to see if they are thickly settled,” Agoglia said, “but right now we know of one” area, the village center.

The Select Board voted 3-0 to authorize the article be included on the warrant for fall Town Meeting. Agoglia informed the board that MassDOT needs to be notified of the Special Town Meeting results, which still requires state approval before the speed limit can be reduced by a vote of the Select Board.

The second article proposed came to the Select Board from Treasurer/Tax Collector June Massee.

“This warrant article is to see if the town will allow the treasurer to take the clerical consulting account and change it to a revolving account,” Agoglia said, “to replenish when tax/title is paid, or take any other action thereto.”

Agoglia summarized the article that, if favored by voters, would turn an existing account into a revolving account, which allows greater flexibility in dealing with monies. Agoglia assumed that the resulting revolving account will have established maximums and other standard guidelines. The board voted 3-0 to include the article on the Special Town Meeting warrant.

The fall Special Town Meeting on Oct. 15 will start at 9 a.m. at the Pelham Elementary School.
The board also accomplished an important fiduciary duty by replenishing the capital equipment and expenditure stabilization fund. The motion was to assess an additional $249,772, plus 2.5 percent, for a total additional burden on taxpayers of $256,016.30.

The Select Board voted 3-0 to fund the stabilization account with additional monies.

“The FinCom has been involved in this,” Agoglia said, a move intended to ensure that “the capital stabilization account is funded as it was intended in our budget for FY23 [fiscal year 2023].”