What Will You Do With Your Vote? - Editorial
May is just around the corner, and Bourne residents know what that means: Annual Town Meeting and Town Election season. It’s time to get those voter handbooks out.
First on the calendar is Bourne’s Special and Annual Town Meetings, set for May 5 at Bourne High School. This week’s edition contains a comprehensive breakdown of the cumulative 37 articles set to be voted on between the two warrants. An even more in-depth voter’s handbook can be found right on the main page of the Town of Bourne’s website (www.townofbourne.com).
We recommend browsing either, preferably both, of these voter resources ahead of May 5, as there are some pretty significant articles on the docket. Bourne’s voters will hopefully support the funding request to build Bourne’s long-awaited South Side fire station; $18.8 million is no easy ask, to be sure, but with the request to purchase the parcel passing unanimously at Special Town Meeting in January, we expect the town’s voters will continue their support of the much-needed new station.
Also on the warrants for May 5 are funding appropriations for an architectural survey of the Keene House, built in 1690, that would take stock of the structure, materials and construction of the oldest home in Bourne for the town’s archival records—a worthy endeavor, we think, as the home is currently under private ownership and could be demolished at any time. It’s history worth trying to preserve, we think, or at the very least, surveying.
There are also funding requests to renovate the Chester Park Recreation Area, for final engineering services for phase one of the Bourne Rail Trail and for an owner’s project manager for the Jonathan Bourne Public Library construction project.
All of these things will be voted on by the town’s residents just over a week from now, and will directly impact Bourne’s communities. Residents should be educated on the issues and articles at hand to the best of their ability beforehand, and come to Town Meeting on May 5—emphasis on “come,” as we won’t get anywhere without a quorum—ready to voice their opinions and make their votes known.
Our pre-Town Meeting coverage will continue in the coming weeks and election profiles will be published starting next week, to help Bourne’s voters be as informed as possible before heading out to Town Meeting on May 5 or casting their ballot on May 20.
But it is on you, too, Bourne. It’s time to do your research. What will your vote be?