Wayland FinCom reverses vote, backs remote town meeting article

WAYLAND — March 1, 2023 — Wayland Finance Committee reverses course and recommends remote town meeting article. After unanimously opposing the home-rule petition earlier this year, the committee voted 5-0-1 Wednesday to recommend Article HH, reaffirming a two-year-old town meeting authorization to seek remote participation. Member Brian O'Hurley, who had led the opposition, brought the article back after learning Lexington has paid about $20,000 over three years for a Zoom-based platform and that Wayland's legal costs to file the bill total under $3,000. "This article itself has no cost to it," O'Hurley said. Member John Barnett abstained, saying he was "perplexed" by voting on an item with no immediate price tag. Separately, Finance Director Brian Keveny briefed the committee on a pending $178,588 transfer from the reserve fund to the legal budget to cover a January settlement with a former employee. The committee also voted 3-2-1 to back Article CC, creating a three-member appointing board for the Finance Committee.