Wayland Select Board rejects four citizen petition articles ahead of town meeting

WAYLAND -- February 24, 2020, Wayland Select Board rejects four citizen petitions, endorses $77,146 town clerk salary. The board voted unanimously or 4-0-1 against petitioner articles that would limit firearms on town property, transfer Finance Committee appointments to the town moderator, change the annual election date, and require FinCom participation in collective bargaining. Resident Jared Netzel, a certified firearms instructor, told the board the gun article would chiefly burden Wayland's roughly 600 licensed owners, calling a holstered handgun "a safe gun." Petitioner George Harris urged a split vote on the FinCom article, arguing "there are two branches of government in Wayland" and that an executive-appointed committee cannot be independent; the moderator-only section still failed 0-4-1. The board also appointed civil engineer Mike Ditton to the Wastewater Management District Commission and attorney Luke Legere to a two-year term on the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, and approved a new C. Peter R. Gossels Good Government Award to hang outside the treasurer's office.