Cohasset: Voters Take Part in Drive-In Town Meeting

WATD-FM

BY Lenny Rowe 

With social distancing guidelines in effect due to COVID-19, Cohasset held its Annual Town Meeting drive-in style at the South Shore Music Circus.

Voting was conducted by hand count in vehicles, with yellow cards were held in the air.  

“It’s fantastic. I think we got folks who have never come to a Town Meeting before,” said Town Manager Christopher Senior.

Town officials felt they needed a meeting with the operating budget, a capital project plan, and other items on the warrant. Senior said every department in town played a role in making sure the event was a safe one.

U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch was in attendance, and he felt this was a unique approach to important business.

“This is heroic. I think it’s very innovative. Thank goodness they have a nice, wide open space like this,” said Lynch. “It was interesting to see the voting where everybody holds the cards outside their car, they stay safe. They’re taking it very seriously in terms of the social distancing and all those steps. Very proud to see democracy continues here in Cohasset.”

Projection screens were set up, and audio was transmitted to FM radios in the vehicles. 

Microphones were sanitized between speakers.

“It’s citizens coming together to run their own government. They get to adopt the budget, they get to vote on their laws. We propose, we prepare. There’s a ton of work that goes into this,” said Senior. “At the end of the day, it’s the voters and it’s the folks who come out. That’s what makes it a special event.”

The majority of articles were quickly approved by voters. A $46,364,413 operating budget was approved, including $594,598 in reductions from original projections in January. For this budget, the general stabilization fund was not used. Senior said this budget keeps services intact, but plans for an uncertain future.

The majority of voters approved an article for a community choice electricity aggregation plan. The town can enter into a bulk purchasing agreement with Marshfield and Scituate, with the potential of residents getting lower prices for service.