Belmont Select Board Greenlights Hybrid Special Town Meeting for May 18

BELMONT -- May 4, 2026, Belmont Select Board unanimously approved a hybrid format for the May 18 Special Town Meeting and previewed a slate of warrant articles ahead of the Annual Town Meeting the same night. Chair Matt Taylor, Vice Chair Taylor Yates, and Member Carol Barbarian voted without dissent to accept Town Moderator Adam Dash's request to run the special meeting by hybrid video conferencing, the same format as the annual meeting. The board also previewed a citizen amendment from Town Meeting Member Kathy Cohan of Precinct 2 to raise the town clerk's FY27 salary to $114,773, adding a 1.5 percent merit increase to the 2 percent already budgeted, with Town Administrator Patrice Garvin set to finalize amended language drawing from operating funds before the board's May 6 session. On the gas-powered leaf blower bylaw, Taylor cited a documented violation by a town contractor at a school property the day before the meeting, and the board reviewed a Special Town Meeting article that would allow removal of a contractor from the compliance list after a single verified violation rather than two violations on the same property. The board also signaled plans to seek indefinite postponement of library and rink building committee deauthorization articles at the Annual Town Meeting, with a fall Special Town Meeting the likely target for both.