Gardner MA Mayor Michael Nicholson Updates the Chair City on September 1, 2023
The Mayor covered various events, explained the happenings of the Centennial Parade Day, went over City Charter on the ballot, and explained Route 140 Zoning issues. Listen on any device. CLICK PLAY
Events: A welcome to Faculty and Staff at Gardner Public Schools with Schools opening on Tuesday. —- Gardner Housing Authority and Gardner CAC held a back-to-school Backpack giveaway this past week. —- City Hall closed Monday September 4th for Labor Day. —- Fabulous Fall Festival and Oktoberfest taking place on Saturday September 30th. —- Citywide yard Sale is Saturday September 23rd – City not requiring a permit, contact private organizer Julie Mazza to get on the map.
City Centennial Celebration Parade on Sunday September 17th at 1pm. The Mayor described the event plans in detail including road closures and parking restrictions. He also showed a map of the parade in the video, CLICK HERE to see the UPDATE VIDEO. Click here to see an expanded map page so you can read it.
Route 140 Parcels: Mayor Nicholson confirmed that the two Route 140 parcels proposed for rezoning from residential to commercial are under Protection of Article 97. He stated the Gardner City Council has several different options that it could take.
Regarding the City Charter appearing on the ballot, the Mayor stated that “the recommendations from the secretary of state’s office came as a non binding vote solely because the actual act of amending the charter does not come from the vote of the election, but as a result of the vote of the house and the Senate and the governor’s signature. So since that’s the final action that takes place, that’s why they recommended a non binding measure on the ballot. “ The City Council did in fact vote 6 to 5 for non-binding at its last meeting. Publisher’s note: If the City Council had voted for “binding” it would simply mean that they would be mandated to follow the will of the voters whether the voters approved or rejected the Charter changes. In any case, the Massachusetts Legislature and Governor must also approve after the City Council vote.