April 27, 2026 Live updates by Hilary Jenison
Hingham’s 2026 Town Meeting has officially been called to begin by Town Moderator Michael Puzo.
The warrant articles will be covered live by the Hingham Anchor throughout the meeting with live updates as votes are cast:
At the beginning of the meeting a resident addressed the meeting and asked for article 12-15 (which are all Hingham Center for Active Living related) to be moved to after Article 20. The motion was seconded. Discussion continued about the motion to move the articles back.
The motion was lost and the articles will be followed in the order in which they were originally set forth.
1.) Hannah Lincoln Whiting Fund
PASS
2.) Assume Liability for DCR on Rivers, Harbors, Etc.
PASS
3.) Reports of Various Town Committees
PASS
4.) Report of the Personnel Board
PASS
5.) Salaries of Town Officers
PASS
6.) Budgets
The Budget was passed unanimously with the exception of the following held items:
GAR Hall Expenses –
Keith Jerymn raised concerns about the GAR Hall building. In the interest of history, he requested that the expenses match 2025 spending of $25,132 (increase from $20,332).
Christine Smith raised concern about the legality of the ability to vote a budget up on a balanced budget.
The Advisory Committee and the Town Legal counsel agreed that the person recommending the motion be increased must also recommend the source in which the increased funding would come from.
Keith Jermyn then recommended the source should come from unassigned fund balance. Carol Tully confirmed that unassigned fund balance cannot be used for reoccurring expenses and advised against setting the precedent of using unassigned fund balance in this manner.
The motion to amend the GAR Hall Expense budget was lost.
School Dept Payroll –
Kevin Chunkady cited a Boston Globe article that referenced the non-action taken by the School Department to take disciplinary action in regards to a fake AI nude circulating to the School Dept. The resident questioned how we can allocate over $61M to a school district that is not meeting their committments to keep our students safe and to create policies that protect our young people.
Supt. Katie Roberts addressed the concern as both the Supt of Schools and as a parent. Supt. Roberts stressed that curriculum of digital safety begins in Kindergarten and also has programming for families, professional development for leadership and educators as well as partnership with community partners such as law enforcement to keep our children safe. While she could not discuss specific incidents, she confirmed that the priority of the district is to have policies, procedures and curriculum that centers on the safety and well being of all students.
A resident raised a motion to increase the school budget by 4% to support the important work of our teachers salaries and increase that payroll line item to $62,677,620 (would be 4% increase).
Sky Wiseman asked for budget allocation to be increased expense funding in order for litigation budget to protect our students in this time of cyber bullying.
The motion was lost.
DPW Payroll –
A resident on Irving Street praised the DPW for their work of the DPW and asked for $1 raise for their support.
A unanimous vote passed.
DPW Expenses –
A resident asked for their to be an increase in sidewalk plowing equipment. The Supt of the DPW recognized that typically they rent equipment and this was an unprecedented year for snow removal (and equipment challenges). The DPW has also worked with the MBTA to establish clear ownership lines to address these issues.
The motion was passed for the original DPW expense budget.
Library Payroll –
A resident questioned the payroll for the library of nearly $2M which is nearly 2x the South Shore Country Club and in line with the Police payroll who work 365 days per year in comparison to the library which has only 12 employees and is only open 57 hours per week, and requested that it be reduced to $1,967,559. He is requesting an audit the Libary payroll to determine why the Library payroll is so high
Linda Harper Stone, a Hanover resident and Director of the Hingham Public Library, offered to walk any resident through the budget line by line. She recognized that the library is not about the building but about the people in it and her staff is top notch. The increase was only 2.4% this year (below average) and they need every person to operate the library budget.
The motion was lost. The original budget proposal was passed.
7.) Transfer from the Stabilization Fund
PASS
8.) Disbursement of Electric Lighting Department Receipts
PASS
9.) Building Department Revolving Fund
PASS
10.) Transfer Funds to the Reserve Fund
11.) Waterways Fund Transfer
12.) Construction of Center for Active Living
13.) Center for Active Living Revolving Fund
14.) Transfer from the Capital Project Cost and Debt Service Stabilization Fund
15.) Community Preservation Committee Recommendations
16.) Replacement of Cooling/Chiller System at Hingham Public Library
17.) Recreation Department Revolving Fund
18.) School Department Extraordinary Capital Needs
19.) High School Life Safety System and East School Energy Recovery Units Replacement
20.) Climate Action Commission
21.) Sale of 230 North Street
22.) Sale of 8 Short Street
23.) Sale, Lease or Conveyance of 86 Central Street
24.) Fire Civil Service
25.) Police Civil Service
26.) Weir River Water System – PFAS Funds
27.) Weir River Water System – Capital Projects
28.) Hingham Municipal Light Plant (HMLP) Capital Improvements
29.) Transfer of Funds for Employee Health Care Cost Subsidy
30.) Route 3A Project
31.) Citizen’s Petition: Establishment of a Youth Commission
32.) Citizen’s Petition: Transfer a Parcel of Land
33.) Citizen’s Petition: Amend the Noise By-law
34.) Electronic Voting Devices
35.) Amend Zoning By-law: “Height, Building” Definition Reference Correction
36.) Amend Zoning By-law: Site Plan Review Updates
37.) Amend Zoning By-law: Fire Station Zoning District
38.) Acceptance and Granting of Easements