Special Town Meeting Warrant - October 19, 2026

At a glance

What: Special Town Meeting held Monday October 19, 2026, at Charlton Middle School (called to order 7:18 pm, adjourned about 9:40 pm).
Outcome: all 15 articles were acted on. Articles 1, 4 (all four motions), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 passed; Articles 2 and 3 were passed over indefinitely; zoning Articles 11-14 passed with the required two-thirds; the non-binding Article 15 (Flock license plate readers) passed 245-56.
Closest vote: Article 5, senior community center design, 227-144.
Next: the Select Board has a placeholder on October 27 to deliberate on Article 15; the Planning Board will draft permanent data center rules before the 2028 annual town meeting. Article-by-article guide: Select Board Pre-Town Meeting - October 19, 2026.

The warrant ended up with 15 articles including $275K cruisers, $1.4M+ capital, and $1.55M stabilization transfers.
Article 5: $500K senior center design, see Senior Community Center Feasibility.
Article 7: dog license fees, see Dog License Fee Changes.
Article 9: Sunday alcohol openings at 10 a.m.
Zoning articles 11-14, including the data center moratorium, see Data Center Zoning Moratorium.
Article 15: non-binding Flock petition, see Flock Automated License Plate Readers.

Article	Subject	Result	Vote
1	Unpaid prior-year bills	Adopted	336-20
2	FY27 budget transfers	Passed over indefinitely	308-36
3	FY27 budget amendments	Passed over indefinitely	315-29
4	Capital items, four motions	All adopted (see FY27 Capital Plan)	290-65, 261-86, 287-69, 280-70
5	Senior community center design, $500,000	Adopted (Senior Community Center Feasibility)	227-144
6	Stabilization transfers	Adopted (Stabilization Fund Transfers)	287-52
7	Dog license fees	Adopted (Dog License Fee Changes)	301-41
8	Delinquent taxpayer list bylaw	Adopted	265-63
9	Sunday alcohol sales	Adopted (Sunday Alcohol Sales)	258-70
10	Ashley Road and Amber Road	Adopted (Ashley Road and Amber Road Acceptance)	252-77
11	Data center definition	Adopted, two-thirds met	256-63
12	Data centers not allowed in any district	Adopted, two-thirds met	228-93
13	Interim data center ban, as amended twice	Adopted, two-thirds met	279-35
14	Rezone 269 Worcester Road	Adopted, two-thirds met (259 Worcester Road Zoning Change)	260-56
15	Flock petition (non-binding)	Adopted (Flock Automated License Plate Readers)	245-56

A practice vote on the electronic devices drew 207-146; most votes had 340-370 participants.
Article 4, motion 1: a misprint was corrected from the floor to $15,000 for the South Charlton Reservoir hydrologic analysis.
Article 5: an amendment to add recreational-field evaluation was ruled out of order as beyond the article's scope; debate was ended by a 323-42 vote.
Article 13 was amended twice (new data centers only, with existing facilities protected; automatic repeal if no action by the 2028 annual town meeting).
Moves to end debate on Articles 12 and 15 were taken by voice vote.

About 39 minutes across 4 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

2026-10-19 - Special Town Meeting — Results for all 15 articles: 14 acted on favorably, Articles 2 and 3 passed over indefinitely; Article 5 closest at 227-144; Article 13 amended twice; Flock petition adopted 245-56. See the Results table above.
2026-09-22 - Select Board Meeting — Closed the warrant and voted joint recommendations with the Finance Committee on Articles 1-10.
2026-09-08 - Select Board Meeting — Discussed items under consideration (senior center placeholder, dog license placeholder, Ashley/Amber Roads, Flock non-binding petition) and keeping the warrant open to September 22 for citizen petitions; no action.
2026-08-11 - Select Board Meeting — Opened the warrant, set October 19 as the date, and approved the calendar (unanimous).