Greetings Neighbors:
It is my great honor and pleasure to invite you to the Joanne M. Benton Auditorium at Wilmington High School for our Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, May 2, 2026, at 9:00 AM. The doors will open at 8:00 AM, and we ask that you arrive prior to the start of the meeting to expedite the checkin process. Many of the materials for the Annual Town Meeting, including the Warrant, are available on the town’s website: https://www.wilmingtonma.gov/town-meeting.
Wilmington’s Town Meetings are conducted in accordance with the Massachusetts General Laws, our Inhabitant By-laws, and traditional customs and practices that we have followed for many years, with guidance provided by the principles and rules of conduct in Town Meeting Time, a Handbook of Parliamentary Law, and Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised: 11th Edition. A non-exhaustive list of items of procedure are summarized below:
• An Article in the Warrant provides notice to the Town Meeting of a matter to be considered. The Article itself is not a specific proposal for action. A motion is a proposal for action by the Town Meeting, and must be within the scope of the notice provided by an Article in the Warrant.
• All main motions and proposed amendments involving the expenditure of money or amending any by-law must be in writing. All other motions and proposed amendments must also be in writing unless they are brief and simple as to be easily understood when stated orally. The Moderator may request that a motion be made in writing.
• Before commencing discussion on a main motion, the Moderator will first call for the recommendation and report of the Finance Committee.
• Registered voters wishing to speak should come to a microphone. When recognized by the Moderator, the voter should state his or her name and address before commencing.
• All discussion must be relevant to a motion then before the Town Meeting. All speakers must address the Moderator; questions may be asked only through the Moderator. A registered voter who wishes to make a motion that is debatable must first make the motion and, after it is seconded, if required, the Moderator will recognize the maker of the motion to speak to it.
• The Moderator will try to recognize residents in the order in which they come to the microphones.
• Our Inhabitant By-laws prescribe that the maker of a main motion may speak for up to ten (10) minutes, and other residents may speak for up to five (5) minutes prior to the closing of debate without first obtaining leave of the Moderator. The maker of a main motion may yield any portion of his or her time to speak to another individual.
• On a motion to amend, our Inhabitant By-laws prescribe that no individual may speak for more than five (5) minutes), and debate is limited to twenty (20) minutes total.
• No individual may speak more than two times on the same motion except to correct a mistake or provide an explanation. No person should seek recognition to speak for a second time until others who have not yet spoken have had an opportunity to be recognized.
• No question shall be subject to a motion for reconsideration more than once, and no vote passed at any meeting shall be reconsidered at an adjournment of the meeting. As has been local custom, no motion to reconsider may be made to be dilatory, or to manipulate parliamentary procedure. Such determinations are to be made by the Moderator.
Order of Articles
Our Inhabitant By-laws prescribe the order that articles are taken up. Articles 2 through 22 will be addressed sequentially, subject to the consent agenda, and then we will take up Articles 35, 37, and 38, as those Articles also deal with capital expenditures. We plan to take a fifteen-minute break after Article 24, and begin the Articles selected by random draw (23 through 34, and 36). Consent Agenda
As we have for the past few years, we will be using a consent agenda for routine and historically non-controversial Articles. The consent agenda will include Articles 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. However, discussion will be allowed relative to any and all Articles within the consent agenda. Use of the consent agenda process makes the Town Meeting more efficient by speeding up the handling of non-controversial and routine items; this is commonplace in many towns throughout the Commonwealth, and is being used to fairly and efficiently deal with these Articles. The meeting will first be asked to approve the use of the consent agenda, and will then be asked to approve the Articles contained within the consent agenda. Should any resident object to the inclusion of any of those Articles in the consent agenda, they may bring a motion to have the specific Article removed therefrom (and if that motion is successful, the Article will be taken up as its own vote).
Any resident who has questions about Town Meeting procedures may contact me at moderator@wilmingtonma.gov.
Lastly, I want to extend my gratitude to the town employees who put in a significant amount of work coordinating the logistics of this meeting, the volunteers who work to ensure that the meeting is well-run, and you, the residents who dedicate the time to attending town meeting to make decisions to direct your town government.
Respectfully,
Jonathan R. Eaton
Town Moderator
ADDENDUM
On March 4, 2026, the Finance Committee and Planning Committee conducted a public hearing to review each of the Articles contained in the Warrant. The Warrant in this booklet indicates whether either of those bodies recommended approval or disapproval for each Article. This year, the amount of funding, and the anticipated funding source, is listed for the capital expense items contained within the text of Article 6. Other Articles that anticipate the expenditure of funds do not list a specific amount. For those Articles, the Finance Committee’s recommendation was based on the amounts presented to them during the March 4, 2026 public hearing, and are listed below. How much is ultimately presented in the form of a motion on each Article may differ, however, and any variation would be appropriately addressed under the discussion of the motion under consideration.
ANTICIPATED FUNDING BY ARTICLE
Like Wilmington Apple on Facebook. Follow Wilmington Apple on Twitter. Follow Wilmington Apple on Instagram. Subscribe to Wilmington Apple’s daily email newsletter HERE. Got a comment, question, photo, press release, or news tip? Email wilmingtonapple@gmail.com.
Wilmington Apple 