A 37-minute District Meeting on Monday, May 20 saw the voters of the Onset Fire District pass all articles up for deliberation, including a $1.23 million general district budget and upgrades to well equipment. 

“I think this is the fastest it’s ever [gone],” said Moderator Bob Brousseau. 

One question put toward District Meeting voters required a little more explanation. It would appeal a vote held in 2022 that funded upgrades to four wells, which included supplying them with emergency generators. 

Superintendent David Candeias explained that, the way the 2022 vote was phrased, it required the District to upgrade all four wells or none at all. 

“Once we started digging into the process, we realized that one of the stations needed some additional work, and once that was taken out of the equation, the whole entire thing was unable to move forward,” Candeias said. 

Voters agreed to repeal the 2022 vote and to fund the upgrades to Onset Fire District Well 5 and Well 6 separately. 

Many of the evening’s other articles passed without discussion. 

“It transfers [money] from one account to another,” said Brousseau, introducing one such article. “We do that all the time — almost every year.”

Voters authorized a $1.23 million general District budget. They authorized $391,410.74 for the Fire Department Board of Engineers payroll, $1,244,646.08 for the general Fire Department payroll and $393,000.00 for the Fire Department’s operating budget. They also authorized $592,000.00 in payroll for the Water Department and a $1,132,100.00 general budget for the Department. 

One item remained unresolved at the end of the meeting: the annual District Election, which will take place on Tuesday, May 21. 

The ballot will consist of three uncontested races. Incumbent Karl Baptiste is running for a three-year term on the Prudential Committee, incumbent Robert Brousseau is running for a one-year term as Moderator and newcomer James Moran is running for a three-year term on the Board of Water Commissioners.

Voting will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Dudley L. Brown VFW, 4 Gibbs Ball Park Road, Onset.