Billerica Charter Panel Reverses Referendum Vote, Schedules Fall Public Hearing

BILLERICA — June 23, 2026 — Billerica Charter Review Committee reverses course on referendum provision, schedules September 16 public hearing. Meeting Tuesday night, the committee voted 6-3 to strip individual elected officials — including single members of the Select Board, Planning Board, and School Committee — of the right to submit warrant articles unilaterally, requiring instead a majority vote of their full board or 10 voter signatures. The committee also reversed a prior vote that would have limited referendum petitions to affirmative town meeting votes, returning to the charter's existing language after town counsel warned the change raised unresolved legal questions about whether voters could compel appropriations overriding town meeting rejections. "The way it is today doesn't take the town meeting seriously — 34% of the voters can shut down everything an affirmative town meeting vote did," one member argued, but the committee voted to rescind the earlier adoption. The panel unanimously voted to add language clarifying the town's official website "may include" a designated town bulletin board location, and set a public hearing on the full amendment package for September 16, 2026, at 7 p.m., location to be determined.