Plan to Attend Sudbury Town Meeting May 5

Annual Town Meeting is the legislative body of Sudbury, and the registered voters who attend are the legislators. Town Meeting votes on bylaws, spending (including budgets and borrowing), resolutions, and more. This year’s Town Meeting begins Monday, May 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, 390 Lincoln Road. Town Meeting is likely to continue Tuesday, May 6, and may continue Wednesday, May 7, and Monday, May 12, if necessary. 

Sudbury has an “open” town meeting, which means that all Sudbury registered voters are eligible to vote. The deadline to register to vote before Town Meeting is Friday, April 25, at 5 p.m. Check your voter registration status or register to vote here.

You must be present at Town Meeting to vote. There is no remote or absentee voting. 

The Town Meeting Warrant lists the basic rules and procedures for conducting Town Meeting and provides information about each of the articles – including sponsors, what the article would do, the vote count required to pass the article, and whether the article is supported by the Select Board and Finance Committee. It includes a finance section with budget information, estimated tax impact of warrant articles, historical finance data, and a glossary of budget terms.

Every household in Sudbury will be mailed a paper copy of the Town Meeting Warrant, and a digital copy is available here. Review the information in the warrant carefully prior to the meeting and make a note of any questions or comments. The sponsor of each article will make a presentation and take questions and comments from the voters. You can find a table of all the articles with supplementary information, if available, here.

Information on accessibility and available accommodations is available here; scroll down to see both pages. It is also listed in the paper copy of the warrant. The town states: “Persons requiring an accommodation in order to attend Town Meeting are urged to contact the Sudbury Senior Center at 978-443-3055 or senior@sudbury.ma.us as soon as possible and at the latest by Tuesday, April 29, at 4 p.m.”

Van transportation is available for qualified voters. According to the town website, “the Sudbury Connection van service, through the Sudbury Senior Center and MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA), will provide free accessible transportation to and from Town Meeting. If you are a registered rider, please reserve a ride to Sudbury Town Meeting by Thursday, May 1, at 4 p.m. by calling 508-820-4650. If you are not registered as a rider, please contact the Sudbury Senior Center to register at 978-443-3055 and complete an application by Wednesday, April 30 at 4 p.m. For details, please contact the Senior Center at 978-443-3055 or senior@sudbury.ma.us.”

For all other voters, parking is available in the high school parking lot. Enter the lot through the driveway on Lincoln Road east of the high school building. Handicapped parking spaces are available in the lot at the front of the school building and in the main parking lot.

There will be designated seating in the front of the auditorium for those with hearing or vision impairment, and closed captioning screens are available. Those who wish to use a phone or other device to view the captions may do so at this link. Seating for those with mobility impairments is available at the rear of the auditorium.

According to the town website: “Assisted listening services are available through the Audio Fetch app, available on iOS and Android devices. A QR code to direct you to where to download the app will be available at Town Meeting or you can download the app in advance via the links below:

 • Apple Store 

 • Google Play

“Please bring your own headphones to use Fetch on your device. If you do not own a smart phone or tablet and/or headphones, please contact the Sudbury Senior Center at 978-443-3055 or senior@sudbury.ma.us as soon as possible, and at the latest by Tuesday, April 29, at 4 p.m. so that an accommodation may be arranged.”

You can learn more about town meetings in the Citizen’s Guide to Town Meeting and here.