Milton's Warrant Committee met Tuesday, Aug. 4, as it works through a growing list of spending and policy questions headed for voters at the Oct. 19 Special Town Meeting.

The Select Board's agenda for the same evening lists 11 potential warrant articles for the fall vote, compared with the nine articles the Warrant Committee began reviewing at its first session July 13. The two biggest-ticket items remain the proposed acquisition of the closing Labouré College campus at 303 Adams St. and a renovation or addition at the Atherton Street Fire Station.

The full list of potential articles, according to the Select Board's Aug. 4 agenda, includes water main replacements, surplus bond proceeds for capital projects, FY 2027 budget appropriations, Community Preservation Committee project funding, the Labouré acquisition, a School Building Committee appropriation, the Atherton Street fire station project, a short-term rentals bylaw, two local-option taxes on room occupancy, and the creation of a Milton Village Local Historic District.

The Select Board is also weighing whether to place a debt exclusion ballot question for the Labouré purchase on the Nov. 3 state election ballot. The board entered executive session Tuesday night to discuss the property's value under state open meeting law.

What's at stake

Labouré College, a 135-year-old institution, will cease academic operations by the end of August.

The town's acquisition timeline is tight.

The Atherton Street station, originally built in 1901 for horse-drawn equipment, has engine bays too small for modern fire trucks and cannot isolate diesel exhaust carcinogens from living quarters, according to a May 2026 Fire Station Building Committee report. Committee Chair Brian Walsh stated in that report that construction funding would be sought at the fall Town Meeting. The station serves a dense area near Fuller Village senior housing, Curry College and Little Sprouts Day Care.

The committee's role

The 15-member Warrant Committee, chaired by Jay Fundling, is appointed by the Town Moderator to review every warrant article and publish printed recommendations to all Milton households at least four days before Town Meeting. The committee's Aug. 4 session was its third meeting on the fall warrant, following sessions July 13 and July 23.

The committee meets next on Monday, Aug. 10, at 7 p.m. in the Katherine Haynes Dunphy Conference Room.