By Ethan Forman
Staff writer
May 16, 2008 12:47 am DANVERS — For Joel Paul, the general manager of Guitar Center on Route 114, the town's fine-tuning of rules governing the sale of secondhand merchandise won't cause discord at his business. "Our used gear is a huge part of our business," he said. "It drives customers in, and it provides people with unique and 'unshoppable' items." The change, one of 48 articles Town Meeting members will face on Monday, would expand the list of items in the bylaw from furniture, junk, glassware, antiques and old metals to include "video games, software, computer hardware and musical instruments." "What we are trying to do is tighten up the regulations for certain businesses that deal in secondhand merchandise," said police Chief Neil Ouellette at a recent Finance Committee meeting. The town does not have any pawn shops, but it does have a GameStop at the Liberty Tree Mall, a store which takes in used computer games. Guitar Center deals in secondhand guitars and instruments, and Ouellette said a third company in town rebuilds used computers. Ouellette wants to tighten rules by increasing the hold period for items from one week to two. "We just want to make sure we have the property bylaw in place to avoid crime and the ability to fence secondhand property," Ouellette said. The bylaw change also requires secondhand dealers to keep a book or printable computer record of the sale, show a valid driver's license or other valid ID, like a U.S. passport, and keep the book open for police inspection. Paul said this change would save him a lot of aggravation from having to undo a sale, because sometimes people store their guitars out of sight, and do not notice right away their guitars are missing. Paul said the store at present holds guitars for seven days. The following are some other significant articles for the annual meeting. The Finance Committee recommends all these articles except Article 8. r Article 8: A citizen petition to establish eight separate voting locations in town. r Article 9: A citizen petition to have public comments as the first item on the agenda for all town boards. r Article 11: A tightening of the policy for handling false alarms. r Article 12: An update to the town's taxicab bylaw. r Article 14: A home-rule petition to grant an additional beer and wine license for Timothy Chopelas for a new Thai restaurant at 49 Maple St. r Article 19: $3,338,000 for design services for Danvers High. The amount could be offset by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, but there is no guarantee of that. r Article 20: $6,375,000 to fix up the outside of Town Hall, along with heating and air-conditioning renovations and design and engineering costs. r Article 35: $1,665,000 to fix water and sewer mains, streets and sidewalks, roads, storm drains, and trees on Riverside and Bates streets damaged by the November 2006 Danversport chemical plant explosion. The work also includes sewer pump station upgrades. More than half the amount comes from a state grant. r Article 36: $2 million for a landfill gas extraction system and scale house at the Danvers landfill. r Article 38: $50,000 to design repairs to the Boston Brook-Curtis Pond Dam in Middleton, a dam deemed "structurally deficient." r Article 41: A vote to see if the town supports the merger of North Shore Technical High School, Essex Agricultural and Technical High School and Peabody Vocational High School to Essex Aggie's campus on Route 62.
Annual Town Meeting When: Monday, May 19, 7:30 p.m. Where: Holten Richmond Middle School's Multipurpose Room, 55 Conant St. What: 48 articles. Also on tap: A Special Town Meeting will start at 7:35 p.m. to take care of unpaid bills, approve budget transfers and pay $500,000 toward closure of the landfill, among other items.
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