While Clinton’s town and schools budgets, along with a bonding package, passed at last month’s referendum, town voters will be asked to voice their approval or disapproval at a town meeting on more than a million dollars in spending that was pulled in April from the proposed town budget.

The town meeting, on Wednesday, June 12 at 6 p.m. in Town Hall, will consider two questions. The first is the appropriation of a $1,271,200 surplus from the undesignated fund to pay for a number of items. Voters will also decide on taking $32,000 from the contingency fund to hire a firm to assist with the search for Clinton’s first town manager.

The use of the surplus is a sticking point for some members of the community, as the appropriated surplus money was originally included in the proposed budget that voters would have voted for at the referendum in May. However, the Board of Finance voted on April 10 to remove the money from the proposed budget and send it instead to town meeting. The board voted to make that move with four in favor (Democrats Jason Adler, Amy Maklari, and Jane Scully Welch and Republic Tom Hollinger), and one abstention (Republican Ona Nejdl).

The money would be used to pay for external water pipes replacement at the Jared Eliot Middle School ($556,200), revaluation ($240,000), a heavy-duty dump truck ($200,000), and a variety of road and sidewalk repair work.

The surplus-funded projects are separate from the work that will be conducted under the $10,700,00 appropriation for various capital improvement projects approved at referendum. Those projects include improvements to the Kelseytown Road and Carter Hill Road bridges, Joel and Eliot school roofs, road and sidewalk improvements, and the purchase and installation of eight underground water tanks for the fire department.

The movement of the surplus money to a town meeting rankled some citizens as they felt that by removing the surplus from the budget, the town was trying to circumvent the voters. Typically, special town meetings draw only a handful of people, as compared to the budget referendum, which drew close to 3,000 to the polls. In this case, the town meeting will occur at the same time as the graduation ceremony at The Morgan School, which could mean fewer people show up. Not all special town meetings have a low turnout, however. A town meeting in 2018 for the purchase of a new police boat drew more than 200 voters to town hall.

Besides the surplus, voters will also need to approve taking $32,000 from the contingency fund to hire Strategic Government Resources to assist with the town manager search. At a May 20 meeting, the BOF unanimously approved a motion for the money to come from the town’s contingency fund.

According the Selectman Phil Sengle, Texas-based Strategic Government Resources specializes in helping municipal governments find the right people for town managers, chiefs of police, public works directors, and personnel directors, among other positions. The firm will be tasked with assisting the Town Manager Search Committee with items like identifying the skills a town manger should possess, searching for and recommending candidates for the position, and advising the committee during the interview and hiring process.

All those registered to vote in Clinton as well as taxpayers with $1,000 or more in assessed property are eligible to vote at the town meeting.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the meeting date as Wednesday, June 13.