Tuesday Oct 13th, 2026
Reported by: Archie Hive
Walking into council chambers this evening there was a buzz. Perhaps it was the overhead lights sucking the soul out of us or maybe, just maybe we were in for a meeting to beat the band. One for the ages, as it were. This, dear reader, was not the case. Our souls stayed put and we did too for a mostly all business council meeting.
Joey D kicked it off with the Pledge of Allegiance, a somewhat floppy rendition by the gallery whose ardor for talk singing in unison was matched only by their eagerness to sit back down.
Then, to the public comment section where our good friend Jo Dwyer asked about the National Guard lot going up for auction that sits right behind her house - hence the interest. Here’s the journey: National Guard –> Feds –> State –> Auction –> (probably) some developer putting in ‘affordable’ housing at a measly $450k a pop. After the auction, the town has the opportunity to match the highest bid and according to Joe, they have $2mil. from a federal grant to spend with visions of an ambulance garage and, down the road a piece, a community center. Way to play your cards, Joe. Uh, I bid $2 million and 1 dollar.
Next came resident Ashley Freeman (225 Market St) with a heartfelt soliloquy about afforda… well you know. Mr Freeman was informed and passionate, suggesting one solution by way of capping the percentage rents can be raised across town - aka. rent stabilization. It’s an idea.
This had us remembering there’s an election forthcoming and a scan of the room did result in seeing 4 out of 5 TC Candidates in da house: Jim, Burt, Rebecca, and Danny.
From Public Comment to Public Hearing and here’s where we get down to the nitty gritty, the meat and potatoes, the real deal. Here, we finally get the council’s opinion on what really matters: Storage Units.
Zoning changes. Restrict storage facilities in the business district. Stagnant use of space. Not a good use of land. There, you’re caught up.
And then we got to the Ordinance section, particularly O-4. Like: Oh for the love of Jeff, why haven’t we been implementing the Non-Utilization Tax?!?
You’ve read our feelings about it.
But the discussion here was about the wording of the ordinance, for the most part. As it stands, there’s too many loopholes and, as Solicitor DeSisto pointed out, the statute is toothless because municipalities are obliged to use the State's wording which is toothless.
And here, reader, is where Mr John Hanley offered an idea that was, dare we say, smart. We must pause here so you can go back and re-read that sentence. That’s right, we are giving praise to Mr Hanley. Trust us we’re as red in the face as he is. But, here it is:
If somebody claims their building is worth that much money and they’re willing to put it in writing couldn’t we just hand that to the tax assessor? ~ John Hanley Oct. 13, 2026
There’s more but go watch it yourself on YouTube.