Hull Town Meeting Approves Transparency Bylaws, Repeals 2018 HRA Land Transfer Authority

HULL -- May 6, 2026, Hull Town Meeting passed a pair of transparency bylaws and repealed a seven-year-old authorization allowing the Select Board to transfer land in the Nantasket Avenue corridor without voter approval. Voters backed citizens' petitions by Susan Vermilio and Michael Marlow, 145 to 70 and 148 to 55, respectively, requiring 16 designated boards and committees to live-stream meetings in real time and to record and publicly post them within seven days, each capped at $20,000 in initial costs and contingent on the town's relocation to Memorial Middle School. The Advisory Board, which recommended unfavorable action on both transparency articles, also opposed the repeal of the 2018 HRA authorization; Advisory Board Chair Jason Frady called that repeal a potential "poison pill" for the two-way Nantasket Avenue road reconfiguration project, which has already drawn more than $1.28 million in grants and sits at 25 percent design. Voters approved the repeal 129 to 61. Town Meeting also passed $400,000 in road-paving bonds (134 to 10), $300,000 for landfill closure planning (140 to 33), and $500,000 in Community Preservation Act funds for the newly formed Hull Community Housing Trust (191 to 32).