Joint Committee Hears Rural Towns' Pleas on Voting Equity and Solar Pause

BOSTON — April 8, 2026 — Massachusetts Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government hears rural Western Massachusetts towns plead for voting equity and a solar development pause. The committee, co-chaired by Senator Rebecca L. Rausch and Representative Jack Patrick Lewis, took testimony Wednesday on two bills: S.B. 3026, which would allow residents of five towns participating in the proposed Great River Regional School District to vote on equal terms with Montague voters, and H. 5294, a home rule petition granting Worthington a one-year moratorium on new large-scale solar and battery storage applications. Alan Genovese, chair of the Six Town Regionalization Planning Board, said enrollment in the Gill Montague district has fallen 50 percent over the past decade, making the regionalization vote one of "the biggest decisions these towns have had to make in the last 30 years." In Worthington, town moderator Kevin O'Connor reported that more than 250 of roughly 1,200 residents signed a citizen petition for the moratorium, and a February special town meeting passed five related solar articles near-unanimously. Resident Jim Downey said the town faces two active solar applications for sites exceeding 30 acres each, while operating with a volunteer fire department and a population relying heavily on private wells rather than municipal water.