Wayland Town Crier 4/6/13: Wayland voters delete WaylandCares from budget. You might think a $72 million-plus proposed budget would generate debate over such big-ticket items as the School, Police or Fire departments, but it was a proposal to spend just over $100,000 that fostered the most discussion on Thursday night at the opening session of annual Town Meeting. The expenditure of $102,671 to move the WaylandCares substance abuse prevention program from the auspices of the School Department to an independent entity was the highlight of the discussion over the town’s proposed fiscal 2014 budget.

Wayland Patch 4/5/13: Warrant Recap: Wayland 2013 Annual Town Meeting. A quick reference article recapping action taken on each article of Wayland’s 2013 Town Meeting Warrant. [ed note: TM got through Article 5, the Omnibus Budget; article 2 was passed over, all other articles passed, but with two amendments, OPEB contribution reduced by $646k and WaylandCares funding eliminated]

Wayland Town Crier 4/4/13: Wayland Town Meeting passes budget minus WaylandCares. Town Meeting adjourned until Sunday afternoon, after passing the fiscal 2014 budget as proposed minus the WaylandCares proposed budget. In other news, Article 4 was amended to fund other post-employment benefits (OPEB) for $98,534 from all of the funding sources listed in the article except the $645,668 that would have been raised through taxes. It passed 218-69 after 45 minutes of debate.

Wayland Town Crier 3/21/13: Proposal to ban public consumption of marijuana delayed. Six of the 30 articles submitted for consideration on the floor of annual Town Meeting beginning Thursday, April 4 at Wayland High School’s Field House have been dropped, including a petitioners’ proposal to ban public consumption of marijuana.

Wayland Town Crier 2/14/13: School Committee to revisit discussion of WaylandCares The School Committee last week voted to support the work of WaylandCares, but stopped short of recommending the town fund the group’s budget request for $102,000, which would create a new department within town government. WaylandCares, a community coalition supporting responsible youth decision-making, has so far been underwritten by grant money, and there is uncertainty about whether this source of funding will continue.

Wayland Patch 1/9/13: Selectmen Unanimously Recommend Two Budget Initiatives, Split on Third. Wayland selectmen Monday night had no trouble coming to unanimous agreement on supporting funds for a new police officer and new firefighter/paramedic in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget, but supporting funds for WaylandCares was another story.

Wayland Town Crier 1/8/13: Wayland selectmen disagree over Wayland Cares funding. The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted on Monday night to support the budget requests from the police and fire chiefs for one additional officer each, but sparks flew over the proposal to recommend that Town Meeting approve $102,000 to fund Wayland Cares, a community coalition supporting healthy youth decision-making.

Selectmen Approve Committee to Study Future of WaylandCares. WaylandCares volunteer Jim Forti and Director Heidi Heilman along with Wayland Youth and Family Services Director Lynn Dowd asked selectmen Monday night to create a new advisory committee dedicated to studying the future of WaylandCares. Selectmen spoke positively about the work of WaylandCares and Joe Nolan added that he hoped the town could provide a "belt and suspenders" to the organization in case grant money did not come through. A unanimous vote in favor of forming the committee ended the discussion. The advisory committee will consist of five members that the Board of Selectmen will appoint and will exist until Oct. 31, 2012. The charge will be to review the accomplishments of WaylandCares as well as its value to the town; make recommendations about future funding structure and organization in order to ensure sustainability; and determine the cost to fund WaylandCares while exploring the possibility of acquiring 501c3 status.

Wayland Town Crier 1/30/12: Get healthy at upcoming Wellness Summit in Wayland. What is on your radar? That was the question posed to a variety of Wayland parents and students to determine what issues are important to them and what they would like to learn more about. Based on these conversations, WaylandCares and Friends of Wayland Youth and Family Services have designed a program that will address physical, mental and emotional health topics that affect youth and families in our community. All adults and middle school and high school students in the Wayland community are invited to attend. The Wellness Summit will take place on Sunday, March 18, 1-4pm at Wayland High School.