Town Meeting voters approved the budget and voiced support for a citizen petition taking a stand against rat poison.

Voters approved the $72,665,656 town budget and some voters voiced their opinion that the municipal maintenance department should get more money.

“I think municipal maintenance does a wonderful job and I question that a $3 million budget is enough given what they have to do,” Neil Sullivan said.

Onset resident Jessica Bell brought forth the suggestion of phasing out Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides to the Annual Town Meeting Tuesday, April 29. 

The article passed as a resolution, meaning nothing will be written into law. Instead, it demonstrates Town Meeting voters' opinion on the matter. 

Bell brought this to Town Meeting because she said she found multiple deceased animals in her yard that had died due to consumption of poisoned rats.

Rat poison is commonly used in small black boxes found outside of businesses and residences, known as bait boxes. In her presentation Bell said the boxes attract rodents.

"The rats can smell box from a mile away. So if you you have this box, if you didn't have rats, you will soon because they will smell it," she said.

Bell said that rodents laced with poison become prey to other animals — ultimately killing them and harming the ecosystem.

"I contacted MDAR which is the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. They took a deceased animal and tested them," Bell said. "They had this small rat and it had 2,000 times the legal amount to kill prey."

While the item passed as a resolution there were some people in attendance who voiced their concerns.

Select Board member, Ronald Besse, said while it's important to think about how it effects ecosystems — people should think about the burden of rodents on town. 

"Stories of elderly folks properties overrun with mice and rats in recent news — are quite scary," Besse said. 

Besse said that the pest control industry has been taking note of the dangers and asked for voters to consider animals and human life. 

"If we ask for it to be banned completely, we have to make sure that we understand what the unattended consequences could be overall and not just in our wildlife," he said. 

Kasey Howell from Halifax was given permission to share his indigenous perspective as a member of the Saponi and Massachusett tribes. Howell works in Wareham and said the indigenous groups value the lives of all animals.

"Animals are part of us as well," Howell said. "Red tailed hawks are one thing that has been severely affected by this."

Peter Teitelbaum is an environmental attorney and spoke in support of the issue and while he said the article not perfect, it's important to get ahead of the curve on environmental issues. 

"A lot of the [Environmental Protection Agencies] involved in writing regulations are basically accepting industry recommendations when they go ahead and do these things. So I don't think we can just rely on the [Environmental Protection Agencies] to protect us," Teitelbaum said.

Select Board member, Sherry Quirk, said the article opened a door to an issue she was unaware of. She said she hopes that with the passing of the article it can move up to state and federal levels.

"I sound like a geezer even to myself. I've never seen so many young people here and I'm really grateful for that," Quirk said.