Bellingham

Decision

Rejected by voters

Date

May 28, 2025

Decided by

Town Meeting (Article 19)

Vote

110 against, 70 in favor

What the records show

• Bellingham proceeded by town by-law rather than Board of Health regulation, so the decision went to Town Meeting. Article 19 failed on May 28, 2025.
• The first documented contact ran from the town outward: Health Agent Dylan Labonte emailed Brookline’s public health department on January 9, 2025. Director Sigalle Reiss replied the next morning, copying Maureen Buzby of the Melrose-based regional program, and wrote that both were “involved with a local ad-hoc group that can help testify at Board meeting/hearings.”
• Buzby then became the central point of contact, connecting Bellingham officials to a group the emails call the “MA NFG Team.” One message describes its method: “When our ‘NFG Team’ plans for a public hearing we divvy up topics as there is usually a time limit for each speaker. I usually do the reminder about the industry’s marketing tactics. Someone else will describe the policy itself. Another will talk about medical conditions…”
• On the day of Town Meeting, Buzby wrote: “I believe two young people from Needham (NFG youth activists) may be handing out flyers as attendees enter the meeting tonight. An adult activist from Belchertown mailed post cards to likely voters. Some good grassroots work happening.”
• That mailing is documented in the file. A municipal ballot-question committee named “Nicotine Free Generation” filed a campaign finance report with the town showing $780.21 raised — a single contribution from its own treasurer, Belchertown Board of Health member Kenneth Elstein — and $780.21 spent: $720.72 with a mail house for postcards and $59.49 at a Needham print shop for flyers.

Document Library

The complete public-records production, as released by the custodian.

Every document below opens as a PDF. Files the custodian produced in other formats — Word, Excel, Outlook messages — were converted for readability, and the file as produced sits beside each one behind a small grey tag (.DOCX) so the original is always one click away. Nothing in the production has been withheld, compressed or edited: the file count above is every file the custodian released. A few archives and calendar files cannot be rendered as PDF and appear in their original format, marked as such.