AYER -- With passage of the budget Monday at Annual Town Meeting, an apparent lack of interest in the remaining 11 warrant articles almost kept Tuesday's session at Ayer High School from mustering a quorum of 50 registered voters.

After a flurry of cell-phone calls from those in attendance to friends and neighbors, Town Moderator Dan Swanfeldt was able to drop the gavel at about 7:15 p.m. and by 7:30, the total had risen to 58 voters.

Among the measures approved was a $300 noncriminal fine for public marijuana use. While state law now permits possession of an ounce or less, Police Chief William Murray drew a firm distinction between that and public use of the drug. He said he wasn't trying to change November's overwhelming ballot approval of the question. "I just want to make it less attractive to do this in your public areas," he said.

Finance Committee Chairman Larry Keenan said his board supported the measure to prevent Ayer from becoming a destination location for pot use.

Voters tabled until fall a proposal to reinstate an elected three-person Department of Public Works Commission to oversee water, sewer, transfer station and recycling efforts. The citizens' petition, presented by former selectman Frank Maxant, sought membership "qualified specifically in public works due to the technical requirements for the job."

Also tabled was a request to rescind a tax increment financing agreement (TIF) approved in May 2007 for Tennessee-based

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Essent Healthcare, which reportedly has dropped plans to refurbish Nashoba Valley Medical Center and renovate medical office space. Selectman Gary Luca said Essent will appear on June 2 to update the board on the stalled project. A TIF grants a business owner tax relief on property value increases from expansion or new construction, generally over a 20-year period.

In other business, voters allocated money to various Community Preservation Act accounts and approved an update of zoning bylaws to correct grammar and spelling and add indexing and cross-referencing. The bylaws will be posted online for review.

Also postponed until fall were four zoning map changes to allow time for information gathering. Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Peter Johnson promised televised public hearings on the changes over the summer.

Land engineer Steve Mullaney of Leominster was not allowed to speak on the merits of a petition brought on behalf of the owner of a 28-acre parcel of light industrial-zoned land off Snake Hill Road to be rezoned as residential. The move, which would have allowed linkage of the land to a neighboring subdivision, failed to muster the required two-thirds vote.

Voters did, however, authorize the Board of Selectmen to negotiate with the same owner regarding a proposed gift of two undeveloped but otherwise approved lots from the neighboring Ridge View Heights Development, a single-family subdivision off Fox Run Drive.