Dan Dunn

The Finance Committee had a hearing on this article in February (Read about it here; at the time it was called Article 15.)  The committee was strong opposed to it.

The problem is that this motion requires every committee to send notification via first-class mail to every person (not just abutter) who’s property might be affected for every meeting.  Dozens of committees, hundreds of meetings, and thousands of persons!  It’s just totally out of scope.

At the hearing, we asked the proponent what the specific problems were that prompted this article.  She related several problems she’d had finding out about meetings related to Symmes and Summer Street construction.  The finance committee gave several recommendations on how to resolve her difficulties, including ways to narrow the scope of the article to a more reasonable and realistic set of meetings and people.

I am disappointed to see this substitute motion before Town Meeting.  I thought we’d made real progress in February in solving her issues without this “nuclear option” bylaw.  Evidently, our thoughts and advice fell on deaf ears.

Please vote “no action” on Article 27.