{"id":1518,"date":"2012-05-03T01:34:57","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T05:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2012-05-03T01:34:57","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T05:34:57","slug":"town-meeting-12-session-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/town-meeting-12-session-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Town Meeting \u00e2\u20ac\u212212, Session 4"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>I take notes during Town Meeting. They are not official in any way. As I listen to people speak, I type notes. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure that, at times, I mishear or misunderstand the speaker, but my notes represent what I hear at the time. I then publish the notes every night after the meeting. I do go back and make a few edits as errors are pointed out to me.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I do not try to reproduce my entire notes for this online version. Sometimes I relay a quote from a specific speaker. Most of the time I only summarize the discussion. At points I give a purely personal opinion; those are clearly labeled like this:\u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Personal note<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Town Meeting sang the national anthem, accompanied by Town Meeting Member Jane Howard on piano.<\/p>\n<p>Moderator John Leone made a couple of announcements.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Town Meeting Member Mary Deyst has an art show upstairs at Town Hall.<\/li>\n<li>He also asked that town meeting members take their papers with them and throw them in the\u00c2\u00a0recycle\u00c2\u00a0bin on the way out rather than leaving it on the seats.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The moderator swore in 2 new members elected from precinct 21.<\/p>\n<p>I moved that the next meeting be on May 7th.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>John Maher announcement about the Symmes foundation. \u00c2\u00a0People interested in applying should read tomorrow&#8217;s Advocate or contact him.<\/li>\n<li>Jim O&#8217;Conor reported that Town Meeting Member Marc Butler is unwell, and asked for our thoughts and prayers.<\/li>\n<li>Michelle Durocher\u00c2\u00a0asked for volunteers for the Meadowbrook Park cleanup on May 5 9am-noon, rain or shine.<\/li>\n<li>Al Tosti announced that the Minuteman High related articles, #44-46, will be voted on Wednesday night May 9th because Superintendent Ed Bouquillon will be there.<\/li>\n<li>Superintendent\u00c2\u00a0Kathy Bodie said, in a raspy voice, that she wants to give the schools report on May 9th\u00c2\u00a0when\u00c2\u00a0her voice is better.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Article 3<\/strong> was taken off the table.<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Gilligan gave the report of the Treasurer.<\/p>\n<p>Art 3 was tabled.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 29 &#8211; Vote\/Lower Interest Rate For Property Tax\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I briefly introduced the article. \u00c2\u00a0This article changes the rate of interest on taxes deferred by seniors who take the\u00c2\u00a0deferment\u00c2\u00a0exemption option. \u00c2\u00a0Jim Doherty, chair of the Board of Assessors, explained some of the requirements for the deferment: must be 65, can defer \u00c2\u00a0portion or full, must be the primary residence etc. \u00c2\u00a0He said the assessors didn&#8217;t vote to support, and they were concerned about the lower interest rate. Senator Ken Donnelly spoke next. \u00c2\u00a0He said that this is not a financial issue, this is a social issue. \u00c2\u00a0He talked about seniors and their role in the community. Chris Loreti moved an amendment that put a floor on the interest rate of 4%. \u00c2\u00a0He made a lot of comments about the way deferments works. \u00c2\u00a0He said he thinks the recommended vote is deficient because it doesn&#8217;t note the state maximum of 8%. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">The proposed vote is nearly identical to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mass.gov\/dor\/docs\/dls\/publ\/igr\/2008\/igr08-208.pdf\">language suggested<\/a> by the Mass DOR; I&#8217;m reasonably sure it&#8217;s properly written.<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0 Diane Mahon expressed her support (she had missed the final vote, and wasn&#8217;t on record in the report). Al Tosti said the FinCom unanimously supports the vote. \u00c2\u00a0He noted we&#8217;re not doing this to make a profit. \u00c2\u00a0There were questions about the current cost of borrowing money, circuit breaker for seniors, and whether or not this would really\u00c2\u00a0help\u00c2\u00a0seniors. Paul Schlictman moved to terminate debate, approved. \u00c2\u00a0Loreti&#8217;s amendment failed. \u00c2\u00a0The \u00c2\u00a0main motion passed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 32 &#8211; Report\/Implementation Of Consolidated Town-School Finance Department<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine first presented some details of the report, then his plan on going forward. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Just as he started, he realized the timer said he had 7 minutes left to speak. \u00c2\u00a0The moderator was playing a joke on him &#8211; the manager had said he could do it in 7 minutes, and the moderator tried to get him under 7 minutes<\/span>. \u00c2\u00a0He reviewed the methodology and findings of the report. He outlined the procedure he was planning on with the various boards and officials to work on progress towards the report. Assessor Jim Doherty was unhappy with the report, and wanted to debate it. \u00c2\u00a0The moderator noted that the motion was only to receive the report, and not really\u00c2\u00a0debatable. Treasurer Gilligan vehemently objected to part of the report. He believes the report incorrectly blames his office for the loss of some money. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">It&#8217;s tough for me to say from the short dialog exactly what was being referred to. \u00c2\u00a0My first impression is that the report blurred two different issues, and Mr. Gilligan was emphasizing the second issue as the relevant one, and discounting the first issue. \u00c2\u00a0It&#8217;s impossible to say, really, without a discussion of the details that did not happen there. <span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00c2\u00a0The report was received. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">I continue to think that the town should pursue a structural change that results in better financial coordination. \u00c2\u00a0I know a lot of people say &#8220;if it ain&#8217;t broke, don&#8217;t fix it.&#8221; \u00c2\u00a0I&#8217;m not ready to say &#8220;it&#8217;s broke&#8221; &#8211; but is sure could use a tune-up.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 33 &#8211; Home Rule Legislation\/Municipal Finance Department<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Voted no action.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 34 &#8211; Home Rule Legislation\/Wireless Antenna Lease Proceeds<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I explained what this motion will do. \u00c2\u00a0Chris Loreti thinks it&#8217;s unnecessary. \u00c2\u00a0Hugh McCrory doesn&#8217;t get why we do this fund. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u00c2\u00a0I think the best short answer to that is &#8220;because Town Meeting voted to do it this way.&#8221; \u00c2\u00a0What Town Meeting does, it can reverse, of course.<\/span> \u00c2\u00a0 Annie LaCourt noted that this funding method avoids waiting for the money to cycle through the general fund and be certified by the DoR as free cash, etc. \u00c2\u00a0Annie further said that years ago Town Meeting gave up something &#8211; open space, horizons, etc. \u00c2\u00a0The money was therefore allocated to parks, to offset the negative effects. \u00c2\u00a0Harry McCabe &#8211; St. Paul&#8217;s gave the antenna money to parks, and that was the root. \u00c2\u00a0John Deyst moved to terminate debate. \u00c2\u00a0Motion was approved. \u00c2\u00a0There was a question that since this was home rule legislation, do we need a standing vote? Senator Donnelly says: all we need is a majority.<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> That was an interesting statement by the senator, and it ends a procedure we&#8217;ve followed for as long as I&#8217;ve been in town meeting!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 35 &#8211; Acceptance\/Local Option Taxes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No action.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 36 &#8211; Endorsement Of CDBG Application<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I explained that this is federal money, and the selectmen seek input from Town Meeting. \u00c2\u00a0I explained that the amount of funds coming from the federal budget was declining, but by using &#8220;program income&#8221; we had avoided most cuts. \u00c2\u00a0There was discussion about funding scholarships. \u00c2\u00a0There was a question about how much of this was &#8220;use it or lose it.&#8221; \u00c2\u00a0Chris\u00c2\u00a0Loreti asked if\u00c2\u00a0some of this is for non-profits; the answer was yes.<\/p>\n<p>We had a break.<\/p>\n<p>Annie LaCourt noted that money was issued on a reimbursement basis, not outright grant. \u00c2\u00a0Mark McCabe moved to terminate debate. \u00c2\u00a0The article was approved on voice vote.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 37 &#8211; Revolving Funds<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gordon Jamieson noted that $2,000,000 in expenditures is possible under this article. \u00c2\u00a0FinCom Chair Al Tosti says the committee has been concerned with the creation of the funds. \u00c2\u00a0Adam Chapdelaine explained the new fund for Central School. \u00c2\u00a0Gordon Jamieson and others asked for more granularity in future reports. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">I am of two minds on this request. \u00c2\u00a0On one hand, I&#8217;m a big fan of government transparency. \u00c2\u00a0On the other hand, we have $126 million dollars that we spend a year &#8211; it&#8217;s not clear to me that detailing the outflows of the Town Hall rental fund is a particularly useful report for Town Meeting. \u00c2\u00a0I wonder what the right solution to that question is.<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0There were a series of questions. \u00c2\u00a0Chris Loreti elicits that Town Manager controls the funds. \u00c2\u00a0Questions about urban renewal plans, several of the funds, and another request for more detail. \u00c2\u00a0Terminated debate. \u00c2\u00a0Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 38 &#8211; Collective Bargaining<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tabled. \u00c2\u00a0Negotiations ongoing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 39 &#8211; Positions Reclassification<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Approved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 40 &#8211; Appropriation\/Town Budgets<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was 10:15, and the meeting wasn&#8217;t ready to tackle the budgets, so they were tabled. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">I was ready to go &#8211; I think we could have got a lot of them done. \u00c2\u00a0As it was, we got good work done.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 41 &#8211; Capital Budget<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Postponed to Monday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 42 &#8211; Appropriation\/Financing Of Construction Or\u00c2\u00a0Reconstruction Of Sewers And Sewerage Facilities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There were several questions. \u00c2\u00a0In the discussion, we heard about how much leakage and damage there is in the system, and the plans to resolve them. \u00c2\u00a0It was noted that at a mile of pipe per year, it will be more than 100 years to replace all the town pipes. \u00c2\u00a0There were several speakers in favor, noting that it is a big problem. \u00c2\u00a0Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 43 &#8211; Appropriation\/Financing Of Construction Or\u00c2\u00a0Reconstruction Of Water Mains And Water Facilities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 44-46<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Postponed to Wednesday when Minuteman\u00c2\u00a0Superintendent\u00c2\u00a0Ed Bouquillon will be here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 47 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Appropriation\/Special Education Reserve Account<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The exact amount to be put in the fund is not yet known, so the article was tabled.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 48 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 Appropriation\/Committees And Commissions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 49 Appropriation\/Town Celebrations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 50 Appropriation\/Miscellaneous<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 51 Appropriation\/Water Bodies Fund<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 52 Appropriation\/Signage For Historic Sites<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is an amendment planned, so the article was postponed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 53 Appropriation\/Electronic Town Meeting<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No action unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 54 Appropriation\/Paid Parking Study<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I briefly said that we had considered proposing a paid report, but were persuaded not to spend the money unless there was political will to implement it. \u00c2\u00a0We wanted to see what Town Meeting though. \u00c2\u00a0Carl Wagner, the proponent, asked to postpone to May 9, and that failed. \u00c2\u00a0Town Manager Adam Chapedelaine talked about how parking is an asset of the town. \u00c2\u00a0He noted there are many options for meters. \u00c2\u00a0The chamber of commerce said the business owners were opposed to meters. \u00c2\u00a0Al Tosti said don&#8217;t spend money if you&#8217;re not going to do it, but liked the idea of learning more. \u00c2\u00a0Paul Schlictman talked about how impossible it is to enforce the parking limits in non-metered spaces. \u00c2\u00a0Premium\u00c2\u00a0parking is free, secondary parking is metered &#8211; it&#8217;s backwards. \u00c2\u00a0It leads to minimal enforcement on Mass Ave, but strong enforcement in lots. \u00c2\u00a0There was an amendment to consider parking garage &#8211; ruled out of scope (warrant article talked about &#8220;currently marked short term parking&#8221;). \u00c2\u00a0John Worden noted that we used to have meters, and he was very glad they had been removed. \u00c2\u00a0Parking is an\u00c2\u00a0intractable\u00c2\u00a0problem. \u00c2\u00a0Bill Logan said we should let voters decide. \u00c2\u00a0Hugh McCrory \u00c2\u00a0asked for a public hearing and to reduce the 2-hour limit. \u00c2\u00a0Nicole Knobloch moved to\u00c2\u00a0terminate debate. \u00c2\u00a0The motion passed 103-49.<\/p>\n<p>I heard Elsie Fiore serve notice of reconsideration on article 48 and Andrew Fischer on 32 and Al Tosti on the financial articles.<\/p>\n<p>We adjourned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I take notes during Town Meeting. They are not official in any way. As I listen to people speak, I type notes. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure that, at times, I mishear or misunderstand the speaker, but my notes represent what I hear at the time. I then publish the notes every night after the meeting. I do [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-town-meeting-12"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1518"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1526,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1518\/revisions\/1526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}