{"id":1535,"date":"2012-05-10T07:52:29","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T11:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/?p=1535"},"modified":"2012-05-10T11:13:20","modified_gmt":"2012-05-10T15:13:20","slug":"town-meeting-12-session-6-and-special-town-meeting-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/town-meeting-12-session-6-and-special-town-meeting-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Town Meeting \u00e2\u20ac\u212212, Session 6 and Special Town Meeting #2"},"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>Town Meeting Member Charles Gallagher played the national anthem on the piano and the members sang along.<\/p>\n<p>In Moderator John Leone&#8217;s opening remarks, he noted the progress we had made so far, and were likely to finish the Special Town Meeting tonight &#8220;if we finish the discussion on Article 10 ad infinitum.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Kevin Greeley moved that the meeting will resume Monday May 14, and it was approved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Announcements<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gordon Jamieson made a detailed description of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.town.arlington.ma.us\/Public_documents\/ArlingtonMA_Home\/0189B33A-000F8513\">Community Collection Day<\/a> this May 12 9am to 1pm. Read more details on the town website.<\/li>\n<li>Steve DeCourcey announced that the Arlington High Girls Tennis team was selling baked goods in the hall.<\/li>\n<li>Christian Klein reported from the Friends of Robbins Farm Park: this Saturday at 4PM they are celebrating the return of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yourarlington.com\/town-news\/4697-slide-5712\">hillslides<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Mark Kaepplein\u00c2\u00a0recounted a recent health scare at his neighbor&#8217;s house. He complimented and thanked our public safety employees. There was a long round of applause.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Article 3 &#8211; Reports<\/strong> was taken off the table.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We heard the report of the Tree Committee. He talked\u00c2\u00a0about\u00c2\u00a0their work and pointed out their website, <a href=\"http:\/\/arlingtontrees.org\/\">arlingtontrees.org<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Jane Howard gave the report of the Vision 2020 committee, including noting the results of the annual survey.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The moderator reminded committees that are no longer active to come to town meeting and ask to be dissolved.<\/p>\n<p>Article 3 was tabled.<\/p>\n<p>The moderator declared regular Town Meeting to be\u00c2\u00a0recessed, and re-opened the Special Town Meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Greeley set the date for the meeting to be resumed to be May 14. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">This ended up being moot, as we dissolved the special meeting tonight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 10 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Bylaw Amendment\/Rubbish Collection, continued<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bill Kaplan moved an additional amendment. He did not believe this is really a problem, so he proposed that people have additional hours to bring trash back in from the curb. \u00c2\u00a0There was a motion to terminate debate which carried. \u00c2\u00a0Scott Smith said he liked Kaplan&#8217;s amendment better. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">This was technically extending the debate after debate was terminated, but it did help the voting considerably. \u00c2\u00a0There was no longer a real risk of two somewhat contradictory amendments being passed. <\/span>\u00c2\u00a0Smith&#8217;s amendment went down by voice vote. Kaplan&#8217;s amendment was approved 137-40. \u00c2\u00a0Main motion -was approved 133-48.<\/p>\n<p>Article 1 was taken from the table.<\/p>\n<p>Special Town Meeting was dissolved. \u00c2\u00a0The regular Town Meeting was resumed.<\/p>\n<p>Al Tosti moved to take Articles 44-46 from the table because the Minuteman\u00c2\u00a0Superintendent\u00c2\u00a0is here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 44 &#8211; Appropriation\/Court Judgment In Favor Of Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School District<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mary Ellen Bilafer moved a substitute motion. John Bilafer chair of the Arlington Retirement Board spoke in explanation of the motion. \u00c2\u00a0He talked about the circumstances of the $785,000 court judgment against the retirement board. Arlington administered the retirement for Minuteman for the first 10 years. The courts ruled that Arlington was required to assume the burden of the retirement cost of those employees for those 10 years. There is no option but to pay. However, by making the payment over 10 years time, that could save the town money. The purpose of the substitute motion is to put the payment in the town&#8217;s hands, and the town is more likely to get the 10 year payment agreement. The town has leverage where the retirement board does not. \u00c2\u00a0Al Tosti said that the Finance Committee supports the substitute motion as the best option available. After a\u00c2\u00a0question, Mr. Bilafer said they had appealed the decision, but lost the appeal, and their lawyer said there was no sense in appealing further. \u00c2\u00a0Mark McCabe moved to terminate debate, and it was. Ms. Bilafer&#8217;s substitute motion was\u00c2\u00a0substituted\u00c2\u00a0by voice vote. The substitute motion was then approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 45 &#8211; Minuteman Appropriation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stephen DeCourcey is the Finance Committee&#8217;s representative to Minuteman, and he introduced the article. He noted that this year&#8217;s Minuteman assessment is up considerably. One of the biggest drivers of that increase is that Arlington&#8217;s fraction of students went from 26% to 32% of member town students. He noted a 4.97% increase in total budget at the school. He pointed out Laura Morrissette, Arlington&#8217;s representative to the Minuteman School Committee. He introduced Minuteman\u00c2\u00a0Superintendent\u00c2\u00a0Ed Bouquillon. Dr. Bouquillon referred to the previous Article 44 in his opening remarks: he said that he would work on settling the judgment with the two retirement boards (Arlington and Minuteman). Dr. Bouquillon walked the meeting through the proposed budget. He talked about achievements and improvements at the school in the last year. Charlie Foskett, speaking for himself, moved a substitute motion that would reduce the Minuteman appropriation by $700,000. He said that the Minuteman regional agreement is awful for Arlington. He noted that the awful agreement made votes like this. \u00c2\u00a0He asked that Town Meeting send message to the Selectmen and FinCom to change the Minuteman agreement. He likes Minuteman, and had high praise for Bouquillon. He compared the agreement to the old NESWC agreement. He noted that part of the increase in Arlington&#8217;s assessment was because of a change in savings rate by Minuteman. Minuteman did it because we have no control, and they knew they could. \u00c2\u00a0 He said the Selectmen and FinCom have failed to block the feasibility study. Outlined changes needed in the regional agreement &#8211; proportional votes, capital allocation, exit agreement. \u00c2\u00a0He said that we had to say no now because in two years the plan will have too much momentum and we&#8217;ll give in.<\/p>\n<p>We had a 10 minute break.<\/p>\n<p>Al Tosti said that \u00c2\u00a0we&#8217;re discussing more than one issue, but we&#8217;re only voting on one. \u00c2\u00a0We should only vote on this one. \u00c2\u00a0He said if you support Charlie you&#8217;ll cost the town money when we do a special town meeting, because we will be forced to pay the full amount. \u00c2\u00a0He noted that change to the regional agreement requires unanimous votes of the towns. \u00c2\u00a0He noted that the FinComm supported the\u00c2\u00a0feasibility\u00c2\u00a0study 12-5 and Selectmen 4-1. \u00c2\u00a0He said we need the scope and materials \u00c2\u00a0from the\u00c2\u00a0feasibility\u00c2\u00a0study to sell the building to new towns, or we&#8217;re never going to get the changes. \u00c2\u00a0He said vote no on substitute for practical and forward looking. Bill Hayner: was the\u00c2\u00a0feasibility\u00c2\u00a0money voted already? \u00c2\u00a0yes, in 2010. \u00c2\u00a0Superintendent: 40% of students are non-member. \u00c2\u00a0Arlington\u00c2\u00a0is 32% of the member towns&#8217; students. \u00c2\u00a0We cannot charge non-member students for capital costs, but we are trying. \u00c2\u00a0Chaput: schools is in good shape. \u00c2\u00a0We need the school, and the programs it makes. \u00c2\u00a0Paul Schlictman &#8211; they&#8217;ve made\u00c2\u00a0progress, but the governance is still broken. \u00c2\u00a0Support the budget, but don&#8217;t vote on a capital plan without a change. \u00c2\u00a0He noted that \u00c2\u00a013 of 16 towns have already voted yes. \u00c2\u00a0Voting no is a moot point and muddy message. \u00c2\u00a0Leo Doherty moved to terminate debate, by 119-51 vote is terminated (it required 2\/3 vote, and it met 2\/3). \u00c2\u00a0Foskett amendment was defeated. \u00c2\u00a0Main motion approved. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">I had a pretty good speech for this, but I didn&#8217;t get up before the vote. \u00c2\u00a0Probably just as well! \u00c2\u00a0If I&#8217;d gotten up, I wanted to focus on a key point from Charlie Foskett&#8217;s presentation. \u00c2\u00a0I agree with the vast majority of things that he said. \u00c2\u00a0The place I disagreed was that he said we had to say no <strong>now<\/strong>. \u00c2\u00a0I disagree. \u00c2\u00a0The reason it has to be now is if you believe we can&#8217;t say no in two years; I believe we have the necessary backbone to say no. \u00c2\u00a0The reason to delay the no is that it will be easier to get a satisfactory outcome if we have a\u00c2\u00a0feasibility\u00c2\u00a0study in hand. \u00c2\u00a0We can use that study as the carrot to get other towns into the system and make the system viable. \u00c2\u00a0My final point was about the concept of &#8220;sending a message.&#8221; I&#8217;m confident that Minuteman has gotten the message. \u00c2\u00a0Candidly, I think they have a very difficult road. \u00c2\u00a0I think it is unlikely that there will be a plan in two years that we can agree to. \u00c2\u00a0But I think the\u00c2\u00a0feasibility\u00c2\u00a0study is the best chance we have.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 46 &#8211; Vote\/Establish Minuteman Regional\u00c2\u00a0Vocational Technical High School Stabilization Fund<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Al Tosti noted that enough towns had already approved this, so our vote didn&#8217;t matter. \u00c2\u00a0Still, we voted no action. \u00c2\u00a0We&#8217;re overruled, but we still think it&#8217;s a bad idea.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 32, Again<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A motion to reconsider was made by Andrew Fischer. \u00c2\u00a0He wants to ask everyone to stop talking about financial restructuring because some people don&#8217;t like the idea. \u00c2\u00a0He claimed the DoR report was biased and prejudiced. \u00c2\u00a0He said the discussion is draining, so we shouldn&#8217;t have it. \u00c2\u00a0Al Tosti noted that the DoR studied what we asked them to. \u00c2\u00a0We didn&#8217;t ask them to study the Retirement Committee. \u00c2\u00a0He noted that there are parts of the report, like water-sewer offsets, that are already being implemented, and we shouldn&#8217;t ignore the report. \u00c2\u00a0Ted Peluso: we need to look at this. \u00c2\u00a0Town Reorganization Committee voted \u00c2\u00a04-1-4 to accept the report &#8211; 4 accept except parts referring to appointed\/elected officials, and 1 voted accept unconditionally. \u00c2\u00a0John Worden says the DoR is prejudiced, and they were out to get the treasurer. \u00c2\u00a0He accused the DoR of lying about the treasurer. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u00c2\u00a0I get the strong impression that there was an organized campaign to get Town Meeting to accept two statements as fact. \u00c2\u00a0The thing is, nothing becomes\u00c2\u00a0true simply because it is repeated. \u00c2\u00a0I think there is a lot more to say on the two issues: 1) whether or not the DoR was prejudiced in its report and 2) how much of the override savings fund was lost in the stock market.<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0 Nathan Swilling move to terminate debate. \u00c2\u00a0Debate was terminated. \u00c2\u00a0Reconsideration failed. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">This was one of the oddest motions I&#8217;ve ever seen. \u00c2\u00a0I&#8217;ve never seen someone try to get Town Meeting to ask people to stop talking. \u00c2\u00a0I find it unreasonable to pretend that everything is OK by not talking about the issue. \u00c2\u00a0Many of us in town (myself included) think that the current system needs to be improved. \u00c2\u00a0I&#8217;m going to keep talking about that. I&#8217;m going\u00c2\u00a0to\u00c2\u00a0be polite, I&#8217;m going to be professional, and I&#8217;m going to be\u00c2\u00a0persistent. \u00c2\u00a0I will not be quiet simply because some people find the issue uncomfortable. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 25 \u00c2\u00a0&#8211; \u00c2\u00a0Bylaw Amendment\/Leaf Blower Regulation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This article had been postponed. \u00c2\u00a0Carol Band made a substitute motion to ban gas-powered leaf blowers. \u00c2\u00a0She talked about noise and pollution. She compared leaf blowers to secondhand smoke. \u00c2\u00a0She cited other\u00c2\u00a0communities\u00c2\u00a0that have restricted leaf blowers. \u00c2\u00a0She compared this action to banning burning leaves. \u00c2\u00a0Arlington landscaper Eli Garzon talked about how he doesn&#8217;t use leaf blowers. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">There was some confusion because the amendment version Juliana Rice had was different than what Moderator read, but it was resolved.<\/span> \u00c2\u00a0Tommy Caccavaro said that it will cost more to get your lawn cleaned if this is passed. \u00c2\u00a0He talked about other noise sources that are worse. \u00c2\u00a0Janice Brodman was opposed to the substitute motion, and she contradicted some of the earlier statements about other communities based on her phone calls. \u00c2\u00a0Jeremy Marin gave a presentation about the health hazards of leaf blowers. \u00c2\u00a0He talked about dust, herbicides, lead paint, poop, and other particulates that are blown around by leaf blowers. \u00c2\u00a0He closed saying &#8220;If I threw herbicide and feces in your open window, you&#8217;d have me arrested&#8221; and compared that to leaf blowing. \u00c2\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Jeremy was kind enough to email his notes, if you&#8217;re interested. \u00c2\u00a0You can download the three files <a href=\"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/marin_slidesV2.pdf\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Leaf-Blower-speech-Dunn.doc\">here<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Leaf-Blower-speech-Citations-only.doc\">here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We adjourned for the night.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">So, it&#8217;s time to start playing the annual game of &#8220;when will Town Meeting end?&#8221; \u00c2\u00a0I looked at the rest of the warrant, and I picked 5\/21. \u00c2\u00a0But some people I talked to think it might be as early as 5\/16.<\/span><\/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-1535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-town-meeting-12"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535","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=1535"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1545,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions\/1545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}