{"id":1630,"date":"2013-05-09T00:31:54","date_gmt":"2013-05-09T04:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/?p=1630"},"modified":"2013-05-09T00:33:38","modified_gmt":"2013-05-09T04:33:38","slug":"town-meeting-13-session-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/town-meeting-13-session-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Town Meeting \u00e2\u20ac\u212213, Session 6"},"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 try to publish the notes every night after the meeting,\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/town-meeting-notes-2013\/\">as time allows<\/a>. I do go back and make a few edits as errors are pointed out to me. \u00c2\u00a0<\/em><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.<\/p>\n<p>The moderator noted we can finish tonight.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Announcements<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sean Harrington &#8211; Honorable mention for Mr. Worden in a photography award.<\/li>\n<li>Angela Olszewski\u00c2\u00a0&#8211; Historical events and volunteers<\/li>\n<li>Gordon Jamieson &#8211; Collection day Saturday from 9-1<\/li>\n<li>Kevin Greeley &#8211; Town Hall Centennial on June 7. Buy your tickets!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Article 3<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Trembly &#8211; Tree Committee report.<br \/>\nWe dissolved a number of committees &#8211; the list was too long for me to jot down.<\/p>\n<p>Article 3 is tabled<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 35 &#8211; Sewer Finance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>2\/3 required, approved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 36 &#8211; Water Finance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>unanimous<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 37 &#8211; Committees<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>unanimous<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 38 &#8211; Celebrations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>unanimous<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 39 &#8211; Miscellaneous<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>unanimous<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 40 &#8211; Water Bodies<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Question about salinity testing. Comment on drainage water going into Spy Pond. Question on the size of the appropriation. \u00c2\u00a0Approved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 41 &#8211; Eminent Domain for Mass Ave\/60 Intersection<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I introduced the article and explained that it had no appropriation. \u00c2\u00a0It&#8217;s for temporary taking for construction, and a few\u00c2\u00a0permanent\u00c2\u00a0to install handicap ramps. \u00c2\u00a0Questions on the proposed plan. parking. \u00c2\u00a0and notification. The plan is on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arlingtonma.gov\/public_documents\/ArlingtonMA_DPW\/projects\/ArlCtrSafeTravel\/index\">town website<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0Speakers were opposed. Mark McCabe moved to terminate. Passed on voice (2\/3 vote)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 43 &#8211; Harry Barber<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>unanimous<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 44 &#8211; Historic Signs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>$20,000 in signage. \u00c2\u00a0Speakers were opposed because we haven&#8217;t seen a sign design yet. Speakers were in favor because it advances Arlington&#8217;s cultural and commercial goals. There was concern that this program would support non-profits rather than the town. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">As Chris Loreti left the podium, he called the signs &#8220;a poster child for the opposition of the tax override that is being planned by the people behind me.&#8221; To be clear: Barring some revolutionary transformation of the tax structure in this state, the town will need another tax override. I don&#8217;t know if we&#8217;ll need it in 2017 or 2020 or somewhere in between, but we will need it. I suppose you can characterize that override as being planned by the people behind Mr. Loreti, but it&#8217;s a plan that has been endorsed by the people in front of him when they approved the budget, and endorsed by the people at the ballot box at the last override and at other town elections. As with all things in this town, there is no them-and-us; there is only us. \u00c2\u00a0One final thought: this appropriation is for $20,000; the projected budget for 2019 is more than $150,000,000; the projected budget gap is about $9,000,000. That&#8217;s 450 &#8220;poster children.&#8221;<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0Clarissa Rowe noted that this appropriation is in support of tourism. There was more discussion of the potential design. Sean Harrington moved terminate debate, and it was. Appropriation was approved<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 45 &#8211; Uncle Sam Sign<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lawrence McKinney gave the presentation in support of the appropriation. Question about how the money will be expended. A speaker complained that debate was going on too long. Nathan Swilling moved to terminate debate and it was. Approved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 46 &#8211; Pension Adjustment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 47 &#8211; OPEB<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Unanimous<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 48 &#8211; Override Stabilization Fund<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stephen Harrington asked a question about the long term planning projections &#8211; he wasn&#8217;t happy with the proposed motion. Charlie Foskett explained the long term planning process. Al Tosti explained that we&#8217;re saving more than we expected (back in 2011) because of the GIC and other spending reductions.<\/p>\n<p>We had a 10 minute break<\/p>\n<p>John Maher moved to terminate debate and it was. Appropriation approved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 49 &#8211; Long Term Stabilization Fund<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 50 &#8211; Overlay Reserve<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Question on the size of the appropriation. Approved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 51 &#8211; Tip Fee Stabilization Fund<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Al Tosti noted that this is the end of NESWC. Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 52 &#8211; Transfer of Cemetery Funds<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article 53 &#8211; Unencumbered Funds<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Approved unanimously.<\/p>\n<p>Article 3 was taken from the table.<\/p>\n<p>Town Meeting was dissolved.<\/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 try to publish the notes every night after the meeting,\u00c2\u00a0as time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-town-meeting-13"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630","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=1630"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1632,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions\/1632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dandunn.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}