2012 Town Meeting - Night Eight

We're Done!  I really didn't see how we would get there, but we finished all the articles and dissolved a little before 11:30.  I'd like to express my appreciation for all the good work done by the members, the town officials, and especially, the moderator.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We started with a rousing singing of "God Bless America" and "The Star Spangled Banner", led by Mr Greeley and some group of singers - I didn't catch the name.  (It seemed to be mostly made up of town officials.)  We started with a vote to keep the Gibbs School under the management of the Town Manager until 2017.  Next was a positive vote to place extra money from the special education budget into a reserve account against a future year where there may be a deficit.

After discussing the best way to encourage coordination between various town committees and non-profits to promote Arlington's historic legacy, we voted to approve funds to start a signage campaign.  We also approved a separate amount for the Uncle Sam committee.  We approved appropriations for the Harry Barber community service program, pension adjustments, post employment benefits, the overlay reserve, the long term stabilization fund, and the tip fee stabilization fund.  We approved a transfer to the cemetery commission and use free cash to offset the tax rate.

There was a very good presentation about the need to replace football helmets with safer, newer models.  The issue was whether the town should separately appropriate $25K after the school department had appropriated $22K for the same purpose.  There was a lot of confusion over why a substitute motion was filed to essentially double the amount of the initial request.  We voted down the additional request substitute motion and adopted the recommended no action position.  I felt this was a matter for the school department anyway.  We also voted no action on senior center furniture funding, a flood study (Selectmen are working on it), and a GIS study of affordable housing.

We also had two votes related to the Mass Ave corridor project.  The first was an attempt to institute a substitute motion to rescind the eminent domain approved last year to replace sidewalks in East Arlington in conjunction with the project.  The two presentations by the supporters claimed that we were misled last year into making an incorrect decision, and we need to stop the Mass Ave project until changes are made.  Having served last year, I knew exactly what I voted for, and judging by the 132-40 vote against adopting the substitute motion, many others felt the same way.  The second substitute motion was to put a non-binding question on the ballot asking whether Mass Ave should be reduced to three lanes.  I felt the presentation in favor didn't make a strong case.  We were repeatedly told that the town was divided 15-1 against this project, but again, the meeting voted strongly against the substitute motion.  In both cases, the votes reverted to no-action, and were dismissed.

We had a vote to adjourn defeated, since there were only four articles left.  We had no action votes on an over-age officer candidate and use of outside council.  We had single pro-con presentations on a resolution in opposition to the Citizens United case.  The final vote was 190-42 in favor of the resolution.  We then went back to approve putting funding in place for future collective bargain agreements; the agreements have to be approved by town meeting anyway.  We then dissolved the meeting and headed home.