2013 Town Meeting - Night Three

Night Three was quite productive.  We started with the news that the AG's office had already approved the results of the special town meeting we concluded last Wednesday.  The new leaf blower regulations will go into effect before May 15.  We also had a visit from students from our Japanese sister city.  (I was glad they left before the bigoted "no speak English" comment by one of the members during the discussion on gas stations.)

We started with Article 13, bringing the town's dog regulations into line with the new state laws.  We passed them without too much discussion.  We also voted to maintain the existing self-serve gas regulation.  I had voted to accept a substitute motion that would have required stations offering self-serve to also offer full-serve when requested, but that was defeated.  I felt it would be better to have a reasonable fall-back position should the main motion pass.  In the end, it failed, which maintains the status quo.

Articles 15 and 17 were resolutions where Town Meeting asks the Selectmen to take a certain position.  We cannot make them do it; we just ask really nicely.  The first was in regards to the replacement of light poles in town.  The Selectmen had voted down a proposed resolution requiring them to pressure the utility companies to make all the poles in town safe by eliminating the double poles.  There was a lot of discussion about what the BoS can really do, but in the end, we approved a substitute motion to have them try.  The second one was a request to change the fee structure for on-street overnight parking permits.  These are researched and granted to houses having no on-site parking options, like the row of houses on Highland.  The current fee is $200 per year, which exceeds the amount needed to administer the program.  The resolution that we passed requested that the first year fee be $150 with subsequent years being $25.  This better reflects the actual costs borne by the town.  I voted for the substitute motion and the final resolution, because this effects a fair number of constituents in this district.

Articles 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, and 26 all were recommended for no action, and without substitute motions, all were approved without action.  I abstained on Article 21 which sought an exception for someone older than the application age to be on the interview list for a police position.  I did not believe it to be my place to judge this individual's request; that should be the responsibility of the BoS and Police Department.  His application was approved by the meeting.

The article seeking to create a fund to receive funds for public art created some interesting discussion.  There was a call to reject the article because at some future date Town Meeting might vote to put money in that fund.  Glad we don't trust ourselves.  We did vote to create the fund.  The Meeting also voted to approve a 50% raise for the Retirement Board.  It was intended to compensate the board members for additional duties related to confirming they have no conflicts and other safeguards.  I didn't see the need for such an increase, so I voted against it.  It ended passing by 7 votes.

We finished the night with the first of the financial articles.  We approved the Community Development Block Grant allocation and the continuation of the town's revolving funds.  We also signed off on collective bargaining and position reclassification.  The next article was to be the budget, but being almost 11:00, we voted to adjourn.  We'll take that up on Wednesday.