2014 Town Meeting - Night Four

Tonight was about Minuteman, the CPA, and starting on the budgets.  We started with a lovely performance by the AHS Madrigal Singers.  They were great.  Once we got settled, we voted to table a bunch of articles so wee could focus on Minuteman while the superintendent was available.  The first question was whether to adopt the new regional agreement.  This document determines how the Minuteman school district is organized and administered.  The original agreement gave equal representation to all member communities, regardless of how many students from that town attended.  Since Arlington has the highest enrollment of any member town, we also contribute the most money.  The town has long felt that it's representation should be more inline with its student population.  The proposed agreement would move the balance in that direction.  There were many well reasoned arguments on both sides, and in the end, we adopted a substitute motion for approval with a sunset provision.  The new agreement needs to be adopted by all the member towns.  Our approved motion allows us to withdraw our support if the approval process goes on too long.

We then discussed the Minuteman budget and appropriation.  This is a large chunk of change, but it is valuable for the students who attend.  After a short debate, we voted to approve.

We then went back to the CPA.  The first few speakers were in favor of adoption.  There was a quick call to end debate, and it went to a vote.  I voted with the majority to approve putting the CPA on the ballot for consideration by the town's voters.

We then started with the easy parts of the budget.  We voted no-action on articles concerning local option taxes and collective bargaining.  We approved the CDBG distribution, the revolving funds, rescinding borrowing authority from prior years, and financing sewer work.  We decided to postpone discussion of the main budget and the capital budget to Monday so they could have a longer debate.  We then adjourned for the night.

Really missed having a bake sale tonight.  The Starbucks site said they were open until 10:00, but they were closed well before that.  There is so little open at that hour, it can be hard to find anything.  Got some snacks from CVS, but I would have preferred to support a town team.