Monday, May 11, 2015
2015 Town Meeting - Night Five
I want to apologize to my constituents and neighbors. I am unable to attend tonight's session of Town Meeting. I have an event that I scheduled months ago, but I didn't check the day of the week. It's especially distressing to me because there is a real possibility that Town Meeting may finish tonight. That would mean that I may only attend three of the five sessions this year. You should expect more, and I promise to do better in future.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
2015 Town Meeting - Night Four
Welcome to the end of the second week of Town Meeting for 2015. At the start of the night, we had two treats. First, we watched a video produced by the Thompson School. Their students held a model town meeting, and the video included interviews with teachers, students, and other participants. The students were in the balcony tonight to see the actual town meeting. (Unfortunately for them, they had to leave before we were done with announcements and reports.)
The Star Spangled Banner was led by the AHS Madrigal Singers. They also sang their program from the Pops concert. It was great, but between the video, the singers, announcements, and reports, we didn't start discussing articles until 8:45. That's a quarter of the night. If we keep doing this, we're going to be here a few more nights.
The first article of the night was on the adoption of local option taxes. This is a placeholder in case the state passed legislation allowing for such local taxes. Since there wasn't any legislation, there was a positive vote for no action. This was followed up with the approval of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation. This is federal money that is allocated to certain specific categories. We cannot change the allocation, so after a little clarifying discussion, we voted to endorse the allocation.
Next up was Article 19, approval of the revolving funds. These are independent funds created by town meeting to hold money across budget years. The major discussion was in regards to the Life Support Services, and whether the town is giving too much money to Armstrong Ambulance. The fire chief assured the meeting members that is not the case. We are lucky to have such well qualified first responders in our town. The revolving funds were overwhelmingly approved.
The article on collective bargaining was tabled until next Monday so the final negotiations for the final union can be completed ahead of our voting on the agreements. The passed the proposed position reclassifications from the personnel office. This annual vote takes into account changes in staffing in the town departments. This was readily approved.
We then started on the most important function of town meeting, review and approval of the town budgets. As we have done for several years, the moderator reads through the budget titles, and members call "hold" if they want to discuss that budget. We then go back to the top of the list and discuss each in turn. While there are some questions about some budget figures, the time is mostly used to publicly ask questions of the various departments. Some questions drift a bit, but for the most part, things are discussed amiably. We made it most of the way through the various budgets before the night was through.
I was a little surprised by the number of members calling for an end to debate on individual budgets. The budget is the most important thing we do, and it really is the only public forum to discuss questions with the heads of departments. Each time the vote was held to terminate debate, I voted no, but I was always well in the minority.
I really missed having a bake sale in the side aisle tonight. It can be hard to find a cup of coffee within a five minute walking radius of town hall at 9:30. I hope another group will take advantage our captivity to ply us with caffeine and sugar.
The Star Spangled Banner was led by the AHS Madrigal Singers. They also sang their program from the Pops concert. It was great, but between the video, the singers, announcements, and reports, we didn't start discussing articles until 8:45. That's a quarter of the night. If we keep doing this, we're going to be here a few more nights.
The first article of the night was on the adoption of local option taxes. This is a placeholder in case the state passed legislation allowing for such local taxes. Since there wasn't any legislation, there was a positive vote for no action. This was followed up with the approval of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation. This is federal money that is allocated to certain specific categories. We cannot change the allocation, so after a little clarifying discussion, we voted to endorse the allocation.
Next up was Article 19, approval of the revolving funds. These are independent funds created by town meeting to hold money across budget years. The major discussion was in regards to the Life Support Services, and whether the town is giving too much money to Armstrong Ambulance. The fire chief assured the meeting members that is not the case. We are lucky to have such well qualified first responders in our town. The revolving funds were overwhelmingly approved.
The article on collective bargaining was tabled until next Monday so the final negotiations for the final union can be completed ahead of our voting on the agreements. The passed the proposed position reclassifications from the personnel office. This annual vote takes into account changes in staffing in the town departments. This was readily approved.
We then started on the most important function of town meeting, review and approval of the town budgets. As we have done for several years, the moderator reads through the budget titles, and members call "hold" if they want to discuss that budget. We then go back to the top of the list and discuss each in turn. While there are some questions about some budget figures, the time is mostly used to publicly ask questions of the various departments. Some questions drift a bit, but for the most part, things are discussed amiably. We made it most of the way through the various budgets before the night was through.
I was a little surprised by the number of members calling for an end to debate on individual budgets. The budget is the most important thing we do, and it really is the only public forum to discuss questions with the heads of departments. Each time the vote was held to terminate debate, I voted no, but I was always well in the minority.
I really missed having a bake sale in the side aisle tonight. It can be hard to find a cup of coffee within a five minute walking radius of town hall at 9:30. I hope another group will take advantage our captivity to ply us with caffeine and sugar.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
2015 Town Meeting - Night Three
Tonight was a good night. We finished the discussion and voted on my notices article. We heard from the superintendent at Minuteman. We had great snacks from the softball team, and we had substantive debate on several items. And it all started with a song.
A quartet from the Lexington Vocal Revolution led us in the Star Spangled Banner. The harmonies were great, and I hope our joining them didn't detract too much from everyone else's enjoyment. We received the treasurer's report, than rejoined the debate on article 7, my article about notices.
A second amendment was presented, emphasizing that the article concerned non-commercial public events. I'm not sure the proponent of the amendment was right about his interpretation of the language, but since it wasn't in the form of a question, council wasn't called on to clarify. There were several speakers who thought given the present lack of enforcement, making the rules less strict was a bad idea. There was concern about who would be responsible for removing notices. There were concerns about how notices would be attached. Eventually, council was able to clarify that the regulations would be established by the Board of Selectmen; the only thing before Town Meeting was creating the opportunity for that to happen. The final speaker summed up the removal question wonderfully: if you see an expired sign, you have hands, rip it down, done! Debate was voted closed and as the Moderator explained how the six votes (2 amendments and main vote for both the zoning bylaw and the general bylaw) would take place, I was very pessimistic. Most of the debate was quite negative. Both amendments were added handily despite my opposing votes, but when the final vote came, it was overwhelmingly approved. I was really quite shocked. Now it is up to the Selectmen to pass some solid regulations.
The Superintendent for Minuteman Tech came to discuss their proposed budget. We are one of sixteen towns he needs to court to get his budget approved. There was a lot of discussion about the tech school's plans to downsize ahead of a renovation effort. This leads to a much higher per-pupil cost, so Arlington's contribution is up more than 7%. Unfortunately, the structure of the Minuteman district doesn't provide us with a lot of options. We took our break in the middle of debate, and while I was still waiting for coffee, the vote was taken on the budget. I assume it was approved. You'll need to check another blog to be sure.
Coffee in hand, I came into the presentation on restructuring the Vision 2020 Standing Committee. The current structure of the committee relies on representatives from various subcommittees. The issue is that several of those committees serve on a more ad-hock basis, so representation on the standing committee suffered. The proposed change was to have all the members be at large for a three-year term like most other town committees. This was approved without too much debate.
The next one is kind of funny. While investigating an alcohol complaint at the Disabled American Veteran's Hall on Mass Ave, the town discovered that the property owner was .. the town itself. Apparently, the town has been allowing the DAV to use the property free of charge since the 1920's. The question before the meeting was whether the Selectmen would be allowed to sell it. After a modest amount of debate on the merits of selling over renting and whether the town could get as much money from the sale as it expected, we vote to grant the Selectmen the ability to sell off the property. This was quickly followed with a vote of no action on a similar property on Cliffe Ave in Lexington.
One of the more heated debates was on the question of whether the Director of Assessments should continue to be appointed by the Board of Assessors or whether the director should be appointed by the Town Manager. The Board of Selectmen recommended no action, since the Board of Assessors was against the proposal. Chris Loretti, through Pete Howard, presented a substitute motion in a very convincing presentation. The town commissioned a report from the Department of Revenue several years ago after a budget error by the School Department. Among the recommendations was to make the Director of Assessments a more professional appointment coming from the Manager. Several speakers thought this was unnecessary or insulting to the Board of Assessors, but the arguments for the change were more compelling. I voted for adopting the substitute motion which went on to be approved.
We saved the best for last. What could garner more debate than a proposal to adopt a Complete Streets Program that would try to balance the needs of all transit users. Adopting the program would make the town eligible for some state funding for taking the needs of drivers, riders, and pedestrians into account when redesigning streets. The usual chorus emerged decrying how every attempt to implement such a proposal makes it harder for them to drive around. This was interspersed with appeals from cyclists to recognize their needs. My favorite was a appeal from one member to increase the number of complete streets, since the traffic calming measures improved her driving. I thought this could go either way. I was strongly in support, and I was glad that it passed.
We quickly voted to adjourn and went our separate ways.
A quartet from the Lexington Vocal Revolution led us in the Star Spangled Banner. The harmonies were great, and I hope our joining them didn't detract too much from everyone else's enjoyment. We received the treasurer's report, than rejoined the debate on article 7, my article about notices.
A second amendment was presented, emphasizing that the article concerned non-commercial public events. I'm not sure the proponent of the amendment was right about his interpretation of the language, but since it wasn't in the form of a question, council wasn't called on to clarify. There were several speakers who thought given the present lack of enforcement, making the rules less strict was a bad idea. There was concern about who would be responsible for removing notices. There were concerns about how notices would be attached. Eventually, council was able to clarify that the regulations would be established by the Board of Selectmen; the only thing before Town Meeting was creating the opportunity for that to happen. The final speaker summed up the removal question wonderfully: if you see an expired sign, you have hands, rip it down, done! Debate was voted closed and as the Moderator explained how the six votes (2 amendments and main vote for both the zoning bylaw and the general bylaw) would take place, I was very pessimistic. Most of the debate was quite negative. Both amendments were added handily despite my opposing votes, but when the final vote came, it was overwhelmingly approved. I was really quite shocked. Now it is up to the Selectmen to pass some solid regulations.
The Superintendent for Minuteman Tech came to discuss their proposed budget. We are one of sixteen towns he needs to court to get his budget approved. There was a lot of discussion about the tech school's plans to downsize ahead of a renovation effort. This leads to a much higher per-pupil cost, so Arlington's contribution is up more than 7%. Unfortunately, the structure of the Minuteman district doesn't provide us with a lot of options. We took our break in the middle of debate, and while I was still waiting for coffee, the vote was taken on the budget. I assume it was approved. You'll need to check another blog to be sure.
Coffee in hand, I came into the presentation on restructuring the Vision 2020 Standing Committee. The current structure of the committee relies on representatives from various subcommittees. The issue is that several of those committees serve on a more ad-hock basis, so representation on the standing committee suffered. The proposed change was to have all the members be at large for a three-year term like most other town committees. This was approved without too much debate.
The next one is kind of funny. While investigating an alcohol complaint at the Disabled American Veteran's Hall on Mass Ave, the town discovered that the property owner was .. the town itself. Apparently, the town has been allowing the DAV to use the property free of charge since the 1920's. The question before the meeting was whether the Selectmen would be allowed to sell it. After a modest amount of debate on the merits of selling over renting and whether the town could get as much money from the sale as it expected, we vote to grant the Selectmen the ability to sell off the property. This was quickly followed with a vote of no action on a similar property on Cliffe Ave in Lexington.
One of the more heated debates was on the question of whether the Director of Assessments should continue to be appointed by the Board of Assessors or whether the director should be appointed by the Town Manager. The Board of Selectmen recommended no action, since the Board of Assessors was against the proposal. Chris Loretti, through Pete Howard, presented a substitute motion in a very convincing presentation. The town commissioned a report from the Department of Revenue several years ago after a budget error by the School Department. Among the recommendations was to make the Director of Assessments a more professional appointment coming from the Manager. Several speakers thought this was unnecessary or insulting to the Board of Assessors, but the arguments for the change were more compelling. I voted for adopting the substitute motion which went on to be approved.
We saved the best for last. What could garner more debate than a proposal to adopt a Complete Streets Program that would try to balance the needs of all transit users. Adopting the program would make the town eligible for some state funding for taking the needs of drivers, riders, and pedestrians into account when redesigning streets. The usual chorus emerged decrying how every attempt to implement such a proposal makes it harder for them to drive around. This was interspersed with appeals from cyclists to recognize their needs. My favorite was a appeal from one member to increase the number of complete streets, since the traffic calming measures improved her driving. I thought this could go either way. I was strongly in support, and I was glad that it passed.
We quickly voted to adjourn and went our separate ways.
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