Tonight was a very good night at Town Meeting. We closed the 2017 Annual Town Meeting with an important vote, we approved all our budgets, and all the electronic voting clickers got returned. I was a few minutes late, coming from a boy scout troop committee meeting. I missed the test vote, but I think I saw it had something to do with Gandhi. We had a few announcements and presentations of reports, but we were ale to get into it fairly quickly.
We had left off last week in the discussion of the school budget. There were some interesting presentations regarding the impending budget problems facing the town. Our last override was a while ago, and we've managed to stretch things out for a good while longer than was thought possible. We are now at the stage, where we are going to start spending the money we're squirreled away for this purpose. It is anticipated that we are going to go through it rather quickly, leaving the need for a very sizable override in the not-to-distant future. One proposal was to try and override early for a lower amount to lessen the shock. The other presentation seemed to be based on the hope that the good fortune the town has had in the past would keep going into the future. The real problem is that spending is growing faster than income; always a reason for alarm. Massachusetts essentially requires municipalities to go to the voters to for approval to keep up with inflation, let alone other costs that are rising faster. What all this has to do specifically with the school budget, I don't know.
After the final round of questions, we approved the Town Budget by a large margin. We then went back to some articles that were tabled last week. The first was the establishment of a reserve fund for special education. This was created to make it easier to account for the fluctuations in the amount needed to pay for special education expenses. This was unanimously approved. Next up was community development block grant (CDBG) funding. ( I'm always reminded of the 1980's TV show, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, which had a character that said something like "CDBG" every time he spoke...) This is an endorsement of a funding distribution determined by the BoS and the Town Manager. The funding happens without us, so this is more of an informational presentation for us. Not everyone gets what they want, but it does hep to fund some important resources in town. This was strongly approved.
The next two articles, 30 & 31 regarded departmental revolving funds. These are the multi-year funds used to manage certain town concerns like ambulance service and field maintenance. By state law, we now have to have these enshrined in the bylaws, which we approved under article 30. We then had to approve refunding them, which we did under 31.
The next article was entertaining. The topic was position reclassification, which defines categories of employees. One member tried to pass an amendment to change the name of the Board of Selectmen to something gender neutral. His reasoning was that this was a reclassification. However, it would require changes to the bylaws and the town manager act, neither of which were within the scope of the article. It took a little time to get this conveyed, and have the proposed amendment withdrawn. Classification was approved.
Next up was funding for the Zoning Bylaw
Recodification Group. I am a member of this group, and we are working
to cleanup the zoning bylaws. The last time this was undertaken was in
the 70's, so you can imagine that it is overdue. There was some concern
about public participation in the process. The ARB is sometimes a
little opaque about their code work. I think the real issue is that by
the time it gets into the media, all the introductory work is complete.
It is easier to have large input at the small stage. The ZBRG will be
having a public reading of the revised bylaw early in the summer.
With the end in sight, we picked up the pace on a few items. We approved appropriations for parking operations, revaluation of property, committees and commissions, and water bodies. This brought us to CPA projects. There was a good presentation of the proposed projects to be funded under the community preservation act. The funds are proposed to be fairly evenly split between historic, recreation, and affordable housing. I personally wish that the Capital Planning committee would not use the CPA as an excuse to stop funding those types of projects in their budget. I voted for the CPA as a way to fund those projects that were not being funded otherwise. That is not what is happening today.
We next approved $0 for pension adjustment, approved the appropriation for the OPEB trust fund, no action on transferring money to the special education stabilization fund, appropriation of free cash, and the fiscal stability stabilization fund. This brought us to the final vote of town meeting, the resolution on a sanctuary town declaration. Apart from the Pride commission, this was the only article that constituents reached out to be about. There has been a lot of discussion about this topic in meetings sponsored by the town, in the press, and on the Arlington List. Any resolution of Town Meeting is non-binding, as we don't have the authority to direct the town's executive to act. The moderator opened the topic with a denunciation of some of the threads on the A-List threatening TMM's with being removed from office if they didn't vote a particular way. He then reiterated that there would only be one speaker from each side ahead of the vote. Apparently several people came to the meeting assuming they could be heard on this article. The Moderator held firm that he had announced this process at the BoS hearing, the start of town meeting, and at other times. I certainly knew that was going to be the process. It did lead into two very different presentations.
The presentation for the resolution touched on the constitution, separation of powers, the need to have all residents feel able to trust the police, and not being swayed by threats to federal funding. The presentation against the resolution seemed to include every crime committed in Massachusetts by a non-citizen, pictures of diseased people, fear, more fear, and patriotism. Granted, my opinion was set before coming tonight, but the different tones in the presentations was palpable. I'm proud to have voted with the majority to maintain Arlington as a town where justice applies to all, regardless of how you came to be here. The final vote wasn't close.
We then had to close article 3 (the standing article to receive reports) and vote to dissolve. It was a nice night to walk home and reflect on what we'd accomplished. I'm looking forward to coming back in the fall for the new Zoning Bylaw discussion. I also realized that my seat will be open next spring, so I need to run again. I look forward to dusting off my sign and reconnecting with my constituents. If you are a Precinct 10 voter, and you have appreciated reading my views on the votes, I would truly appreciate your vote for me next April.
Happy Summer to all!
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Thursday, May 4, 2017
2017 Town Meeting - Night Four
Welcome to night four! There were several special events and votes tonight, most involving our schools. Since we were going to talk schools, the AHS Madrigal Singers performed the Star Spangled Banner and several other songs. They were fabulous, as always. Were they there to promote this weekend's Pops concert or to soften us up for the school appropriations to come. Either way, this annual tradition is one of the highlights.
On the arts theme, there were several notices and announcements about ACA events. Porchfest is coming up. The ACA is fundraising, and they have a matching gift challenge. They are a great organization worthy of our support. We also had a presentation from the town's Building Maintenance committee, formed only a year or so ago, about the efforts they have made to document the town's built assets and establish a maintenance program. As they pointed out, the town is great at long term projects like new construction and major renovations. The town is also good at the short term immediate repairs. The gap has always been the mid-term preventive maintenance and monitoring. We have a very capable manager of this new department, and I think we can look forward to firm stewardship of our buildings going forward.
We also had a presentation by the town's Permanent Building Committee. They oversee our major projects, the long-term projects mentioned before. They are overseeing renovations to the Hardy, Stratton, Thompson, and Gibbs Schools. They were able to save the town $1.5M on a recent project, and apply that money towards a larger scope of work for the Gibbs. They do such a great job for the town, year-in and year-out.
We then turned the night over to Capital Plans. These are the funds to purchase things for the town that will last for several years. We had postponed two articles from the Special Town Meeting warrant to discuss tonight: the Hardy School and the Gibbs School. Funds for both of these projects was approved through debt exclusion lasy year. The town is exploring new ways to expedite projects and manage costs. The vote to appropriate the funds for the Hardy included both design and construction funding. This would usually occur in two different budget cycles, but they were combined to expedite the development. This was overwhelmingly approved.
The Gibbs School is going to use a new contracting method. A contractor was hired at the start of design. They are responsible for helping to budget and schedule the project as it develops, so it can be delivered on time and on budget. If it doesn't, it is the Contractor who takes it on the chin. They are "at risk", the name for the arrangement. They budget was increased by the town from the approved $18M to $20M in order to increase the scope of the renovation. Originally, the plan was to only replace those windows that needed immediate attention. The remaining windows would be replaced later. The better plan of just doing all of them now is more expensive, but far less disruptive. By using some of the recaptured funds on other projects, the Town was able to come up with the needed funds to do everything now. The appropriation for this project was also overwhelmingly approved. This closed the Special Town Meeting, and the results will be delivered to the state for approval this calendar year.
We left off Monday about to start article 27. In order to keep going with Capital Budgets, we tabled several articles to get to number 34. The presentation was very clear and concise. I must agree with Gordon Jameson who lamented the near elimination of park funding in the Capital Budget. The Capital Committee is now relying on the CPA for park funding. The original idea was that the CPA would supplement the Capital Budget so more could get done. Now, that funding is going elsewhere. That said, I appreciate the work of that committee, and we passed their budget.
Next, we passed application of bond premiums. This brought us back to number 33, Town Budgets. This is the other side of funding, things we need to pay for every year. This is also a time to ask questions of the various town departments. There were questions on a lot of topics. The most bizarre was the rant that if you get into an accident on an icy, unsalted street, it is your fault for not having studded ice tires. We were still discussing budgets when it was time to go. We'll pick up with that on Monday.
Enjoy the weekend, and go the the AHS Pops!
On the arts theme, there were several notices and announcements about ACA events. Porchfest is coming up. The ACA is fundraising, and they have a matching gift challenge. They are a great organization worthy of our support. We also had a presentation from the town's Building Maintenance committee, formed only a year or so ago, about the efforts they have made to document the town's built assets and establish a maintenance program. As they pointed out, the town is great at long term projects like new construction and major renovations. The town is also good at the short term immediate repairs. The gap has always been the mid-term preventive maintenance and monitoring. We have a very capable manager of this new department, and I think we can look forward to firm stewardship of our buildings going forward.
We also had a presentation by the town's Permanent Building Committee. They oversee our major projects, the long-term projects mentioned before. They are overseeing renovations to the Hardy, Stratton, Thompson, and Gibbs Schools. They were able to save the town $1.5M on a recent project, and apply that money towards a larger scope of work for the Gibbs. They do such a great job for the town, year-in and year-out.
We then turned the night over to Capital Plans. These are the funds to purchase things for the town that will last for several years. We had postponed two articles from the Special Town Meeting warrant to discuss tonight: the Hardy School and the Gibbs School. Funds for both of these projects was approved through debt exclusion lasy year. The town is exploring new ways to expedite projects and manage costs. The vote to appropriate the funds for the Hardy included both design and construction funding. This would usually occur in two different budget cycles, but they were combined to expedite the development. This was overwhelmingly approved.
The Gibbs School is going to use a new contracting method. A contractor was hired at the start of design. They are responsible for helping to budget and schedule the project as it develops, so it can be delivered on time and on budget. If it doesn't, it is the Contractor who takes it on the chin. They are "at risk", the name for the arrangement. They budget was increased by the town from the approved $18M to $20M in order to increase the scope of the renovation. Originally, the plan was to only replace those windows that needed immediate attention. The remaining windows would be replaced later. The better plan of just doing all of them now is more expensive, but far less disruptive. By using some of the recaptured funds on other projects, the Town was able to come up with the needed funds to do everything now. The appropriation for this project was also overwhelmingly approved. This closed the Special Town Meeting, and the results will be delivered to the state for approval this calendar year.
We left off Monday about to start article 27. In order to keep going with Capital Budgets, we tabled several articles to get to number 34. The presentation was very clear and concise. I must agree with Gordon Jameson who lamented the near elimination of park funding in the Capital Budget. The Capital Committee is now relying on the CPA for park funding. The original idea was that the CPA would supplement the Capital Budget so more could get done. Now, that funding is going elsewhere. That said, I appreciate the work of that committee, and we passed their budget.
Next, we passed application of bond premiums. This brought us back to number 33, Town Budgets. This is the other side of funding, things we need to pay for every year. This is also a time to ask questions of the various town departments. There were questions on a lot of topics. The most bizarre was the rant that if you get into an accident on an icy, unsalted street, it is your fault for not having studded ice tires. We were still discussing budgets when it was time to go. We'll pick up with that on Monday.
Enjoy the weekend, and go the the AHS Pops!
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
2017 Town Meeting - Night Three
Another fun night at Town Hall. I had my son with me again tonight to help with the voting system handsets. Since we were there early, I got a far better seat than last Wednesday. We started on time with the singing of the national anthem. We then acknowledged the visiting students from Arlington's sister city in Japan, Nagaokakyo. The leader of their school board give a few remarks, and they stayed for a while to watch democracy in action.
I wish it could have been more interesting. We had around twenty minutes of announcements and reports from various groups. I thought we had a time limit on those, but I guess we don't. Once those were done, we tabled a number of articles to bring up the appropriation vote for Minuteman Tech. Their superintendent, Dr. Bouquillon has to appear at ten town meetings around the district, so we try to be accommodating. This was the first meeting after the ratification of the new district agreement and the subsequent reduction in the number of partner towns. There are now only ten district towns. The overall budget was down, but due to Arlington's historically high participation, our contribution was way up. We actually had a very positive discussion about the school, the programs, the philosophy, and the construction of the new building. There was no acrimony as we've often had in the past. I don't know if it was softened by the school's culinary arts students providing the freshly baked snacks for break. The appropriation was easily approved. I'm glad this has stopped being such an acrimonious topic.
We reserved the acrimony for when we picked back up the discussion on the treasurer. Arlington has an elected town treasurer, but there is a movement to make it an appointed position. The current treasurer is in favor of the change. The immediate past treasurer is vehemently opposed, and his predecessor is for the change. A lot of the discussion focused on the independence of the elected treasurer being a foil to the appointed town manager. There was also an interesting point about the elected treasurer being more invested in the position because they are a resident, and they have a desire to do what's best for the town. Those were portrayed as lacking in an appointed treasurer. Another point of discussion was whether the town could rely on quality candidates running, and what would happen if someone unqualified were elected. This opened debate about whether elected officials trust the electorate enough to let them vote.
For me, this finally got to the heart of the matter. The actual vote we were discussing was whether to put on the April 2018 ballot the question of whether to change the treasurer's position from elected to appointed. For me, I was swayed by Mr. Gilligan's argument for independence and keeping an elected treasurer. However, I also think this is a decision that should be made by the town, not just by town meeting. I voted for the article to put the question before the voters. This was the prevailing side by a wide margin. However, I fully intend to vote against it at the polls.
The next four articles were all efforts to decrease the tax burden on our senior and veteran citizens. The state had passed several laws in the previous session that would allow communities to provide some options to their citizens. The first article would allow seniors to volunteer for the town in exchange for up to $1500 off their tax liability. The second would do the same for veterans with a $1000 cap. (The cap limit is set by the state.) In either case, if the taxpayer was unable to work, they would be allowed to to have an able-bodied proxy volunteer in their stead. The third article would allow the creation of a fund to collect donations towards offsetting the tax burden of the elderly and disabled. The last would allow the town to vary payments to the elderly to better track with inflation. All four articles provide necessary relief for some of our vulnerable citizens. We voted in all four measures.
The last article of the night was in regards to establishing a parking benefit district. This is legislation approved at the state level which allows the creation of local districts to directly benefit from the addition of parking meters by keeping the additional funds in the area. There are two other related articles, and sometimes the topic open for debate seemed a little confused between the articles. This mostly took the form of how much money and how should it be expended. Right before eleven, we had the question called and debate was ended. We voted very strongly for the article. We should get to the how much question on Wednesday.
My guess is we have two more nights before we are done. We only have twenty or so articles left to debate and vote. Some of the appropriation ones can go expediently, but we never know intil we're in the thick of it. In the meantime, I need to get some sleep.
I wish it could have been more interesting. We had around twenty minutes of announcements and reports from various groups. I thought we had a time limit on those, but I guess we don't. Once those were done, we tabled a number of articles to bring up the appropriation vote for Minuteman Tech. Their superintendent, Dr. Bouquillon has to appear at ten town meetings around the district, so we try to be accommodating. This was the first meeting after the ratification of the new district agreement and the subsequent reduction in the number of partner towns. There are now only ten district towns. The overall budget was down, but due to Arlington's historically high participation, our contribution was way up. We actually had a very positive discussion about the school, the programs, the philosophy, and the construction of the new building. There was no acrimony as we've often had in the past. I don't know if it was softened by the school's culinary arts students providing the freshly baked snacks for break. The appropriation was easily approved. I'm glad this has stopped being such an acrimonious topic.
We reserved the acrimony for when we picked back up the discussion on the treasurer. Arlington has an elected town treasurer, but there is a movement to make it an appointed position. The current treasurer is in favor of the change. The immediate past treasurer is vehemently opposed, and his predecessor is for the change. A lot of the discussion focused on the independence of the elected treasurer being a foil to the appointed town manager. There was also an interesting point about the elected treasurer being more invested in the position because they are a resident, and they have a desire to do what's best for the town. Those were portrayed as lacking in an appointed treasurer. Another point of discussion was whether the town could rely on quality candidates running, and what would happen if someone unqualified were elected. This opened debate about whether elected officials trust the electorate enough to let them vote.
For me, this finally got to the heart of the matter. The actual vote we were discussing was whether to put on the April 2018 ballot the question of whether to change the treasurer's position from elected to appointed. For me, I was swayed by Mr. Gilligan's argument for independence and keeping an elected treasurer. However, I also think this is a decision that should be made by the town, not just by town meeting. I voted for the article to put the question before the voters. This was the prevailing side by a wide margin. However, I fully intend to vote against it at the polls.
The next four articles were all efforts to decrease the tax burden on our senior and veteran citizens. The state had passed several laws in the previous session that would allow communities to provide some options to their citizens. The first article would allow seniors to volunteer for the town in exchange for up to $1500 off their tax liability. The second would do the same for veterans with a $1000 cap. (The cap limit is set by the state.) In either case, if the taxpayer was unable to work, they would be allowed to to have an able-bodied proxy volunteer in their stead. The third article would allow the creation of a fund to collect donations towards offsetting the tax burden of the elderly and disabled. The last would allow the town to vary payments to the elderly to better track with inflation. All four articles provide necessary relief for some of our vulnerable citizens. We voted in all four measures.
The last article of the night was in regards to establishing a parking benefit district. This is legislation approved at the state level which allows the creation of local districts to directly benefit from the addition of parking meters by keeping the additional funds in the area. There are two other related articles, and sometimes the topic open for debate seemed a little confused between the articles. This mostly took the form of how much money and how should it be expended. Right before eleven, we had the question called and debate was ended. We voted very strongly for the article. We should get to the how much question on Wednesday.
My guess is we have two more nights before we are done. We only have twenty or so articles left to debate and vote. Some of the appropriation ones can go expediently, but we never know intil we're in the thick of it. In the meantime, I need to get some sleep.
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