What an historic night here at Town Hall. It started frustratingly for me, but it ended so well. I managed to get into my seat right as the meeting came to order. I would have been early, but for the light at Swan Place. I waited through 3 cycles at Pleasant Street without a green light at Swan. I had hoped to find Chief Ryan or Mike Rademacher at break to see who has jurisdiction and see if there is an issue with the signal. I was unable to get to my question, so I'll have to use the town's Online Answer Center.
Town Meeting started with the Star Spangled Banner played by our Assistant Town Moderator, James O'Conor. We then heard a report from the Permanent Town Building Committee. They have officially completed renovating all 7 elementary schools! They are now working on the renovation to the Gibbs School, planning for renovations to the High School and the DPW Yard (the AHS has a separate building committee), and needed improvements to the Senior Center.
We then had a very long, a very, very long explanation of what the Pension Board does. This is an important function within the down. However, the explanation was for me, a blur of numbers and acronyms. The final report of the evening came from the the Master Plan Implementation Committee. With the passing of the Recodified Zoning Bylaw back in February, we are now embarking on changing the test of the bylaw to encourage the types of development outlined in the Master Plan.
In an unusual move, the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen rose to apologize for the large quantities of typos in the Selectmen's report this year. He noted it probably wasn't a good idea to start a new job and take up the chairmanship on the same day. He promised that they would do better next year.
As discussed on Monday, rather than picking up where we left off, we tabled several articles to move onto the Capital Budget. The chairman, Mr. Foskett gave a very good primer and presentation on what the Capital Budget is and how it is funded. There was good discussion about some of the items, including a couple of errors. The work of this committee is always appreciated, and the Meeting overwhelmingly approved the budget.
We then tabled several more articles and took up the Community Preservation Fund appropriation. We learned about what projects the money has been used for in the past couple of years, and what it will be spent on this upcoming year. Although we didn't learn why the Community Preservation Committee isn't called the CPC as was promised on Monday, we did heartily approve the allocation. [This is a friendly jab at Eric, who promised on Monday that he would explain. The reason is that we already have a CPC, the Capitol Planning Committee. We don't want to double up on TLA's.]
After break, we took all the articles back off the table and went back to where we left off on Monday night. Article 19 was proposed to create a Finance Department. I had expected a lot of discussion, but there was almost no discussion at all. It was accepted 200-7. For the first time, we have all the town's various financial managers working together. I look forward to the efficiencies that will come with this consolidation. One aspect I hadn't considered until it was mentioned in the presentation was the possibility for mentorship and development of the lower level managers who don't often have contact with their peers between departments. This should be a great opportunity for them as well.
The big event of the night was Article 20, a bylaw amendment to change the name of the Board of Selectmen to a non-gender specific title. This was a "ten registered voter" article, meaning that it came from the citizens rather than from a government body. The recommended vote, called for the new name to be the "Select Board." Some think it sounds clunky or doesn't explain what it is. There were two substitute motions: one to use the term "Town Council" instead, and a second to establish a committee to explore options for a better name and report back to Town Meeting next year. Naomi Greenfield, a sponsor of the amendment and second year Member, gave one of the best speeches at Town Meeting this year. She very persuasively made the case that this change away from the male-centric language was long overdue, vital given the low representation of women in town government, and in the best interests of the town as a whole. I opposed the name "Town Council" because we have a "Town Counsel", and homophones are very confusing things. (Thanks to Jen Susse for making that point on the floor.) I thought the most moving speech was from Selectman Kevin Greeley. He spoke about how he came to realize that he had been wrong to oppose this change in the past; that it was important to have the board to reflect all the diversity in town; that if choice of words was an impediment, than those words need to change, but that the term "Select" is of historic significance going back to before the town's founding and should be retained. There was then a motion to end debate, premature in my opinion, which passed in spite of my opposition. The two substitute motions were beaten down mightily, and the Meeting changed the name to loud applause.
The next article was also a name change. Vision 2020 was founded in the 90's when 2020 was way off. It is now almost upon us, so the committee was seeking to change their name and sharpen their mission. After a unanimous vote, they are now "Envision Arlington."
We then passed several articles in quick succession. There as a "no action" vote on accepting local option taxes (nothing was proposed at the state level in time for the town to act), the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG, sponsored by HUD) funding allocation was approved, the reporting on revolving funds was accepted, as were positions reclassification within town government. We tabled the approval of collective bargaining agreements until the end of Town Meeting to give the Town Manager an opportunity to complete the negotiations before we vote on them.
Lastly, we approved the appropriation of the town's parking meter income. I hadn't realized that the meters are leased. This year, the funds are being held or rolled back into the program. Starting next year, the funds will be used within the "parking improvement district" where the meters are located.
That was the last item for this night. We adjourned early at 10:56. Next Monday, Meeting is scheduled to start with the Minuteman Budget, the School Department Budget, and the Town Budgets. I unfortunately have a work conflict. I need to be at a Zoning Board hearing in Billerica at 8:00. I have a Zipcar reserved at the Russell Commons Lot, so I can boogie back as quickly as I can.
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