Good evening and welcome to the 2021 Annual Town Meeting. Thank you to all those who voted for me this year. I am proud to represent our precinct, and I am glad to be able to do so for another three years. For new readers, these notes are my personal notes from Town Meeting, recorded to allow my constituents to see what I do at town meeting. These notes are NOT intended to be authoritative, nor are they reported without my personal bias.
We are on Zoom again. I wish we were able to meet in person, but I think many of us have not yet been vaccinated; I haven't. When we last did this in the fall, it was much slower than being in person. We have many more articles this time around, and I hope we are able to move quickly and efficiently through the articles.
In the fall, there was also a spate of members calling for an end to discussion at a fairly early point in the consideration of articles. They came before many questions were asked, and it felt like the process was being short-circuited. I am hopeful that we are more patient with our fellow members.
This year, there are 91 articles to consider. Many of them have substitute motions or amendments already filed. I think this could go on for a long time. Since I cannot go anywhere anyways, this shouldn't be a problem. It is taking a while to get all the members up on the system. The town has a great team of technical staff working with members to troubleshoot problems. Our thanks to them.
At 8:19, we have 241 members present, so the Moderator is calling the meeting to order. We are starting with a recording of the Menotomy Minutemen marching into Town Hall. (It is from a few years past, judging by the age of their youngest member.) We then had a very thoughtful prerecorded invocation by Rev. Marta Flanagan from the First Parish of Arlington. After a brief introduction from our Moderator, John Leone, our first official vote was to allow Town Meeting to be conducted online. This vote passed 235-1. We can now proceed with town meeting. The Moderator continued with his introductory comments and instructions for voting, debate, and points of order. The Moderator asked for a moment of silence in honor of past town meeting members who have passed away in the previous year.
Next up was the swearing in of new members. It was not as exciting as in person, when it is followed by applause. Mr. DeCoursey made a motion to allow all those with business before the meeting to be allowed within the "virtual" enclosure. This was approved by a similarly virtual voice vote. The Clerk confirmed that the meeting was properly noticed. Mr. DeCourcey moved that when we adjourn, that we pick up where we left off on Wednesday. That was also a virtual voice vote.
There were no announcements or resolutions from members, so we started in on Article 3. (Article 1 is the Annual Town Election, which was back at the start of the month.) The main reports were accepted, and the votes included in those reports were put before the meeting without further action. This was voted to be lain upon the table. (This was inadvertently noted as Article 1, when it is actually Article 3.) Article 2 is the state of the town address, which is delivered by the Chair of the Select Board. This year, that is Stephen DeCourcey. (That means he is up for reelection in 2022.) He gave a very nice speech touching on so many topics that have impacted the town over the past year. I encourage people to watch the speech online at ACMi.tv.
Mr Foskett, the Chair of the Finance Committee presented the Financial Report to the Meeting. He thanked everyone involved in the preparation of the report and those who worked so hard to keep the town going over the past year. He presented the impending deficits due to the Town Budgets growing at more than 2x national inflation rate. He implored the Town to work to reign in spending and take advantage of improvements in digital communications to save money. Article 3 was then properly put upon the table.
Article 4 is the appointment of a measurer of wood and bark. As is our practice, John Worden III, the longest serving member was nominated and approved 222-5 with 5 abstentions. Article 5 is the election of an Assistant Town Moderator. James O'Conor had served in this capacity for as long as I've been on Town Meeting, but he has moved out of town. There were two nominations: Adam Auster and Michael Ruderman. They were both given time to address the Meeting before we voted. I voted for Mr. Ruderman, as I have known him for many years, and I believe he would do a good job as our ATM. Our voting is limited to three choices: 1-Yes, 2-No, and 3-Abstain. It was determined by the Clerk that 1 would be Auster and 2 would be Ruderman. The vote was 126-108 for Mr. Auster. Congratulations to him.
Before starting with Article 6, the Moderator has asked that we review and vote the Consent Agenda. This is a list of articles that are anticipated to be able to be voted without need for debate. There were a few administrative corrections to various articles. The Moderator chose to take break before starting on the Consent Agenda.
After break, the Moderator read through the consent agenda to see if there were any articles to be removed from the list. Articles 6, 53, 62, 81, and 90 were removed from the list, leaving 42 articles to be voted as one. I voted in favor of the consent agenda. It was approved 222-1 with 2 abstentions. That should take at least a week off Town Meeting. Now we move on to the second part of the consent order, the articles requiring a 2/3 super-majority vote. (These are usually zoning or bonding issues.) After removing articles 28 and 33 from the consent agenda, we voted the other 6 articles together. I voted yes, and the final vote was 228-1 with 1 abstention. That saved us another week.
We are now back to the next article on the warrant which is #6, regarding the term limits for Community Preservation Act Committee members. The existing bylaw includes a term limit for at-large members, and the proposal is to remove that term limit. Ms. Gruber thought it would be valuable to allow others to serve, and term limits would enhance that ability. Ms. Melofchik opposes and wants to keep the term limits. She would like to see more diversity and more turnover. Mr. Helmuth (as town meeting member) noted he is no longer on the committee, and he thought there was value in having some institutional knowledge, and there are no other committees with term limits. Ms. Rowe noted there are two current vacancies and the committee needs people to apply. Mr. Chrisitana appreciated the comments looking for fresh faces on committees. Ms. Culverhouse thought we should have more broad term limits on boards and committees. Ms. Henkin also supports more term limits and is concerned that we don't have more term limits. Mr. Reck moved the question and requested to terminate debate. This felt like the correct time for this vote. While I agree that turnover is good, most committees require someone to be reappointed. If someone is interested in serving, they can notify the appointing authority that they would like to be considered. I think there are some people who continue to serve because they are concerned that no one will take their place. Knowing that there is someone to take their place might encourage them to move on. If there are to be term limits, they should apply to all boards and committees (and maybe town meeting too.) The motion to terminate debate was approved 190-39 (1 abs.), and the vote on the main motion to eliminate the term limits was approved 164-70.
Article 7 would add a new bylaw regulating rock excavation. Mr. DeCourcey introduced the article on behalf of the Select Board, and asked Town Counsel to present. Mr. Heim noted there is a history of issues over the years regarding excavations. The current bylaws regulate noise, and they do not allow for the town to stop work or seek damages. Proposal would require a pre-blast survey for any excavation in excess of 50 cu. yd., which would require engagement with abutters to document existing conditions. It does not require blasting. However, blasting is faster and tends to be less disruptive. The town also heard several negative experiences with blasting. This article addresses some neighbor concerns in regards to current practice. Ms. Dray spoke on behalf of the residents in precinct 8 asking town meeting to reject this article. There is a lot of rock removal in this precinct. She asserted that the bylaw would not protect the residents. Some damage may not show within the 30 day time period. Mr. Koch was confused why if blasting is so great, why is there so much chipping. Mr. Heim noted that blasting is more regulated and more expensive to implement. Contractors tend to underestimate the impact of chipping. Ms. Allison-Ampe is concerned that the bylaw could push contractors to more seriously consider blasting. Symmes blasting translated through bedrock to houses far outside the 250 ft radius. Ms. Memon asked how many of these permits are issued annually and is blasting used more extensively in other areas. Mr. Heim asked if he could respond to the questions on Wednesday.
Since it is after 11:00, the Moderator asked for motions of reconsideration, the speakers list was recorded, it was moved and seconded, and the meeting was adjourned.
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