2022 Annual Town Meeting - Night One

Welcome back to Arlington Town Meeting. Tonight is Monday, April 25, 2022, and it is the first night of the 2022 Annual Town Meeting. We have 77 articles on the warrant, which will take us many nights.

 There was a dress rehearsal last night for members to practice participating in Town Meeting. It was also our new Moderator, Greg Christiana's first time in front of the hall, so to speak. We wish him well, and hope that we have a fruitful and expeditious meeting.

 For those of you who might be new to this blog, this is my personal journal of my time on town meeting. It is not intended to be authoritative, nor is it intended to be without personal opinions. It is my record of my experience. (Time out for the attendance vote.) I make this blog available to the public primarily to allow my constituents in Precinct 10 to know how I am voting on articles, so they can decide if they want to return me to town meeting in the future. As fewer reporters have been reporting first hand on the goings-on at town meeting, I have tried to include more of the discussion on articles and adding explanations where they might be helpful. That said, This is my personal journal, I am not a reporter, and I ask you to view this blog through that lens. Please. 

I am typing during the meeting and after the meeting, so I may not be consistent with my verb tenses. Sorry for that. I will also be naming members by their last name preceded by TMM indicating Town Meeting Member. Where there are multiples with the same last name, I am inserting a first initial. I am also typing fast before going back to proofread. If I missed anything, I apologize. 

It is still a few minutes early. Members are logging on and indicating that they are present by adding their vote on the Attendance Check-in. The system we are using this year is very similar to last year. The moderator has just joined us, and we should be starting shortly. There appears to be 217 members present out of the 250 members. (It appears that precinct 9 might have two vacancies.) The Moderator welcomed us to the 215th annual town meeting. He noted the choice to be online was made with difficulty. He thanked the prior moderators John Leone and John Worden, and asked all of us to conduct our business with civility and kindness. He also acknowledged those members of town meeting and their spouses who have passed away in the past year, and asked for a moment of silence. I personally will miss Brian Rehrig who was a great mentor in learning how to serve the town. He and Roly Chaput really set me on my path. I also note the passing of Lyman Judd, who was one of the most entertaining members of Town Meeting I have ever known. 

 The opening invocation was delivered by Rev. Erica Richmond from First Parish. She made a brief land acknowledgement, recognized the ongoing observance of Ramadan and the recent observances of Passover and Easter. We then entered a moment of quietness and reflection. She asked for guidance and patience as we embark on town meeting. Rev. Richmond encouraged us to see the good in each other, recognize the difficulties faced by members of our community facing challenges. She acknowledged the conflict in the Ukraine. She called on us to trust the decency in others, and encouraged us to find a path forward to a better future, a radical hope borne from difficult times. In our small corner, we are encouraged to do what we can to make things better. Blessed be. 

Next up is the swearing in of newly elected members, myself included. This is so much better in Town Hall. We usually have a large round of applause at the end. It is different to do it quietly at home. We then had the Menotomy Minutemen on video. The video was taken by ACMi at a previous meeting in Town Hall. I am thinking it must be many, many years old, as the young boy is now two years out of high school. They performed the Star Spangled Banner as we sang along. (It was nice to see some of the members who have passed away in the video. I even got to see me.) 

Up next is the most consequential vote of the meeting, the vote to allow Town Meeting to meet remotely. This vote is required under State Law. If we vote this down, we cannot meet online, which will throw everything into turmoil, as it appears there might not be a Plan B. The Moderator has indicated that this will be an unusual vote, as a negative vote will end the meeting. He will open the floor for questions, but has asked members not to make arguments in favor or in opposition. TMM Wagner raised a Point of Order to request that members can see each other during the meeting by appearing as video instead of a static image. The Moderator said had hoped to do so, but there were some technical obstacles that would introduce a delay before each speaker. TMM J_Worden raised a point of order to ask if people could rise to speak for or against this motion. The Moderator said no. State Law does not specify whether debate is required, only that a vote is required. Mr. Worden reminded the moderator that we are not in Communist China, which the Moderator acknowledged by reminding the former Moderator that everyone will have a vote. There were no further questions, so we moved on to the vote. I was very reluctant to meet online this year, as I really feel the experience is very different and much better in person. However, now that everything has been arranged to meet remotely, changing the format back now will throw a colossal monkey-wrench into the works of Town Meeting. The voting went slowly, as the server got bogged down when everyone tried to vote at the same time. The motion passed 207-26 with three abstentions. 

 >> A good note to all TMM's: I went away from the vote screen before my vote was completed, and I didn't realize that my vote hadn't been counted. I only noticed it when the Moderator was displaying his screens. I had time to fix it, but it is important to make sure your vote is submitted and acknowledged before moving on. 

The Select Board Chair made the annual request that the standard list of officials and other people important to the proper conduct of Town Meeting be allowed to be present "within the enclosure." The Town Clerk acknowledged that the meeting was duly called, and the Select Board Chair asked that should the meeting not be completed tonight, that we continue to Wednesday. There were no announcements, so we proceeded to the State of the Town Address. We then briefly backtracked to enable the Raise Hand feature so people could indicate if they had an announcement. Again, there were none, so back to Article 2. 

Mr. Diggins, the Select Board Chair acknowledged all volunteers and members for their service to the town. He thanked the staff, representatives, and elected officials. He is filled with pride and admiration for our town. There were many accomplishments this year. He thanked our Director of Health for her work keeping the town safe. We celebrated Juneteenth for the first time. We welcomed a new superintendent of schools. The first wing of the new AHS opened. We re-precincted the town to try to make Town Meeting more reflective of our town. Every precinct held an independent precinct meeting this spring. The affordable housing developments on Broadway and at Downing Square opened. Several housing and transportation plans were completed and approved. The artistic and cultural resources of the town were very active. The former senior center will reopen next week as the Community Center. Our long-term town manager has announced his departure. Town Day will return on Sept. 17. We also need to consider an override, which he noted as a conjunction of two four-letter words. The Chair reiterated his pride and admiration for the town, noted the state of the town is good, and stated he is confident a great future ahead. 

The Moderator recognized that he took some items out of order, and he would now go back to rectify those issues. The request to allow appropriate people to be in the enclosure needed to be seconded, which it now was. He then asked if anyone was in opposition, would they please raise their hand. There was one objection, which was withdrawn. We also needed to second the motion to continue to Wednesday at the end of the evening. That was now seconded. Objections were tallied by raised hands, and again, there were none. 

Next up was Article 3, the acceptance of reports of committees. This is very important, as the reports contain all the recommended votes before town meeting. The reports were all received in a single action, and the article was lain upon the table. It will stay there until the end of the meeting, only taken up to accept additional reports. 

Article 4 is the appointment of a Measurer of Wood and Bark as required under Mass General Law Part 1, Title 15, Chapter 94, Section 296. TMM Foskett nominated TMM J_Worden, as the longest serving member of Town Meeting to be the Measurer of Wood and Bark. The nomination was seconded. This brought us to Article 5, but there is a point-of-order. TMM Wagner asked why there was no vote (a la the Soviet Union) for the Measurer of Wood and Bark. The Moderator noted that the nominee was unopposed, so a vote was not required. TMM Helmuth nominated TMM Auster to be Assistant Town Moderator under Article 5, which was seconded. There were no other nominees. There were no objections put forward, so there was no formal vote on the sole nominee. TMM Auster was reelected. 

The Moderator took a moment to acknowledge several administrative corrections which have been added to Novus, the Annotated Warrant online. Town Counsel introduced himself to explain the administrative corrections. There were a few sections left off of article 12 in the printing. Article 16 had a redundant subparagraph (a). He also noted that subparagraph (d) should include the year 2025, not 2026. There were several errors under article 18. He reiterated that all of these issues are corrected on the annotated warrant. The Moderator paused in case there were any questions in regards to the proposed changes. TMM Jamieson apologized for his mischaracterizing a phase-out as an encouragement in his notes on the Consent Agenda. TMM Mozina asked why the current title screen still indicates we are on the previous article. The Moderator explained that there isn't a specific agenda item to discuss the corrections, so the system keeps displaying the prior article. She asked how corrections and amendments would be presented going forward. The Moderator said notice would be sent to the TMM email list, and added to the annotated warrant. 

Next up is the Consent Agenda. This is a subsection of the articles in front the the meeting which are unlikely to be controversial, so we are recommended to bypass debate and just move to a vote on those articles. There is a period for members to remove specific articles from the Consent Agenda if they wish to discuss the articles. TMM Leone raised a point of order in opposition to requiring two members to remove an article from the consent agenda. He felt that even if only one person wants to address an article, they should be allowed to be so. The Moderator noted the different options considered for the requisite number of votes. He settled on two, as he felt one was too few and five were too many. He appreciated TMM Leone's opinion, but he will retain the two vote requirement. The Moderator introduced a different procedure for holding an article from what was practiced at last night's dress rehearsal. The software developer introduced a new feature earlier today to expedite the process. Ms. Wayman, the staff member running the meeting behind the scenes gave a brief description of how the process would run. There would be 30 seconds in which to click the remove button for each article. 

Following the first article, TMM P_Worden had a point of order. After a long period of "can you hear me", she asked where the button was to second a removal from the Consent Agenda. The Moderator explained that there is a "Remove from Consent Agenda" button which registers all requests for removal. She didn't think that was appropriate as a second is different from the primary request. The Moderator noted this was the best on short order. TMM P_Worden wanted to second, but not to be listed as primary. The Moderator explained that the first name on the list would be called on to speak on the removed article. TMM Babiarz is at her first town meeting, and wanted clarification on the difference between a vote of no action and voting down an article. The Moderator explained that a vote of no action has no recommended vote to discuss, so we only vote to acknowledge that we are not acting on them. Any other article with a recommended vote can be discussed and voted up or down. The only way to discuss an article with a recommended vote of no action is to provide a substitute motion. The Moderator reminded the members that a point of order is not there to ask questions, but it is to raise an issue with the meeting that cannot wait until another time. We then had a point of order from TMM Jalkut, who recommended adding some time after the first vote for withholding to allow time for a second. Some want to second to be in support of anyone holding an article, but they cannot do so if that first vote comes in at the end. TMM Weinstein had a simpler recommendation, that the voting clock only start after the reading of the article. The Moderator was favorable to the recommendation. 

TMM J_Worden explained that the feedback noted earlier was due to his headphones not working. The Moderator indicated he would ask tech support to give him a call. TMM Heigham noted it was break time. She also asked that there be debate on the voting procedure before it going into effect. We are now on break. 

>> This is the part of Town Meeting I miss most. During break, we could get a cookie, a cup of coffee, and catch up with friends and colleagues. We could also ask questions of town officials and proponents of upcoming articles. Without that interaction, I felt like there were more questions being asked through alternate channels last year, especially through the Point of Order. I hope we can avoid that this year. 

We are coming back from intermission. We are still on the Consent Agenda and deciding whether we should remove Article 9. TMM J_Worden removed the article with TMM Wagner, and since the recommended vote was for no action, TMM J_Worden will present a substitute motion. Article 11 was removed by TMM's Moore and Kaepplein. Article 14, recommended for no action, was removed by TMM's J_Worden, Trembley, and P_Worden, so TMM J_Worden will offer a substitute motion. Article 19 was removed by TMM's Schlichtman, Kaepplein, Tanaka, and Doctrow, and TMM Schlichtman will need to provide a substitute motion. Article 20 was removed TMM's Schlichtman and Tanaka, and TMM Schlichtman will need to provide a substitute motion. TMM DiTullio raised a Point of Order that he has a conflict of interest with the vote on Article 25, and asks to be allowed to vote on the Consent Agenda but be listed as not participating on this particular article. He had discussed this option with Town Counsel. However, TMM's J_Worden, Trembley, and Leone removed the article, so the conflict was moot. TMM Tosti noted that there were not votes to remove noted at the 20 second point when TMM DiTullio called his Point of Order, only after. For clarity, the Moderator returned to re-vote on 25 to confirm that there are multiple votes to hold. TMM's Leone, Weinstein, Tremblay, and Quinn voted to remove this time. 

Back to Article 27 which was removed by TMM's J_Worden and Muldoon. At this point, the Moderator asked to return to Article 6 so it could be considered using the same procedure as was now being applied to the subsequent articles. Rather than just holding a 30 second window for all votes, he had been holding 20 seconds for the first vote, and if there was one, he would hold the vote for additional time to allow for a possible second. Article 6 was removed this time by TMM's Trembley and Wagner. TMM Bloom raised a Point of Order to confirm that Article 52 was being discussed at the May 11 Special Town Meeting. TMM Foskett indicated that is correct, as by voting on this financial article during the Special Town Meeting would allow the funds transfer to be in effect before the end of the fiscal year. Article 57 was removed by TMM's Wagner and J_Worden. Article 60 was removed by TMM's Kaepplein, Trembley, Weinstein, and Tosti. Article 65 was removed by TMM's Friedman and Evans, which brought us to the end of the articles on the majority vote Consent Agenda. 

TMM Friedman raised a Point of Order to request that the articles on or off the agenda be listed, even if just by number, even orally would be helpful. The articles remaining on the majority vote Consent Agenda were announced as the following: 18, 21, 22, 23, 46, 47, 52, 56, 58, 59, 61, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, and 70. TMM Jamieson raised a Point of Order to note that he had inserted the list into the Q&A. We are finally ready to vote on the shortened Consent Agenda, which passed 227-2 with 2 abstaining. I voted in favor, wishing that more articles had stayed on the agenda. This is our best path towards a speedy Town Meeting, but I also acknowledge that if members really want to discuss these articles, we need to do so. Immediately after the vote, TMM Foskett served notice of reconsideration on the financial articles just passed on the Consent Agenda. The Moderator explained that a member who votes on the prevailing side of an article can serve notice of reconsideration which allows calling for a future vote to reconsider the vote on that article. The vote to reconsider an article is a 2/3 vote. 

Next up is the Consent Agenda for articles requiring a 2/3 vote. These are usually zoning articles and financial articles requiring an appropriation or bonding. There was a Point of Order from TMM Rosenthal noting that there was a timing issue recording the requests to remove articles from the Consent Agenda. The Moderator agreed to restart the voting on Article 32, and it was removed by TMM's Rosenthal and Band. Article 33 was held by TMM's Phelan and Band. Article 34 was removed by TMM's Leahy, Benedikt, and Band. Article 36 was removed by Band, Babiarz, and Melofchik. Article 37 was removed by TMM's Mozina, Tosi, and Babiarz. TMM Weber raised a Point of Order to confirm that Article 35 was staying on consent agenda, as she thought the Moderator indicated it was removed. The Town Clerk confirmed that the Moderator may have misspoken, as the article did remain on the Consent Agenda. Before the next action, TMM Phelan raised a point of order asking if we had missed a couple of articles. The Moderator noted that those intervening articles had not been selected for the Consent Agenda, and they would be brought up for discussion in the normal course of articles. Article 45 was removed by TMM's J_Worden and Wagner, and TMM Worden will provide a substitute motion. Article 53 was removed by TMM's Anderson and Leone. Article 54 was removed by TMM's Band and Leone. 

The articles remaining on the 2/3 vote Consent Agenda were numbers 31, 35, and 40. TMM Foskett raised a Point of Order to confirm articles 53 and 54 are removed, and the Moderator confirmed that they were. The vote on the motion was 229-1 in favor. Again, TMM Foskett raised a point of order, but this time, it was to move to adjourn. The motion was seconded by the Town Clerk, and we were adjourned until Wednesday.

>>I thought the first night went ... OK. We spent a lot of time on procedures, but that can be anticipated on the first night, especially with a new Moderator. I thought it was significantly better that the dress rehearsal the night before. (I was really discouraged after that meeting.) We do need to find a way to tighten up the down time. We also need to clamp down on the misuse of the Point of Order. A Point of Order is there to allow a member to interrupt another member with something so important, that it supersedes the politeness of allowing the other to speak. I feel that is a high bar. Asking routine questions is not a proper use of the Point of Order. I thought it was somewhat restrained tonight, and I encourage members to not cry wolf and use it when needed. If you have a factual question, reach out to the article's proponents before the next session. If you are new and learning the ropes, make a fellow member a mentor on town meeting procedures and actions. We are all striving to do what we believe is in the best interest of our constituents and our town. I'm looking forward to Wednesday to see how we proceed with the regular order of business. There are some important votes coming up, and I am looking forward to a productive debate.