Welcome to Night Six of the 2022 Annual Town Meeting. Tonight is our Spring Special Town Meeting (STM). I had noted in my last post why we hold a special town meeting during the annual town meeting, but my answer was not really correct. My thanks to TMM Fuller for providing me with better information. At the conclusion of a town meeting, annual or special, different types of articles take different paths to being enforceable. Budget articles go into effect seven days after the dissolution of the meeting unless there is a filing of a referendum to overturn the vote. This counting of days does not include weekends or holidays. By dissolving the special town meeting as soon as practical, we make sure that the results are in effect before the start of the next fiscal year. Articles relating to the town bylaws go the AG's office for review. Home rule petitions go to the legislature for debate and action. Those both go into effect upon approval by the state. Zoning articles go into effect as of the date they are passed by town meeting unless they are disallowed by the AG's office. This is to prevent developers from gaming the system by trying to take advantage of any provisions that are about to change.
The Star Spangled Banner was replayed this evening by TMM Tanaka. The Moderator noted that we are holding the Special Town Meeting this evening. After it is dissolved, we will then take up the budgets, then go back to Article 19 and proceed in order. He asked members to use the Q&A to ask about procedures, rather than using a Point of Order, which chews up time. The Moderator also introduced his new Straw Pole plan. After 15 minutes of debate, the Moderator will call for a straw pole of the members to see if there is a strong sense of the meeting that we should consider ending debate. By raising hands over Zoom, if at least 75% of members indicate they are ready to move on, the Moderator will call on a member in the speaking queue who raised their hand to terminate debate. Several members have expressed concerns that shortening the debate could lead to only one side being heard. The Moderator said he would make sure both sides had an opportunity before asking for an end to debate.
TMM Foskett moved to adjourn the Annual Town Meeting until the dissolution of the Special Town Meeting or Monday, May 16, whichever comes first. There was no objection, so we are now in the Special Town Meeting. SBC Diggins moved a list of people who are able to be 'within the enclosure." The Clerk certified that the meeting was properly called. SBC Diggins moved that should the STM not be completed this evening, it will continue to May 16. The Moderator called for Announcements and Resolutions, but there were none. TMM Foskett, Chair of the Finance Committee moved that his report be accepted. Ms. Zsembery, Chair of the Arlington Redevelopment Board (ARB) moved that her report be received. TMM Foskett moved that STM Article 1 be laid upon the table.
STM Article Two is a Zoning Bylaw Amendment to allow Family Child Care as an allowed use in all districts as is required under the "Dover Amendment" in state law. Administrative review would still occur by the Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD) and state agencies. TMM Rudick is in favor of the article, as he has 2 young children and is expecting a third. He has experience in founding a day care, and verified that the state is very thorough in their review of these facilities. TMM Nathan isn't sure what this is about and didn't have time to research the issue. She asked if someone could summarize what this will do. Ms. Zsembery noted the conflict with state law and this will remove the "onerous" requirement of needing a special permit. Applicants would receive a simplified administrative review by the DPCD. The Moderator further summarized the summary, and Ms. Zsembery clarified the response. TMM Rosenthal said he received a communication from a constituent, which he summarized into the record. The constituent spoke in opposition to the article as in her experience, home day cares are loud, they increases traffic, and they could reduce the selling price of neighboring homes. TMM Mann moved to terminate debate.
TMM Wagner raised a Point of Order that this is STM Article 2, not 1 as had been previously stated. The Moderator thanked him, and noted that items like this could be submitted to the Q&A. The vote on the motion to terminate debate passed 192-26 with three abstentions. The vote on the main motion passed 201-21 with three abstentions.
STM Article 3 was an article to amend the sign bylaw to allow non-accessory signage on electric vehicle charging and bike sharing facilities. Ms. Zsembery introduced her video presentation on the article. The current sign bylaw was approved in 2019. Since then, there are new sign types to consider related to electric car charging and bike sharing. Those uses often use paid advertising to offset the cost of supporting the infrastructure for these uses. This article would allow that to be considered. TMM Leahy asked if there would be limits on the number of these signs or on the allowed hours of illumination. Ms. Raitt said there would be one sign per docking station and one sign per charging station. Neither sign would be illuminated at night. TMM Kaepplein has a number of questions and issues. Under the article, the Select Board is to "approve" sign content. He asked if that wasn't adverse to the first amendment? Counsel Heim was unsure about content moderation. The Select Board would not approve the message, just the content. The Moderator asked who would choose the advertisers, but Counsel couldn't speak to that question. Dir. Raitt, Director of DPCD noted that the Select Board would be making the decisions on location and use. TMM Kaepplein noted that the town spent many years eliminating billboards and non-accessory signage, and he wonders why preference is being given to some entities but not others. Dir. Raitt noted that possible sponsorships for the vehicle charging and bike sharing facilities would be advertised to find potential sponsors. They would be similar to bus shelter signage or other similar signage. Extensions to other uses are beyond the scope of the article. TMM Kaepplein noted that there is a church with six signs when they are only allowed two. His time ran out right as the Moderator was calling him out of scope. TMM Quinn sought some explanation of what we would be approving. How would they look different from how they look now? Dir. Raitt noted that the stations would look the same. The existing sign with a BlueBike image would remain, and the back side could have a different sign panel. The sign holder is there now. TMM Quinn summarized the Director's comments to make sure they were clear. TMM Dray had a question about the financials. How much money would be raised, and where would it go? Will any of it go the the Town. Dir. Raitt said any funds raised would go directly towards the maintenance of the program in town. TMM Fosket had a Point of Order to ask whether the article includes a revolving fund to receive those funds. The Town Manager noted that the establishment of a revolving fund would need to be approved at a future Town Meeting. The Moderator admitted that was not a Point of Order, and he should not have allowed it. At this point, the Moderator decided to try out a straw poll. TMM Leone raised a Point of Order in regards to the Moderator's scheme to try and limit debate. He did not think there should be an arbitrary time limit. Members should be allowed to speak. The Moderator noted that the members have a right to speak, a right to vote, and a right to request to terminate debate. What is being proposed is similar to our regular practice. (What was inferred here was that in the past, the moderator could move to end debate by calling on members who were known to present that motion. The speaker list was private, so it wasn't clear that was happening. Since the list is now open, and the Moderator had indicated he wanted to follow the list openly, there are fewer ways available to bring debate to an end. The plan to use a straw poll provides a method for "reading the room" and seeing if the membership is ready to move on. If it isn't, debate continues.)
TMM Nathan raised a Point of Order that she doesn't know the history, and things are going so fast. It doesn't feel democratic. The Moderator noted that it is democratic, since the members can express whether they are in favor of terminating debate or not. Only if there is a 3/4 majority will the Moderator request that the next speaker call the question and bring forward a vote to terminate debate. This straw pole failed, so the next speaker was to be named, but TMM Wagner raised a Point of Order and asked how we could tell who voted and how many voted? The Moderator noted that it is on the Moderator's screen, but not on a screen visible to the membership. TMM Wagner asked that be implemented, because otherwise we just need to trust the Moderator to give us the number. The Moderator noted that if he was untruthful, the vote to terminate debate would fail, which would look bad for him. That is why he was looking for at least a 75% poll.
TMM Pretzer noted that it is important to promote alternate forms of transportation and encouraged a positive vote on the article. TMM L_Heigham moved to terminate debate. TMM Leahy raised a Point of Order to know if she is able to propose an amendment, and if so, how would she do it. The Moderator noted that we have an open motion to terminate debate. If the motion fails, then the speaker queue reopens, and a member may propose an amendment from the floor. If the motion passes, there is no more debate and no opportunity to present an amendment. (The 48-hour submission rule for amendments and substitute motions is there to make sure that the membership is aware that an amendment is coming, and it allows the Moderator to have that member speak early in the queue it move their amendment.) The vote to terminate debate passed 174-50 with one abstention. The vote on the main motion passed 172-51 with three abstentions.
STM Article 4 is a proposal to strike a section of the zoning bylaw which is at odds with state law. Ms. Zsembery introduced her video presentation on the article. Section 8.1.3(C) is proposed to be removed as it presently requires a variance to extend an existing nonconformity on a single- or two-family house. State law allows this to be done with a determination by the local zoning board that the proposed extension is not substantially more detrimental, a much lower threshold for approval. TMM Jamieson sought to confirm that this just brings us into compliance with state law, which Ms. Zsembery concurred. TMM Jalkut moved to terminate debate. The vote passed 206-14 with three abstentions. The Moderator offered to show all the voting screens if anyone raised their hand, which is what we did. The vote on the main motion passed 213-9 with two abstentions. We took our break a few minutes early.
Back from break, we started on STM Article 5. TMM Foskett noted that last year the town moved money into the reserve fund in case additional funds were required by the School Department as they transitioned back from the Covid disruptions. They did not need the money, so the vote is to transfer the money to the stabilization fund to offset next year's tax rate. There were no additional speakers, so we moved straight to voting. The motion passed 215-2 with two abstentions.
STM Article 6 would appropriate $100K to the Private Way Repairs Revolving Fund. TMM Foskett noted that the town makes improvements to private ways, but the abutters have to pay for them. The town has a revolving fund to expend and receive those funds. The request is to provide working capital in the fund to initiate new work. Those funds would then be reimbursed by the abutters. TMM Revilak wanted to know which private ways we have been repairing. Dir. Rademacher, Director of the Department of Public Works (DPW) didn't have a list on hand, but he offered to respond offline. Deputy Town Manager Pooler noted Gilboa Road was the primary recipient of the prior funds. The town is awaiting requests for future repairs. TMM Franzosa sought clarification of whether the town is paying for these repairs or whether this is a placeholder., TMM Foskett noted the fund pays the vendors. The abutters are charged for the work, but it takes some time for the payments to be made back to the fund. It is really a working capital situation. TMM Moore moved to terminate debate. While the vote proceeded, there was a Point of Order from TMM Weber who wanted to know why the person who seconds a motion is not listed to the screen. The Moderator indicated that he could see it, but it is possible that we are seeing something different. It is likely a screen refresh issue. The vote to terminate debate passed 202-20 with three abstentions. This brought up the main motion which passed 219-5 without abstention.
TMM Foskett motioned to have STM Article 1 taken from the table. TMM Foskett then moved to dissolve the Special Town Meeting.
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Welcome back to the 2022 Annual Town Meeting Night Six. TMM Foskett moved that articles 19-47 be tabled for the purpose of bringing up the finance articles. TMM Schlichtman noted that Articles 46 and 47 have already been passed, so we are really tabling 19-45. The Moderator concurred. TMM Foskett accepted it as a friendly amendment. There was only one objection, so we proceeded to Article 48.
Article 48 regards changes to the classification of certain employees which effects the number of employees in town and the amount of salary to be expended. TMM Foskett presented the article, referencing the tables in the Finance Committee report. TMM Friedman asked whether any of the changes represent new positions. TMM Foskett indicated that it did include additions, but a more detail answer could be provided by Dir. Malloy, the Director of Human Resources. She noted a few new titles. TMM Friedman heard that new positions would be added to the budget in the following year. She is looking to know the number of new positions. TMM Foskett noted that the numbers adjacent to the positions listed in the report indicate that these are mostly slight adjustments to the FTE (Full Time Equivalent, i.e. one full-time employee) count. TMM Trembley was curious about how this works. He cited a listing where it appeared that a position was being increased in level, and the old level is being removed. TMM Foskett noted that the requirements of the position may have changed, so the increase follows the change, while the older position is no longer valid. TMM Trembley asked if there was a pay increase, would it be listed. TMM Foskett indicate that it would be . The Town Manager noted that in the case noted, the position was raised to a higher level. The tables indicate the change, the creation of the new position, and the elimination of the former position. There was some additional back-and-forth to understand how this works. TMM Trembley asked if additional information could be provided next year to make this easier to understand. TMM Moore moved to terminate debate. The Moderator noted that unless there are objections, he would like to waive the display of the voting confirmation screens to save some time. The motion to terminate debate passed 207-14 with two abstentions. There was an objection to skipping the screens, so we proceeded through them all. (We're talking about 30 seconds of potential time savings, as by the time the Moderator had confirmed that there was a raised hand, we had already reviewed four of the seven screens.) The main motion passed 214-5 with one abstention.
The Moderator noted that we are now half-way done with the articles, but a big chunk of the progress was by the Consent Agenda. We still have a long way to go.
Article 49 is to accept the results of collective bargaining and allocate funds to support those agreements. TMM Foskett moved to table this article. The Town has settled contracts with two unions and is still negotiating with a third. It is anticipated that the negotiations could be concluded before the end of Town Meeting. The recommendation is to table this amendment to see if it will be concluded. It was tabled without objection.
Article 50 is the annual appropriation for Town Budgets as presented in Appendix B of the Finance Committee report. TMM Foskett recommended that the Moderator determine which budgets members want to discuss. We are asked to raise hands on a budget to request that we discuss it. Holds were requested on the following budgets: Finance Committee (1), Town Manager (3), Town Clerk (11), Planning and Community Development (14), Zoning Board of Appeals (16), Public Works (17), Police Services (19), Inspections (21), Education (22), and the Arlington Youth Counseling Center Enterprise Fund (E). At the request of the School Committee, the Education budget was discussed first, as the Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) were present this evening. TMM Levy raised a Point of Order asking how TMM Foskett feels about the overall budget and the possibility of an override. The Moderator moved that discussion offline. TMM Exton, the Chair of the School Committee asked that the video presentation be played. The schools had a busy year, including bringing on a new superintendent and opening new wings at Arlington High School. The budget includes support for many aspects of a well-rounded education and positive student mental health. Arlington spends less per student, but we also spend less on teacher salaries, which presents challenges for attracting and retaining teachers. Dr. Homan, the Superintendent of Schools presented the budget and enrollment figures, Mr. Mason, the CFO presented the figures on spending, salaries, and the budget distribution. The schools are eliminating athletic and music fees, adding library staff, and adding teachers. The Moderator asked to allow us to extend past 11:00 to complete this budget. TMM Jamieson noted that during his precinct's spring meeting, parents mentioned that enrollment at Brackett was down and doesn't seem to be bouncing back. Dr. Homan noted it is a trend for that elementary school and some others as well. There is an anticipated rebound next year. TMM Jamieson noted that the school took a large hit and has yet to bounce back. The Moderator decided that rather than call names in order, he would call first on members who do not speak often. (This was a departure.) TMM Thornton was called upon, but she was looking to speak to a different budget. TMM Slutzky thanked the superintendent for her work in the schools. She is concerned about the low pay among paraprofessionals, especially in special education. Dr. Homan said that there are funds set aside to raise those salaries in the next negotiation. TMM Kaepplein noted that during the height of the pandemic, there were no furloughs in the School Department. He stated that Brookline furloughed 196 employees, utilizing federal and state unemployment benefits to carry them over. Why didn't the School Department do the same to try to save us money. Dr. Homan noted that the teachers were working the entire time, teaching remotely. TMM Kaepplein indicated his disagreement. TMM Auster asked about the schools' role in the sustainable transportation plan and zero emissions plan. What actions does the school department intend to take next year in support of those goals? This could include promoting MBTA scheduling, improved bike infrastructure, or similar items. The Superintendent noted they are purchasing two electric buses and providing more options for securing bikes at school and promoting safe biking routes. TMM Rosenthal noted he attended the precinct 12-14 meeting where a mother expressed that Brackett is one of the least desirable schools, when it had been most desirable for a long time. (Scope Call) There was concern about maintenance of playground equipment, and a report that a student may have been injured. He also asked about the comparison of compensation compared to neighboring communities. He asked how much it would cost to bring all the salaries up to the median. Mr. Mason said he doesn't know, but the proposed budget does not do that. The district is looking to at least address those at the lowest end of the scale. TMM Rosenthal asked that this information be made available next year. TMM Maher noted that several speakers have noted that our teacher and paraprofessional salaries are lower than comparable towns. For many years, we have heard that the discrepancy will be rectified. It is well past time to address the disparity. TMM Moore moved to terminate debate on the education budget. There was a question whether this could be done, but we have done this in the past. The vote to terminate debate passed 156-41 with eight abstentions. That closed the Education budget. The Superintendent and CFO were thanked for their participation.
TMM Foskett noticed reconsideration on Article 48. TMM Benedict raised her hand to reconsider the termination of the debate on the Education budget. The Moderator wasn't sure how that could happen, but he would look into it for Monday. TMM Kaepplein gave notice that he would like to add the Health and Human Services budget (24) to the list of budgets to be reviewed. TMM Foskett moved to adjourn. We are adjourned. We will start Monday with the budgets.
>> Tonight was quite good. We worked efficiently through the Special Town Meeting. After the discussion on the budgets, there are nine more financial articles before we return to Article 19. We might make it through all that on Monday.
>> I was in favor of all the zoning articles on the special town meeting warrant. They were simple issues, two of which were related to conforming to state law. The budget articles were straight forward as well. This allowed us to move through them by 10:00. Positions reclassification is really just there for us to vote up or down. However, those positions represent real employees doing their job on our behalf. I trust our director of Human Resources to make sure our employees are being treated fairly and equitably.
>> Just a warning to my readers: I have a conflict with next Wednesday's meeting. I have a family obligation which when I scheduled it months ago, it looked like we would be meeting in person and be done by then. Moving back online makes us slower, since we cannot use the collective wisdom of the other members around us to answer questions and move us along. I am hoping that I won't miss the zoning articles, which at this rate, might be the case.
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