that means she's ready to record yeah please take your seats come on and sit down joining us this evening on the piano it's Jane Howard please rise for the singing of the Star Spangled Banner Thank You Ms. Howard just to give everyone my idea of what the procedure in a role is going to be this evening we're going to open up we're going to go back into the regular town meeting the annual work on article 51 if article 51 is not done by the break I'm going to declare the annual town meeting in recess and we're going to take up the special town meeting we'll continue with the special until it's dissolved and then we'll go back to the next article on our list or back to 51 but we've spent three hours already on that I want to make a couple comments on Wednesday evening there was what I would consider some unfortunate ad hominem remarks I myself engaged in it I called Mr. Healy a loudmouth when he bellowed in Mr. Healy I apologize I don't think anyone should be casting aspersions on anybody else we shouldn't be directly attacking anybody else this is a debate it's not a school yard what we call each other various names or things you should keep it civil and try to stay away from ad hominem remarks I'd appreciate if we could all do keep that level of civility the other issue I want to bring up is the rule of the substitute motions and amendments to motions when I insted that instituted that rule when I first came a couple years back what always had bothered me about town meeting was members would come in with these great big long substitutes and would try to explain them and their handwriting them handing them to Mr. Warden and none of us out there knew what was going on that's what the 24-hour one meeting rule is meant to address major changes Mr. Good has put up what I sent to him the other day and I'll follow along and read it basically major substitute motions substantively amended motions we want to get 24 hours in advance the day before so you all have it to read we've all had our proposed votes of all the various committees for at least three four weeks now we've all can read them we've all read through them if you want to change something by this point you know it during the course of the debate as happened the other night Mr. Marr had an idea he wanted to change something the rule is not meant to stifle debate the rules meant to advance debate if we all know what we're talking about someone wants to make a simple straightforward change which in my opinion Mr. Marr had wanted to do once I was able to read his handwriting that's not an ad hominem of Mark either that was what my confusion was I really I couldn't read and figure out what he was doing once I got it in legible form and I understood what he was doing it was fine I've got several people have emailed me on the weekend over this and I'm going to stick to the rule but on main minor changes easily understood things we're going to let them in we're not here to ramrod through the recommended votes of everybody we're had to have a debate and and to figure out what's best for the town and we can't do that if we don't allow simple amendments and changes that on the fly that's that's why we're here as a legislative body to do that so I'm going to stick to the rule but just remember it's going to be up to me if we're going to let it if I'm going to let something in and I'm kind of strict about it I'm not going to let anything fly it's whether or not I think you all can understand what it is and you're not going to be surprised by something that's that's my basic rule of thumb so that's what we're going to do okay are there any new town meeting members who have not yet been sworn in I don't see any miss row oh your mic pressed a little button right up at the bottom of the nope up above right at the top of the black part of the mic there you go I was told I was speaking too loudly last time so I was trying to moderate it it is moved that if all the business of the meeting is set forth in the warrant for the annual town meeting is not disposed of at this session when the meeting adjourns it adjourns to Wednesday May 11th 2011 at 8 p.m. all in favor opposed are any announcements or resolutions madam hope she beats you toward Harry you next you thank you mr. moderator Cindy Friedman precinct 8 I just want to let people know about a meeting that's coming up next Tuesday May 17th senator Donnelly will be holding a budget forum it's called Massachusetts budget FY 2012 white cuts and services should matter to you it will be a presentation and a panel discussion including somebody from Mass Budget and Policy Center dr. Thomas Garvey a Burlington Medical Association is also part of the Department of Public Health Joan Butler executive director of Minuteman senior services and Harris Grumman Massachusetts political director of SCI you will be discussing the FY 12 state budget and protecting essential services you're all invited it's at the carrying Memorial Library large meeting room lower level in Lexington and it's for all senator Donnelly's Lexington and Arlington constituents I'll also put some of the flyers in the back thank you mr. McCabe thank you mr. moderator Harry McCabe precinct 21 reports of my passing I'm afraid we're premature and unwarranted and what that means is it's not in the warrant I had to leave town in a hurry I'm sorry I missed a number of meetings only the second time in 50 years and I really do appreciate the calls that were made to my home and the machine just jam because of the overload and I will try to call everybody back that called and thank you all very much appreciate thank you mr. Macquarie precinct 20 I just wanted to bring to your attention a very small item in use which occurred in our precinct last year basically Richard Breand and his brother Donald Breand they live at Ford Argyle Road they actually repaved a section of Dundee they got they worked with a contractor they checked with the town and out of their own pockets they repaved a pretty ugly part of Dundee which you know obviously it but their their property but I think it's Richard and Donald are seniors I think it's worthwhile publicly acknowledging them and these the kinds these are kind of things which make Arlington great paid for it out of his own pocket didn't think it needed to get what didn't ask for thanks but I think it's worthwhile worthy if we acknowledge Richard who's commonly known as Dick their long a long-term resident of Arlington and he went ahead and checked with the the various authorities and went ahead and did it himself so it's great it's a big improvement to Dundee it's the road which you head up into the Heights opposite Trader Joe's if you go up into Little Scotland it's that first road and if you notice the the sidewalk on the side is now has been that was last year but nicely repaved so I just want to say thanks to Richard and Donald for that thank you just want to make an announcement for Wednesday next the following Wednesday or the next meeting on Wednesday the superintendent of Minuteman Regional School District will be here probably approximately nine o'clock ish and at that time I'd like to be able to take his budget out of order and move his presentation his presentation is on your seats now he's coming here after Belmont the superintendent has to go to 16 different town special town meetings so he tried to accommodate him but I just wanted to let you know he'll be here on Wednesday around nine o'clock thank you very much thank you Mr. Belkis did you have the hand up okay any other announcements or resolutions seeing none any reports of committees okay and that brings us back to 51 the next on the list was Mr. Mr. Maher is going to give us a 30-seconder can't even make the clock thank you miss partner I'm not going to speak to the merits of the article only to call your attention that on your chairs today is the slightly revised amended motion that I so poorly presented the other night the syntax has been cleaned up by the moderator and I want to thank us other people but they know who they are for assistance and crafting this in a little bit better fashion the amendment is solely about giving us options I think the select input the cart before the before the horse the other night and when if you look at the main motion it's it assumes it asks us to do too much this is about options sending it to a study have the manager come back next year and put the options before us options are good things in life I just don't know why we wouldn't want to have that happen thank you thank you sir Mr. Thielman was next somebody oh he's still here good Jeff Thielman praising 12 I move the question in all matters under article 51 we have a motion to terminate the bait all if they have a terminating debate please say yes opposed say no I can't tell if it's two-thirds or not same tellers everybody in favor of term yes there was a second mr. good job I can hear things differently up here everyone who wants to terminate the bait please rise same tellers mr. Schlickman 16 mr. Connor 27 mr. Tremblay 31 mr. McCabe 25 all opposed please rise zero up front mr. Schlickman 24 20 14 15 it's not a two-third vote it's 108 in the affirmative 73 in the negative sir he said 15 Harry how many did you have oh on the on the eyes yes yes yes that's what I had sir yep so 108 to 73 it is not two-thirds next on the list was mr. Deist first I have a question mr. moderator sir the John Deist precinct 13 and also member of the finance committee the article as it stated up there is different from what we were looking at that's the actual warrant article itself that's not the vote I see yeah could we have the vote please is is you don't have the vote we're not that far into the electronic age we think we figured that out before the meeting tonight well I'm speaking to the vote as you may recall it says in your selectments report under article 50 in which is voted in the selectments report article 51 as you may recall I spoke earlier with regard to some contentious snow removal issues and I attempted or I tried to urge us to try to get together and I'm going to try to do that to some extent tonight because I think there's a lot of polarization that's happened in the arguments that have occurred and also it's my opinion anyway that when the town meeting gets very emotional about something it doesn't do very wise things it does things or it has the potential to do things that are not so wise whereas if we can be more logical then I think we do a better job so I'm going to attempt to try to give you my logic about this article as stated in the selectments report there seems to be a great deal of suspicion that the article is in it is an attempt to thwart the democratic process by which we vote for our some of our town officials more alarming in my view have been some statements to the effect that this is an attempt to deprive citizens of being able to vote for those offices by bringing those offices under the under the manager that is not at all how I read the article and I'd like to explain my logic about the article and I suggest that we look carefully at the article itself because that's the thing that we will be voting in particular the article states that the manager is to do research and he's supposed to come back with articles to us in the next town meetings now one might think that bringing articles forward is sort of premature in the sense that what we're trying to do is figure out whether or not we should do such a thing I suggest that bringing articles forward is the very important mechanism by which we do the debate and if we don't have articles before us then there's no real significant basis for debate we just sort of talk you know in a hand-waving fashion as opposed to having particular things before us to debate so I suggest that the combination of research and articles will allow us in the next town meeting to do a deliberative debate process by which we can come to some kind of a useful conclusion this this the study itself or the desire for this study itself stems from the current process by which the town and the schools create the budget and I'd like to speak from the point of view of someone who has witnessed that process for many years as a member of the school member of the finance committee the town the town departments under the manager create the budgets for all of the town departments and the school superintendent and and the staff of and and the supervision within the schools create the school budget and to a great extent they're very independent processes of the town does its budget the school does its budget there's some interchange between the superintendent and the manager and then it's really kind of up to the combination of those two people in many ways and their their aides and the finance committee to bring the two budgets together and finally the school budget appears as one huge one number 20 in the finance committee report and it's more than half of our total budget but be that as it may the two processes occur separately and they occur as Alan Jones the proponent for this article has put forward to you in a quite inefficient fashion and more importantly in my opinion they occur in a way so that there is less chance to find mistakes in the process and I would suggest that in some ways it might have been possible to find the mistake that occurred last year that caused us so much difficulty so this is a process by which the manager and his people and the school committee and superintendent and their people create these budgets and the managers asked to look at these two processes and try to figure out how to combine them it's also important to understand that the elected officials have virtually no responsibility and or role in this particular part of the process they really don't do anything except in a maybe very peripheral way in the process of creating those two budgets it's the superintendent and the manager and their people and the finance committee that create those budgets so what's being addressed here is that process a process that has and I don't mean this in a nasty way at all relatively little to do with their treasurer the treasurer has other very important things to do his job is to bring the money in that will pay for those budgets to pay the amounts of money that are allotted in those budgets so here's why here's where I am trying to appeal to your logic in that the treasurer and other elected officials have relatively little or nothing to do with the development of these budgets there is there has arisen a what I would consider to be an illogical emotional process by which somehow people think that the voter officials and the process for voting those officials is threatened and I submit to you that it has nothing to do with that it has to do with this process by which these two budgets get developed and trying to make that more efficient and having the manager come forward as he will I'm sure in very expeditious fashion next year with articles that we can argue is a perfectly logical and reasonable way to try to get at some of these difficulties they're associated with both the inefficiencies and the lack of observability into what's going on in the budget processes thank you very much thank you sir mr. Tully thank you mr. moderator Joe Tully precinct 14 first of all I want to say that I found mr. Palusso's remarks the other night genuinely inspiring and wonderful and I thank him for his remarks I you know in my 18 years in town meeting I've heard nothing like and that's that's I think we owe him a lot of gratitude for inspiring us thusly having said that I hope I can be the manifestation of the sentiment that he expressed in his remarks but I still stand here sometimes or rather sit back there and I scratch my head at some of the things that are said I don't mean to necessarily to personally disparage anybody but when someone tries to convince me that indicating our support for something is not the same as supporting that same thing it it strikes me as a bit of mental gymnastics that I think even if I were Mary Lou Retton I probably wouldn't be able to accomplish very well some of us some among us I think have trouble appreciating why some others of us tend to sometimes be cynical or suspicious and I would suggest that it's really that type of doth protest too much commentary that that sometimes raises a red flag with us so having said that I would urge everybody to adopt mr. Mars amendment I think even if we are opposed to the the article proper putting it in a more palatable fashion for us to vote on I think is a win regardless of how how we stand on the underlying article with respect to the article itself I'd like to make a few brief observations I was privileged enough to serve on the 2005 committee that Ms. La Courte referenced I think it was 2005 it may have been 2006 and I know she referenced that she was a newly minted select person at that time and in the ensuing five or six years she's since changed her mind and that is absolutely her prerogative and I don't I don't begrudge her that however I would like to let everybody know that that committee was comprised of some very experienced individuals and some very thoughtful and intelligent individuals we were a fairly diverse committee and it was not a committee of inexperienced people that came to the conclusion that we didn't necessarily need to tinker with the the treasurer position or the other finance financial departments as they're currently comprised mr. Fosk it who was a finance committee member emeritus Jim darty one of our cessers and a longtime town meeting member fire chief Jefferson who I think has been in town meeting at least as long as I have and I'm certainly has been around town and involve with the fire department for much longer than that myself this is my 18th town meeting I think it was around my 13th or so at the time when I served on the committee John billifer our former treasurer of 30 plus years and a select man for several years before that town meeting member Alan Reedy who's out there somewhere it was also on the committee and I'm sure there are others whom I have forgotten so my apologies for that however despite the diversity and the well let's just leave it at our diversity we had a fairly broad if not unanimous consensus to the best of my recollection and someone can correct me maybe Ms. LeCourt has the vote committed to memory I don't but I thought it was nearly unanimous it was near unanimous that the the elected treasurer position works for Arlington at least then and that brings me to my next question which is frankly what has changed in that that interim not that things can't change but I don't know that anything significant has I certainly support efficiency and cost-cutting however I think as we try to move for another override we certainly need to assure all the taxpayers that we're doing everything we can and we've turned over every stone and explored every nook and cranny to cut costs I think if we don't do that then our much needed override is certainly doomed to failure however I also believe that the elected treasurer position is a significantly important check in balance for our system of government and so if we consider this article we need to consider it against that backdrop and proceed very cautiously and carefully thank you thank you mr. Tully Janice Weber mr. O'Connor Jim O'Connor precinct 20 19 that's when I'm the election warden for the precinct the the topic that we're discussing is really impressed me that there's quite a large amount of open debate respectful thought sharing and mr. Caluso's remarks really impressed me in that there is a lot of divisiveness in this body either between the front and the back or the left or the right or people that vote for or against but I think what this debate is brought about is some discussion mr. Mars substitute article certainly reduces my concerns about the initial motion that was brought before us because last year I asked the body about whether we were a resolution town meeting that every time there was something said we were asked to pass a resolution about our support and I think that that issue that mr. Tully already presented was that we're not being asked to offer our support until we fully debate and discuss the merits and the negative aspects of the issue a couple of things that I thought about when I was listening to the various speakers before was an interchange back here about some sort of a negotiation about compromise every one of these articles when the board of selectmen puts the warrant out is for us 252 elected residents of Arlington to debate there shouldn't be based upon the open meeting law preconceived notions of how we're going to deliberate and what the final conclusion would be in addition is a tax consultant I wanted to point out that I was very concerned about one of the remarks made last week about our treasure whether it be our treasure our town manager the board's volunteer or not we're all serving in a capacity to help this town and one of the things that I don't see mr. Mr. Gilligan doing is just processing papers I've had the occasion to confer with him in the office about rebonding some of the negotiated instruments to take care of the Sims property and last year under his initiation he saved this town a lot of money that is because when we were going to be considered for a new bonding rating he before the fact was able to negotiate a reduced rate I think we owe a lot of gratitude to our elected officials and especially to all the volunteers that serve especially even though some of them are cons compensated in a minor amount the board of selectmen and all of the people here work together to make these issues happen and I certainly think that our town manager if you look at the budget is two hundred and sixty thousand dollars that we're spending for the assistant and the town manager I would think we have an incredible think tank of resource there to come up with good ideas for how this count could save some money and I do think that we need to enable them to discuss this bring us some ideas but I really like the fact that this debate is probably one of the longest ones that I've been at in the fifteen years that I've been a town meeting member and people are listening to each other not terminating debate and enabling a free and open discussion about what might be good for the town I I'm still listening to the various ideas that are out there after Mr. Mars proposal removing words that say we support and ask the town manager to do something specifically I really think we need to offer ideas but the idea of supporting it before we know the answer I think it's way too soon thank you thank you sir mr. Gilligan a second time thank you mr. moderator Stephen Gilligan precinct 13 town treasurer mr. moderator before I begin my remarks I'd like to point out that I placed a memo on everyone's seat last Wednesday night remarks were made at hominem against me about my qualifications as treasurer I'd like to set the record straight real quick I hold an MBA with a concentration in finance a degree in economics certificates in public management debt management investment management and contract management and I'm a certified Massachusetts assessor those are but part of my qualifications which I had prior to taking office and again mr. moderator I was elected three times as treasurer mr. moderator it is obvious to anyone watching last Wednesday's debate that once again the Board of Selection have managed to initiate an action that divides Arlington it was equally obvious that the divisiveness that was so aptly pointed out by mr. Paluso was generated by the deep distrust that many of article 51's opponents have of the motives objectivity and manner in which article 51 was proposed a point of clarification is in order regarding the potential impact of this article on the overall town budget depending upon the number of personnel and departments that are included in the category financial these departments assessors comptroller and treasurer account for barely 1.5% of the total budget in the case of article 51 town meeting is expected to accept without question that the town manager who clearly stated his preference for a consolidated finance department would objectively prepare an implementation plan that is thoroughly researched properly designed with clear lines of authority and responsibility for the proposed consolidated finance department town meeting is further expected to believe that this consolidation and promise to job reductions will be equity equitably applied and not serve the self interest of the town manager and the Board of Selection we have all the experience we have all experienced that or the that particular organizational moment when we realize that a predetermined outcome by a boss or a powerful interest group has eliminated any hope for a rational plan and that a very very poor idea will continue forward town meeting is at that moment where it needs to recognize that nothing of value will come from a warrant article like article 51 that has so many conflicting instructions and goals and has generated so much conflict it's been stated appointed officials Mr. Moderator we should defeat article 51 in all its forms Mr. Moderator I ask that John Billifer resident of the town and former town treasurer be granted the opportunity to speak and he's requesting five minutes he's got the remainder of your time requested up front so if he wants to come and use your last two minutes he better move it to here where Mr. Billifer you can use his time okay hey Sean what's going on with all those chairs back there is a reason they're on chairs back there it caused dissension in voting ranks Mr. Moderator yes sir those who know me know I never could do anything in two minutes I I have some remarks that I think will take about five minutes could I have five minutes well it's up to the will of the meeting is there a quest for him to have five minutes all in favor please say yes opposed are you got five minutes thank you very much after speaking with you last Wednesday evening John Billifer John Billifer what's your address John John Billifer I'm the chairman of the retirement board former treasurer and I live at 15 Victoria Road Allington after speaking with you last Wednesday evening I remained in the town hall to listen to the continuing debate on this article and was impelled as one who has served Allington's treasure as Allington's treasure for 33 years to speak a second time in order to take issue with some of the conclusions drawn by the proponents of article 51 frankly I was taken aback as were some of you by your reaction to Mr. Tosti's characterization of elected officials as being unqualified amateurs and that no qualified person would leave their job to run for the office of treasurer the background and qualifications of elected treasurers over the past 60 years is in direct contrast to this pessimistic assessment my predecessor is town treasurer Fran Coughlin a Harvard graduate left a financially secure position to run and be elected in the 1950s and served for almost 20 years before being appointed a senior vice president and head of the municipal department of a major Boston Bank I am also a Harvard graduate with undergraduate degrees in American government and economics a law degree and a master's degree in finance who gave up a law practice in 1972 when elected treasurer after serving eight years as a select one Mr. Gilligan has told you his qualifications and he holds a made a master's in business administration degree with a major in finance as well as certificates of achievement in numerous related fields as far as the prospects for future candidates for Allington treasurer concerned I strongly believe that they there are qualified individuals living in Allington interested in public service as a career who would compete for this office particularly during this period where the pension and health benefits in the public sector are in many instances superior to those in private sector corporations as I see it the key area of controversy in this discussion regarding an elected versus an appointed treasurer lies in the definition of whether the job is administrative or whether it has policy implications the proponents of this article continuously referred to the town treasurer as an administrator rather than a policy maker they seem to believe that if they say this often enough people will eventually believe it policy is defined in Webster's dictionary as a course of action pursued by an elected official on behalf of his or her constituents whereas an administrator works for is responsible to his or her boss I recall when I was first elected treasurer in 1972 someone suggested that I could sit back see that the money was collected and accounted for and I would have the job for life my reply was that I didn't run for the job to be a bean counter I believe then as I do now that as an elected official I was in a position to influence financial policy in the town of Allington and I believe I had an influence on financial policy when I filed and had enacted legislation to establish a first in the nation municipal tax checkoff scholarship fund and I believe I influenced financial policy when I filed and had legislation enacted allowing Allington to commence funding its enormous pension liabilities a program that over the years has stabilized Allington's pension appropriation and freed up funds to be used for other purposes and I believe that Steve Gilligan influenced financial policies when he brought forward a plan to convert the Sims Hospital bond anticipation notes to permanent financing and more favorable interest rates during this discussion a big deal has been made about the lack of communication and coordination of Allington's financial affairs this lack of communication would quickly disappear if the select when finance committee and town manager will forget about trying to control Alling's finances and begin treating the town treasurer as a policymaker rather than an administrative bean counter when the town manager act was established in the 1950s the drafters of the act made sure that Allington's town manager would have complete authority and control over the department he administered to offset that authority in control the drafters of Allington's act made sure provisions were included that acted as a check and balance on the manager's power through an elected town treasurer town clerk and board of assessors almost done I'll just wrap up by saying when voting on this article I would ask you to think long and hard before disrupting this separation of powers by allowing this study of an appointed town treasurer to move forward I suggested you vote no on article 51 thank you very much for allowing me the time and listening to me thank you Mr. Judd Lyman Judd precinct nine Mr. moderator could you tell me roughly how many people have already spoken and how many more wish to speak because this is I think we're setting a record here generally it's against my policy to do so but the list now I have 70 people about half of them have spoke well I think that proves one thing if there's 70 some odd people besides myself who wish to happen to say anything about what's going on with this article I tend to think that this is not going to be an easy way to meld that together I think both sides seem to be fairly well set in their idea of how things should or should not be I just asked for show of hands does anybody remember Carmen for a tonneau who takes votes please listen listen I said I would like to know if anybody remembers Carmen for a tonneau now mostly people who are much older here he was the last elected auditor if I remember correctly appointed I thought he was elected Harry okay well as I say that's a long time back and I'm wondering if we had an auditor with a little more authority that perhaps the problem of the school budget wouldn't have arisen because the auditor would have known to warn the various officials that they couldn't do it that way whether that would have made any difference I do not know however I feel certain that we will not be able to come to very much of an agreement on this article even with the help of mr. Mars correction of some of the problems of the article and I think I don't want to see this town meeting get too divided because there are some I think it's pretty strong feelings on both sides I don't think we want an appointed treasurer anybody else but I would like to see some concrete proposals not general while this is what we want to do but it's like putting the cart before the horse and I would rather if possible try to find a way that both sides will be satisfied and nobody will thought think they lost everybody will be a winner therefore I move no action with a no action movement I believe that the nobody can feel that they lost there hasn't been a recorded vote and it's a go back to the drawing board is basically what no action would mean so mr. moderator as I say my my I would like to move no action on this article are you making a substitute will that be in me out a substitute motion for no action so what you're doing yes sir whatever you think is a proper form no I'm just asking you what you want to do you want to make a substitute motion for no action yes I want to get someone to second that yes sir mr. Marr what's your point of order I agree with you I'm in agreement with you we've you know the point is that if we vote it down it's no action automatically we don't have to actually do a substitute for no action yes I understand that but I think no action possibly would leave a few less people shall we say disturbed by what went on it's right according to the my memory and I've been here since 1972 with two years of exception any time an article was brought before this town meeting or before any board or committee if the article either was not properly descriptive or seemed to be defective or nobody was for sure what the article meant usually that body would suggest a vote of no action that is why I'm suggesting it because at the moment I believe that this article either no matter how well mr. Marr has tried to correct it I think that there are still too many defects and too much suspicion I would rather see a no action vote than just a straight up or down vote because I don't think that's gonna be this would be a shall we say a graceful way to get over with this thing so as I say that is my thought that no action even though as mr. Marr says if we turn down the article but I think if we vote no action now or soon if we if ever well that will you can technically make the motion for no action and just as a substitute but it's not gonna make anybody feel better if they lose well I'm not sure let me no action to what we've been debating for I am not sure if it will really see the point but I'm not as I say mr. moderator I'm not sure if it will or it won't satisfy everyone but I would rather see it that way from the moderator and right it's I'm getting the no you can't do it nod well as I say I would like the amended motion to be voted first before we do anything else thank you thank you I'll put you on the list mr. Pluso the next on the list was mr. Wagner who if he's in his traditional spot isn't here so sorry mr. Wagner mr. Kleinman thank you mr. Murray Stuart Kleinman precinct one move the question all matters related to this article okay we have another another motion to terminate the bait call this one t3 all in favor of terminating the bait please say yes opposed say no that's two-thirds not that we should be happy we we've done a very good job of debating this outside so we're now going to take a series of votes first before us is going to be mr. Mars substitute which you should all have in your chairs and it should all be clear to you what he's doing and is there any question on what his vote is seeing none all in favor of mr. Mars substitute motion please say yes opposed say no my opinion is an affirmative vote we have five five people rising so we're going to take a voice folks we have five people rising all in favor of mr. Mars amendment please rise miss mahan up front 11 in the affirmative up front mr. Schlichman how many on the left 25 on my left mr. O'Connor 46 46 46 on the left center mr. Tremblay 34 in the right center 34 mr. McCabe 33 on the right all opposed to mr.  Schlichman how many in the left 17 on the left mr. O'Connor four four mr. Tremblay 14 mr. McCabe nine 149 in the affirmative 44 in the negative it is approved we now have before us we recommend a vote of the Board of Selectment as amended and substituted by mr. Mars vote all in favor please say yes opposed say no it's it was very close I'm gonna call it as a no vote I'm gonna say it's a negative all right we have five people rising we arise everyone who is in the affirmative for the main motion as substituted by mr. Marr please rise all in favor please rise same tellers as substituted sir people don't understand what we're doing what we always do every time we substituted mr. Mars vote for the Board of Selectment vote now we're voting on the main motion as substituted yeah it's if you want mr. Mars to become law you're gonna stand up and vote now I hope that's what y'all did do we have to do it again what do you think all right mr. Tremblay says yes everyone who wants mr. Mars amendment to be the main motion and they wanted to do it all right all in favor of the as the substituted by mr. Marr and how else can I say it I have to say it that way everyone of favor the amendment please rise they're all confused that's what I said I thought all in favor of the main motion as amended please rise Diane 11 do little skinny mr. Schlickman 19 mr. Connor 41 mr. Tremblay 31 mr. McCabe 26 all opposed to the amendment please rise zero up front mr. Schlickman 24 the left mr. Connor 10 mr. Tremblay 17 mr. McCabe 18 final tally is 128 and affirmative 69 of the negative motion carries yep all righty then we're gonna declare them annual town meeting in recess and with sir what purpose do you arise are you you're considering note serving notice and reconsideration very good oh yes sir did you vote in the prevailing side sir he did yeah that was mr. Deist I had to get that for the record okay we are now declaring this annual town meeting in recess and that brings us to the special town meeting I recognize the chairman of board of select in this row thank you mr. moderator I have a new duty I see I'm gonna read the warrant it is requested that the members of the board of select and elected officials of the town town manager department heads of the town and staff superintendent of schools and staff committees commissions and boards of the town minute man regional vocational technical school district committee and superintendent members of the general court representing our Arlington and also any consultants who've been retained to work for the town relative to the two articles to be acted on by this meeting representatives of interested parties of article 2 and representatives of the news media be permitted to sit within the special town meeting enclosure second all in favor please say yes so moved madam town clerked used to clear that the special town meeting has been duly called and that you have the constables return of the warrant so she says yes she does this row it is moved that if all the business of the meeting is set forth in the warrant for the special town meeting is not disposed of at this session when the meeting adjourns it adjourns to Wednesday May 11th 2011 at 8 p.m. all in favor please say yes all opposed okay article 3 any reports of committees when he but anybody have a report they want to submit on this the selectmen and the finance reports are already before the committee I before the town meeting I believe from we took them earlier any other reports of committees all right that yes sir where are these located they're located in the back of the selectmen's report oh the finance committee I thought the selectmen had some to didn't they they're all the back of the finance committee report I thought they reported on one they did they're both okay article 2 miss row did you find them page 25 thank you mr. assistant town moderator yes mr. moderator I'd like Christine Conley to come up and speak under this article thank you Christine Conley director of health and human services it's not on yes it's just get a little closer to the mic Christine can you hear me now thank you no you cannot can you now okay thank you so what you have here before you this evening is an amended 2011 budget for the Arlington Youth Counseling Center's enterprise fund there had been last year sorry I guess people cannot hear me so I will speak up last year town meeting voted to cut back some funding to the Arlington Youth Counseling Center which prompted the agency to reevaluate the way services were provided so we hired a consultant to assist us with evaluating the agency and we implemented a fee-for-service based counseling model so we went from town staff providing mental health counseling to use youth and families to hiring fee for service clinicians who we pay per session we then developed contracts with the health insurance companies including Mass Health Blue Cross Blue Shield Tufts Harvard Pilgrim and we bill insurance for each session that's provided as a result we had to amend the the budget for FY 11 which you have here before you anybody has any questions I'd be happy to answer them does anybody wish to address the article mr. Jamison thank you mr. moderator Gordon Jamison precinct 12 first I have a question for director Conley how is this impacted the services that you provide Christine miss Conley has it been an impact on your services Christine Conley director of Health and Human Services it has actually improved our services we're able to now offer more counseling to more youth and families last year we had a significant wait list of youth and families needing services and this year it's been significantly covered by our fee-for-service clinicians we've been able to hire clinicians as we need them so currently we have I believe 16 youth on the waiting list as opposed to last year we had over 40 and would you make any other comments about this change that you might wish to make good better and different we have been doing very well we have recently begun our fundraising campaign so many of you might be seeing that out there we've started writing grants and looking for foundation funding so really looking at alternative ways to fund this agency thank you and I have a comment on the on the type of warrant article that was put in here this is something that I believe amendments to budgets this is something that many towns put in their warrant the regular warrant each and every year I believe that this was something that was proposed previously by perhaps the vision 2020 physical resource task group I think this is a good housekeeping article that the finance committee and the town manager should consider inserting in every year so we don't have to have a special just to do this thank you Mr. Deist John Deist member of finance committee also town you remember from precinct 13 and on the subcommittee along with Mary Margaret French Lamont within the finance committee overseeing youth services and I just want to say that she and I and I think I can speak with you Mary Margaret if you're here she and I are very very pleased with the way that youth services has evolved over the last year I think the manager and Christine Connolly have done a wonderful job in creating a stable organization that has funding to do its job and is if anything a great an enormous benefit to the town and maybe even an enormous benefit to the whole region because these services are sort of only available in many ways right here in Arlington and paid for as well in many ways from people's insurance as opposed to being subsidized as it was as was the case in the past by the town so it's a it's a win-win all the way around as best I can tell for Arlington thank you very much thank you mr. Dyson mr. Judd I'm in Judd precinct nine just curious as to one section here says total increased revenues or increased revenues hundred and eighteen thousand three hundred fifty seven which happens to total coincidentally balance the total increased expenses I'm just curious as to where this money came from I would like to know if maybe we just collected more revenue than it was expected I would also like to thank the moderator for not having a vote on my amended motion and thank him for allowing to mr. Maher to interrupt while I was speaking other than that I think that this I would just like either the finance committee or someone else to just explain where this money was dug up from Miss Connolly do you know where the money came from Christine Connolly director of health and human services we began billing health insurance companies at a much higher level this year that's where you're going to see the the additional revenues coming in from and the additional expenses are the FIFA service clinicians which we hadn't built into the budget when we prepared at last January mr. Schlickman Paul Schlickman precinct nine motion to terminate debate on all matters in this article all in favor please say yes opposed it's terminated all in favor of the recommended vote of the finance committee is printed in the report please say yes opposed saying no unanimous vote so to clear that brings us to article three cab for you to recommended vote of the Fincom for Ellington high rehab someone want to talk about that no mr. Sullivan's going to tell us about it yes a town maintains a municipal buildings insurance fund to cover any losses to property damage that are not insured we have a hundred thousand dollar deductible on our policy so that's what that fund we maintain is there to cover we did have a burst pipe at the high school this year which caused some significant damage beyond our deductible and we're looking to transfer ninety two thousand dollars from that fund in order to cover those damages glad to answer any questions anyone has about that mr. McCabe question has been made have the repairs been made have you got to get up not completely yet but most have anyone else wish to address the article seeing none all in favor of the recommended vote please say yes opposed to no unanimous vote so declare that brings us to article four mr. Tosti mr. Foskett who is chair of the capital budget committee and a leading part in both articles four and five is out of the country on business and I think he it would be critical to hear from him on both of these articles along with the capital budget because they're all interrelated therefore I would move to postpone articles four and five to the sixth May 16th which is next Monday all in favor postpone please say yes opposed a so-called postponed mr. Tosti might I only have a recommended vote of no action on number four is there another vote okay please yeah there's going to be action taken in the capital budget which is in the annual town meeting and that action will make action on article four and the special not needed okay and I think it's important for him to be there to explain those elements now we postpone that I just was wondering if we could expect something else okay so six five and six are postponed to five four and five is the 11th and next month the 16th right that brings us to number six oh let me tell me it's a break now it's 15 minutes yes number someone want to speak to it number get someone's got to get up and introduce it yes miss Brody good evening Kathleen Bodie superintendent of schools thank you for allowing me to speak to this particular article we had two invoices from arbitrators for work that was done during the FY09 year however they did not submit their invoices to us to well over a year after they rendered their services and after the time that the books that closed on FY09 so the purpose for this article tonight is to have funds available in order to close out these invoices thank you if there's any questions I'll be happy to answer them Mr. Tully Joe Tully precinct 14 I apologize to dr. Bodie I missed the first few words of her commentary did you indicate who we're paying pursuant to this article the names of the two arbitrators these are for payment to arbitrators is that these are paid to arbitrators and I understand the article itself says what it's not related to is there is there anything you can tell us as to what it is related to certainly I don't want to just I don't want to know specifics of personnel issues but can you just a staff grievance is this a IEP issue with the student and these are both staff grievances and do we send out notices to our vendors to ask them to pay us before the end of the fiscal year this is the first time I recall doing this so I imagine in the absence of some sort of notice we would be doing this every single year how do the vendors generally know to pay us well I'm sorry the store how do our service providers know and the in the for arbitrators they submit their invoice through the AAA which is the American Arbitrage Association which was the case in both of these and the they also at the same time submit their invoice to us generally speaking arbitrators usually submit their invoice almost immediately upon submitting their decision it was quite unusual in fact to have two arbitrators two independent arbitrators submit their invoice is so late no we don't send notices out to vendors saying please pay us generally what we do is if we have somebody that has had a we encumber invoices but then there comes a certain point when the books for that year are closed out and then if that invoice or a payment comes forward we don't have the ability to be able to to pay it thanks I did have one other question which you answered in the scope of your your comments my only other question I guess would be directed to the town council or through the moderate or anyone else who I guess is deemed appropriate to answer what happens if we don't vote by 90% in favor of this article I assume just these people just don't get paid do we send them a letter saying I'm sorry town meeting didn't authorize the payment miss Rice what would happen if we don't vote to pay these folks thank you mr. moderator Juliana rice town council if we quiet please if town meeting doesn't authorize this payment then no these folks are not only won't get paid they cannot get paid under the law thank you thank you mr. Kleinman thank you miss marty a store climb in precinct one there's something that's terribly wrong here I'm used to have a job where I worked with contractors and there was a clause in the contract said they didn't build within 30 days then they weren't going to get paid actually had a contractor that billed me six months later and she wasn't happy because we did not pay her I don't know if we have any such clause in any contract with the school department but for somebody to bill this we're almost at the end of fiscal year 11 that's two fiscal years away and all of a sudden we're talking about paying a bill from fiscal year 09 I think I think it's frankly it's too late if somebody did not bill before then didn't do due diligence for their own work that's the problem thank you thank you did you want to answer to you did you have a question embedded in there or no thank you thank you well one is to do we do we have a clause in a contract which which gives a time limit for billing dr. Bodie do you know if there's such a clause in your contracts we don't have contracts per se with arbitrators when a particular case goes to the AAA they there's a process by which arbitrators are selected and I'm not aware of any clause to that effect last year the reason why it's an FY 11 coming before you is we didn't even get their bills until I think late May last year so it wasn't possible to put it forward into a special time meeting for last year I understand but my point stands that they would know any arbitrator or anybody would know the fiscal year ends on June 30th it would know to get the bill in time thank you thank you Mr. Mano I'm a little confused is there a contract to set rate for every arbitrator I mean do we know how much we're gonna pay them before they arbitrate well I'm not actually all we're talking about now is $4,207 arbitrators probably have a set fee per hour I'm getting a nod yes and did you know what the rate was prior to entering into arbitration I guess what I'm asking is how many hours are we paying for what period of time are we paying for it and as Mr. Cleiman said there should be a restriction as to submitting a bill late and I'm just curious to what the hourly rate is for an arbitrator miss dr. Bodie's gonna give us an answer on that for an arbitrator it is based on about $1,200 a day but that includes their writing of the decision and doing the research for the decision so it's what they charge is simply for their presence during the day of the arbitration and these were two day arbitrations both of them okay I have one more question I think it would have been easier for us to absorb this if in this warrant it said time from April 10th to April 21st we had an arbitrator who had to be paid this amount of money there should have been a set contract that we could look at so that when a bill came in we can verify that the contract is equal to what he's asking for in payment and I don't see any of this in a warrant I just see a lot of words and I'm not comfortable with that we don't have an independent contract with the arbitrary that's not how the process works it goes through the American arbitration Association and gets referred to through the process of the grievance process with the MTA okay so there's no accountability I just find it hard as an independent contractor myself to not have in writing a contract with a said person that I'm going to give you my time my professional time and this is what it's going to be and I will bill you for such fee so I'm having a hard time with that thank you thank you Mr. Judd I'm in Judd precinct nine to follow on with the Miss Marino I have a simple question if the this is the way the American arbitration Association runs their business should we be doing business with them I also have a triple A car but that's just a towing my car I really I believe that obviously we're morally obligated to pay this bill but I think the payment should include a rather shall we say terse letter telling them exactly what kind of problem they have caused for the town and that they are darned lucky that we're paying them and I think that the American arbitration Association could should get the same letter plus I hope we will make sure that we never hire either of these two arbitrators again okay other than that nothing okay mr. Siano hopefully he's going to terminate thank you hello hi a couple of couple of questions name and name increasing Frank Siano precinct 15 if we if we do not pay these two arbitrators query won't they bring suit and won't the suit then cost us more than the 4,000 we've got to pay them well technically we're talking otherwise we're talking I'm glad the floor mr. Judd we own four thousand two hundred bucks the contract probably are obligated to do it within a year I think they sent us the bill a year ago and we just haven't been able to bring it up until now so we're both kind of like been holding bills for a long time yes they may Sue us and we'll have Juliana go down and defend the law some get it dismissed after ten hours of her time so you were right and it would get dismissed in the end that answer your question I guess so thanks mr. Jamison thank you mr. minority Gordon Jamison precinct 12 the question was raised about contracts I do a lot of work in my business on purchase orders they can be four five ten twelve thousand dollars just I tell people do work they bill me bigger things I have a contract on the idea that's been bandied about here that we not approve this article perhaps mr. Gilligan might throw in a few key choice words about the impact on the town's credit rating etc if any do you feel so moved mr. Gilligan Mr. Gilligan will this affect us still a triple a bond rating different contractors maybe I'm maybe I'm maybe I'm making some a dangerous question here other things may affect our triple a bond rating but this will not but you do you still do would you recommend passage you know it comes down to good faith did the town enter into a contract in good faith did the arbitrators enter into a contract in good faith and Arlington I would take it from my general look look observation over being here almost ten nine years is it the town of good faith don't disagree with you okay thank you mr. Deist John Deist Prisik 13 I'd like to once again appeal to your good instincts I mean given that we know so little about what went on you have no idea whether or not was the triple a or these arbitrators or whatever let's just vote the lousy four thousand or whatever it is dollars thank you very much mr. Birkowitz thanks Bill Birkowitz Prisik date I don't think this is a good use of town meeting time I think in the absence of policy to the contrary we should approve of course the four thousand dollars but I would like to ask dr. Bodie if it's possible or if she's able to construct a policy that would prevent such a current system happening in the future dr. Bodie can you write a school department policy that will make that happen in the future I don't see how she actually could yeah it's a public contract and who's yelling back there don't have the right to yell mr. Birkowitz has the floor I again I would like to ask dr. Bodie dr. Bodie the school department can construct a contract provisions which would mandate that bills be invoices be submitted within a certain period of time what I can do is ask the American arbitration association if they could remind their arbitrators to submit their bills in a more timely fashion I certainly will do that and actually already have but I will reiterate it to them the the any policies that are made vis-a-vis school committees is created and passed by the school committee I can't I think the only thing that could happen differently would be if we waited longer perhaps to close out the books for a particular year but that's certainly not the desirable way to handle this these these bills were encumbered it's just that they were submitted after the books have been closed I'm not sure that I can take this up with the policies and procedures committee and get some advice on whether that's possible well based on what I understand I would suggest that that you do so and that that would apply not only to the AAA but also to other vendors that submit invoices to the school department because that would prevent such a current system happening in the future thanks very much thank you mr. Berkowitz mr. Maher I think this is a simple matter whether or not we pay our bills whether or not I get submitted late I don't you know having been in umpteen million arbitrations you don't want to have arbitrator not think that the town of Arlington's not going to pay their bills when they get submitted it is a question of nine-tenths vote probably not going to happen but I can assure you as Mr. Seattle suggested that these arbitrators go to court there's no defense that I'm aware of that will keep them from getting a judgment and it would be a poor waste of our capable town council's time to go down and try to defend a defenseless suit let's just vote this and get a get on with it thank you mr. Schlickman what's the Red Sox score I can't say anything else yeah oh sorry uh Paul Schlickman pre-signined motion to terminate debate under this article second oh we have a second all in favor of terminating please say yes opposed say no okay debate is terminated mr. Schlickman will give us a score after the break now we're paying prior your year's bills with this year's money it requires a nine-tenths vote by state law so that means 90% of the people so all in favor please say yes opposed say no standing vote all in favor paying last bill please rise miss mahan 11 mr. Schlickman 39 39 mr. corner 47 mr. Tremblay 47 mr. McCabe 31 all opposed please rise zero up front one on the left one in the center zero on the right center mr. McCabe eight it is approved 175 the positive 10 in the negative it's 9 30 something we're going to take a break come back in 10 minutes thank you and you have a score red socks are up one nothing there are 19 seconds remaining in the basketball game it's tied at 86 oh okay we're back in session here next up Warren article 7 of the special town meeting board of selection yes thank you mr. moderator I would like to get our DPW had Mike Rademacher to discuss this article thank you mr. Rademacher thank you my name is Mike Rademacher I'm the director of Public Works and the article here in question is for permission to for the authority to have easements taken by eminent domain for the Mass Ave quarter project for those of you who may not be aware of this project the town is working on a design that will reconstruct Mass Ave from pond lane to the Cambridge line approximately one mile of roadway and associated with this project will be the reconstruction of sidewalks on either side of the road so approximately two miles of sidewalk the sidewalk will be built back in its current location more or less and though so the back sides of the sidewalk will fall on property lines just on the edge of the road right of way and the butters properties along Mass Avenue so it is unlikely that while you're constructing the sidewalk that you will that you would need to or it is likely that you would need to make some adjustments or regrade or make improvements to people's properties such as new lawn or adjusting a step or whatnot which may be adjacent to the sidewalk and such because this project is being funded significantly through federal and state funds it is required that we have these easements in place so that the town has the permission to enter on private property to make these adjustments or the grading or the seating or the the the adjustments to people's steps that made about the sidewalk again the majority of the easements that we would be seeking will be temporary in nature again last just as long as the project and give us the permissions to do this kind of associated work there are a small number I believe six permanent easements that will be required for this project and those are for instances where we will have rebuilt handicap ramps in order to meet today's standards for handicap ramps there are a greater space requirements than in the past and the areas where these six specific locations are there is not enough room within the layout so we would need to get a permanent easement to allow us to build the ramps correctly in neither case would we be actually taking land from residents or property owners as we would essentially have easements again the temporary easements would be for about a three-year period the permanent easements would be for as long as we would maintain the handicap ramps that would require that easement I'm happy to answer any other questions Mr. Trembly at Trembly precinct 19 I got kind of an earful over the weekend about this from one of my neighbors and don't misunderstand me and I was as an elected representative it's my responsibility to hear my neighbors and hear what they have to say but he was dead set against spending any kind of money on this I mean the amount of money that's been proposed I think is a little to pay for some of these permanent easements is kind of a slushy figure and there's nothing hard and fast there but he is his philosophy was that if the town has the mr. moderator am I correct in thinking it was a hundred or two hundred thousand dollars or something Mr. Rotemacher do you have a dollar figure on how much this is going to run the process will require an assessment made of all the easements because the nature of the vast majority is our temporary we don't believe that they will be an absorbent amount we are estimating on the low side or we're assuming about a hundred thousand dollars that is the price for the actual cost of having the assessment done and then the cost of the temporary and permanent easements I believe at one point a statement was made between a hundred two hundred thousand again it was just a safety factor there well my neighbor's philosophy was that if the town has a spare hundred or two hundred thousand dollars kicking around for a project that's controversial to say the least that they really don't need the money for a prop two and a half override and he was like I said I got an earful about this I had another question Mr. Moderator are any of these handicapped lamps that we're talking about will these be are these gonna stick out in the street I'll answer I can add some insight to your first question about the cost of the easements the state has funding available to the town for the cost of these easements without chapter 90 money so it would not come out of the tax rolls for the easement cost and as far as the the handicapped ramps they would be within the sidewalk layout there may be some within what's been called bump outs but I believe the six in question are not included in bump outs they're in areas where because of turning movements or for other reasons they're they're tighter into the property lines okay well mr. moderate you can you can tell me correct me if this is beyond the scope of the article here I was going to invite all town meeting members to go take a look at the bump outs out by CVS and observe the chunks of granite that are missing from those I think they're six month old bump outs each one of those chunks represents either a broken snow plow or somebody's wrecked car and and I don't think we should be building projects that wrecked peoples the town residents property and wrecked the town equipment I would plan on voting no on this because I don't from for two reasons hearing my neighbors and and because I don't think this is a good thing to spend money on thank you you want us to go on a field trip right now what can we do at the termination of town meeting no I wouldn't suggest leaving now no Mr. O'Brien Andy O'Brien precinct 16 I'm not going to really speak to the economics of the issues met read many things online about how every billion dollars spent on construction construction projects results in a multiplier of something between 20,000 40,000 new jobs instead I'll come up in defense of bricks just want to Steve secretary of energy Steven shoe has suggested that giving roads and roofs a pale of color would have the same effect of removing every car in the world off the road for 11 years according to the F.P. is a geoscope what's that bricks we're talking about easements easements of sidewalks okay so that I was led okay then verify what your point is maybe maybe it's within scope is this dealing with sidewalks yeah sidewalk easements just the easements yeah so it has nothing to do with bricks mountain less they're going to build all these sidewalks out of bricks bricks or concrete concrete okay so all right the other night before town meeting okay I was under the impression that these sidewalks were going to be made out of bricks and there was some problem with that well a little barrister be up here I'll pass thank you Scott Smith Scott Smith article Scott Smith precinct 5 so I want to talk briefly very familiar with the whole project and this article which is focused very specifically on the easements for the sidewalk so you know it's not about number of lanes not about the motorist recyclists the combination even with a four-lane road you would still need these easements to properly reconstruct the sidewalks is about pedestrian accommodation disabilities accommodation you heard the frustration of our disabilities Commission representative last week at our town slow progress and installing ramps what this does is gives us the opportunities to do a number of ramps places where they are substandard at one fell swoop this is a big-ticket item should not pass up this opportunity and of course the driveway street interface that's what this is about and route about the sidewalk conditions next slide please and my colleague Adam Oster took a few of these pictures I took a few somewhere in fair to good shape somewhere in very rough shape by Arlington diner X please ramp that doesn't meet standards next please some of the patches and driveways pretty worn out next ramp down at Marathon Street next see more these are a few I took some tripping hazards as a whole by Fox library substandard ramp and last slide okay so just to reiterate easements give us a space we need to a proper reconstruction of the sidewalks naval ramps that meet ADA standards and one interesting thing is there was some discussion of bump outs earlier well one reason to bump out sometimes our bill is when you have a right-of-way constraint you don't have the ability and you need to get some more sidewalk space to build a proper ramp I think now what I notice is the permanent easements tended to be at places where we don't have bump outs and and finally enables a project to meet our pedestrian and disability is accommodation goals and should support it thank you thank you sir oh thank you mr. moderate Michael ruderman precinct nine I'm confused about one thing that I think I might have misheard in passing no matter what the design of this project and no matter how it's funded with chapter 90 funds from the state I believe that the town is responsible for acquiring rights of way is that correct and by acquiring meaning meaning appraisal appraisal negotiation payment payment to the owners recording the documents of the registry of deeds all that yes Mike Rademacher director of public works correct the project is fully funded through federal and state monies what that funding didn't include was property acquisitions which would include these easements so the town is responsible for doing all the legwork and paperwork to get these easements you are correct we like I said though we the funding we are the funding is state funding is eligible to get these easements just not as part of the original funding package for the program I'm sorry that was the part I didn't understand state funding is eligible for reimbursing the town the easements are eligible for state funding they're eligible and they will be I mean that's won't be a problem we already have may have that conversation so we just have to go after it correct okay that's all I was misinformed then thank you thank you Mr. Connors thank you mr. moderator Joe Connors from precinct seven I just want to everyone to connect the dots to this particular article by connecting the dots I mean that if this article is passing then the state Department of Transportation can move forward with their plan submitted by the town to create a mass av corridor project if this article is defeated then that kills the mass corridor project please connect the dots thank you Paul Schleckman precinct nine I respectfully disagree with the previous speaker let's examine the reasons one this is about sidewalk easements that means that we want to either construct sidewalks on private property or we want to be digging around in trespassing or intruding onto private property in the process of constructing these sidewalks logically speaking mass av the travel portion of the avenue is not on private property the only portion that is on private property is the far end of the sidewalk near the property line if we are constructing handicapped ramps and require the easement it is in order for the sidewalk to go on to private property which means that they're not going out into the street they're going the other way into the private property the bottom line on this is that the curbs can go in the same place the avenue can be constructed in the same way the only thing we get if we defeat this is worse sidewalks if you want crappy sidewalks vote no if you want the sidewalks to be done in conformance the standards and done well vote yes and give them the room to work thank you thank you mr. Berger thank you mr. moderator Eric Berger precinct 6 I urge you to vote no on article 7 article 7 is going to authorize the selectmen to acquire hundreds of easements in land necessary we're told to improve the sidewalks along mass av in East Arlington many of these rights as we learned are going to be temporary easements to facilitate construction some are going to be permanent land takings needed for example to install wheelchair ramps these easements are necessary as has been pointed out for the completion of the mass avenue Carter project the five point eight million dollar roadway project reconstruction that's under review by the mass department transportation now there are two reasons essentially why it would be disastrous to pass this article first the selectmen are asking you for a blank check though article 7 is vague the selectmen have reported to town meeting they're going to be seeking easements for 226 temporary situations six permanent easements from property owners along mass av and what they haven't told us is what's the cost going to be now we have an estimate from the department of public works is going to be between a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand dollars not a small sum but it's a reckless throw at the dice we don't know how much this is going to cost now we don't know the anticipated cost for example of each easement or how that's going to be determined exactly we don't know the legal cost the town may occur incur if property owners resist this and say we're not going to give you the eminent domain that you're requesting because we don't want to do it so we'll go to court all right we'll go to court therefore a vote for article 7 is a vote to give the selectmen I maintain unlimited and open-ended authority to purchase property and seek loans and I maintain it's a pandora's box that we shouldn't open in these economic times it's going to be fiscally irresponsible of us to allow the select to take on such a potentially costly endeavor when there's no limit to our financial exposure we don't know the end game voters expect us to know exactly what we're voting on especially if it has to do with their money and we don't know the the answer secondly the select was asking for money now to improve sidewalks is like a person who can't pay his mortgage and he's going to put a pool in the backyard I mean it's an understatement to say things are tight now we're in a fiscal tight situation we're facing a substantial budget deficit we're being told the we're being told the selectmen cannot finance the basics for example with our schools for our kids we're up against it next month we're going to be asking the residents a lot of whom are up against it to approve a six point five million dollar tax overwrite so we can fund the basics like education for our kids now in light of these circumstances I'm telling you it's fiscally irresponsible to ask you to open up the town's coffers to pay off property owners a long mass ad to make roadway improvements this is not the time to be spending money to improve anything we're up against the wall as a community we need to keep our financial resources focused on the basics now the selectmen will tell you that while the town needs to pay for the easements the actual sidewalk improvements themselves which is true are going to be paid for by state and federal funds coming out of the mass ad project now that is true but the worst shocker of all is this and really the most irresponsible part is this that the article seven authorizes the selectmen now to pay for the easements to buy the property now to go to court perhaps in eminent domain now before the project is approved the project is far from a done deal you may have heard or witnessed yourself that hundreds of Arlington residents packed this place I mean you couldn't get an empty you couldn't find a seat the balcony was full there was standing room only there were hundreds of people here many of them expressing uh visceral opposition to the project now the point is the DOT witnessed this widespread opposition and for all we know they may decide not to fund the project maybe the DOT will decide to fund some other project in another town with widespread common ground support for the project and if that's the case and there's no money to pay for the sidewalk improvements because the project didn't get funded what good are the easements furthermore a lawsuit could stop the Carter project dead in its track thank you thank you have to speak right into the mic all right thank you very much furthermore a lawsuit could stop the Carter project dead in its tracks now the selectmen I maintain are asking you to to take an irresponsible leap of faith here it's awfully premature if you vote for article seven and the Carter project is not approved approved you're going to be part of this mess you'll have authorized the purchase of easements and property that can't be used because the money to improve the sidewalks is not coming from the state and federal government because the project got turned down now how you're going to explain that to your constituents that you put the cart before the horse I mean somebody comes up to you and says what did you spend the money for do you know we're up against it how could you gamble it you didn't know for sure that the project was going to be approved but you spent the money I think it would be far more prudent at least to wait until we're certain that the the Carter project is a done deal before asking the town meeting members here to spend our constituents money to secure easements to obtain some information needed to I say for us to intelligently vote on this so we understand the financial implications first of all I have a question I have a question thank you for the selectmen or the gentleman from the department of public works how many parcels or pieces of property are going to be involved under the authorization how many total pieces of property yes are being purchased will be involved yes not necessarily will be involved right not necessarily purpose there are currently 230 temporary easements and six permanent easements proposed okay thank you how many just another question please how many I'm sorry Mike Rademacher director of public works I think Mike how many are going to be acquired do you know by eminent domain or purchase well we until we get into the they would all be essentially potentially could be by eminent domain and depending on the how the process goes as we're as we're reaching out to residents okay well property owners what the town budget is the money going to come from it's going to come from state funds have you gotten that right we did we asked the state and they said the money that is available to the town is eligible for property acquisition so that's going to be a separate grant for a separate correct it's a separate it's a separate pool of money from this project are you going to need to borrow any money no you're not okay how much money has been allocated for the legal cause the we haven't our council would handle most of that have you have you allocated any money for that no nothing i'm aware of council could answer that better than i okay all right so does any money been allocated through your office thank you mr. moderator juliana rice town council you all already pay me so I guess it has but not in connection with this project okay well I'm I'm going to vote no I say it's not the right time to approve this project because of the physical situation that we're in the town so I'm going to vote no on this and I ask you to also thank you sir mr. McKinney for what purpose do you rise point of water what's your point of order sir what do you want to do I'd like to know what we're discussing I know I know we're talking about article seven and under my report it says the selectman will report they have reported but I don't have a recommended vote and unless we have a recommended vote then we're wasting our time now I'm being shown an article in the annual town meeting warrant but we're not in the annual town meeting we're in the special town meeting miss miss so mr. moderator what is the recommended vote that we're talking about so that we can see precisely what we're voting I suggest that we put this off I have an answer for another meeting we have an answer miss row can you tell him that the recommended vote is same as 58 correct yes the recommended vote is on page 26 and 27 of this booklet mr. moderator that is the report for the annual town meeting we're not in the annual I'm sorry mr the same vote for article 58 is article 58 is article 7 it has the same article 58 slash special town meeting article 7 yes it is sir thank you very much so does everybody else understand that too it's a legit question article 58 is also recommended vote is also the recommended vote for article 7 so article 5 I asked you mr. jud not to be yelling stop it now article 58 of the annual town meeting is the same recommended vote for article 7 of the special I have it in front of me it's right there there it is it's the same and then they have their amendment which is all these this really tiny print that I put in life and we can't read it there's grids and grids of all the properties every single one of them is listed that was in their supplemental report I believe is that clear mr. mccabe right good can you tell us where that is in the very back of this report are about one two three four eight pages 10 pages of all the easements that we'd be asking for both permanent and temporary mr strifefeld mark strifefeld precinct 20 I was listening to the discussions here and I'm going to ask some questions that I believe are rhetorical but I'm going to ask them anyway and I guess they go beyond rhetorical because I'm asking questions this article in absolutely no way appropriates any money is that correct mr. moderator no it is um wait a second the recommended vote under article 58 slash 7 does not appropriate money okay and there's no way that the town is going to be obligated for any expenses under this that is correct that's how I'm reading it okay and I got you mr. McKinney oh the just the clocky sorry and there is uh and and whether this is past or not I read in this extra handout that was distributed sometime that what happens if the town meeting votes no and it says the town meeting may seek to resign the project or eliminate or minimize sidewalk reconstruction some sidewalks will not replace the town would investigate replacing a portion of the sidewalks in a way that would not require easements so there is absolutely no way that this vote is going to affect whether or not the mass abquarter project goes through correct I don't I don't know what you have in your hand but oh the one that wasn't signed yes or I was supposed to ignore because it wasn't signed but if that's what it says I'm going to believe you okay this document will speak for itself so whoever put stuff out should actually sign it from now on there's also a map that was never signed so go ahead so so the mass abquarter project is going to continue on as is regardless of what gets passed here and the only effect will be that according to this the sidewalks replacement will have to be done some other way and I bring this up because some people have linked the two together but if the mass abquarter project doesn't get done then I hope you can answer will that have a financial impact on the town or is that too far off topic mr toasty could you just repeat that question again please so some people have suggested that if we don't pass this the mass abquarter project won't get done and that would be financially better off that will leave the town financially better off or if you like tripping over sidewalks uh I think that the uh at some point drive down East Arlington walk on the sidewalks uh you're in horrible condition address this question please but but it won't affect the finances of the town we'll have to do the work sometime okay and then if we have to do the work sometime then we'll have to pay for that and if we do it now it gets paid for by the state therefore if we if it didn't get done okay so this article despite what some of the folks who have been opposing it have said does not in any way affect going ahead of the mass abquarter project and it does not save the town any money uh makes all the sense in the world to vote yes because it's in our best interest okay thank you and to address Mr. McKabe again on page 26 of the Selectman report the very bottom says article 58 special town meeting article 7 voted that's what we're voting on so you all should have that in page 26 of your blue book along with the teeny tiny grids Mr. McKinney I got my Lawrence McKinney sevens precinct home of the disgusting sidewalks and the useless Uncle Sam committee and well anyway my question is and I have not heard any definitive answer and that's all i'm here for some people say maybe it will stop or maybe it won't stop who here can give us a definitive answer if we vote this down could this affect the DLT to the extent that they would not go through with the project in other words could this be the stick in the spokes that stops it and i haven't heard a definitive answer yet uh miss roe is going to give us a it's my opinion that this would not stop but thank you thank you that's all i wanted to hear you can't get much higher than the than the chief selectman thank you miss romano that's chairman of the board of Selectman Maria Romano precinct seven actually the easements the reworking of the sidewalks are absolutely essential we want to meet handicap standards to say that one has nothing to do with the other is not true first of all you can't do the easements in the proper way until the mass av project is approved because you might put the handicap accessible ramps in the wrong place depending on the final plan that is accepted so when we speak and not putting the cart before the horse or the horse whatever it is it's true we want the funding just as we want the funding for mass av we're not going to lose the funding 90 if we get on the list we're not going to lose the mass av money if we get on the list we're not on either list as far as i could say we're going to ask for the money but they are very much tied in and i think the answer is before we take people's property either willingly or by eminent domain we better find out what the mass av project is going to look like at the end and then we do it thank you there's no real question it wasn't a real question there mr. austur adam austur precinct three this is my part of town two mr. moderator i have a recollection a vague recollection that we have done something like this not too long ago can you refresh my memory last year we took easements up by the dalin school to make nice sidewalks for the kids is that true mr. adam echo yeah is that what you're referring to sir i i think so yes i mean my impression is this is a kind of routine thing that we do when we do sidewalks because you need to do this when you do sidewalks um did the select man have a vote on this yes what was the vote 26 of your blue book down the bottom and at 27 on the top it continues yes see it says article 58 annual special town meeting article seven so instead of printing it twice they printed it once and saved us paper i see there that it says that this is conditional on conformance with plans as approved at 25 by the massachusetts department of transportation highway division and goes on from there the way that i read that and if anyone understands differently i'd like to hear from them is that uh it's contingent on that approval so there's no danger of those people who actually are concerned that we would go ahead and start you know taking land and taking easements before the approval came through there's no danger of that happening is there miss roe is there a danger of that happening there's no danger of that happening and obviously we're not going to have town councils time spent on something that is not going to go full this is one of the things that this is a very traditional way of timing the easements easements come at this point in time because the easement process takes quite a long time you have to find out if people are willing to donate their temporary easements or whether they want to be paid for them it's very time-consuming as mike can tell you and the reason that we're starting this now is to start the process the design is not finished so we don't have the final exact permanent easements or temporary easements it's it's to start a process and that's that's the reason for it mr moderator it seems to me that there's a kind of an irony here i understand that there's a lot of controversy about the design of the project but it sounds like should town meeting withhold this authority from this particular project because of its association with this design that the result would be that the design would go through and that uh uh uh the road would be completely rebuilt and in fact bicycles would have a first class accommodation as a result but pedestrians would not and uh that's not fair uh to those of us who live in the neighborhood uh it's really not fair to people who are in wheelchairs and using walkers and have to get around and it's also unfair to put businesses through the agony of construction which is going to be considerable and then say to them oh but the sidewalks that people use to get to your front door second-class job so i'm going to ask town meeting uh including the opponents of this project to seriously consider letting the sidewalks get fixed because they're in rough shape and they really need it thank you sir mr pita fiori the pw uh spoke with any of these the butters and got any kind of preliminary idea if they're going to just hand over the easements so they're going to expect to be compensated i'm just curious that's a lot of easements have you done any kind of straw poll yeah mr rottemacher of any of the neighbors or butters been contacted yet uh mike rottemacher director of public works we have not started to reach out to a butters yet in this manner for for easements okay it's elsey fiori elsey fiori precinct two i put this article on the same class as article 51 that we just spent a night and a half on there is a lot of confusion and uh i do see that on the the uh comment that the under article 58 says that these rights and things do need to be taken in order to conform to the public works project now they don't say are there are there goals now they don't say necessarily that's the whole thing going down mass avenue but it says a previous speaker just said this whole thing is the benefit of bicycle riders because there's not enough room on our bike path for bike riders and the bike riders want to tell us that they are very safe yep what's your point of order mr smith fail to see the relevance of this to the easements on the sidewalks yeah the questioning your scope of the bicycles and the easements of the sidewalks can you explain uh well i only know that they're i i guess that i i've probably made a mistake in and uh going into the discussion of the project itself but it seems to me it's mentioned in these articles which are confusing because they're in two books and it said the arlington uh board of select men uh we're going to report on this and uh in article seven of the special town meeting in the original article that's in this thing it says that the the replacement of the sidewalks is in connection with the commonwealth's transportation improvement program which includes widening the sidewalks so people can the businesses can have dining out on the sidewalks and that's not in the article seven warrant miss fiori article seven warrant as printed in the warrant just talks about acquiring outright or acquiring permanent temporary easements long mass ad etc etc etc talks nothing about sidewalks and dining and anything like that that's in the big whole plan that hasn't been approved yet well i don't i'm i'm going to put it back uh in that it's in the same confusing uh place that we were on article 51 and uh what i would like to know is uh the somebody is very busy putting in handicap slope ramps on all the uh streets down around where i am down mott street mary street uh mess uh lake street who's paying for all of that and uh we didn't have that come before us to vote so it seems to me they're so tied together that i would like the article to be voted down until we have better information i'm sorry if i've confused more people than i should have thank you mr rata maca who's paying for the ramps down in the girl streets uh that ramp uh project is being paid for uh through a grant received by the disabilities commission okay okay mr grant cook grant cook facing sex um my credibility in this issue actually i live on orvis uh which is kind of just a little bit up off lake street and i look out every morning to see cars backed up on my street um trying to cut through the lake street intersection to avoid having to wait um and on the weekends i look out my front window to see cars speeding by at 40 miles an hour trying to win an intersection and as i look over to my newborn son and realize we're playing out there one day um i'm deeply troubled by how this is being handled i i know that initial justification for the project and the easements and everything around it was tied to tied to safety and i worry that at least in my perspective the cut through traffic safety issue hasn't addressed but it's probably a scope yeah let's keep both into scope but let's look at the proponent let's look at the the issues here around this i mean there's a group of people who are who are vehemently in support of this which is the town so i come behind me they want this money like i want chicken wings on game day i mean it's free money what the heck because they said that area will have to be rehabilitated and they would paint the road pink and name it the idiomene throughway if it meant the state would give them free money for this i mean it's no do you think they wouldn't they don't want this money and would do whatever's necessary to get it they do they do there are those of us who are against it you know for reasons of a lot of alright and there are those of us who were for it the prices of like lane but don't get up here and say this is an issue of inconsequence that you have to vote for this because it just makes sense it'll make the construction easier i mean captain ahab didn't give moby dick some accommodation because it made things easier for the boat if you're against it you vote against something you don't support it and for those of us who are saying no to this saying no to this is one way another way of getting our voice out there that we do not approve of how this is being handled this is too divisive an issue to go forward so thank you mr logan again precinct two i have a question for the department of public works they address the question to me i'll get who the right person is uh yes uh the sidewalks the the ones that were they're being put in now are they going to be wider you can be changing the width of the sidewalks mr rottemacher microtomacher director of public works there has been many iterations on the sidewalks and their widths for the most part they will remain the same width there will be some areas that will be wider um and some that may even be narrow but i don't believe there's going to be a drastic change in the width of the sidewalks in the proposed project and why are they going to be wider in those areas uh some areas for instance in front of the capital theater was determined that because it was a bus stop there and there was many folks needed a sidewalk i believe we were able to find some space for a sidewalk there for for example now the ramps getting back to you mentioned uh someone else mentioned i believe was elsie about the uh ramps that were put in the lake street area uh those ramps a d a uh they fit in with the a d a guidelines the ramps being built currently today yes in like the mary street lake street area i'm going to allow an answer to that question but that's really off scope of the mass av easements that we're talking about i already told us i knew you're asking the current ramps being built in other part of the town of a d a compliant of course they're a d a compliant why else would we build them okay you can answer the question mr rottemacher so let me rephrase my question so it's more but let's keep it within the scope of the war are those the same types of ramps that are going to be built on mass af the ramps will take different configurations they depend no matter how they're built to what configuration there are certain slopes widths and dimensions that have to be met and and they will be met now you said there'd also be about two over 200 temporary easements right correct okay and did you need that many easements for the lake street area or that area no this is a much greater scope okay i just want to point that out so i don't feel that we need all these easements thank you mr selen i just want to point out that uh there really isn't anything confusing about this project despite the fact that you know some of the opponents of this project would like you to think this is a very confusing subject straightforward i think we all agree particularly the people in east oligton that the sidewalks in that area need to be replaced the state is willing to step up and pay approximately a million dollars to replace those sidewalks for us we have to get these temporary easements and six permanent easements in order to make that happen it's not unusual on construction projects it's required for all federal and state projects when we do local projects we don't bother going through that formal process we just talked to the homeowner we may have to step on your property when we're doing this sidewalk is alright to enter your property but it's pretty straightforward process uh in obtaining these easements as you heard already this we have state funds already available to cover the costs of acquiring these easements and i think we owe it to the taxpayers if this work has to be done i think we all agree why turn down the million dollars to have these sidewalks replaced if we turn it down as you heard earlier okay we'll leave the sidewalks as is and we'll just go ahead with the roadway project but i don't think that's doing a service to the people in east oligton to leave the sidewalks in that condition and it's going to be a bill that the taxpayers in this community are going to have to pay because those sidewalks will have to be replaced eventually thank you mr jamison gordon jamison excuse me thank you mr minor did on thank you mr minor gordon jamison precinct 12 when mr sullivan very eloquently stated was that if we don't take the money for the sidewalks in east arlington we will have to pay for it out of our own pockets what one previous speaker suggested was that if we take the 5.1 million dollars and take and put we that we could potentially put it in the town coffers that is false as i understand it from the discussion that has come we cannot take that money and re stick it in our coffers to help our financial situation our financial situation is what it is this project is something completely different financially mr redermacher or mr sullivan mentioned that uh when we do local construction we don't have to have easements when i first moved to the town they had redone the water and sewer drains on my street and they came by later and did the sidewalk which is very nice nice to have a new sidewalk in front of your store or house or business um someone talked about the money i've heard several times repeatedly that this is not going to cost us anything that the state is going to reimburse us for this the state reverses for lots of things we have special education costs we get reimbursed the next year we don't ask for a mandate in front of town meeting that that process is going to happen um someone mentioned we're spending money without an appropriation we're not we're getting reimbursed someone we've been talking a lot about permanent and temporary easements and as noted by mr sullivan and mr redermacher these are required to get the funds that are going to do the sidewalks and do the massav project if it's approved by the state we've talked about permanent and temporary these are easements easements if um and perhaps miss rice can further clarify easements are different than taking land if you look on the far right corner here there's a there's a column called total taken square feet that's the land the town takes from someone i only see zeros what this means is someone is going to build a sidewalk i don't see anything but zeros correct me if i'm wrong someone but no one's gland is going to be taken they're going to build the sidewalk and go away or they're going to build a sidewalk that has a little bit on your property now on the ones that are permanent i see square foot 23 number one square foot 34 square foot 36 i think i got one more here somewhere i might have missed one but you get the general idea we're talking three by 10 feet or a foot by 20 feet this is not like you know great encroachment on someone's land and they get a nice new sidewalk that they can walk on or the kids can ride their bicycles on and when they go to the ramp they can roll their bike or their scooter or their walker up and down safely so i think this is a great idea and we should support it thank you mr fischer mr haner mr bayer paul bayer precinct 13 move the question on all matters within this article what mr judd point to your eyes while you're trying to find the mic can we take our vote my point of order is how can we spend money without appropriating it there's no mr judd excuse me i answer your question there's no appropriation in this article it says that the board of selection being hereby is authorized to acquire by permanent domain purchase or otherwise interest that sounds to me like money i don't see a dollar figure we we're not spending money sir you didn't get called i'm sorry juliana we're spending a penny i'm going to entertain you because otherwise you're not going to shut up please answer your question we're spending a penny under this article thank you mr moderator juliana rice town council there's no appropriation requested the expenses would be paid out of chapter 90 money as mr rottemacher has already said that is separately appropriated okay thank you now we have a motion to terminate debate all in favor please say yes opposed say no debate is terminated do we need a two-third vote on this because we're acquiring property yes okay all in favor of article seven recommended vote is printed in the booklet please say yes yes opposed say no no okay we're gonna have the standing vote because it's two thirds because we're acquiring property all in favor of the recommended vote please rise up front yes you may sir ten ten up front mr schlickman 22 22 on the left 34 mr trembling 36 mr mccabe 33 all opposed to the recommended vote please rise zero up front mr trembling nine mr schlickman seven seven mr o'connor five mr mccabe 11 it votes in the affirmative 135 to 32 g2 approved okay the special town meeting is um referring to do so now in recess um we are now going to go i believe the next back to the beginning and start again to number 18 be the next one mr judd i'm going to give you fair warning if you have any more outbursts you stand up you divide this chair i'll have you remove from the hall i spoke to you in private and now i've spoken to twice at least in this meeting i appreciate your compliance with our rules of the quorum is pointed out in the booklet if you don't have one we can get you one please i don't have to want to speak to you again it's disruptive of the meeting and those around you and everyone in general thank you um this row number article 18 of the annual town meeting 17 i think is postponed to the 11th by my count yes yes we're um back to portable storage containers or pods yeah that that mic's not working too well we're back to um portable storage containers or pods i rise to tell you that the board of select men have voted the fees for both pods and dumpsters and they are 24 dollars okay when we had postponed last we were confused about what the fees were and we've now been told that they're 24 dollars um i don't do we have to no um we're talking about pods and licensing them to sit on the streets not on public property strictly on the streets in the byways of the town mr o'connor you were next on the list you were next on the list did you want to talk about pods do you still want to talk about them pass mr jameson do you want to talk about pods no uh there was some guy the white shirt in the third row mr butler um mr chappett do you want to talk about pods no mr deist oh someone moved the question mr lecourt do you want to talk about pods move the question thank you we have a motion to terminate the debate all if they have a termination debate please say yes opposed say no okay we have it is an affirmative vote and i saw declare yes sir we do have the recommended vote of the board of select men has not changed um yet senior votes article 18 is printed in the report um they had a motion to amend which deleted some words and we've been told in the meantime that the sign is 25 bucks or the fee is 24 dollars or something so all in favor of termination debate oh we just did that so we have before us the we had a motion to amend by the select men to amend their own vote which deleted some words you should all have that in front of you we have that it was on this color paper yellow it's been on the chairs since the 27th basically it's the same one except we got rid of sentence b same as printed in the report except we got rid of sentence b yes mr fury what purpose do you rise we terminated the bait we terminated the bait well we we've terminated the bait on all the issues before us we're now just figuring out what we're voting on on your chairs the yellow motion to amend yep they gave it to me was this given to everybody miss row yes uh marica prelka says it was on the 27th put on your chairs of the motion to amend which was made and seconded all it did was change from the recommended vote got rid of subsection b that's all it did correct well you should it was put on your chairs mr pelka told me it was i believe her what do you want miss felps may help you what point to your eyes i agree with you miss felps all right so the recommended vote is as printed in the motion to amend is the recommended vote deleting the subsection b all in favor of the amended motion please say yes all opposed it's so so sub so amended all in favor of the recommended vote of the board of select and as amended please say yes all opposed it is approved as amended that next would bring us to article 21 mr o'connor do you wish to speak to that then mr toasty thank you sir james o'connor precinct 21 tease i'll get the precinct right pretty quick precinct 19 yeah mic mr o'connor use the left or right mic that center mic doesn't seem to be functioning miss row james o'connor precinct 19 i rise before you tonight not from precinct 19 but as a member of the town meeting procedures committee we were called upon in the town meeting three years ago 2007 to come together to discuss various procedures that might benefit town meeting and attract new members make appearance in town meeting more alluring to those in the town back in 2008 there was an article before town meeting this article was article 17 article 17 the board of select men chose to vote no action and in article 17 at the time the board made no recommendation under the article they further stated the board's policy was suspect to the annual town meeting warrant is that the board shall endeavor subject to extenuating circumstances that the warrant for the annual town meeting be open not later than the first week of december nor be closed earlier than the third full week of january further they stated the board will not depart from this policy without prior consultation with the town meeting procedures committee so i submit to you tonight since the board of select men voted basically no recommendation because the vote was two to two that there's a substitute article for those of you don't have a copy of this it's up here and it was presented to your seats last week the week before um what i looked at was the prior four years 1998 2008 2009 2010 and 2011 and looked at the history of how this warrant has been open in the first year in question mr mar our town council emeritus presented to the board on a meeting that was held on 12 3 2007 that they make sure that they present to the paper a legal notice for the warrant to be open on December 17th at 8 a.m and remain open until 12 noon on january 11th because that affected the amount of time that the townspeople have entitlement to present a warrant article the town meeting procedures committee presented this warrant article was heard in 2008 the board of select men saw fit to endeavor an agreement that they would abide by a plan and come to the town meeting procedures committee if there were going to be a change the town meeting procedures committee this year met in january and we discussed the problem that at a december meeting on december the uh excuse me on 11 29 of 2010 mr grielly proposed that the 2011 warrant be open on december 7th and close on january 7th that didn't fit with the town meeting procedures committee nor did it fit with the promise made by the board of select men so you may or may not hear from the board tonight that there's a difficulty in trying to meet the demands of all of the hearings that may or may not be held in compliance with the various boards and committees that have to review the warrant but it was interesting that as your assistant town moderator i'm part of the statewide uh blog of moderators where this very issue about the time being open for a warrant was addressed just this weekend many of the moderators discussed the issues before them and the townspeople have had some concerns as was heard tonight about maybe the board's not being interested in serving the people as much as they could by having warrants open less time than allowable under state law the town warrant for the town meeting is for the townspeople you and i as individual residents to vote um or to request that considerations be made at town meeting when we discuss this we discuss the possible dates as the town meeting procedures committee as to what would be the appropriate start date it was already agreed upon by the board that it would be the first week of december we remained with that what i've heard recently was just last week we talked about how the town manager requested that all of the boards meet not the boards but the town departments come together with a balanced budget to be given to him one of the things that the finance committee has discussed is that it's an arduous task to review all of the finance articles if we have now a procedure where the town departments present to the manager a consolidated report of a balanced budget and he can then submit that to the finance committee this may alleviate some of the burden although mr tosy may address that later in this discussion we also heard that a lot of the boards get together monthly and meet and can discuss as has happened many a time when the board of selectmen have decided to present a warrant article that they've met in the months of december in january and discuss the merits of their proposal before it's ever published in the warrant if we start the debate early enough we enable these matters to be heard early on so that the townspeople articles the 10 registered voter articles the articles for the people that are not specifically represented here have a chance to express their opinion so i asked you to consider that this be the motion before us so i asked for a second for seconded and i firmly believe that this is something that the town meeting procedures committee put together so that we can have a open meeting for the public thank you okay we have a motion to adjourn before we take the vote i'm going to call for any motions for reconsideration on either the special or the annual town meeting i already have mr rudemans i have mr tostis who's serving notice on specials two three and six and the other notices for reconsideration seeing and hearing none all in favor of adjourn please say yes opposed we're so adjourned till wednesday