 We're gonna This evening we have the monotony minute men who are going to Life and drum us a couple tunes and do the star spangled banner If you're pleased Please clear the aisle for the minute men. Thank you very much. I'm in vocation tonight. We have the Minister Richard Heslop from the Boston Church of Christ Minister Heslop You want to use that one because they're standing in front of you. Good evening everyone My name is Richard Heslop. I'm as Saloni said, I'm a minister here with the Boston Church of Christ I oversee a congregation here in the Allington community. I'm very excited to be here This evening to lead the prayer Most of us if we have driven down Pleasant Street That new church building is under renovation. That's where we'll be housing our congregation. Hopefully in July August September somewhere around there We look forward to serving the Allington community in any way that we can I want to thank The the Allington community Leaders for the invitation this this evening to pray I'm grateful that you include the presence of God in your decisions In the book of Proverbs The Bible personifies wisdom as someone that every leader or every person should have Or keep company with in Proverbs chapter 8 verse 15 It says by me that is wisdom kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just by me That's wisdom princes govern and nobles rule Your decisions and agreements Today will affect the peace and prosperity of our community To all the community leaders, I'm going to thank you for what you do and let us ask God's blessing on this annual meeting This evening, that's right Father, there is no authority except the ones that you have established and We are your servants. I pray that Those who were here will lead With integrity and wisdom and be with every member of this meeting today in their hearts and minds So that the outcome of this meeting Will result in the peace order and prosperity to all in the Allington Allington community We thank you in Jesus name. We pray amen Thank you Reverend Thank you Reverend. Thank you. I'm an autonomy man. Mr. Greeley. Thank you. Mr. Moderator Good evening ladies and gentlemen tonight. We have some very special guests with us that I'd like to introduce to you a very important guest Arlington has had a sister city Formal agreement with the city of Nagaoka keel and this weekend. We celebrated 30 years of that sister city association It this there was a number of events that were held I won't go through them all for you But they came in on Saturday morning and they leave tomorrow There are five members that have come from the city hall in Nagaoka keel I There are 40 members of what is called the friendship committee that have come to Arlington For the last 10 years we have had a student exchange program Where up where this time of year 25 students come from Nagaoka keel And in the fall 25 Arlington students travel over there So first I'd like to introduce you to the outstanding students who have come to join us. They're up here in the balcony Please welcome the students I Wish you could have seen their performance last night. I was gonna dance with them, but there would have been injuries There was There was a committee that put this together There's a staff of the board of select men. There's a superintendent of schools There's the Arlington school committee and there's the Nagaoka Arlington Sister city association and they did quite a bit of work for this 30th anniversary Very sweet So with the mayor's delegation they brought a translator who has been here in Arlington a number of times They brought the chairman of their assembly they brought the vice chairman of their assembly and they also brought the city manager And To say a few words our very special guest of honor Who last time here five years ago we made an honorary member of the board of select men Arlington please welcome mayor I Am Yutaka order the mayor of now Kakyo city in Japan I am very proud to speak to you on behalf of the citizens of Nagaoka The first town meeting this year just as I did five years ago Since the establishment of the sister state friendship affiliation here in this town hall on September 21st 1984 Many citizens and students have visited between our two communities to strengthen the ties of friendship and trust I Would like to thank you all for your hospitality and I am Hatteri blood that many students from both communities have been able to learn more and understand Each other better Which has deepened our exchange Boston born Girl who world emerson said Do not go where the path may lead Go instead of we are there is no path and Leave a trail We will make a fresh result to succeed and create a Tower to the friendship and peace Led by Mr. Richard Smith He was a member of this town meeting and David to our sister state relation I Would like to close by wishing all the members of the town meet the board of select other committees Commission Happiness and the head Thank you very very much All bearing with my English Thank you very much Mr. Moderator, sorry, of course. I forgot somebody I I saw a senator Ken Donnelly in the back of the hall The senator gave them a nice tour of the state house today. Thank you very much Ken Thank you. How's my turn Sorry Good evening. Welcome to Arlington's 2014 the annual town meeting. This is our 207th meeting the first being in 1807 This is our 76 as a representative town meeting the first in 1937 and this will be our first one when we're using electronic voting For procedural guidance we follow the town of Arlington bylaws and the principal set out in town meeting time You should all get one of those I Have provided you each with a parliamentary guide They're on the back table by the gentleman with the camera that lay out the guides on the votes how many votes what procedural votes we take and the Quantum of vote on those procedural votes if you'd like a copy of town meeting time come and see me at the break I'll explain to you how to get it Please remember the abide by our 48 hour rule all Substitute motions or substantial amendments to any motions must be submitted in writing by placing a copy on the members seats On the night before we expect to talk about it. So we're going to talk about it Wednesday They have to be in the chairs tonight the only exception are the articles. We're going to discuss tonight This year I'm going to ask a little something different. I noticed the huge piles on everybody's chairs How about if anything that's not a motion will go on that back table only motions and substitute motions this year on the chairs there's just way too much stuff on your chairs and The actual motions are going to get lost in all that other paper So we could abide by that and if you see anybody putting anything besides motions on the chairs set them straight They all go in the back table. So after you get your clickers, you'll go to the back table and get your stuff I don't need a motion That's not in the procedural guidelines Out of consideration to your fellow town meeting members To allow full debate, please keep your remarks concise and brief as possible So that all members have a fair opportunity to speak and I request that no one seek to get on the list and speak a second Time till everybody's had at least one chance to speak and please heed the advice of mr. Sodority the endo is moderated for many years who said I don't have a formal time limit But I did tell the meeting that about three minutes is enough for anyone after five you put them to sleep After seven they're going to vote against you even if you agree with them Seven minutes is our time limit. I hope we don't know. I hope we don't have to vote against people or fall asleep too often You can usually say it in five minutes or less. If you can't you didn't practice enough. I Remind the town meeting members of the email distribution list which is for just Distributing motion substitute motions and the type of stuff you used to find on your chairs But now it's going to be in the back table In advance the list is for discussion on for debate only and not just no way It's the distribution of materials only not debate or discussion It's strictly for materials if you want to join the list come up and see me I have written instructions on how to do it Last year we appreciated the level of civility and focus thoughtful Well-delivered debate that we had at the annual end of special town meeting. Let's keep it up this year. I Wish to take at least one moment to observe Moment of silence to observe the loss of harry mccabe our former moderator Richard Smith John Fitz Morris as well as any and all other Arlington's have passed away in the past year There's just too many for me to run through right now Okay now on to electronic voting mr. Good if you please You've all been issued an individualized handset an option finder g3 The system is a wireless secure radio system that works in the 2.4 gigahertz range This is all good stuff from what they tell me calibrated legislator initiated Counting by keystroke on electronic recorders a clicker That's what we're going to call it We use three keys on this little device one yes to know Three abstain Present not voting if you're using that one you shouldn't be here. Yes and no unless you have a Conflict of interest and you're not going to vote on it. You shouldn't be pressing three. You should be pressing yes or no if for some reason when you when you came in and Checked in today. We had the students back there who handed you your handsets. They should be turned on The most reported problem with these is that someone the user us Has turned them off If they do get turned off The power button just like on our TVs and computers press that it'll cycle back on and you'll get some Display like you have on your machine right now that your clicker number You'll notice that each one of them is individually labeled With your name and your precinct and the number so our voting administrators Know who has what clicker when you vote they can tell what your vote is Don't give your do not give your handset to anyone to vote for you If you see a member with two or more handsets Immediately bring it to my attack. This isn't funny. This is serious If you see some with two or more handsets immediately bring it to my attention with a point of order Proxy or absentee voting is not allowed by either state law or our town by laws You have to be present to vote so you can't be handing these things to someone and go home if you leave You have to turn it in At the end of each evening you'll return your handsets by placing them in the bins Eric Can you hold up a bit for me? There's one of these bins they have this sign on them at each of the doors All you have to do is put your handset in that bin at the end of the night Don't take don't not don't take it home because if you lose it, it's gonna cost the town 75 dollars That's what one of these things runs and I haven't figured out how to charge you if you bring it home and lose it But by the end of the meeting I will So don't lose it. Don't bring it home. Leave it in the bin After we have a debate in the normal manner the normal manner I'll confirm with the that the system is ready by asking the voting administrator. Mr. Lynch, excuse me, Mr. Flynn That if the system is ready He'll tell me that it is at that point. I'll declare that the voting is open About mr. Flynn, we're not allowed to talk to him Only Eric and the other members of the voting Administrative staff are allowed to talk to him Because he's doing whatever it is he does and we'll screw up the whole system if we talk to him So don't interface with him only Eric and the other members of the voting staff So after the voting after he tells me to sign that the system is ready I'll declare that voting is open 20 seconds We have 20 seconds to vote. It's gonna come down from 20 seconds. I'll reprogram this I'll get a fix It counts down for 20 seconds in that 20 seconds the computer pulls the room at least two and a half three times So your vote will not be missed. It talks to these things all all day long during that voting period You either simply press one for yes two for no three for abstain The abstentions are not counted as a votes Only votes that counts are the yes or no We do not count the abstentions in any manner the majorities have determined only on the yes and no votes During that voting period you can change your vote as many times as you want So you can just keep pressing one two one two one two Only vote that counts is the one that's Been pressed when the voting clock counts down the system locks down your vote is fixed and that that point It's gonna tally our votes And there's no provision to change your vote. So if you're randomly pressing one and two and it Shuts down you're stuck with what you get you can't go back in and change your vote Just like on the normal votes under the voice vote or the standing vote So when you press one It's gonna show one It's gonna say receive so you can all press one or two or three right now It'll say received and then once the windows open it will see Yes received no received abstain received If you press five through zero, it's gonna say invalid vote so Just look at your your handheld and make sure you got the right Answer back when we vote did yours not do anything Steve? That's all it's gonna say right now because the system's not open. Yeah, yeah Your selection is broadcast to the base station one of these things here Which is connected to the voting computer which will record your vote and broadcast the confirming signal back to you It's a complete round trip from the your machine to this machine to their machine back back back So we all get confirmation in hand that our votes right if it doesn't confirm your vote Immediately stand up and get my attention with a point of order If necessary, we have the capacity to issue a new clicker right on the spot. It takes about 20 seconds Bring it to one of the staff Attention, they'll get you a new clicker. We'll get a programmed into you It won't have your name on it right away, but you'll we'll get that fixed by the next meeting If we if they can analyze what you pressed if you say I voted no and It showed up. Yes, we'll give you the new clicker. They can actually somehow we analyze it and Figure out what you really pressed and if it shows you pressed one and You got a no vote Then we will figure out how to change your vote, but that's extremely unlikely when I ask the OTI That's option technology ink is our vendor when I asked the OTI folks If I could press one and get a no confirmation back They looked at me like I was crazy and they shook their heads and disbelief that I could believe that could happen Nevertheless, we're gonna take a test vote at the beginning of each night quorum call I saw a bunch of people coming in a little late We start promptly at 8 at 8 o'clock I gavel us down so if you can get here and be in your seat by 8 o'clock I'd appreciate it because at that point we're gonna do a quorum call To make sure that everybody's clicker is working that the system is accurately checking your vote and it's showing up accurately on the screen and That your handsets are performing as required So we're gonna give it a try right now Mr. Flynn, are we ready? Let's do a quorum call. I get my card so Voting time is open. I declare it's open go ahead and vote One two or three you can see down in the corner. It's actually counting votes Everybody look at their handset. It's gonna say yes received or no received up. Someone's still voting Okay, voting's closed in most instances See that's okay. It's the only time you can vote abstain In most instances your individual votes will not be projected on the screen I will announce the results of the vote in the normal manner I'll renounce the results in the normal manner and the tally will be displayed under some circumstances either provided by our bylaws which say that if the Quantum of vote for yes and no are within six Then we're gonna display the That the you'll see the next screen. We're gonna display how everybody voted that is to Kind of take the place of the old standing vote where five people would rise if they doubted the vote Well, we thought the six was gonna take care of that and we will then scroll through the names. Yeah, they are No, that person got elected Tonight, but they don't have it programmed yet So it's three screens at a time ten seconds of screen by precinct. So precinct eight Akin hid Ellen Patient a John Leone. Yes, find your precinct find your name confirm what you pressed is correct It we get the screens three precincts at a time ten seconds of screen takes about two minutes For any voice votes called by the moderator If I stick a voice vote on something and five people or an electronic vote of five people members Objects to the vote like in the old days Five members rise for a challenge the vote will run through the screens just as we did now if it's a voice vote We'll take an electronic vote then we'll run through the screens Similarly is provided in the bylaws if 30 members immediately rise after any vote is Called will cause the in that will also cause the individual votes to appear Electronic tally and then we're gonna go up with the roll call that initial Electronic vote becomes the roll call And it'll be entered into the legal minutes of the meeting In the event of the roll call following the electronic vote. They'll be no second vote as before our first initial electronic vote Becomes your roll call vote and the votes already cast are going to be projected This is one of the big changes in our meeting that we're not going to have any second and third voting It's all going to be once we use electronic voting. That's going to be it We vote once to the screens 30 of you arise. It becomes a roll call Ms. Luccarelli will get a print out of that she'll enter it into the official meeting records And it will show as a roll call vote. So we're not going to have any more Winded long roll calls. It's just reveal the screens Yes, sir, I'm about to get to that Your votes will no longer be secret unless a secret ballot has been voted for By two-third voted town meeting prior to the vote on the article We don't do secret ballots. I think in my whole time We've had one secret ballot and that was frankly when I got elected assistant town meeting that moderator Because a couple people ran and we had a secret ballot so everyone could just check it off. That's in my 20 years this town meeting. That's the only time we had a secret ballot So we just don't do them, but I guess you could if you wanted a Record of your vote will be public All votes will be recorded and be publicly available after the day of the meeting on the town's website So we're going to vote on things like that quorum call tomorrow's website figure by the end of the day give give the The IT department and a day to figure it out get it up on the web You'll be able to see how everybody voted on every vote that we used to clickers on That's the main point of this system accountability of the representatives to our elect the people that elected us In almost all instances of no votes of a no-action vote I anticipate using a voice vote because it's just too fast as Well as on the consented gender vote when we initially go over the budget We'll most likely use the clickers on zoning articles bonding and other votes needing a two-third or greater majority Mr.. Good last screen, please If you have any questions or require assistance of any sort see the e-voting team members if you could all rise up please Including the students Everybody stand up who's an e-voting staff member See one of them see me or get my attention with a point of order. They're all wearing this Badge if you see you have any questions find someone with that badge and they'll help you or they'll get you a new clicker if necessary Yes, sir It clears automatically when the next vote comes Can you scroll as if we're going to a new new vote? So there it clears So we when we open up voting for the next vote it clears out and it's ready to go again So it should always say received if it says received your your clicker is talking to the system and you're in good hands If anyone has a disability that makes it difficult to use the system Please let me or member of the e-voting volunteer staff know we've made provisions to assist you in any way possible Finally, I wish to thank personally thank the members of the electronic voting study committee Eric Helmuth Our dedicated chair Adam Oster our clerk West Beale Rolly Chappets Steve Storch Elizabeth Peyton and Ray Shabinow as well as Alan Jones and Dave Good for their Assistants throughout this project these guys work guys and Gallup work really hard for the past two years We had a lot of meetings and I hope we get this right It's a learning experience for me for you for all of us So if you have any questions just see one of us and bear with me while I get it Until I get the hang of it until we all get the hang of it And if you have any suggestions bring them to my or Eric's or anybody else's attention and They're hoping it just goes smoothly and we can run with this I want to clarify two articles an article 16. I'm going to be stepping down as The proponents are very good friends of mine And I have been working with them and assisting them on the article and working with mr. Chapter Lane and mr. Doug Heim our new town council on the article So I'm going to step down on that one and despite my own reticence on resolutions. I submitted a resolution Article 54 It's a resolution I hope will be an open debate to determine if we like electronic voting and if we wish to continue using the system in the Future I thought that was the most fair way for this meeting to determine if this is really Something we want to continue and we like I hope it is I think it's going to be good for us but it's going to give us as a meeting the chance to fully debate it and That's the next a third from last the one right after that is if you like it Give us the money to buy it or rent it or whatever mr. Fosk it decides the best way for us to procure the system is Otherwise, thank you very much and Good luck with us now Swearing in of town meeting members not previously sworn in so all newly elected town meeting members Who have not been previously sworn in please rise? He's raised your right hand and repeat after me. I Searching in will participate fully and Fairly evaluate all matters before the town meeting and vote in the best interests of the town I Support free speech and will treat others with mutual respect and will conduct myself in a civil manner That is becoming an elected town meeting member I do solemnly swear that I'll faithfully and partially perform the duties incumbent upon me as a town meeting member of the town of Arlington In accordance with the bylaws the town manager act of the general laws that are common also help me God Thank you very much. Congratulations Recognize mr. Burns chairman of the board of selectmen Thank You mr. Moderator It is requested that the members of the board of selectmen 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 men at man regional vocational technical school district committee and Superintendent members of the electronic voting committee and staff members of the general court representing Arlington and also any Consultants who have been retained to work for the town relative to articles to be acted on by this meeting and Representatives of the news media be permitted to sit within the town meeting enclosure Second favor Consoles of turn of service madam clerk Do you have reason to believe that this meeting was appropriately called by the board of selectmen and that the constable may return of service on the warrant in accordance with the laws She responds in the affirmative Mr. Verne It is moved that if all the business of this of the meeting as 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 April 30th 2014 at 8 p.m. Any announcements or resolutions John Worden precinct date mr. Moderator fellow town meeting members I rise to offer a resolution in memory of my predecessor Harry McCabe Former moderator of this meeting Those of you who have been here 25 years or more I will remember mr. McCabe up there and Those of you who have been here more than this year will remember mr. McCabe Over there as a town meeting member I first met him in 1970 my first year in his fifth And I I soon learned in the course of that meeting that we had many common interests and And agreed on a lot of things And so we worked together on on some projects then later In that year he asked me to become president of the conservation association Which I did and It was my leap into first leap into power in the town That organization is uh, now no longer in existence, but we did some good work in the time, but uh, mr. McCabe was born in boston and Served in the in the marines at the end of the war and then in the korean war Went to college Got married moved to arlington And had a family these are things that many of us have done But he did more than that he got involved in just about everything And he would he became a town meeting member And so on and he it was in so many organizations and really devoted his whole life Uh, right up until uh, last march To the service of this community and its people so i'd like to offer a resolution In his memory This follows uh, whereas harry peame harry peame mccabe died on march 4th To 2014 and Whereas mr. McCabe was a member of this town meeting representing precinct 21 for 48 years And whereas mr. McCabe was instrumental in the founding of the arlington council on aging and served on that group for 48 years and Whereas mr. McCabe was a member of the board of selectmen for three years and served as chairman for one year And whereas mr. McCabe served on the finance committee for five years And whereas mr. McCabe was a moderator of this town meeting for 12 years And whereas mr. McCabe served well and diligently in all these roles and And in many others for the benefit of the town of arlington and its people Particularly the youth and the elderly Therefore be it resolved that this town meeting goes on record as mourning the death of mr. McCabe And holding in grateful remembrance His many years of service to the town And that this resolution be spread upon the records of the meeting and a copy of their oath be sent to his family And i so move Thank you, mr. Moderator Good evening calling colleagues on the board of selectmen senator donnelly town employees Town meeting members new and old in all arlington residents Welcome to our annual town meeting As you know this mark this weekend marked a special visit as we celebrated the 30th anniversary of our friendship with nagoka kio After spending the last few days with our guests. I more fully appreciate the importance of sharing our cultures and ideas I am thankful they traveled here and for keeping this special friendship vibrant Yesterday we collectively Dedicated a memorial bench to celebrate one of the founders of this special relationship friendship Dick smith in the public garden outside I urge all to view this wonderful tribute As we come together this evening to begin another year of town meeting I'd be remiss if I didn't mention some of the losses our community has had since we last met People truly dedicated to fostering the goodness of the town of arlington People that helped to make arlington the respected community that it is People like harry mccabe dick smith bill armstrong john fits morris bob marie ed burns and dr. Michael foley These people loved arlington and cared how others perceived our town Arlington's greatest legacy is the people in it We are fortunate to have so many individuals willing to serve in various capacities to make arlington A great place to live and raise a family As we look back over the past year, we've seen this great building's 100th anniversary We've seen the on time and under budget completion of the new tomson school We have dedicated its library to bill shea We've seen the town manager and staff bring life to our virtual town budget Giving transparency to the inner workings of our governmental activities We have seen the arts flourish in arlington and make great progress on preparing for our future With the master plan Arlington is at a crossroads of change We are no longer in the community that my grandfather grew up in Yes, we still see and hold on to the influence of our greatest generation But we also become and will continue to become a destination for new neighbors and friends And it is our job to welcome them Whether your family has been here for four generations or moved in last week We welcome your ideas and hope you will join us in shaping our future We need to work together to reach arlington's fullest potential With your input, we'll make arlington an even stronger and more vibrant community After great debate, we will see the east arlington mass av corridor project begin this year And we are near the completion of arlington 360 with its unprecedented conservation land agreement That ensures all of arlington's residents will be able to enjoy the stern of street woods and its beautiful vista parks We have taken a serious look at arlington's parking constraints And in the near future we'll be making need much needed changes that will improve the parking needs of all residents and visitors Financially due to the excellent work of town manager chapter lane deputy manager flanagan and the rest of his staff As well as our town employees who agreed to join the gic Arlington has been able to make the most of its last override However, we need to ready ourselves to make important decisions on arlington's future financial health We need to prepare ourselves for important upcoming discussions on minutemen as well as the high school Our superintendent, her staff and all of our arlington's teachers have excelled Even in less than ideal working conditions and the time is coming to bring our high school into the 21st century In the last year our community Safety departments have been quite busy They assisted in the aftermath of the tragic bus marathon bombings They helped our community cope following the horrific crime on newland road They have battled against a drug epidemic by saving many residents with narcan and arresting several of those responsible When we are in harm's way They are there to protect us and we owe all of our first responders a great deal of gratitude All of our town departments All of our town departments work as a team They are responsive to constituents and regularly do more with less We are fortunate to have such dedicated intelligent individuals in town And I am grateful to all of them for their work Finally, I would like to recognize the staff of the board of selection Marie Marianne brand gene I can assure you that our board could not function without them and they do not get the recognition they deserve I went with a quote from Alan McLennan who after many years of service to arlington said With very few exceptions No matter how long or contentious little bait town meeting gets it right Thank you. Well Good hands Any um any other announcements or resolutions at this time? Sir John mark precinct 14. Thank you, mr. Moderator I have the privilege of serving on the sims nonprofit program committee Which administers funds of approximately a one million dollars left over from the dissolution of sims hospital Each year we do a request for a proposal For healthcare related organizations in the greater arlington area, particularly arlington That request for proposals are available now. They will be advertised in the advocate this coming not this thursday, but the coming thursday And we encourage anybody who will be interested in Getting more information to see me at the break I also would like to indicate that to the very unfortunate passing of dr. Fuller We do have a vacancy on the board. This is the town manager appointment Anybody who would be interested in serving on this committee? I serve With charlie lions a former selectman here Is encouraged to make to Submit a resume or a letter of interest to the town manager's office Again, I'm very glad to answer any questions or provide more information. Thank you Thank you, sir for the others If not that ends article two article three reports of committees. I call for all reports of committees To be received mr. Verne At the mic introduce yourself Stephen bern Precinct 20 town meeting chairman on the board of selectman. I moved at the board of selecting report be received Thank you. Okay. It is so received Thank you others Oh, go ahead. Do you want to do an introduction? Thank you Thank you again for the microphone now. Stephen bern chairman on the board of selectman I'd also like to introduce my colleagues and department heads very quickly Excuse me. Um, we have vice chairman joe caro Selectman dan dunn selectman diana hon selectman kevin grilly We have chief jefferson david good michael balton We have catterin boy Mike rottemacher christine bonjourno chief ryan Who we have over there mr. livergood Ruth louis and mr. Malenga, and we also have carol kawasky And I'd also like to introduce you to our new town council Thank you. Thank you, sir any other reports Mr. Foskett Charles foskett precinct eight chairman of the capital planning committee I'd like to ask that the report of the capital planning committee be received And it'll be discussed under the capital planning article Thank you Mr. Sayer Mike care chairman of the arlington redevelopment board. I move that the report of the arlington redevelopment board be received Mike care arlington redevelopment board chair. Just want to introduce my fellow members Christine sapinski is our vice chair andy west Bruce Fitzsimmons And andrew brunel is not here this evening And of course carol kawasky helping us out as planning director. Thank you Others Oh, someone's way back there. Mr. Leonard Thank you. Mr. Moderator john lennard precinct 17 with just a question if I may Will there be a report upcoming from the utility poll group this year? Mr. Burns is going to tell us that No, they were not me Could I ask why? Yeah It's a select committee not a town meeting committee. So there is not a report issued Thank you. Thank you any other reports of committees I move that the report of the finance committee be received Mr. Moderator, I'd like to spend a little more time than I usually do going through a couple of the numbers in general terms Therefore, I request Eight more minutes for a total of 15. I don't think I'll use it But I'd like to have the ability The chairman of finance committee requesting 15 minutes all in favor. Please say yes You have 15 minutes Okay, thank you very much fellow town meeting members The finance committee has been working for the last three plus months Reviewing budgets and warrant articles and preparing recommendations before you tonight I'd like to introduce those members Because I'm hoping that during the course of the town meeting you'll take advantage Of their knowledge and for questions From precinct one john deist Please stand Okay precinct two is steven decorsi Over here Precinct three is alan toasty Precinct four is len card Okay Precinct five is mary margaret franklemont in the middle here Precinct six is carol and white Precinct seven is joseph conners Over on the side Precinct eight at the head table is trawley foskett Precinct nine is brian bet Precinct 10 is peter howard Precinct 11 is tom cockavera Okay, precinct 12 is ken Simmons over on the side there Precinct 13 is paul bear Precinct 14 alan jones again at the head table Precinct 15 is richard fanning Precinct 16 is william keller Precinct 17 is grant gibbian over on the side Precinct 18 is mary ronan What's he here today precinct 19 is priscine desk desk Precinct 20 is dean karmann And precinct 21 is david mackenor Now, uh Please feel free to ask them questions as they come along They've been putting a lot of time and effort and i think a lot of the questions They will be able to answer for you know for you and for your precinct While all of us have worked hard to prepare this report We cannot claim total credit It is the end product of many meetings which started last fall Capital budget committee has been meeting since september Reviewing and making tough decisions on the many capital needs of the town Superintendent and school committee have done likewise with their departments in schools Town manager preparing his budgets meeting with department heads And uh Getting them ready for both the selectmen and the finance committee The same has happened with the selectmen the assessors the treasure collector and the town clerk In addition to all of this Many committee meetings have taken place Long-range planning committee is meeting several times To review the long-term plan and make sure it's up to date and accurate as possible Revenue task force has looked at the detailed numbers That go into many of the decisions The total budget revenue task force which consists of basically all the major officials of the town dealing with the budget Has met several times Regional agreement amendments that will be four of you have been discussed and voted on by many The most of this has been led by charlie foskett participating in many meetings Over the last six months to bring these to you all of these Entities went into the budgets that were turned over to the legislative branch Represented by the finance committee and then to you the town meeting My report of the chair is on page four of this report. Please feel free to ask questions during the meeting or afterwards If you could please turn To page c1. I'd like to review some of the numbers with you. So This is your book It's usually green yellow or red and I got tired of it. So we switched to orange this year So if you could go to c1 I'd like to review some of these numbers with you Now this on c1 Basically gives you a summary Of all the revenues and all the budgets that make this up And I think it's important for you to understand where the revenues come from and how they're distributed So first of all, I'd like to apologize to you by the Small size of the font. Uh, it's just we had to do this to get it on one page Uh, in the top right hand side, you see the property tax details Uh, the prior year levy limit for two and a half percent the estimates of new growth Uh, the debt exclusions and uh, west the mass that's msba mass school building So you see the m mass school building receipts gets attracted from the debt exclusion So the net impact from all our debt excluded elementary schools each year Is about 1.1 million Uh, and you see down the nwr a debt Part of the water and sewer is in the property tax It has been for many years on order to take advantage of being able to duck that in a federal income tax Down below next one is the school reimbursements These are the details of reimbursements that we get from the state for each of our schools Then you have the local receipts. These are all the miscellaneous receipts that we uh To get throughout the town Down the bottom you have the local aid Now one of the reasons we wait until mid september Is because the report of the houseways and means committee comes out That's sort of the final numbers that we base our decisions on we start off with the governor's recommendations at the end of january Uh, and then go uh houseways and means is the next step We really can't wait any further than that But it's quite often that the reason that we can't have a hard copy to you until today We try to get you the electronic copy as soon as possible before that um In the middle you have all the appropriations all of the budgets. These all come from the b1 etc sections Uh, and then go down through it down the bottom. We see something called or not the bottom, but uh fixed budgets Things that really we can't have much change in Uh, for example, the elections of the selectmen That's one that goes ups and downs depending on the number of elections Each year so uh, so the selectmen dirty don't get punished when it goes up or rewarded when it goes down Uh, the reserve fund is also one dose Um, and then you see the other budgets there then you have the warrant articles As you can see the warrant articles are really dominated by the capital budget And mr. Foscott will cover to you later the Minuteman regional school And so finally down the bottom of the uh, retiree health insurance the op-ed money That we've been putting aside for many years And then the next column is all the enterprise funds and then down the bottom the summary the revenues all the expenditures a couple of Things I just want to point out in the expenditures One change this year. You'll see about two thirds of the way down Sims urban renewal that's usually been about a hundred thousand dollars This year is six hundred and seventy seven thousand seven fifty That is the debt service on the bonds that have been issued for the For the sims project So that money has to go directly into the urban renewal and used to retire the bonds So that will be there until the bonds are retired in 2022 After that, you know all that money will be available for general sources The snow and ice 500,000 What we're trying to do both with the reserve fund and the snow and ice budget is Is raise the money we need to pay snow and ice in the year that we spend it here? For example, you have 500,000 That's money that we're spending this year in fiscal 14 that but we have to raise it next year So we've been trying to get away from that we've been trying to Raise the money we need in that particular year and that's the one of the reasons We keep increasing the snow and ice budget and we've this year We're recommending an increase in the reserve fund to do that So we don't have to have that 500,000 there in the future And then the final box down below is the special town meeting Which are basically all transfers from various funds So there's no money Actually appropriated from the property tax there and we'll deal with that on Wednesday If you could go to the next page Which is actually just on the This is the Five-year or long-term plan of the finance committee town officials spend a great deal of time on this The numbers we're trying to project into the future Uh, as you can see, we've been able to have zeros down the bottom Go about three quarters down you see balance Zeros that's our goal every year. We have to have a balanced budget every year. It's got to be zero You can see in fiscal 2019 We have a deficit of about a little short of a million Hopefully we can cover that by the time we get to it The big problem is 2020 Where we have a deficit of about almost 13 million dollars That'll be Where decisions will have to be made either to substantially cut the budgets or to seek an additional override from from the citizens Now these numbers that we project ahead In some ways are fairly are conservative Uh, if the economy continues to increase in the steady pace Then the numbers are conservative and maybe we can drop that 12 million dollar deficit down to like seven or eight million or You know something in that range On the other hand if we hit another recession Then all this conservatism goes out the wings and we have bigger deficits than we anticipated Unfortunately, we can't control the town the economy Both the state and national economy in this town hall So we've got a plan for either but just to let you know is deficits could go up They could come down it just depends One of the biggest things under revenues of course is state aid As you can see for this fiscal year our state aid is increased not quite $400,000 That's a better number. We really should be getting five or six hundred thousand that we hope for Those were the numbers we got in the 80s. Those were the numbers we got in the 90s But we're still climbing out of a recession again, both at the national and state level. So We appreciate the hard work of our representatives And in on Beacon Hill And they came through with a better number than the governor gave us In january for that. We appreciate it Before after that we're hoping those numbers can climb better that'll decrease the deficit As you can see the override stabilization fund, this is in revenues You see we start in fiscal 17 18 and 19 we're drawing down that override stabilization fund that we're putting funds aside for I mentioned I mentioned earlier on In I mentioned in the town my chairman's report to you earlier in the pink com report That we're giving the schools some extra funds this year because of their increases in enrollment And so they're getting the three and a half percent for general education Increased seven percent increase on their special ed and we're giving them an additional 885,000 because of increases enrollment. That's for two years And then we've projected ahead Those will change because it depends on actual enrollment if the enrollment goes down then so will that number So that's a little bit different. I think We're going out of our way to help the schools with the increases enrollment And sacrifices, you know, I greet you on the part of the selection of the town manager I think most of the rest that you can see Of course the pensions and insurance are for the steady increases That we need to try to fund those at least of the pensions Hopefully be funded in the 2030s. I don't know how many of us would still be here when that happens, but that's our goal And again, most of the rest you can go through you can talk to the Please do not hesitate To talk to any of the fincom members, please don't hesitate to talk to the town manager or the deputy town manager They've all worked with this thoroughly and can answer your questions This This is the heart this whole five-year plan a long-term plan It's sort of the heart of the town's long-term plan to maintain the services Represented in the budgets there before you while protecting the taxpayer by delaying any need for another override as far into the future as we can I like to look at the override stabilization fund as the taxpayer protection fund I ask for your continued support of this town meeting and again stand ready to answer any questions that you may have Thank you very much. Thank you, sir Okay I'd like to make the following motion Move that the recommended votes contained in the respective reports of the finance committee Board of selectmen redevelopment board and other committees be before this meeting without further motion Most of the main and seconded all in favor, please say yes Yes As opposed The motion the motion is the categories the reports are now received and before this meeting Move that article b3 be laid upon the table All in favor Article 3 is laid upon the table Dean carmen dean carmen precinct 20 For those of us who've been here a long time a bunch of the stuff you just did including the last vote might have made sense But we haven't all been here forever. So, thank you So what we just did is the carmen points out is we've been given all these reports of fancy covers by all various boards Contained in these reports and you should have gotten most of these mailed to you by the select teams office are the articles and A brief explanation of what it is. So that would be what was in the actual warrant which we also received and then The bold thing that says voted Yeah, I think that says voted is the actual vote that we're going to Vote on so as an example take the orange fine thing calm Any money issue is going to be with the thing calm report. So they'll all be orange I'll tell you which reports to pick up as we go along. You'll get the hang of it. So turn to page 16 as an example Look at page 16 article 33 appropriation for the construction of water mains and water facilities That's the name of the article right underneath it was what was in the warrant Which was the warning to the citizens that we're going to talk about it and then There's the recommended vote Of the finance committee when we debate an article what we're debating Is that bold? Voted that's what we're going to talk about those words to say voted and that article you can move to amend that by an amendment to them an amended motion those Supposed to have read this beforehand to get the amendments if they're substantial Um, so we're going to vote about talk about that and that's all we're going to talk about in that article So we're in the water In water facilities, we're not going to talk about swords if you get up and talk about swords I'm going to say you're outside the scope of the article I'm going to bang my gavel or someone out there is going to start yelling scope And I'm going to have to bang my gavel and gavel me down Because we don't want to talk about anything except for that So that's a little bit of the procedure that you get if you're at the time meeting time Plus the time meeting time So what mr. Carmen just said was all of those recommended votes are now before the meeting So when it comes to article 33, mr. Tosti's not going to get up And read that recommended vote. It's automatically in front of us So we can eliminate the expense with that portion Of procedure. We just go right to the vote. No further talking about it. We know what we're going to talk about That all makes sense First year folks are probably doesn't we look at the hang up pretty quickly Any other questions of that nature? If not, yeah Only one I tell you to and the clock says 20 seconds Does it say 20 seconds? We only pressed it when it says 20 seconds and I get the green card from mr So that's the only time you get to use the clicker Okay, so actually what I want to say is put your phones on vibrate Please if you have to take a call without the hall, don't interrupt your neighbors and friends with phone calls during the meeting Okay, so article three is on the table and I can talk about that. We're going to go again about article four Point of measure of wooden bark Measure of wooden bark is an only alert position That is if someone has an issue with how much wood spend delivered They think their cords short, but they get the number of cubic yards and bark This is what they will call The measure of wooden bark in the past years. It's been mr. Fioris. I'd like to entry One recommended vote. Mrs. Elsie Fiori is a measure of wooden bark Any other recommendations or nominations? Seeing none, can I have one vote for mr. Fiori on the clerk? Yes Mr. Fiori is now our measure of wooden bark. Take the mrs. Fiori Assistant town moderator Do I have any nominations for assistant town moderator now? Christine Deschler from prec 19. I nominate my colleague mr. James O'Connor from prec 19 Mr. James O'Connor. Do I have any other nominations for Assistant town moderator? Seeing none, I direct the clerk down to one vote for mr. O'Connor into the record book That is so moved. Mr. O'Connor, congratulations You're going to be assistant town moderator That closes out with five points to article six. So any by-law? Medical marijuana treatment center registered marijuana dispensary sightings Mr. Kair Good evening. My name is Mike Kair, and I'm the chairman of the redevelopment board this year I am presenting on the zoning of medical marijuana treatment centers I have several explanatory slides that I plan on moving through pretty quickly here First I want to provide a very brief history on the topic In november 2012, there was a statewide ballot initiative to allow medical marijuana treatment centers in the commonwealth Massachusetts voters approved an arlington adopted by a two-to-one margin Last spring town meeting passed a moratorium on mmtc's In arlington through the end of this year's town meeting The notion would be to allow the town to better understand The state regs which were approved closer to the end of town meeting last year in may 2013 In january of this year the state approved 20 applications Several of which were in middlesex county, but none of it which was cited in arlington So currently there is no proposed mmtc for arlington This fall is the expected release of the final regulations by the arlington board of health for medical marijuana treatment centers Mmtc's which are also called registered marijuana dispensaries. You'll see the state regs actually call them rnds I'm not exactly sure why Moving on to the next one So why do we need to address medical marijuana treatment centers in zoning? Because zoning is the only way that we can affect where an mmtc will be placed in town Without its specific inclusion in our zoning bylaw mmtc's can apply for a state and local health permit With little restriction on where it may be cited therefore We should want to zone this use given the upcoming end of the moratorium During this past winter a working group comprised of the town manager the chief of police Town council director of inspectional services director of health and human services director of planning and community development And me the chair of the arb discussed recommendations for zoning mmtc's The working group proposed zoning mmtc's in b3 and b5 districts subject to special permit with environmental design review The arb unanimously accepted the proposal this spring So where are b3 and b5, which is what's been proposed here? And I apologize town is awfully big and the map is awfully small So b3 and b5 are what you see going along the spine of mass av there b5 is the red in the center right in the center of town b3 consists of the three villages right along mass av in east arlington In the center and in the heights All along the commercial spine of mass av moving on So why b3 and b5? first In addition to the moratorium last year the redevelopment board had also recommended allowing mmtc's in the b5 district only That is the one that's right in the center of town This did not pass As we thought about zoning the mmtc's this year We believe b5 is only is is too restrictive and that b3 and b5 together will better support the intent of the law And still support our public safety goals So b3 and b5 currently serve retail consumer services and office use The b3 and the b5 districts allow for good public transit and accessibility by foot traffic Which upholds the intent of the law to make treatment available to all without stigma In addition The visibility on the main commercial spine of mass av also supports the law enforcement goals with respect to citing mmtc's The second part of the proposal is that mmtc's be subject to special permit subject to edr The environmental design review Part of the recommended vote allows for the town to protect the public interest for a specific location proposed by an applicant This includes a public hearing by the redevelopment board to go through the 12 areas of the environmental design review Those areas that the redevelopment board considers are preservation of landscape Relation of building to environment Open space circulation surface water drainage utility service Advertising features or signage special features Safety heritage microclimate sustainable building and site design Each time someone comes before the redevelopment board for an edr For a special permit subject to edr the board goes through all of these through its public hearing process And that's what an mmtc would be Subject to if we pass the zoning as as proposed So other considerations The sequence of permitting is expected to be done concurrently with the applicant moving on its state permit Its special permit subject to edr and its local public health permit at the same time It should be noted that the state regulations provide that Here they call it an rmd Shall not be cited within a radius of 500 feet of a school daycare center or any facility in which children commonly congregate This 500 foot buffer Edge of building to edge of building will be part of the review as well It doesn't go into any more detail on that just to be clear But we do Thank you, but we do get the benefit of that in passing this zoning bylaw so in conclusion Medical marijuana treatment centers are the law Arlington has overwhelmingly approved them The redevelopment board believes it has taken a prudent course in balancing the interest of law to make treatment accessible and available without stigma With the need to support the town's public safety concerns Thank you Mr. Ruderman Thank you, mr. Moderator Michael Ruderman precinct nine. I take particular interest in this article because B5 is My street my neighborhood my home On alton street and that's all that was proposed last year Today the the article before us expands what is suggested in the proposed vote to Business three and business five is these areas that that the town would seek to qualify as as a Commissible areas for dispensaries I'd like to ask Concisely because I do not wish to yield my time to to a long answer Why not If our purposes are to avoid Stigma to to ensure access to normalize as as much as possible The sale and procurement of of this legal substance Why not all of our business areas? Why not all of them should be qualified as acceptable for for such a dispensary mr. Moderator? I'd like to ask that question Working group went through in detail all of the different business districts and including the industrial district as well I have some other maps that we could go through the different areas, but for different reasons Including accessibility and the ability for people to get there with public transit as well as law enforcement's desire to be able to Monitor These particular sites it made the most sense For it to be on the commercial spine in the opinion of both the working group and the redevelopment Thank you, sir Thank you members of town meeting. That's a non answer It made the most sense we felt we thought It's our idea trust us I would trust that idea a whole lot more if In that in that lineup with one of the earlier slides that you saw the working group that was Pulled together to consider this the time manager that you please the town council health and human services Read it on the board Did you see what was missing? Yes, time meeting usually gets it right Citizens was anyone from the neighborhoods asked about this any of the Business owners from these areas Anyone whose backyard this is going to be in because it will be in people's backyards. This is one of the Signal facets of Arlington zoning. We have very very few areas that could possibly qualify as a buffer Everybody's next to something else Everybody is within a few hundred feet of some other use these business areas Align along the commercial spine also back up to All of our principal places of schooling of worship of education in in in the broad sense of You know gyms and studios and all sorts of clinics I asked the hearing in which these are taken up. All right. What does this buffer zone really mean 500 feet? Of within a place in which children commonly congregate. What does that mean? It's a rather simple exercise in the in the in the very effective Geographic information system gis software that the town has to to identify a location draw an arc Around that and come up with a number of addresses By by you know street and number this qualifies. This does not this is within range. This is not Couldn't get that why we don't want to be we don't want to be too limiting The chairman of the air be said we don't want to be too limiting. We want to we want to approach this in a fuzzy kind of amorphous We'll decide on what's within the buffer zone when it comes in front of us This doesn't give me much confidence What would give me more confidence is that if we made this This use of of our town resources Available wherever business is conducted in town. Certainly that would destigmatize it Certainly that would give give the police the most opportunity to to take notice We're not tucking it away in the corner of an industrial area But any place where where legitimate business is conducted? Why not have a legitimate business conducted in that place? I would prefer to see to see all of the business areas in town opened up to this use if any of them are going to be Rather than to group these areas like I said along the along the the commercial And social spine of the town where all of the Conflicts and congestures and And concurrences of the buffered uses and the non-buffered uses are all going to come together I think we would have fewer conflicts And a greater amount of acceptance If instead of the recommended vote you voted no And therefore and thereby made all of the business areas in town available to this legitimate use Thank you Mr. Hyde, what would happen if we voted no? Should the entire town be open for this? Yes, I just want a point of clarification Sure, good evening At this point in position dugheim town council I think at this point in time, it would depend a little bit on how the state received Vote of no, I think the most likely outcome is that by not specifically zoning it as mr Care suggested there'd be at least the suggestion that it could be zoned anywhere Um, but what we really cannot do It's very clear in the law is we cannot Basically put this over for a further moratorium or in any way ship or form zone it out of arlington So that's how you jump so they could put it anywhere in town if they came in It's a possibility. There hasn't been a specific case addressing that matter to date Thank you, mr. Um, brian Andy Uh, Andy o'brien precinct 16 um I know that it's required by state law that that we try to zone this but We also should be have we've also been asked to make more cemetery space available And um, I think in all our wisdom. We've said no to conservation land um You know In my 20s in my 30s. I lived in allston I lived in central square in cambridge And when I got a little older I got a little tired of the noise And I know that many folks will tell me that okay some young person That's coming to buy their pot. You know, they're not going to make nearly as much noise as some, you know, raucous inebriated drunk college student but If we see the example of colorado in california The number of people and I would say predominantly young will you know Get that get some kind of provision, you know suffering from headaches or whatever to get their medicinal marijuana And I say this is someone when I broke that has had a broken leg and was prescribed every known painkiller and uh, it was None of them worked I threw them all up And I know that someday if I have to go through some kind of pain procedure again up, you know, medical marijuana will probably be the choice But I feel confident that if I really need it, I'll probably be able to get it But I kind of like living it, you know, I kind of like living in a town I'd like to live in a town that maybe we're, you know, we're free of this So, you know, I say a vote no vote will be a vote that will um Maybe just kind of send a message that You know, we don't want the state telling us what to do and you know, if you're going to do it, you know, bring it on Bring it in your way Thank you Mr. Cokie. So you want to take your break now? All right, let's break for 10 minutes. Mr. Cokie first in line