 We're gonna get ready please rods for the national anthem Through Thank You mrs. Howard If precincts 8 through 14 did not organize prior to the meeting If 8 and well 8 we organized I don't know if 9 organized upstairs by the clerk's office 10 and 11 over by the Well, that's to 10 and 11 out front because the boys across team is selling us goodies tonight and Then 12 13 and 14 will be over in this corridor. Please meet during the first few minutes of the break and organize Otherwise we have any town meeting members who have not yet been sworn in looks like everybody's been sworn in okay Mr. Dunn 2013 at 8 p.m All in favor, please say yes opposed No opposition it is affirmative vote any announcements or resolutions. Mr. Dunn first Thank You mr. Moderator. I would like to Welcome some very special guests that we have with us tonight. It is our sister city from Nagaoka co co Excuse me and who are joining us it is the 29th year of this relationship between the two cities and Up in the gallery you can see a group of students who have been joined with us for three weeks So we could give them So they have been staying here in town and going to classes for the last three weeks They have been staying with host families here in town town meeting member Carl Wagner is one of the hosts who has been hosting and So if you want to learn about what it's like to be a host family because you're interested in doing it in the Future, please talk to Carl. They even they got to go to a Red Sox game So that's been part of their activity I'd like to invite everyone to the cherry blossom festival Which will be at Odyssey school on Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Which is kind of the culmination of the trip and a big celebration And so I would like to invite from our sister city. Mr. Koji who has a few words to speak to us Good evening First we are surprised at the terrorism that broke out in Boston we play for quick recovery of Those who are injured on behalf of Nagaoka Kyo city. Thank you for your warm welcome We are very happy to be here Thank you again for hosting our student We really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah, there's something else We received notice the town clerk received notice today that in record time The attorney general has approved the actions of the special town meeting article 2 Which is to say that the attorney general has already approved the new leafblower regulations Which means that those will take effect after they have been printed twice in the advocate Which I understand is scheduled to be on the 2nd in the 9th. So believe it or not It's gonna happen before May 15th Mr. Jamison Who I was supposed to call before the recycling article 2 on the pit bottles. Yeah, but here he is Thank you, mr. Moderator. I have a couple quick things First I want to thank mr. Lobel again for printing our badges. It's a really nice service. He provides You may be aware I was the proponent for one of the proponents for article 11 I posted it up some background on that to the listserv so that people can see why we're looking at that It's a firearms issue mr. Moderator I arose when someone else was speaking during the special meeting article 2 last week Seeking clarification for a point of law And I fumbled that process rather badly I felt so I want to apologize to the body But I seek clarification on how does one appropriately seek clarification for a point of law During discussion when you are not up next or not on the list And I asked this in particular because this is the second time in 10 years that this has happened to me That would actually be a proper point of information If you get up and just so I just have to be more more persistent. Yes a pro point of information I'm confused as to a point of law point of law on this particular article Then we'll get the able-bodied miss rice up to Tell us what she knows and she told me that she knew of no leg regulation that was never mind In the special town meeting article 4 the recycling committee Met on that and had an opinion a positive favorable opinion We thought that over five years Listening to mr. Tosti and mr. Dunn we might save as much as 40 to $60,000 in incineration costs Not only of the plastic, but the residual water that's often in the plastic if they are not recycled and To warm the cuckoos of the moderators heart I am the proponent for the bus shelter That was put forth Committee that was put forth before town meeting before the moderator was in service and I believe also the Liberty Ride Committee No, I forget that one very member the bus shelter. Okay. Well Perhaps we should separate the vote does it doesn't matter if we disband something that doesn't exist right that can't hurt, okay? So I I've talked to the eight head people and I think that they would be best suited to carry on this Charge that I hope to no one ever really took Whatever and I'm giving them materials and happy to meet with them in a future date So I moved Dissolution of the bus shelter and Liberty Ride committees All in favor of dissolving the bus shelter and Liberty Ride committee, please say yes Post thank you, mr. Moderator. Thank you, sir Mr. Rowe Clarissa row pranks scene four. I'm up tonight With John Cole who will be here at the break. You'll see on your seats a fundraising letter that we are Endeavoring to do there a number of books for Bill members here tonight Sherry Baron the dice Jeff Thielman People that can't be mentioned because they're not supposed to be doing fundraising, but have been very helpful on the committee Bill Shea was a wonderful man and Many of you will have already given money for his The library at the new Thompson school is going to be named after him But for those of you that have managed to miss our many entreaties We'll be at the back of the hall in the front hall near the bench during The break if you have any questions and you want to ask us more about what what's going on with the books we have raised about three-quarters of our Goal and we're very happy about it and we can't wait to have The children of the Thompson school benefit. So we do hope you'll you'll consider donating to books for bill He was a man who served our town very well and was one of us. So thank you Mr. Chappett Mr. Monterey and our announcements in order now. Yep. That's what we're doing announcements in a rolling chap at precinct 12 Very quickly before you your leaf rakes wear out We have a cleanup day schedule was coming Saturday from 9 to 1 There'll be refreshments bring the kids They're gonna have a chance to fly some kites if the wind is good and we want to get it all done So we're ready for July 4th a big show. Thank you Robin's farm, of course Any other announcements or resolutions? Miss Mahan Just to the first one is there was a cleanup at MacLennan Park this past weekend and Jeannie Larry and some other members of the Summer Street Neighborhood Association want to let you all know that this Saturday May 4th at 10 a.m. There will be a cleanup at Hills Hill Which is adjacent to this Ed Burns skating arena The rank whatever you want to call it and the I shouldn't say whatever you want to call it But that's the area it's on Summer Street So they would love to see you all there and the other thing is I was proud to be here last night at the Allington High School Boys Basketball banquet where they honored the cheerleaders and some other members as well as I just wanted to announce that Margaret Potter's son Alex along with being named to the mass all academic basketball team which Recognizes the top athletes in the state Alex was also named the Paul Leone Memorial Sportsmanship Award which has been given out for the past six or seven years And I just wanted to let you all know that and that's certainly is If you were here last night, you could feel the emotion in the room in terms of the honor and the ward that was bestowed upon this player And I just want to let you all know of that. Thank you He's out playing ball every night I hear him when I walk the dog Any other announcements or resolutions? Mr. Harrington Sean Harrington precinct 15, I'd like to let Tell me to know that the Arlington Republican Town Committee will be having its monthly meeting at the Arlington Senior Center this Thursday at 7.15 p.m. Thank you Any further announcements resolutions? Seeing none reports or committees any committee have a report mr. Gilligan Move that the report of the treasurer to the 2013 annual town meeting be received All in favor Post that report is before the committee before the body. Thank you, mr. Moderator mr. Moderator if I may I have no intention of reading the report You can all read that on your own and get a good night's sleep, but I just would like to point out a couple of Major points We have been fortunate to attain our triple a credit rating from standard and pours for the eighth consecutive borrowing I would also like to report that our investment income for the trust funds is over 12 percent for the 2012 calendar year and further like to say we are in an excellent cash position and all our bank deposits are 100% collateralized. Thank you, mr. Moderator Thank You mr. Gilligan Any other report to committees? This behind Thank You mr. Moderator and keeping with the previous speakers as well as your remarks the first night What I would like to do is to ask this town meeting to dissolve the 2012 special town meeting leaf blower committee Which included not only myself, but Gary Tibbets, Jill Schneider, George Adelman, Carol Bann, Nancy Butts, Joe Kewski, Bill Downing, Charles Grandin, Richard Horan, Joe Kerbal, Maria Romano, and Michael Rotemann Which of the 13 members eight were town meeting members, so I respectfully request That you dissolve the committee All in favor of dissolving that committee, please say yes Opposed and we thank all the members of that committee for their hard work Thank you Any others any other reports of committees? Seeing none mr. Tosti we've all moved that we table article three All in favor of table article three, please say yes Opposed table three is article that table Article three is tabled That brings us to article 13 By law amendment animal control regulations Mr. Dunn Thank You mr. Moderator town council Juliana Rice will give the report on this article This rice Thank You mr. Moderator Juliana Rice town council In as reported in the selectments report in October of 2012 there were fairly comprehensive Changes to the state animal control laws This legislative package was driven largely by the animal rescue league and the MSP CA The provision that you might have seen that got a fair bit of attention in the press Was a prohibition on local regulations based on breed Which is not something that Arlington had And another provision that got some attention was that dangerous dogs may no longer be banished from towns Many of these changes were to be implemented by local by-laws or ordinances Some others were not necessarily Required to be in local by-laws or ordinances, but I thought as long as we were going through the whole thing It made sense to kind of collect all of the relevant state law requirements in one place to make it easy to access and implement I Want to be clear at the outset that there is no change at all being proposed to the town of Arlington's leash law It's awfully shdog park hours or The pooper scooper requirement The new requirements from the state law are in some places exceedingly specific And that's why the proposed by-law in front of you is so long and detailed And I know it is a lot to go through but I think in the end it's going to be more Clear and easier for people to Access all the relevant requirements in one place. There are four main areas that are addressed in this proposed by-law from the state law the first is how The Board of Selectmen is to treat complaints about dangerous and nuisance dogs and there are actually very detailed definitions now of what is a dangerous or a nuisance dog the law Here to four had much more vague standards in place There are requirements for how and when And under what conditions dogs can be chained or tethered outside I don't think this is something that comes up so often in this part of the state, but in other parts of the state Licensing provisions are changed in some ways that we already had in place for example Lower license fees for dogs that are spayed or neutered now. That's required by state law We already had that in place and then another fairly significant change is in kennels and there are five different types of kennels in the state law and One of those types encompasses what's known as a doggy daycare and we have in Arlington two of those Businesses under these new requirements. They will need to be licensed. I have been in touch with one of those businesses and with the lawyer for another one so they are familiar with this and you'll see in the Proposed by-law that there are five different types of kennels for For ease of use I proposed giving them Kennel a1 a2 that's something that I just made up But I thought it would be a little bit easier not all of those types of kennels would necessarily be allowed under zoning But the two that we already have Obviously already allowed under zoning But the licensing requirements, you know would be in place to the extent any other types of kennels would be allowed under zoning So I had a couple of minor corrections that I've discussed with the moderator I just wanted to run through and then I'd be available for any questions anybody had It has been pointed out to me correctly and I'm looking at the draft by-law on page starting on page five of the Board of Selectments report It's been pointed out to me correctly that in the first sentence I have section two that should be article two on page six under C3d The paragraph that starts at the time of attack or threat. There should be a comma after the word public On page 11 page six In the middle of the page paragraph D. It's under section C that starts on page five Roman numeral three and Then D. There's a paragraph that starts at the time of attack or threat The person or animal attacked or threatened had breached an enclosure or structure. This isn't the definition of dangerous dog comma including but not limited to a gated and fenced-in area comma in which the dog was kept apart from the public There should be a comma after public without being authorized to do so by the owner of the premises and Then there are two on page 11 First in the inset paragraph lower Roman five V that starts the length of the tether six lines down Guardians or keepers property. There should be an apostrophe before the S. and keepers and then in numbered paragraph six at the bottom of the page No person owning or keeping a dog shall subject the dog to cruel conditions or inhumane chaining or The tethering that the should be deleted and if The town meeting sees fit to make those changes administratively. I will provide the clerk with a corrected copy I'll coordinate with Mr. Crilly tomorrow Thank You mr. Mr. Moderator, so I stand ready to ask any questions that anyone to answer any questions anyone may have Okay, correct. Thank you very much Yes page eight Under impoundment pending appeal a order of impoundment Pending an appeal the hearing authority may There's a the word a may a petition that a should come out and I will make that change. Thank you Okay, thank you Miss Moumon. Hi, Serena amendment precinct 21 I am up here because first of all, this is really lengthy and I think it's good for us to review this Since it took a long time to get the off-leash hours, which I think it's great that we have them for the morning I just don't think we need something for the evening I'm just going to go over some things that were annoying to me or I need more clarification Barking is this for people for the house barking or in and out of the yard barking? Is there like specifics that you've got from the animal rescue league or MS PCA? This rice. I think if you could point me to where you're looking at the One under nuisance on page five under I 1a I Excessive barking we're wondering I'm wondering what that is this for in the house out of the house in the yard Is there any clarification? How long I know it says in the next paragraph reasonable like this That's it must be a long term or something because I'm not sure sure what that's big to me, right? I mean it could be either outside or inside anything that were that Presented a problem to neighbors or somebody else they can bring a complaint to the board of select men So it's a basis of the complaint could be barking that you find annoying. Okay, so it's a 24-hour thing. There's no like Hours or anything that yeah, okay Let's see. I had also a question about this Child on page six. I had a question about the child in another person's yard. It's not considered trespassing I understand that's Understandable, but I just want to make sure this doesn't lead to like Putting up gates later on or something that we're as dog owners at the in the future Consider because I can just see this as a gateway to something else. Mm-hmm well This is part of the sort of brand new and very detailed definitions of what a dangerous or nuisance dog would be but essentially the way this is written as it states that if Someone trespasses into the property of a dog You know on to private property and a dog is restrained or or secluded there and the dog Attacks a person that the fact that the person was trespassing will be taken into account when the board of select men considers whether I understand that then you have a child is not considered But but that the fact that a child is trespassing would not the fact that it was a child They would not be considered to have trespassed. I just don't want to have this like you know people that have swimming pools they have to put up a Offense or something so I'm just curious if you had heard anything another thing I want to clarification is hearing authority. Do we know how big the hearing authority is going to be? How many people are long? The hearing authority would be the board of select men, okay? All right, and then I have asked two veterinarians about this tethering thing on page 10 you have Dog under six months old should not be tethered. They had not heard anything like that when I got my dog She was eight weeks old and we pretty much started her a week or so after she came into our house Born to be outside and she's a snow dog So she loved being up there for almost 12 hours in a day And I just feel like are we putting more problems out there as a result? Um, it's it's not Something I considered the policy of because it comes directly from the state law. It may not be wise But that is what was adopted. Okay, and last one then I have as a cable mounted page 11 You have a great at the cable has to be greater than four feet and height and less than seven feet Do you know why they said that because I just think this sounds unreasonable to them, but I don't know why I'm sorry Okay Well, I'm not voting for it, but this is what I just wanted some clarification. Thank you. Thank you Thank You mr. Mowder your Paul Bayer precinct 13 I think there's one other little typo that should be corrected on page 9 section 7a It starts if an owner of a keeper of a dog And I believe it should be if an owner or a keeper of a dog Shame on you. Thank you mr. Bear anything else and I have one question as I recall from Dog debates a few years ago I thought I was told there was a limit of that you could have no more than three dogs in a household in Arlington Was that true and does this change that? It's rice Thank You mr. Moderator that was true that is being changed under this proposed by-law and the reason it is is because Under that proposed by-law three dogs was termed a kennel and a kennel was not allowed Under the new state law definition of kennel if we kept that in place the two existing businesses would not be allowed to operate Okay, thank you mr. Harrington Sean General do you have your third? I can't see here. Yeah, did you have your hand up? Yeah, I couldn't see who you were Yeah, it's mr. Kaplan Bill Kaplan precinct six just more grammar stuff page 5 Section a article 3 I think we have a double negative here that has threatened or attacked livestock at domestic Animal or a person in a manner not grossly Proportionate under all the circumstances which I I think means they've threatened someone in a proportionate manner, which is probably not the intention Like you kick a dog and he threatens you proportionate Disproportionate would be the dog looks at you funny or you look at him funny and he bites you that's disproportionate So I think Unless there's something going on here that I'm not aware of I think you've got that mixed up Miss Rice Sorry to say that one's actually intentional The nuisance dog provisions talk about you can have a threat or an attack But if it was provoked in some way then the dog would be a nuisance dog if without Justification there was a threat or an attack then the dog would be a dangerous dog So when you say not grossly disproportionate you you mean that they're responding in a reasonable manner Well to me as a lawyer that means something a little bit different And so what I did is I really took the language directly out of the state law and I realized it's clunky But to me it would be a different meaning if I said the dog was behaving reasonably as opposed to the dog was not behaving unreasonably Well, I guess I'm still not quite clear on how to interpret not grossly disproportionate under the circumstances because that Essentially means proportionate under the circumstances What how I would advise the board of select men if it were considering a Complaint under this section would be that there had been a threat or an attack But given all the circumstance so that's his cause for concern, but given all the circumstances it was not Unreasonable grossly disproportionate it could be a little disproportionate and you're still not talking about a nuisance a dangerous dog But it's not grossly disproportionate. It's grossly disproportionate. That's a dangerous dog So you can't go get your neighbor's dog all whipped up and then complain about it Well that that's kind of what it says here is that the dog is you know, they're behaving in a manner not grossly disproportionate Under the circumstances so again if you kick the dog and he bites you that would be behaving in a manner not grossly disproportionate if you you know say stop and he bites you that's that's grossly Disproportionate So I can't say what particular? Events would give rise to the application of this section, but I think I agree with your statement So okay, like I said, I'm just I think that the language is wrong here I think you've got a double negative that you're not quite aware of and you're sort of saying the opposite of what you're trying to say No, that'll be that'll mean the opposite I mean certainly if someone wants to offer an amendment, that's fine to me. It makes sense So, okay Mr. McCabe Mark Mark McCabe reason to I moved to terminate debate on article 13 and all matters before it Okay, we have a motion to terminate debate on the article 13 all matters before it all in favor, please say yes opposed My opinion debate is terminated We have a force recommended by law amendment of the Board of Selectment on Article 13 all in favor, please say yes opposed My opinion it is affirmative vote and I so declare it that closes article 13 brings us to article 14 Thank You, Mr. Moderator of gasoline stations. Mr. Dunn. I apologize for jumping in there. Mr. Moderator It's your job Time meeting you have before you the vote of the of the Board of Selectment and our comment This was a 10 voter article and when it the Proponents came before the board we considered several issues including whether or not there was adequate safety. We considered whether or not We looked at the ADA requirements, which are that there has to be Available for someone who is disabled they does have to be pumping available for them We looked at what some of the neighboring towns did and we considered whether or not There's any really compelling reason to keep like legal safety or otherwise reason to keep it around and So at that for that reason the majority voted to change the rule We understand or I understand personally since then that the proponent has changed his mind And I but I look forward to the town meeting debate and seeing what you all think we should do Mr. Wagner Thank You mr. Moderator point of order. May I change the proposed motion from a yes No vote to a vote of no action No, it's not you're you lost control of it when the select man put it in the warrant You can say that you don't want it to happen though. Thank you I'm the principal proponent of something that I'm about to ask you to vote no on I hope we'll do this quickly so that we can get on to other meeting business Very briefly. I thought a few months ago It would be nice if I could pump my own gas and the question is of course a very colorful and a very deep one I proposed what I thought was a simple Removal of regulations in Arlington and whether you like it or don't like it. That's what I proposed Unfortunately after talking to a lot of yes and no people on this I now think that my simple proposal was like Jonathan Swift's basic proposal. It needs it needs more work Particularly I was pleased to hear that the the ARB and the zoning bylaws are set to be significantly looked over in the next year and My action would not in my opinion safeguard the people of Arlington if we did what I was intending to simply do Basically, I don't think it would safeguard having full-serve at gas stations And I don't think it would safeguard us from sort of Winchester has mega type stations I ask you rather than debating this to vote my motion soundly down and also Potentially to vote soundly down the amendment to 14 which is also I think very good and well thought out But doesn't get to these points of protecting people who do like full-serve or protecting us from mega stations So I'm sorry for bringing this to you in this way I also wanted to briefly say that I think the select man voted correctly on the general idea that Arlington by now Can move from 1950s style laws to having self-serve, but since getting their approval I had the additional information from the Inspectional services people that said if you voted yes on this they would have to allow stations That would have no full-serve and currently there would be no limit on the size of stations And although some of you might think I'm a crazy person for wanting to have self-serve I think everybody probably would like to have full-serve self-serve and not have a change in the feel of our gas stations So I ask you to resoundingly vote no and maybe someone will terminate debate after me. Thank you Thank you Mr. Mr. Warden Thank You mr. Moderator John Warden precinct 8 and And that's surprisingly because I never do it. I'm not moving to terminate debate Mr. Moderator for the record. I'll formally hand you the sign original signed copy of my subsequent motion. Thank you this was made available on the First night of town meeting and also I think the second night and there's I think a few more copies still in the back table But I will read it. It's very brief And instead of My substitute motion is that article 5 self-service gas dispensing of Title 5 of the town bylaws be amended by striking out the present language and inserting in place the following a gasoline station may permit At its discretion customers to pump their own gasoline provided that without additional charge or unreasonable delay The station provides an employee to pump gasoline for any customer who so requests and I did this because Seems to me as as the original proponent of this ill-conceived idea now admits There are a number of circumstances in which People are not well equipped or well disposed To pump their own gasoline The primary one of course is a disabled person and although the select one of blightly say a da Requires a station to deal with the needs of that disabled person I think in accordance with that ultimate Authority on all things garlington list Someone has looked it up and determined that if the station is has for a single employee The sort of girl in a booth who takes your credit card, which I have encountered in other jurisdictions They don't have to do that. What's that person the wheelchair do? I don't know. They don't get any gas I guess hopefully they're not totally out. There are other people in that circumstance too You know that the parent with a couple little kids strapped in their Their Baby seats in the back Supposed to leave the car go into the station give your card so I leave those kids That's a criminal offense to leave those kids sitting in the car. You're supposed to unbuckle them take them out Walk them across three lanes of other cars coming in to pump gas. I don't think you should do that either There are there are elderly people who don't want to pump their own gas There are your teenage daughter maybe is coming home at 11 o'clock at night Maybe she shouldn't be out that late, but she is she's almost out of gas Do you want her to get on on some dark night with all kinds of creepy characters around pump her own gas or your grandmother? I mean, it's the same thing. They're all all kinds of people who should not have to do this and And therefore we propose this amendment now. It's very well to have the amendment as the gentleman said but what if What if it doesn't work and and and you know, I can come along and and say to the gas station to hey I'm I'm I'm elderly or I'm well, I am but But you know, I want you to pump my gas and he says no we don't we got self-service do it yourself And I say but we passed a law He'll say no speak English Um So I think well while my amendment is a vast improvement over what the select man would ask you to do The real improvement is to as mr. Wagner suggested vote the whole thing down. Thank you Sir Mr. Schlichman Oh wait, we need a second on mr. Warden's motion. Thank you. I hear a second. Okay Thank you very much Paul Schlichman pre-sign motion to terminate debate under this article All right, I have motion to terminate debate under this article all in favor. Please say yes opposed My opinion it is terminated First we have Mr. Warden substitute motion which as he's Able to describe to us will provide a attendant even if you want to pump your own all in favor of mr. Warden substitute motion Please say yes My opinion that's a negative vote We now have a force to recommend a vote of the board of select men as Printed in their report all in favor. Please say yes Opposed say no My opinion that is a negative vote and I so declare it That closes article 14 and brings us to article 15 regulation of utility polls I Recommend a vote of the board of select men no action. Mr. John Leonard, please put purpose to your eyes, sir. I Know it's got a tie on it must be important Thank You mr. Moderator John Leonard precinct 17 With a substitute motion on article number 15 Ladies and gentlemen, good evening Last Monday night on your chairs was left this substitute motion pertaining to utility polls If you would turn, please to page number two You would notice it is the article 15 was first presented back in 1999 to the board of select men The board of select men at that particular time voted no action Because it was under their opinion at that particular time that they were placing their trust in the utilities To come across what a plan To maintain you the polls in the town of Arlington As you notice at the bottom of the page three of those utilities are not in existence anymore When mr. Rolly chape it Form ahead of the telecommunications comedian myself approached the board of select men of February 25th this year They expressed interest in the idea But they were concerned that they thought that they didn't have the authority to do anything in regards to governing the polls in the town of Arlington At that particular time Some of the select men mentioned the possibility of a committee They expressly asked that particular time, please This town does not want any more committees. This town does not need any more committees You are the committee. You should take the lead They mentioned at that particular time that maybe they should have a discussion with the moderator They also mentioned at that particular time that maybe I should go out and take pictures of ten of the worst polls That I know of in the town of Arlington Another member of the board of select men at that particular time mentioned does anybody know how many reports Since 1999 The town is received from the utilities The answer at that particular time was one 14 years ladies and gentlemen in one report they discussed Having another meeting they contacted me for another meeting on March 6th At that particular time is to chape it myself along with two members of the sport of select men Discussed other things They again expressed their interest that they were interested in the idea, but they felt that they lacked authority Again, they mentioned a possible committee Again, I mentioned to them that the committee is not the way to go that day of the committee and they should take the lead I asked that their upcoming meeting on March 11th was a necessary for me to attend They said not necessary unless I had something new to add Needless to say on March 14th. I was greatly disappointed when I read in the local newspaper That not only have they decided to take a vote of no action, but they decided to form a group aka committee There was then that I returned back to the town library To do more research Which again at this particular time? I would like to thank the personnel of the Robbins library For showing me how to turn a computer on and off How to work a printer and basically to put up with an old guy like myself learning new things At that particular time, I discovered what is called the Massachusetts General Laws and proceeded to do research on them What you having to hand out in pages three four five and six are just some of the sections in chapter 166 Detailing as far as I'm concerned that the power The selectmen do have in governing the polls in a town of Alrington I Express to you that we've lost 14 years In 14 years there's been growth by the utilities in the town of Alrington But in 14 years there's been no maintenance of the utility poles in the town of Alrington. I Stressed to you again one report in 14 years I Proceeded to do more research by going to the middle sex law library up in Wolbin and From what I can obtain ladies and gentlemen these laws are on the books right now After serving something like 40 41 years in the telephone industry One expression are saying comes to mind Often I have heard in all the departments that I worked in the expression We don't make any money on taking the stuff out We only make money on putting the stuff in I Submit to you ladies and gentlemen at this time to ask the board of selectmen to take charge of this With is with the knowledge that is obtained in the Massachusetts general laws And I wish I'd meet this problem head on and take care of business Again, I thank the aforementioned people that I mentioned and I stand ready to answer any questions you might possibly have thank you Thank You mr. Leonard. We have a second on mr. Leonard's resolution second Mr. Dunn you're next Thank You mr. Moderator I'd like to say so the board of selectmen obviously We heard what mr. Leonard the other petitioners brought forward we want to do what they want to do There are a lot of polls that are either unsafe or unsightly in town and they need to We need to encourage the utilities to remove them However, unfortunately, I do not believe that the statute that mr. Leonard sites gives us the power to do what it is That he wants us what what we all want to do I will until what we so there's a there's a particularly ugly double-pull The mr. Leonard is pointing out to us in the corner of Marathon Street in a perfect world What we would do is we'd say Verizon you have 14 days or you have 90 days to remove this and every time that you don't remove it We're gonna find you $10 day. We're gonna find you $100 a day Whatever it is that we think it takes to get Verizon to do that However, we can't find them the state is not sit the son fit excuse me does not see fit to give us that power All we can do is kind of bark at them We can argue with them and we can pressure them and we can print a picture of it in the advocate And we can talk to them about it and we can demand reports about it I believe that this is something that I think that mr. Leonard makes an excellent point that we have not been as Persistent on this issue as we need to be and I believe that this issue does require persistence in Talking to the utilities if we don't provide the pressure like he's if we do not provide the pressure They aren't going to do it However, I will also say that one One option that we do have is that every time Verizon or somebody else comes forward and says I'm trying to do a poll We could say no We're not gonna let you put in that poll We're not gonna let you put in that cable and we theoretically we do have that option. We could do that In practice that is not something that we can do and I hope Earlier in town meeting we looked at Thompson school And the the polls that we granted Verizon the right to put up in Thompson I voted no on that one But the reason that I voted no is because I had the luxury of knowing that those polls were already there if I had Voted no and I'd carried a day and we had actually said no on those polls And Thompson was sitting there in the dark in the sprint in the fall when it goes to open Can you imagine how unpleasant that would be for all of us and it's similar if you if it Thompson is something that belongs to the town But can you imagine being a homeowner and your home is being held hostage between a standoff between Verizon and the town? I don't think that though so that is a weapon that we would use very judiciously and very carefully So I encourage you to support what the town and help us bring Verizon and other Utilities to take down the unsafe and unsightly polls But I ask you to not support the resolution just because I don't think that it is a reasonable or achievable. Thank you Sir mr. Chuppett Thank You mr. Moderator Roland Chappett precinct 12 a Little history here Mr.. Leonard is correct Way back when I was on the telecommunications committee. We discussed this issue The concern was the double polls just hung out there in state There was no incentive for the utility companies to remove them Let me give you a little background on how this has to be done on a typical pole There were power lines. They're the ones way up on top There are telephone lines and cable lines Now those three entities Controlled and maintained by the utilities that provide that service and star for example is responsible for power lines So what had happened back eight or ten ten more than ten years ago was we tried to get the utilities to work cooperatively If they would take an inventory of all the polls that was set up and we still remained as double poles and Kept the date that they took that information then we could help them work out the primary issue and that is First you have to take off the power lines and then you have to take off the telephone lines from somebody else And you have to take the cable lines off of somebody else And so you know you really need to work cooperatively get all this to happen because it won't happen all at once So it's very feasible It might be three months before the pole goes out the double pole goes away They put a new one in and the other one's hanging there 90 days is reasonable But there was one in front of my house It was two and a half years before they finally got wind to do it and that was only after we started to make some Noise about this whole issue So mr. Lennon's proposal is correct perhaps perhaps it will be challenged in terms of how do we go about? Forcing the utilities to work together create the data file and That take action and keep that data file of the eight he's right There was one report that was made and that was quite a long time ago when in fact we really expected They would give us a report once every 90 days or every six months We kind of keep track and see how quickly those poles are coming down Didn't happen didn't happen. So what's happening here? I think it's proper here. We need to put their feet to the fire Now granted if the utility companies are the ones who are responsible for this You know, it's like the Fox watch in the chicken coop How much are they really going to do it? Somebody has to put their feet to the fire and I think that's what he's suggesting here We need to make them take some action. Otherwise, they just won't do it There's nothing for them to do it. This is an extra cost They have to bear and they don't want to do it. So my issue is support his bylaw and Change and let's see if we can make it happen again if we can get the utility companies to begin to understand We're serious here. We want this done. This is an aesthetic and a safety issue Maybe they'll listen well enough and get going and do it the right way. Thank you Clarify this is a resolution. It's not a bylaw change Miss Mahan Diane Mahan tell me the member of precinct 14 I also want to let tell me to know I am a retired member of IBW 22 22 which is When I worked for them, it was AT&T and ET&T and it's now Verizon Which is one of the main utility companies God bless you that we're speaking to in this motion. First of all I applaud what mr. Leonard is attempting to do and has attempted to do for 15 plus years here in the town of allington What I will say is I have worked with the Verizon union members who also see this not only as An issue that that is presented before town meeting but also as a public safety issue And they have said to me as an individual retired member that this is something that cities and towns through all the Commonwealth Really need to get behind This is not an issue that the allington board of selectmen can solve. This is an issue that needs to Go through the statewide effort in terms of how Verizon and any other utility company Their feet are held to the fire in terms of 90 days in terms of fines that that are passed out to them In terms of any Remediation mitigation that we can get from them What can the board of selectmen do right now? We can say to Verizon and any other utility companies that come before us. No, we can't give you that service We're not going to let you lay that service on that pole and that means that Individual residential homeowner who really has no stake or game in this arena basically gets penalized so My issue would be I agree it mr. Leonard with what he's trying to do I don't see that the allington board of selectmen is going to be able to solve this because basically all we could do right now Was say no to Verizon and if RCN or any other utility came in but it's mostly Verizon sometimes and star national grid Can't leave any more services in allington I think more what we should do and what you should expect of your board of selectmen is that we work with our state Delegation in terms of really working with the Department of utilities in terms of holding the utilities Verizon National grid etc holding their feet to the fire. That's something that I've certainly always wanted to do I think that's where we should put our best efforts through. I understand this is a resolution So in terms of how do we get this fixed? I don't see that your allington board of selectmen is going to be able to do that because we cannot make Verizon go out and say make your poles be safer We need to have that through state relief So I would leave it to the wisdom of town meeting on how you vote on the resolution because it is a resolution And that will certainly deliver a message But I would ask everybody here in town meeting tonight that whatever action the board of selectmen could take on a statewide Level with our state delegation that you join us all on that. Thank you Thank you, madam. Mr. Bahaman Good evening Guillermo, Bahamon precinct 14 22 Oakland More than this is more than a local problem And I also think that it's more than than the same problem if Arlington were a little town in Germany We wouldn't have this problem because all of their utilities are underground If there are big big snowstorms no problem no lines are down because all the lines are down the everything is underground no In there they're also waterproof so that and and I think and and we have to bear the problem if we are willing to pay For a better under structure Then we cannot continue being very much of an underdeveloped state city or country is Is we are only getting what we are willing to pay? in a smaller scale if you are if you have a certain way yes Verizon will do it for you and and We do it all the time because we have the power of very large people are standing behind us We tell them no we don't want this we don't want these lines We don't want digital we want a better design and they do it because otherwise they'll say well you lose 400 accounts But if you are a single homeowner the a single homeowner is not able to say to Verizon or or to a n-star I don't want this poll right in front of my Entry to my house because That poor person doesn't have to wait that that a landlord with 400 or 2,000 units as so is I think that the The matter to be in the hands of the select man And they should be the ones to negotiate case by case or maybe group by group how We are willing to pay more for our services because Verizon or RCN is going to pass the cost to us. How much are we willing to pay? For for a safer world so that so that we are not without electricity for two or three days or even four or seven hours I think that We should pay more but but we have to bear we have to bear that in that in mind is it's not just aesthetics But it's also safety and cost Thank you. Thank you Mr. McCrory you Hugh McCrory precinct 20 Yeah, I don't disagree with either the proponents of the Of the article or the board of selectmen from what they've said But I think there are two issues here this issue of on sightliness and an issue of on Whether the polls are safe or not so The board the chairman of the board of selectmen stated that Tonight that he mentioned that there are there are unsafe poles out there I just want to clarify first of all from him if that's a statement of opinion or is that a statement of fact and If it's a statement of fact has it been certified do we know that there are poles which are unsafe? That's a question to the board is looking Safe is a matter of degrees So a double pole is a permitted to exist but part of the reason that they aren't permitted to exist in the long run Is because they aren't as safe as single poles. I don't I'm told this I'm not enough of an engineer to answer what it is if so Do I do I fear walking the streets of Arlington? Absolutely not There are no live wires out there that I know of there are certainly things there But there are wires for instance that are looser than they should be So I think brick sidewalks in some ways are unsafe unsafe is a relative thing well, maybe I can I'll pose another question Acerics is one thing and double poles or anything I think with the town meeting and the town itself needs to know whether or not we have unsafe poles in Arlington Hopefully we don't and I assume we don't I mean if we if we do have any any poles Which are questionably unsafe because it sounds like it's a matter of degree And I think we have a lot of talented employees in our town to figure that out and to get a recommendation to the board Selectment of whether or not we do have poles which require immediate attention or not There's nothing in my opinion that meets the level of being an active safety hazard that requires an immediate response Okay Yeah, that's pretty clear Yeah, so I think it's it's too two separate arguments and I would prioritize it in terms of whether poles are unsafe or not and If anyone knows of any poles which are they look unsafe If I would please bring it to the attention of the board selectmen and obviously they'll appoint someone who or they'll know what to do Thank you. Thank you, sir. Ms. Knoblock Nicole, did you have a question or a statement? Nicole Knoblock Precinct eight Just to the safe unsafe question There's a pole around the corner from jam and Java that my husband and I noticed a few weeks ago That is like this When you looked up and said my god, how did that happen? So I think there are poles that are visibly scary But the question I have is if we pass this amendment Does it hurt the select men to have this vote from town meetings saying that the people of Arlington are concerned? That's my question Clarify again. It's not an amendment. It's a resolution. Sorry, but if we pass the resolution Which the town meeting is basically saying to the select men Hey, we want you to do something but we can't force you to so it would be sort of like us Encouraging them to do it So it won't yeah, so my in my opinion I think we should vote for it because I think any time you're trying to have leverage especially with big companies and you're trying to have This select men done suggested press coverage or any other sort of you and cry It only helps to hear from the town that we are concerned and we would like them to do something. Thank you Thank you Mr. Swilling Nathan Swilling precinct four move to terminate On on on all matters before the article on all we have motion to terminate the bid on all my articles all matters before the article second Is it debate? Point of info at your point of information, sir Our MK preaching 21 before we vote on this would you clarify the question of Resolution versus substitute motion the the paperwork that I have says substitute motion. Yeah, I don't know where the Idea of a resolution came into the discussion. So could you clarify that for me? Yes, I will mr Leonard has submitted the substitute motion The substitute in lieu of the board of selectments recommended vote of no action. Therefore. It's a substitute, but if you read it The town meeting here by resolves that makes it a resolution He's not proposing changes to any bylaws He's not proposing changes or any new bylaws or any such changes He's just saying that we resolve that they should do this as y'all know We can't order the selectmen to do anything that's a separate body of government under up Under the town manager act and we just don't have that story But we can suggest to them that they would like it and I believe that's the spirit of mr. Leonard's Substitute mr. Leonard. Yeah, okay, so do y'all understand what we're gonna vote on We're gonna vote on first mr. Leonard substitute motion Wait, wait, oh No, I thought you start. All right. We didn't terminate debate yet done Long for fraternity terminating debate, please say yes opposed debate is terminated Okay, now we're gonna vote on mr. Leonard substitute motion first all in favor mr. Leonard substitute, please say yes opposed My opinion it is substituted we now have the main motion before you which is mr. Leonard substitute motion all in favor Please say yes opposed It is an affirmative vote of the substitute motion as I so declare it Thank You mr. Leonard Affirmative that brings us to article 16 High law amendment streets We have a recommended vote of no action All in favor recommend to vote in no action, please say yes opposed My opinion is affirmative vote for no action and I so declare it that moves us on to article 17 overnight parking fees Recommend to vote of no action. Is there a substitute? You have a substitute sir Come forward Thank You mr. Moderator moderator Jim Ballin precinct six I'm submitting a substitute motion for the no-action vote of the Board of Selectment on article 17, and this is in the form of resolution Thanks, Ben This was passed out on your seat last Monday, but I will read it since it's short It says be it resolved that town meeting believes that the following fees are fair and reasonable for properties granted on street overnight parking permits $150 for an initial one-year permit and thereafter $25 for each subsequent the subsequent year Let me provide a little bit of brief bracket background on this the Board of Selectment has recognized For at least the last 20 years or so That some vehicle owners should be granted an exemption to the overnight parking ban due to lack of Available off-street parking on their property and the Board of Selectment proves this on a case-by-case basis approves these requests for exemptions and for allow it residents to park on the street in front of their house There are currently approximately 80 or so Vehicles within Arlington that have these approved permits for this year and the current permit cost is $200 per year Now the proponents of this of this resolution have done some Significant research on other permit fees in neighboring Boston area cities and towns Generally the fees that we've discovered have been between 10 and $30 per year We did not find any city or town City and town in the greater Boston area or even statewide that charge more than $30 a year for such a permit just a couple quick examples of Cities and towns Medford $10 Somerville $30 Cambridge 25 Maldon $5 Boston apparently is free Newton 25 Brooklyn 25 Everett $10 again Arlington is $200 Now that I Just want to quickly mention a couple reasons why I think Most other cities and towns do not charge more than $30 a year There is a legal precedent for charging permit fees. It is a supreme judicial court opinion Emerson College versus City of Boston That held that permit fees may only be assessed in amounts necessary to recover actual costs and reading from the court It stated the charges are collected not to raise revenues, but to compensate the governmental entity providing the services for its expenses fees in excess of the town's actual costs are revenue generating and Would be considered taxes which cannot be levered levied through parking regulations I'm sure many of you are familiar with a couple years ago the school committee Raised athletic fees and in many cases. I believe those fees were considered in excess of what the actual costs were and That same issue came up with regard to those fees being excessive So I want to just talk quickly about what are the actual costs for issuing these permit fees at the request of the board of select Men the town manager issued a report on the town's cost to issue parking permits I believe mr. Chaptaline did it an excellent job very thorough and careful analysis Copy of his report was included in the packet that was provided to you In summary the the his analysis showed that the actual cost for the town to To issue these permits is about $156 for the first year And that's essentially as I mentioned in a minute because there are additional costs The first time this permit is issued and thereafter. It's about $22 a year To issue the permit now there was an additional $30 $30 cost For something that mr. Chaptaline called an allocation of scarce resource It's not actually an occurred cost by the town and issuing overnight parking permits Oh, in my opinion, it would not be permitted by the Emerson College case This is just an excerpt from his report Basically what it does is breaks down the cost for the initial permit and as I mentioned There is it is a case-by-case analysis. So There is some effort involved by the police fire border selectman treasure To evaluate a property and determine whether it is qualified for the exemption And that's why that cost came out to about $156 again Again excluding these this allocation of scarce resource fee And then for the reissuance every year after it's been approved once there is there is really no additional Analysis that needs to be done. It's just the cost of basically printing and issuing the permit, which is about $22 a year So in conclusion Just want to provide a quick rationale for why why we are looking for your support in this resolution I think the current $200 overnight parking fee is excessive. It exceeds the town's actual cost In issuing the permit and it's really not in line with any other city of town that I've been able to find The regulation isn't I'm sorry the resolution is intended to encourage the select man to revise the overnight parking permit fee On public ways consistent with the town's actual costs, and I just want to point out I do think that there are some litigation risks For charging fees in excess of what the actual costs are Let me just conclude by mentioning that the border select man has agreed to put this matter of The overnight parking permit fee on the agenda for border selecting meeting This spring or summer. I've been told But at this point I urge you to show your enthusiastic enthusiastic support for this resolution. Thank you We have a second Okay Mr. Dunn You know Response to the original language of the article I will say so we did ask the town manager earlier this spring to look at the costs And he came back and he provided that report as mr. Balans suggested I will be putting this on the agenda for a future board of select men's meeting Of course, we value the opinion of town meeting members and town meeting as a whole But I will say that I guess that I'm not sure that this is I don't think we've got the right venue to discuss this because I think the border select one meeting will be the right place to actually set what this number should be. Thank you Stephen Harrington precinct 13. I'm rising in support of this resolution and you know, this is a resolution So we just want to tell the border select men that we are supporting that they charge a just fee As mr. Ballin pointed out. I just want to reiterate a couple points very quickly one We're only talking 80 Families 80 cars more like 60 families. I had a good friend who couldn't park on Newland Road because well There was this big pile of ledge that his house is on top of and so these are hardships This isn't like that someone is trying to get a deal by parking in front of their house or Like an overnight parking van exemption. These are people with hardships And they do a lot of legwork to ensure that this is actually hardships And so, you know, you don't need to add sort of insult injury It's already difficult enough to have to you know, park in front of your house move it when there's a snowstorm and things of that nature So, you know to charge a fee that's out of line. I think that's not a great idea I think that As you mentioned, there is some litigation rates There's been people have been paying this fee for 10 years and you know there's a strong argument that they've overpaid by a couple thousand dollars and so We have an obligation As a town meeting to make sure that the town Doesn't take on any type of risk like that in addition. I think it's important that that Public entities do follow the Emerson principle and that is that, you know, you don't charge a fee To raise revenue that you charge a fee to cover the cost of the thing because at the end of the day We're providing, you know as a town we're providing services to residents and residents shouldn't pay a fee for that So, um, thank you very much Thank you, mr. Fisher Andrew Fisher precinct six. I also urge a yes vote to support this even though I voted strongly in favor of Retaining the overnight ban that's townwide Most these people do have a hardship and I don't think it I don't think it contradicts retaining the town we Wide-band at all I believe that if the Selectment adopt some more clear criteria for who can attain this hardship theoretically very few people additionally Would be able to apply because they'd see what the criteria is for And also, I think it's simply a matter of the state law that it's not supposed to be a making money making proposition The fee was only raised from 100 to 200 just two or three or four years ago I'm not sure which for many of these places that it was just an understanding that the car could be on the street And then at one point I'm not sure how many eight or ten years ago It was set at 100 So that's that's my feeling. Thank you Thank you, Mr. Fisher Mr. Lane gone Thank You mr. Barter writer. I'm Richard So when I parking ban Well in the town you hit is it's 34,000 cars But they pay excess taxes in this town the 70 to 80 cars that have overnight parking stickers, which is a Very low number And basically to get a parking stick and overnight parking sticker you got to have no driveway It's got to be a hardship case And you don't just give it to you and the way that I received it was they had a parking subcommittee Which is made up of a few of the select and Entire meeting manager and you know five five other people all together five people And what they did was they checked out our area and then we had to go in front of them and they issued us our parking stickers, but They had to give it to you if they might will manage dust to the point where One of us needed we had a two family and they have three cars Well, you can only have one car on the street in front of your house Well, our house is only 50 feet wide so two cars would It's a two family and it's 50 feet wide so each side of the house is 25 foot so you could put one car We had three cars So as a result they gave them one sticker So the other car is now parked on the patio in front of the house because they couldn't get a second sticker And what should happen really is Tom meeting members should be a part of the parking subcommittee The parking subcommittee are the people that also rule on who gets the permits so Mr. Greeley and Dianne Mahon They're on the parking subcommittee Then they are the ones that rule who gets the ticket the sticker to park overnight There's no imbalance. It's bias. It's you don't have anybody. So I think that a town meeting members should be involved when it's a Hardship case and it's a problem with the citizens the citizens have an issue But the select men are on the board. They've already made their decision So you're basically stuck with whatever they give you so if you get two spots and you needed three It's too bad. I know a lady on lumbar terrorists. She had two spots. No driveways Make up of a select committee there's nothing we can do about their committee Right, but it bring it back to what I did up. Okay. We ended up ended up being the $200 we had to pay for the tickets And the people on lumbar terrorists they paid $200 for their tickets the two tickets their son get out of college And he couldn't get a place to park because they didn't have They would only let them have the two tickets in front of their house stickers. Excuse me So the $200 fee Should be lowered after the first year Just just in the fact that it's it's illegal what they're doing The state doesn't allow them to make a profit on a fee So that alone should lower it and we also should have input the town meeting should have input on the way that they're Divving it out these tickets because these stickers. I mean because They're not doing it fair and equity the people that are getting them I just you know fighting with them and they're not even working with the public. Thank you Thank you, Mr. Ngo. Um That woman in turquoise shirt. Yeah Hello, Mary and King precinct one I rise in support of the substitution by Jim Balin I am a previous member of the What did we call ourselves No, it was the the crime watch or neighborhood watch in precinct one and There it was always said that whenever there are cars parked on the street There is a much higher chance of crime in the area However, I think there's another sort of crime that's been going on in East Arlington As a former resident of Minaname Manor the family low-income housing Who give one third of their total income to Arlington housing authority? And I have tried to work this out with the housing authority in years gone by with no success Only one parking space is allotted per household No matter how many drivers in the family No matter how many people are earning this income that they are taking one third of and Subsequently the current policy in that area Means that that area really is a hardship area as well Because the lowest income people in town do not have adequate parking and are regularly ticketed and have such absurd amounts of Expenses based on that that families frequently lose their cars and lose their ability to get to their employment so I put forward that Along with The houses that have no driveways This is a significant contingent of Arlington That has been Disrespected and not given any option for parking. I have spoke with selectmen many years back About this issue and they just said go to the housing authority so I just Think that as a temporary measure this Resolution is the best thing that could be done for people in Minonomy manner that perhaps they won't lose a significant amount of their income to being ticketed Thank you. Thank you. Let's take our ten minute break the Ellington boy Ellington boys lacrosse team has cookies and other treats for us We'll see in ten minutes Mr. Allen you in the hall You're gonna get sworn in right away so it can participate Wait wait stop right there. We're going just raise your right hand and swear it repeat after me. I Harry Allen Pledge to attend all scheduled town meetings to participate fully and fairly Evaluate all matters before town meeting and to vote in the best interest of the town I support free speech and we'll treat others with mutual respect in spite of conflicting opinions and We'll conduct myself in a civil manner that is becoming of elected town meeting member and We'll conduct myself in a civil manner that is becoming of an elected town meeting member Wait one more part. This is never ending. I'm going to change it next year. Don't worry I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and impartially perform all the duties incumbent upon me I Will faithfully and impartially perform The duties incumbent upon me as a town meeting member in accordance with the bylaws town manager act The general laws of the common will also help me God. Thank you very much. All right, that brings us back to article 17 mr. McCabe You're next on the list hot Harry mark Mark McCabe Mark McCabe precinct to I stand to terminate debate on article 17 in all matters Before it All right, we have a motion to terminate debate on article 17 and all matters before it all in favor. Please say yes opposed My opinion debate is terminated We have before us a substitute motion of mr. Balin which is again a resolution Where we're directing the the select men that we think certain things are wonderful all in favor of mr. Balin's Resolution substitute motion, please say yes Opposed My opinion that it's an affirmative vote okay, now we have the Recommended vote as substituted by mr. Balin substitute all in favor. Please say yes opposed Again, I believe that's an affirmative vote Firm as well and so to clear it that brings us to article 18 daytime parking Recommended vote of no action All in favor of no action, please say yes Opposed Affirmative vote for no action, and I so declare it brings us to article 19 quest to abolish the noise Reestablish the noise abatement committee We recommend a vote of no action. I see no one making a substitute all in favor of no action on article 19 Please say yes Opposed say no My opinion is affirmative vote of no action. I so declare it article 20 Transfer gee was I got to put these up To conservation commission town-owned parcels. We have a recommended vote of voter selection of no action all in favor, please say yes Opposed say no Yes, ma'am Do you have a substitute motion? Well, if there's no action on the thing we don't take any we don't have any debate or Unless some put you into substitute motion is nothing to debate or to question. I can't hear you madam on which Well, we've just went through four articles in a matter of seconds. I don't know which one you're referring to Article 20 we haven't taken the vote of no action yet We're about to Did that answer your question? We have a recommended vote of no action on article 20. All right, what's your what's your point of information? You have to come forward Synographer and TV can't get it. What's your point of information miss Fiori Elsa Fiori precinct to And I was on the conservation commission for nine years. I was chairman for three many years ago And of course we always tried to get all the land that we could and I was just wondering what Pieces of town-owned land around spy pond and I thought that the town owned spy pond I do know that a Few years ago about 15 people didn't want to pay taxes on Yeah, that's another article that's a whole different that's a whole different ball of wax. There's no Article no place is the property of being transferred or Moved around here. They put it on and then they decided they didn't want to do anything with it. So we're just treating this as a nullity So this is not going to be any action. No action. We're not doing anything under this I'm sorry. I didn't have a chance to fully look at it. Okay, not a problem sat down Okay, all in favor of no action on article 20. Please say yes opposed say no It's fair to vote of no action. I so declare it that moves us on to article 21 home rule legislation Evan Maurice mr. Dunn Our recommended vote and our full comment I just wanted to reiterate a couple points one is that this is not a guarantee of a job It is just permits access to be on the list such that he could be interviewed Should he be high enough on the list? And I would also say note that this vote has an expiration date This is not a forever thing. This is only for the existence of this particular list Lists exist for two years and we're part way through the list I'd like to give the remainder of my time to mr. Maurice who is a resident of Arlington Okay, mr. Maurice can speak as he is a resident. Oh, I forgot to press the button darn it Is Maurice and I live at 218 Broadway in Arlington. The reason I'm here today is I'm a police officer for Harvard University And a little while back. I wanted to work for the town of Arlington But to my dismay come to find out that I guess as an age requirement That I guess I exceed the age requirement. So when I took the exam my scores were not being shown on the Arlington list and all I'm asking is for the time to consider to have my scores be seen on the list and if At any time if I was hiring maybe I can get a shot to get an interview or to probably, you know, jump on to the Arlington PD If I was in a civil service department, which Harvard is not I Don't think the age requirement would matter because I could lateral from whatever department to Arlington without having to worry about the age requirement Thank you Mr. Hanner to do us to speak Bill Hain and precinct to I rise in support of the motion But I would like to remind this body and the selectmen that for several years we had quite a few of these come forward and I thought I don't think anything of a past but the idea was that the town look at this particular thing as Far as the age requirement and either do away with it or make something so that it does not have to come to this body each town I do not question The veracity or the qualifications of the people that have been brought forward But this body spends an had spent quite a bit of time doing this several years. It's first time. It's come up Again, I still I will support the motion But I think that the selectmen are whomever has this bylaw say take a look at this more carefully Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hanner Mr. Wagner Thank You Carl Wagner precinct 11 Reiterating and adding to what was just said. I don't feel that I could judge that gentleman Nor should I be able to judge that gentleman and I don't think those of us sitting here should Therefore, I think we should go by the existing rules that are in place and not allow this to happen. Thank you Mr. Moore Christopher Moore precinct 12 I move to terminate debate on this article Motion to terminate debate under the article all in favor, please say yes opposed My opinion that is a two-third vote Okay, we have the recommended vote of the board of select men has printed in your report all in favor Please say yes opposed My opinion it is an affirmative vote that Terminates article 21 article 22 Home rule legislation municipal finance department We have two recommended votes recommend a vote of the board of selectmen for the one for no action recommended vote of 13 to 5 The finance committee for no action all in favor of no action an article 22. Please say yes opposed My opinion that is an affirmative vote for no action and I think that puts that to bed 23 Home rule legislation public art fund. We have a recommended vote of the board of selectmen as printed in their report Mr. Dunn Moderator I just wanted to be clear that this article is not a funding article and that there is no appropriation that is Contemplated for this article it is a vehicle for future donations So that what for particular pieces of art that the town owns If we need the the intent is to create a vehicle where donations can be made that then can be expended from for the maintenance of those For public art. Thank you. I mean well wait a second We have Ms. Rice has pointed out to me one more type of graphical error in the third line down last Or in that sentence should be of Yes, so it should read the very third line down may receive gifts of Grants of money, so we're gonna make that administratively. Yep the sixth line down gifts or Grants of money Removal of public works of art, so it's a I'm mistaken last line that removal of Public works of art So ignore what I said first change that's lost or to an of We'll make that change administratively. Mr. Harrington. Did you wish to speak? I? Rise and against this article. It's not because I'm against spending money. There is no money here. I love public art I just don't like public funding spent on public art. You can imagine maybe that in the future You know that we'll make appropriations to this fund. There's no reason that a 501c3 Can't take donations. There's no reason you can't do fundraising. You can do everything outside of having a public fund But this article purports to want to do so the only reason to set up a public fund Is to be able to make appropriations to it and so you know let's not kid ourselves that's the point of this article and Like I said, I love public art, but I don't think that maybe you know in the future you might have Say a statue to commemorate the biggest public works project in Ellington and it might be this Colossus across Mass Ave greeting visitors as they come in and While that might be something that some might want I don't want to spend The public's funds on that type of public art. Thank you Thank you, sir Mr. Chapman Thank You mr. Moderator ruling chap at precinct 12 ladies and gentlemen We're kind of in a dilemma here I'm sure you're all aware. There's a sorry. See down in our art museum been here for quite a while now You can always give money to it or you can give art Whether it be private art or public art, you can certainly give art to it. That's one source Last year town meeting Set up a new Ellington cultural commission and the game plan for that group is to promote art in our town Now interestingly enough the way that legislation happened to have been set up There's no money I was Appointed the treasure of that group and I've subsequently set up an account through the controllers office so that When the time comes and folks would like to give the cultural commission some funding for whatever purpose related to some Improvement or enhancement to the arts. We can we can make it happen. Okay. Now. What does this do? this really just says yes, we really want to do something in the terms of Appreciation for the arts. It doesn't say how and it doesn't say how much but it gives us an opportunity to do it And to me that makes a lot of sense So whether you want to give to the cybers down an art museum Or you want to give to the cultural commission or you just want to send the money off to the town Somehow so it gets addressed to the arts. I think it's worth doing mr. McKinney Lawrence McKinney precinct seven I Rise like mr. Shop put in in support of this measure I agree that anything for the arts is good I may be a bit a monomaniac all about a certain statue, but I would think That this statue would also be included it could it needs to be looked after we have some public art the other major The Indian and other things like that new art. I'm all in favor of Supporting art. I am in favor of but from my own committee I've always wondered how we were ever going to take care of that poor statue and perhaps this would be one of those Opportunities for there at least there to be a place for funding to be allocated so that places like well statues and Museums and such could be more adequately funded and for whatever help that would give to our community I would support this this article. Thank you Mr. Jamison pass Mr. Ruderman pass Mr. Swilling The swelling freezing for move the term rate debate in all matters Mr. Swilling has moved to terminate debate on all matters for the article. I'll if they have terminating debate, please say yes Opposed my opinion. That's not a two-third vote Miss Howard Jane Howard precinct 10 and member of the public art committee Just for your information 20 years ago We as a town meeting voted that the cultural Commission Would be accepted by town meeting and the town was has had the authority to name a cultural Commission since that time It was never Operated on by the town manager and this year both the town manager and the school committee have made their nominees And now there are seven people who who are on the cultural Commission this article was introduced by the public art committee, which is part of vision 2020's a culture and recreation task group and As you probably know public art group has sponsored several installations or Programs this year this deals with art in the broad and it's only asking permission to have The ability to have such a fund That fund would be administered through the town manager who would report to the selectman I Feel very strongly that we have no entity in town for this purpose. It is to serve broad art in the broad not just Visual art but music film all kinds of other community events and Since we don't have such a thing. I think it would be wonderful just to have the ability to have it as you know Mr. Chape it also brought up the fact that Another fund exists in town for donations and you're all aware that there is another article article 40 40 in the finance committee that asks for an appropriation for the from the town for that Article which is for the water bodies, which the town really has no No place to fund now The beauty of this fund like that one would be that there is a fund that doesn't have to turn over its donations at the end of the year and could be accumulated as They are needed of these funds come in their donations that mural on the back of the boys and girls club which serves as The canvas for the public entity of spy pond was all done through private donations But it's a little difficult to raise those kinds of money. So I hardly ask your Indulgence to just let this at least go to the Statehouse for approval so that we can then bring it back to town and try to establish it. Thank you Howard mr. McCoy That's just a Mr. Hain are Bill Hain a precinct to twice in one night. It's scary Just for clarification when mr. Dunn get up He implied that there's no money involved in this article yet, and I accept that but yet in this article it It states notwithstanding any general a special law to the contrary the town of Allen can be established A special account in which may be appropriated sums of money to be raised by the general tax or otherwise and it goes on Does this what I'm asking is does this allow a future date to come forward for? For the town to appropriate specific money for this fund Mr. Dunn Would you like to answer that? The answer is yes legally there could be what I try is what I said Apologize if I wasn't clearing is that there isn't funding and there is no appropriation contemplated Which is that which is different legally there could be but I in my comment I was trying to state that we have no intention of that at this time correct So it's some future time some future committee Selectment could come forward and then tongue language is passed and then town meeting would get to vote that yes Thank you. Mr. Deist John Dice precinct 13. I have a question As many of you know This town hall is Almost a piece of art and it contains many important pieces of art owned by the town Could can those things? For example the paintings upstairs in the hearing room be maintained by this fund Mr. Dunn or mr. Chapter Lane whoever wishes to answer The answer is legally yes that could I don't think that is not the specific intent of this article But it definitely would be permitted So for example Out and right in front of this town hall are some some lovely pieces By Cyrus Dallen the flagpole the base of the flagpole all those things are Historically important to the town and owned by the town the town owns pieces of art And this fund would serve to maintain and maybe add to those beautiful pieces of art. Thank you very much The woman right behind mr. Deist her Katherine Gandek tied precinct 18 There are in my experience from having set up 501c3 which mr. Harrington Referred to and having dealt with municipal endowed funds Purposes for all of these things When you set up a 501c3 You're taking on a burden with filing you're taking on a lot of legwork. You're taking on a board. You're taking on a whole infrastructure which is organized and set up by From the federal level on down to make sure that that money is used in a certain process and It comes with people who are willing to devote themselves to that process and there are a lot of people who volunteer in Arlington when you're dealing with Money that is donated to a fund that is administered by the town if money were to go to this fund It comes with a certain amount of infrastructure it also comes with a certain amount of anonymity frequently for instance Many of the things that we benefit from at the Robbins library are not paid for by town funds They are paid for by private donations and they're paid for by endowed funds that people have given over the years specifically to the town to support the Robbins To support the things they can do now on the one hand this could be looked at is a fund That is a place that eventually our taxes are going to pay for and that's where the money goes and that's a perfectly perfectly viable potential interpretation and Also could be a fund Where people who have an affection for something about the town or the artwork in the town in addition to possibly supporting the Cyrus Dallin Museum, which is focused on Cyrus Dallin Could support artwork in the town you could start a 501 C3 somebody would have to be driven They'd have to recruit the board there be fundraising all of that might happen However, this also gives the vehicle for someone who when they Frequently, it's when they die Want to make a bequest don't care about the tax implications of donating to a 501 C3 Versus just giving the money then this gives them a vehicle to make a financial donation or to to receive art in my totally totally Unlegally professional opinion, and I'm sure Juliana will tell me if I'm wrong Did the woman right next to you have a did you have your hand raised? No, okay? Sean Harrington Sean Harrington precinct 15 I move the question We have motion to terminate debate all in favor. Please say yes opposed My opinion that debate is terminated. We have a force to recommend a vote of the board of select men all in favor Please say yes opposed My opinion that is an affirmative vote And that terminates article 23 article 24 Composition retirement board members we have a recommended vote of board of select men mr. Dunn Members of town meeting you have the recommended vote of the board of select men I just want to make clear something that wasn't in the comment Which is that this change in their stipend does not make them eligible for any retirement benefits And it does not affect any health insurance status That said I'd like to invite mr. John bill of her to speak for the remainder of my time Thank you very much. Mr. Moderator and thank you Tom meeting members for allowing me to speak on this article. I'm John bill of her chairman of the Allington Triggered retirement board For those of you who may be Unfamiliar with the retirement board. It is a five person board with two private sector members One appointed by the board of select men and the second member is elected by the other four Retirement board members There are two public sector members elected by the town employees and retirees The fifth member is the town comptroller who serves ex-officio The retirement board is responsible for overseeing the administration of all matters concerning retirement including the approval of all accidental ordinary and regular retirement applications For all town employees except school teachers The board is also responsible To administer and oversee the investment of the 117 million dollar retirement portfolio as part of the state-manded full funding of Allington's pension liabilities and Accomplishing that full funding requirement in a financially responsible manner Working with the finance committee to stay within the boundaries of Allington's long-range financial goals The Allington retirement board is the only local retirement board in the state that I know of to also be responsible for the investment excuse me An administration of the four point two million dollar OPEB or health insurance trust fund Recently governor deval patrick and the state legislature passed the pension reform act Revising the pension eligibility for future public sector retirees as part of that act The stipend of local retirement board members could be increased To forty five hundred dollars per year provided. However, the local retirement board members meet the following requirements first That each retirement board member is required to annually file a statement of financial interest Which mandates full disclosure of the following information to PERAC the public employee retirement administration Commission the state agency that oversees the operation of all local retirement boards Each local retirement board member on behalf of their spouse and dependent children must first disclose all equity owned in any business Second disclose any gifts or honorarium received in excess of a thousand dollars third Full disclosure of all stocks bonds or other investment securities owned by the family for Identify all mortgages outstanding in excess of a thousand dollars Five identify all other loans outstanding in excess of a thousand dollars and six The names of any creditors that might have forgiven a debt in excess of a thousand dollars In addition to the filing of this annual statement of financial interest each retirement board members required to complete 18 hours of PERAC approved coursework over a three-year period Failure to perform the 18 hours of course work are failure to complete and file the annual statement of financial Interest will result in an automatic order of dismissal of the delinquent retirement board member by PERAC the state agency now, it's not the purpose of the retirement board to get up there up here in file this article in Opposition to other boards and committees. We're well aware That other boards and committees might be paid less than than this stipend that we're requesting Most of that or all of that is done Or I might add say most of the boards and committees operate on the state statute and it's the state agencies or the state committees that are formed for these various boards and committees on the state level that would have the responsibility to to look at the compensation of these various boards and committees and Agree or disagree that they deserve added compensation. We're not here in competition. We realize That other boards and committees work very hard in the town. Some of them are not paid at all in this instance Develop Patrick and the state legislature in their wisdom In requiring these rather strict financial regulations felt that in order to maintain private sector attendance on these boards that they would Sweeten apart if you will by increasing the compensation. I would ask you to support this article and Myself or Rich Greco our retirement administrator. I hear to answer any questions You might have regarding this article all the retirement board in general. Thank you very much for listening to me. Thank you, Mr. billifer The woman over here on the right side right behind this bolts That's you. Yep. Hi. Good evening Linda Hansen precinct seven. I think mr. Bluffer made a great case for The hard work that goes into that board and and why the level of compensation is fair And I'm gonna support this motion, but when I was reading over this article It did make me think about what you brought up at the end about all the different boards and committees that there are and the varying levels of Compensation compensation for those so I was just thinking at some point It might be nice for town meeting to get a review of the various boards and committees and the different differing levels of compensation Just to kind of take and have a look at it at some point, but I will support this article Mr. Tosti, can you do that for us next year? Thank you Mr. Loretty Thank You mr. Mother Chris Loretty precinct seven I rise in opposition to this article and I'd like to explain why Mr. Billifer mentioned Pyrrack Pyrrack, which tracks the local options that member communities have adopted there are a hundred odd or roughly a hundred Retirement boards within the state of Massachusetts overseen by Pyrrack and prior to 1995 Repairment board members did not get paid anything It was in 1995 that special legislation was passed to allow that to this day 40 roughly 40 percent of the boards still receive no payment whatsoever it was in 2011 that the law that mr. Billifer referred to was changed and that allowed Payment of up to $4,500 and at this time there's only been 12 communities that have adopted it now There might be a few others that haven't yet informed Pyrrack, but definitely a very small minority and And that's part of the reason I don't see that it's necessary and I also want to clarify that you know Even if the town does not approve this Increase all of the retirement board members are still required to file all of those disclosures You know if we do not pass this they still have to do that and that's what any fiduciary would do or it have to do There's nothing unusual about that and the state Recognize the need to professionalize these boards and and require the same types of disclosures that other fiduciaries are required to provide And that's why that the law was amended by at the time Mr. Billifer mentioned the composition of the board I just want to clarify one point when he used the term ex officio He is using that term correctly We've heard that term used a couple times at town meeting to refer to extra members of boards who are on the boards without The legislation creating that board or committee Reflecting that so people talked about you know an extra select man on the leaf blower committee or a non voting member on the Electronic study committee. I think those Members are better referred to as extraneous or illegitimate members. They're not ex officio members Ex officio means you are there by virtue of holding another office and the controller is the Ex officio member of the retirement board because she holds that position when she stops being the the controller She's not going to be on the board anymore. The new controller is that's what ex officio means period but I Also want to point out that the board has a board administrator and the board administrator does all the heavy lifting For this board. Mr. Greco keeps very good minutes Of the meetings he does the agendas and he does all the other administrative work as well so I took a look at the minutes for the for the first three months of this year and I thought I would Just share a little bit of information with you the the board typically meets Thursday afternoons and On the March meeting they met for an hour February. They met for 45 minutes January. They met for about 80 minutes So they averaged about 60 minutes and then in January. I noticed they also approved a trip to Hawaii for one of their members to to Attend a conference related to retirements and I would ask any of you who work in the real world How many of you get an extra 4500 a year for attending a once a month meeting that? Average about average is about an hour in length and is normally held during your regular business hours If you're retired and no longer working How many of you do volunteer work for an hour a month and receive $4,500 a year in compensation? Mr. Biller for already mentioned some of the other committees I think it's important to realize or recognize that the school committee gets paid absolutely nothing The redevelopment board gets paid absolutely nothing and I suggest that they put in at least as much time and serve this town With at least as much diligent and effort if not more than the retirement board members So in closing it seems to me that $3,000 per year is entirely adequate $4,500 per year would make the retirement board the second most highly compensated board within in the town Just slightly less than the board of Assessors and the board of Assessors themselves if you looked at peer communities Is much higher than any of their peers so this isn't to say in any way that I Am ungrateful for the work that the retirement board does, but I think we need to be realistic We need to be consistent with the other boards in the town and we need to be consistent with other communities I don't think we need to be in the top 10 or 15 percent of communities when it comes to Compensating board members. Thank you and please join me in voting against this article Thank you, sir. I'm Mr. Jamison Thank you. Excuse me. Thank you. Mr. Monitor Gordon Jamison freezing 12 I will have a couple questions and then I'll make a few statements Mr. Billiford made a nice introductory statement. It was not clear to me whether These filings are also based upon Mr. Loretta's comments these filings Auduciary filings required by the members required now or only because of this new legislation Mr. Billiford Required as part of this this legislation and they're required to be filed annually and if they're not filed the delinquent member is Taken off the board. So current just don't go don't go away. Currently you don't have to file these papers Currently we do. Oh, so already you do. Oh, yes. So this is not an additional requirement We've already filed one set last year and the board members are in in The process of complying this year, I'm still confused Before this before this legislation was passed to the State House Like when I came to your meetings a couple years ago, right? Did you have to file this type of work then? No No, the legislation so this is additional paperwork, right? and You mentioned also that there are 18 hours of service of trading that you have to go to over three years Yes, the coursework is Prescribed by Perak and that was not a previous requirement. No when I came before it wasn't and there's our cost to the member to attend Or is that borne by the board? No, the members paid for their own cost to get to the meeting, okay? And that's and then I had a couple more questions. You have five members miss Lewis is ex officio. Yes, she does she get the stipend or not? Yes, she would okay During town meeting you're asking us just to make sure about to appropriate about ten million dollars So most of it into the pension fund, but some of it into the OPEB. Is that about right? The OPEB is a separate article but the total is about ten million Yeah, I think so yes, okay, and You manage about well, hopefully about a hundred and twenty five million dollars I noticed I went saw one of your most recent reports from your consultant It does your your numbers and tells you how much should be paid in every every year by the town and this is an increasing and Pardon my language ballooning cost that should be of our one of our highest concerns Going forward to figure out how to get a fully funded pension plan without breaking the bank And then we have to go fund retirement part of the health care part of that afterwards Which is what the OPEB is other post-employment benefit translation retirement health care. I might correct you Gordon on that the OPEB Is not required funding yet? Allington has started it Yes, so we'd be ahead of the curve because I fully expect that the state will require the funding of that so Before I make my final comments my question is when I looked at that Timeline of funding based upon the consultants most recent available online Analysis it didn't look like the doubling of the Dow in the last three years was going to help us Can you comment on that quickly the Dow the Dow has doubled since 2009 or Well, I want to know how these guys are doing on performance mr. Harrington Yeah, I'm giving them a raise performance and Well as this town meeting recognizes the The retirement board has ceded to the town meeting of the finance committee's wishes a number of years ago and Put the state the investment of the state of the town's retirement portfolio in with the state Retirement portfolio which a number of retirement boards have done since then So we're we're Oversea, of course the investment of those funds and I understand that That the state retirement system Achieved about a 12% return last year. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Billifer Couple comments, and then I'll close So if you came before me asking for a raise if I was going to my boss can ask for a raise I would I would ask about the comparable salaries, which mr. Loretta you mentioned and there are many people Who provide reports? All of these Don't get paid. Well, the finance committee gets a little bit, but their total compensation for 21 members is a little over three thousand dollars The select one get paid three thousand except for the person who's in the chair and the cat bird seed and that's mr. Don He gets thirty five hundred That it's a revolving position not a so And and those those are those are the basically the highest ones as missed already mentioned the board of assessors get 4900 Mr. Billifer it was helpful in my analysis of this my initial Thought was to speak against this I'll speak for this particularly because the members now have to do this filing which they did not use used to have to do and Trusting mr. Billifers comments that they will have to bear the cost of these six hours per year of the next three years of training So I think we should enable them to be able to have that While maintaining the current level of compensation What I would ask is for the board to consider meeting at a time other than Thursday afternoons, which is inconvenient for most of us When I attended a couple years ago at a take time off work to attend And they also consider giving us a written report every year in that we spend like I mentioned ten million dollars this year I'd like to have a report With one five year ten year and ten year a year to date Performance and other information they might like to provide to us so with that I close and look forward to those things next year and Move positive action. Thank you Thank you, sir. Mr. Tosti the finance committee sort of wrestled with this issue quite a while and It does become difficult when you're trying to compare them to the the board of a selectman or the or the board of assessors or a few of the other boards that Get a small stipend and that's what this is and I think We came down in favor of this for three primary reasons the new disclosure regulations are A Much much much greater burden than any of the other boards have to take have to do In fact when these regulations first came out there was a wave of resignations from retirement boards Across the state. I don't have an exact number, but there was quite a few Because they simply did not want to deal with this So I think those regulations are in the disclosure regulations are quite Onerous in many ways Secondly, they have a substantial continuing education requirements More so than any other the boards. I think the assessors have to do some but not to this degree and I think I think third is they have a much greater direct responsibility for the investment of funds If I do share responsibility it used to be for all of the pension funds which are now done through Pritt But now you know almost five million dollars of OPEB funds, which none of the other boards Directly do on that and I think because of these three reasons the finance committee came across to to support this Increase and we hope you do too. Thank you very much Thank you. Mr. Tosti. Mr. McCabe Mocker cave prison to I stand to terminate debate on article 24 and all matters before We have a motion to terminate debate on article 24. It's been seconded all in favor. Please say yes post My opinion the bait is terminated We have the force a recommended vote of the Board of Selectment is printed in their report all in favor. Please say yes opposed My opinion that is a negative vote Okay, we have five people rising same tell us all in favor of the recommended vote. Please rise This mahan how many up front? 12 up front Mr. Schlickman how many to my left? nine Mr. O'Connor 22 left center. Mr. Harrington 21 right center mr. McCabe 24 all opposed, please rise This mahan up from the up front zero up front mr. Schlickman 23 to my left mr. O'Connor 25 Mr. Harrington 24 mr. McCabe 9 The vote is in the affirmative 88 to 81 It's affirmative vote and I so declare it standing vote 88 to 81 That brings us to article 25 Wednesday at 8 p.m. The director of assessments and the chairman of the board of assessors are not available this evening Okay, we have a motion to postpone to a time certain first thing Wednesday All in favor postponing to Wednesday evening, please say yes opposed My opinion that's an affirmative vote. It is postponed to Wednesday When we do get to this our assistant moderator is going to take the chair on 25 After going through an extensive online ethics test I've determined that I have a personal interest in it and that I own a business in town and I'm affected by this article, so I'm going to step down. We're going to let Jim take over for the article So be be kind to him That brings us to article 26. We have the recommend to vote of the board of Selection for no action all in favor, please say yes opposed So remember to vote for no action. I so declare it That brings us to article 27 Recommend to vote of the board of select men on the CB GB application. Oh, did we get reports on? The first night on the seats eight on the 22nd. You got an extra for me Can I hand it to you after I'm done? Yeah. All right. I will do that You guys thank you. Mr. Moderator. So before you you have so it looks like this It was on the seats the first night of town meeting I do not know if any are in the back at this point So the as you all know or probably know community development block grants are Sent to the town from the federal government and this is an unusual piece of money because it actually isn't Appropriated by town meeting it is distributed by a vote of the board of select one with a vote of the town manager So this actually is we're seeking your approval and your input though technically the the actual Authority is the board of slack one in this case I did want to make a couple comments about this first of all CDBG funds are a declining amount of money The federal government is giving us less every year for this program So when we look at this we don't even have the option of saying let's level service fund it We don't have the option of saying let's just level fund it and cut services we actually have to go into these budgets and figure out, you know, what is on the chopping block and What we do and so one of the things that we tried to do this year in particular was You know, you sit there in these meetings and the town manager we sit there We go through each one We say we want to fund each one of these and the town manager says well Maybe what I'll do is I'll get you know Christine Connolly to take over this particular part of it Or maybe I'm going to get someone in the planning department to take over this part of it The nature of that unfortunately is when you cut things at the federal government how they get picked up on the town level And frankly the town is already doing as much as it can with the resources it has and trying to add things on to the list Is very painful. So what we've been working to do is to find Private charities that we can hand off some of these programs to So when we made our cuts we specifically tried to find things that we could say This is something that can be done by another body Let's see if we can persuade this other private body to go out there and fundraise and that way rather than having the Responsibility roll from the federal government down to the town government We're trying to roll the responsibility from the federal government to a private entity to permit the town to continue to do the work that are You know that is ordinarily the town's priorities The other thing that I'll say is that when we made our choices on what to cut We were less likely to cut things that were related that were related to the physical health of individuals And we are more likely to cut things that were related to Activities even if they're activities that we all want to support In general the things that we chose to support was health over activities So I think that the members were happy to answer any questions you have about the choices we made. Thank you Thank you. Mr. Bear Thank you, Mr. Moderator Paul Bayer precinct 13 just one question on boys and girls club scholarships It says in the last line funding is recommended at 13,500 a reduction from last year's funding of 13,500 that doesn't sound like a reduction. So which number is the right number I need to go And answer the another day to be absolutely certain, but I believe we level funded that. Okay. Thank you Anyone else have questions about CDBG funds. Oh Mr. Loretty Thank you, Mr. Moderator crystal already precinct seven I have a question about the comprehensive master planning It has a figure of $50,000 in there and I'm wondering how much was that funded for last year? Mr. Dunn, do you know that answer? The town manager tells me it's the same number 50,000 and Miss water is it appropriate to ask in addition to the CDBG funding? How much funding has there been last year in Out of the regular town budget In addition to that's right in in addition to the CDBG funding. Mr. Chapter lane you have that answer Adam chapter lane town manager was funding included in the last year's capital budget I wasn't actually in the operating budget for the comprehensive master plan Just want to quote you the accurate figure, Mr. Loretty The capital plan in 2013 and 2014 includes a total of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars So that's for fiscal 2014. I'm sorry 13 and 14 it was included in the 13 plan as well as in this of what yet to be heard 14 plan And what was that total again? 150,000 so a total of a quarter of a million is that right between the CDBG funding and The regular town appropriations that's what's currently budgeted for it for the for the plan though though We don't have an expectation To necessarily spend up to that amount. I was just curious what happened with the funding last year because it seems to me the Consultant that was introduced last week came on fairly late And if the money that was appropriated last year, but was not spent is that available or did that go away? So the different categories end up having different effective rules in that particular category money can be accumulated over And unspent and it still remains earmarked Now are you referring to the CDBG funds or both the CDBG funds in the regular appropriations? I'm referring to the CDBG funds. What about the regular appropriations from last year? Okay, that question, but then we got to stay with the CBGB's mr. Loretty Adam chapterling town manager in general capital funds are allowed to roll from year to year. Thank you. Thank you Anyone else wish to speak to this article? Seeing none all in favor of the recommended vote of the Board of Selectment, please say yes opposed My opinion is an affirmative vote that closes article 27 brings us to article 28 Revolving funds recommended vote of the Board of Selectment little Pile of revolving funds a couple pages of them Go ahead. No comments Anyone wish to discuss any of the revolving funds? Mr. Jamison. Thank you. Miss moderator Gordon Jamison increasing 12 Long-time members will know this is Become a pet project of mine If you look at all those numbers and look at the cash flows through them It's over a million dollars that are in these Funds that don't roll back into the general fund at the end of the year. They just perpetuate and That's about three times as much that rolled through those funds versus Physical year 07 based upon my quick research. I Harken back to the beginning of the meeting. We're both mr. Dunn and mr. Tosti said things are good But we need to be careful if I recall correctly or words to that effect because There is a physical cliff for Arlington somewhere five or six years out So this million bucks, you know if we had this money these revenues and they went to the general fund that's five million dollars or so over five years and Something they use in the wording they use at the in the in DC is Regular process the regular budgetary process could be applied to them Now I don't know if that's necessarily the way we want to go But increasingly as these funds increase I'm tempted to File something that would suggest we obliterate them and go through regular process What would keep me from Moving that type of action in the future Some more granularity about what these funds do In particular the rescue fund through the good management of the town managers and negotiating Fees that they get through Armstrong's operations in town have grown that quite Quite a large extent. I Believe when we're paying for a new ambulance part of those funds pay for that. That's a good thing I'd like to see 10% of that $600,000 go to the rig 40% go to staffing 20% to pensions and insurance 5% to building costs the thing has to live somewhere 5% to the dispatch and then they get 20% for consumables and miscellaneous If we had some granularity like that then I would see how it was benefiting the town in general So I'm gonna vote for this this year But next year I would hope to see a lot more granularity in the presentation Perhaps report similar to the CBDG with the actual original charter of each of these looked at to make sure they're still on course Any modifications that need to be made and especially for these large ones an idea where the money actually goes Thank You mr. Moderator. Thank you sir. Mr. Ruderman Thank You mr. Moderator Michael Ruderman precinct 9 Let us recall what what is in the spirit and and the practice of the revolving funds these are the close and local maintenance of of many projects in town that are administered and our The fees roll back to to the purpose to to keep it going for another year For example in the Woodermore Robbins house the the costs of marketing upkeep repair the wear and tear The maintenance on a 200 plus year old structure is paid for out of out of the weddings the receptions the meetings that are held there It serves the purpose of of entrepreneurship as well as custodianship and good stewardship of the asset to have the people who are Responsible for for promoting the use to be in charge of applying the funds to the upkeep of the property So too for many of these revolving funds the field user fees being being a very visible example of that You pay to use one of our town fields You trust that the people who are collecting those fees are Investing them back again in seed and sod and maintenance of the very asset that that you are paying for There's a principle here of good government and that we are trusting people who are the closest to the asset to do the job if we require more Management speak granularity In these I believe it is you know fully within our right and purview to ask for that Let's give them enough notice and time to to prepare prepare those numbers for us and have them before us In time to review. I don't think there should be any any supposition that the money is being misspent Until until we've had the opportunity to invite those comments and those Responses to our questions. So I ask you for a positive vote in this article Thank you very much, Mr. Ruderman Mr. Berger Mr. Moderator Eric Berger precinct 6 I rise in support of this But mr. Jamison made this same point last year and I seconded it that we wanted some reports Not that we suspect any misuse, but we want to be educated about especially the funds that The accounts that have a significant funding in them how the money is being spent what's being achieved and so on and so forth and he made that request last year and I know that mr. Chaplin was you know has cooperated with us in many areas So I want to second that this year that next year we like to see some reports About what is being achieved and how the money is being spent just so we become educated So we can make an intelligent vote about this and and also learn more We can explain it to some of the people that we represent if the questions come up about revolving funds Thank you, sir Madam WL stay in precinct 9. I had my question is are some of these funds like some of our committees obsolete Some were established in the early 90s have zero balance have had zero expenditures are some of them just no longer Should we just close them? Thank you. I think that's a fair question Every time I've tried to find one that I could kill off Someone gave me a reason why I couldn't kill it But that doesn't mean that Some what we couldn't more aggressively prune things if we wanted to I think it is safe to say that most of these have some champion and At times it's easier to permit the champion to be excited about those things and it is to actually kill them off Thank you very much Anybody else wish to speak to revolving funds Seeing none all in favor to recommend a vote of the Board of Select and please say yes opposed It's a near unanimous vote and I so declare affirmative that brings us to article 29 collective bargaining The sum of $89,000 to be set aside for future funding collective bargaining agreements anybody Up the front of the room wish to speak about this Just to emphasize There's one union that has not been they have do not have a contract with We have to set aside money So this is the money that's set aside for Future years, but also going back into past years None of this money can be spent without a vote of this town town meeting at some point in the future Anyone wish to discuss to $89,000 to be set aside for future funding of collective bargaining Seeing none all in favor, please say yes opposed It's unanimous vote and I so declare it unanimous That brings us to article 30 position reclassification Mr.. Chapter lane do you want to tackle this or do you want us just to like wing it Adam chapter lane town manager? This is the annual article whereby we put before a town meeting Changes to the classification plan as well as additions or deletions to the classification plan the classification plan is a comprehensive compensation Grid for all all both union and non union town employees. Would anyone like to discuss the position reclassification? Mr.. Sharp, maybe I believe and then there is a report from I believe Human resources telling us What's getting reclassified and to who and where? I know anyone wish to discuss this All in favor they find all in favor recommend to vote. Please say yes opposed a Near unanimous vote and I so declare it Mr.. Tosti old mr.. Moderator, I wish to serve notice of reconsideration in article 26 and Right now as you see that the budgets are the next item Therefore it would seem silly to start it at five minutes of 11. I move to adjourn Okay, do we have any motions reconsideration besides mr.. Tosti's Seeing none. We have a motion to adjourn all in favor. Please say yes Opposed we'll see you on Wednesday night. We're going to start with number 25 Put you on the hot seat for a few minutes then go right into budgets, so spend the next night looking at budgets Thank you very much