 Welcome to Arlington's 216th annual town meeting, and welcome back to Town Hall. If you participated in town meeting last year, you'll remember how long it was, 13 evenings totaling 39 hours. I'm told that that makes me one of the most experienced moderators in the Commonwealth, right? That's not true. Seriously though, Arlington has a reputation among town meetings in Massachusetts. I hear folks from other towns say that Arlingtonians like to debate a lot. I take this as a compliment. Arlingtonians are very engaged with what's going on in our town. We certainly won't all agree on how much debate is too much or too little, and ultimately the meeting decides. As moderator, I'll make decisions about procedure and order, but almost everything else is decided by the town meeting members, by you. I'm going to do everything I can to make this a productive meeting, but I can't do it alone. We all share responsibility for how well this meeting goes. Just some final points before I close. Town meeting members do not start voting until the green light is on. That's this light bulb over here. If you press buttons, there it is. If you press buttons on your handset too early, that won't register as a vote. And to register a vote on your handsets, this is the first this year. You'll press the 9 button to request to speak, and you can press 9 again to cancel a request to speak, and it'll say it on the little digital text display on your handset. Also, when you step up to the microphone, once you're recognized to speak, speak into the microphone six to eight inches away from your mouth, and if you turn away from the microphone while you're talking, no one will hear you. I just want to say a thank you to town staff, vendors, volunteers for working countless hours ahead of time and behind the scenes to make this homecoming back to town hall possible. And I want to take a moment of silence for those who've passed since last year's town meeting. This includes Patricia Liberson from Precinct 9 and from the League of Women Voters, Elsie Fiore from Precinct 2, Adele Krause from Precinct 6, Joe Connors from Precinct 7, Marie Kruppelka from Precinct 13, and Dennis Lowry, an IT technical support who supported town meeting for the past couple of years while we were remote. So let's take a moment of silence for all these passes. Thank you. And now I introduce our town's poet laureate, Gene Flanagan, to offer the invocation. Good evening. I'm Gene Flanagan, the newly appointed poet laureate for Hollington. Thank you for your invitation. I have always admired those who serve as representatives for town meeting, and I am very honored to be here this evening. The playwright and poet Samuel Beckett said, all poetry is prayer. Poets open their minds and their hearts to the words they write. I also believe that poetry is a sacred act. Many of the words in tonight's invocation come from the book, To Bless the Space Between Us, by Irish poet and scholar John O'Donoghue. I ask you tonight, as you represent your neighbors, to look into your own poet's heart and to think about the words and deeds before you. Transform your differences into solutions for the common good of our community. I know it is easier said than done, but I believe when you reach out to the universal good, higher power or God or whatever you choose, that help comes to guide you through. I can think of many times in my own life when I have done this and help came, not necessarily immediately or not in the form that I thought it would be, but help came. For you, a new beginning is quietly forming and you are stepping on new ground. This is the first time in a number of years that you have met together in Town Hall. We are healing at last from the pandemic, from the loss of friends and family, from the loss of wages, the loss of health, and the loss of time. Sometimes, though, the greatest risk is to start something new, and this comes from inside you. We are more resilient than we think. Of course, we want to keep our old boundaries, but now is the time to unfurl yourself into the grace and elegance of new beginnings and learn to find ease in risk. Remember to be kind to those around you and be aware of the quiet world that lives behind each face. And in the words of John O'Donohue, May you be compassionate with your criticism and give the grace of encouragement. May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within. May you never place walls between light and yourself. May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to gather you, mind you, and embrace you in belonging. May the sore well of grief turn into a seamless flow of presence. May you be embraced by the dawn of delight. May all that is unforgiven in you be released. And may all that is unlived in you blossom this April evening. Thank you. We will now conduct the swearing in for the new town meeting members. First of all, can the newly elected town meeting members please rise? And if you're in the satellite room, you can rise there as well. Can we bring the video over to the satellite room so we can all see each other? There we are. There's more people in there than that. All right, we have some, all right. All right, all right. Simmer down. Okay, so if you raise your right hand and repeat after me using your own name, I, state your name, will participate fully and will fairly evaluate all matters before town meeting and vote in the best interests of the town. I support free speech and will treat others with mutual respect and will conduct myself in a civil manner that is becoming of an elected town meeting member. I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and impartially perform the duties incumbent upon me as a town meeting member of the town of Arlington in accordance with the bylaws, the town manager act, and the general laws of the Commonwealth so help me got it. Congratulations, you are now town meeting members. Let's now bring up on the video the vote to consent the satellite room. And just FYI, this is not technically or illegally required. This is just a show of good faith to show that the meeting consents to this format of a meeting, the format of this meeting, which is novel to us. This is the first time that we're doing something like. Are we able to switch over to the presentation computer? Yeah, it's article one in the annotated warrant in Novus Agenda. It just says vote on it, vote to consent to satellite room. We didn't do a test of the handsets. Maybe now would be a good time to do that before we take an official vote. We'll do a practice vote. Let's do that first. Oh, right. Thank you. And also if your name ends in Kelleher and your first name is Krista or Karen, you may have each other's handsets swiped. Did you two get them fixed? It's like a weird handset reunion or something. I'm sorry, I keep switching things up on the video. Can we switch over to the test vote? And we'll try that first before we do something that's more meaningful. So the question before us is, will town meeting finish in five nights? This may be a bad idea because if you vote no, you can really drag it out. We have a point of order from the back. So the handset in your hand, you press one to vote yes, press two to vote no, press three to abstain. An abstention is essentially voting present. It doesn't count toward the quantum of vote. We'll give folks a little bit more time as they find the buttons on their handsets. One to vote yes, two to vote no, three to abstain. We can reveal the votes now, I think. Can we show the votes? Oh, awesome. The motion fails. We're going to go more than five nights. You did this. Now check up on the screen and we have displays on the side to verify that your vote registered the way that you intended it to. Only when the votes are closed will we actually cycle through all these screens if there's a wide margin between the prevailing side and the other side then we're just going to forego these screens and skip them. And now we'll go to a real vote. The vote to consent to the use of the satellite room. I'll read the text here. The vote is that duly elected representative town meeting members of the town of Arlington hereby consent and agree to conduct this meeting and address all articles on the warrant by in-person participation utilizing the town hall auditorium in a satellite room in the town hall complex which is right up there via live audio and video. So I'm not opening up for debate on this just as we didn't open up debate in past years for similar votes that we took for authorizing a remote town meeting. So we will just go straight into voting. So let's turn voting on and wait for the green light. There it is. So vote yes if you consent and agree to conduct this meeting with a satellite room connected via live audio and video within the building and vote no if you are opposed to conducting the meeting in this way. And if you notice in the lower left corner of the voting display you'll see small numbers that tell you how many folks have voted out of the total of 252. Usually we'll have a countdown on this but this time we'll go a little bit longer just as folks get used to using the handsets. Okay let's keep the discussion down, let's keep the volume down. Thank you. Okay let's close voting. Thank you. And so it passes in the affirmative. And now I'd like to introduce the monotomy Minutemen to perform the Star Spangled Banner and please sing along. I think they'll have another song first but when they get to the national anthem please sing along. Thank you. Members of the select board and elected officials of the town, town manager, department heads of the town and staff, superintendent of schools and staff, committees, commissions and boards of the town, Minutemen regional vocational technical school district committee and superintendent, members of the general court representing Arlington, members of the Arlington retirement board, employees of volunteers supporting electronic voting and also any consultants who have been retained to work for the town relative to articles to be acted on by this meeting and representatives of the news media be permitted to sit within the town meeting enclosure. Madam clerk, do you have a reason, do you have reason to believe that this meeting was appropriately called by the select board and that the constable made a return of service on the warrants in accordance with the laws? It is moved that all business of the meeting is set forth in the ward for the annual town meeting is not disposed of at this session. When the meeting adjourns it adjourns to Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 8 p.m. Second. Second. Second. Any questions? Seeing none. We're reconvening at Wednesday, April 26, at 8 p.m. if we don't finish all 69 plus three articles tonight. I now invite the town manager to introduce the department heads. Sandy Pugler, town manager, the future ladies and gentlemen. It is my great pleasure to introduce the department heads we have spread out across the back of the town hall. I'm going to just go in the order in which I see them. So Mike Rademacher, DPW director. Christine Bonjourno, Health and Human Services. Chief Kevin Kelly. Who's next? Dana Mann, our assessor. Liz Holman, our superintendent of schools. Michael Mason, who is the money guy over there. I forget the exact titles. Mike Shampa, inspections department. Joe Connolly, recreation. Eda Cody, our comptroller. Rob Barron, facilities director. Julie Wayman, who is our budget director. Just over here. John Roman, chief information officer. Patricia Shepard, information technology. I'm sitting next to it. Anna Terrell, our newest department head. It was just appointed about two weeks ago as our treasurer. Karen Malloy, human resources. Anna Lytton, our library director. Jim Feeney, our deputy town manager. Julie Flaherty, police chief. Claire Ricker, our planning department director. And I think Jeff Jumbo, who is our veterans agent. And also for his first town meeting, our new deputy town manager, Alex McGee. Does anybody? Well, she sort of fits under the select board. Ashley Maher, the director for the select board office. Thank you very much. My name is Amy Hampe and I serve on the library board of trustees. I'm here tonight to share with you a brief update on the 2019 warrant article 39, which read, quote, to see if the town will vote to authorize the library board of trustees to deaccession and or dispose of, by sale, donation, or other means, the Robin's art print collection, or take any action related thereto. On May 13, 2019, the warrant article passed when 186 town meeting members voted yes. So thank you town meeting members for approving that warrant article. I'm excited to share a brief update with you tonight. And for further details, refer you to the handout that's titled 2019 warrant article 39 update, which is at the back of the room or on your 2023 town meeting website. It's listed as Robin's library update on ATM 2019 article 39. In short, after COVID related delays, the library contracted with a consulting team at museum and collector resource to coordinate the sale and or donation of the Robin's art print collection in June of 2022. Their work began in October and is expected to continue through next spring with auction and direct sales already underway. We invite you to stop by the library to speak with our wonderful director, Anna Lyden, and the museum and collector resource team to learn more about their work. Our libraries, Robins and Arlington Center and the Fox branch in East Arlington are vital community resources. They create opportunities for lifelong learning, meaningful connection and discovery for all. We look forward to welcoming you and answering your questions about this project and the library as a whole as it continues to meet the evolving interest and needs of the whole Arlington community. Thank you for your time and for your service to the town. Thank you. Do we have any other announcements or resolutions tonight? There is apparently a technical issue with the satellite room unable to hear this microphone here, but apparently they can hear the microphone down on the floor. But let's buy some time with an important address of the state of the town address by the chair of this blackboard, Mr. Helmuth. Good evening. Members, elected and appointed officials, town employees and residents, I'm Eric Helmuth and it is my privilege to serve this year as chair of the select board. It has been four very long years since we last gathered here to conduct the town's business. I invite you to look around this room and reflect on what town meeting represents. I tell you what I see. I see neighbors. I see people who love Arlington and volunteer their time to make good decisions for the town. I see hard-working professionals who passionately believe in public service and bring their best to Arlington every day. In short, I see a community. All of us are here because we want to make our town a good place to live for everyone. And we honor the memory of someone who fully embodied that spirit. Marie Kapalka, who passed away in October, served the town for an astonishing 63 years as our long-standing select board administrator and in many other roles. Marie's fierce love and tireless work for Arlington was an absolute inspiration. She will forever be the undisputed, if technically unofficial mayor of Arlington. I want to recognize the service of Jeff Chunglow, who is retiring as Arlington's director of veteran services on June 1. Jeff's office is an important source of help and support for our veterans and their families. And his vision and leadership for a new veterans memorial park in the town center will be an enduring legacy. The legacy has already began. I just received a word prior to this meeting. There's some very optimistic news in state legislature funding for that park. Thank you, Jeff. We also extend our thanks to other long-time town employees who retired this past year. Assistant town clerk Janice Weaver, assisted director of public works, Therese D. Benedictus, and purchasing officer Dominic Lenzelotti. We are especially grateful to Sandy Pooler for his years of excellent service to the town and in particular his steady and capable leadership as town manager since last summer. Thank you, Sandy. And literally waiting in the wings to Jim Feeney, who will take over as our new town manager in August after Sandy's retirement. Thank you for loving our town and for stepping up to lead it. In the past year, Arlington has continued to keep its fiscal promises to taxpayers while providing a high level of town and school services, all while spending less per capita than most comparable communities. Efficient and responsive local government is not an accident. It comes from the commitment, skill, and hard work of our town's leadership, employees, and hundreds of volunteers serving on over 80 boards, commissions, and committees. The Arlington High School Building Project remains on budget, keeping our promise to the taxpayers who are supporting the cost. For over a year, our students have been learning in this spectacular new performing arts and steam wing. Phase two will open this fall with a new humanities wing, library, cafeteria, preschool, and more. And a major strategic plan just released provides direction that will guide Arlington Public Schools for the next five years. The past year has seen many improvements to public spaces for residents to enjoy. The wonderful No Community Center opened after major renovations at 27 Maple Street just next to Town Hall. It now houses a vibrant community space for seniors and other programs. The town completed major renovations to the reservoir, to Herd Field, Whittemore Park in our town center, and several playgrounds. Another major capital project, the new DBW Building on Grove Street, will be completed this spring and will greatly improve efficiency and service to the public. Arlington is at its very best when we look out for those with barriers to full participation in the community. In February, the town completed a comprehensive community equity audit to better understand how to engage and serve residents in underrepresented groups, especially in the areas of civic engagement, town employment, and housing. The final report presents an honest look at the gap between the town's ideals and the experience of many residents. In the year ahead, the town's leadership must continue the hard work of implementing these recommendations and holding ourselves accountable to measure progress. In that vein, the town completed a comprehensive affordable action housing plan. After a long community process of outreach to the public and stakeholders, this detailed plan will guide Arlington for years to come with specific recommendations and financial strategies for creating, preserving, and financing affordable housing. And finally, in that vein, town leaders and community members showed up in solidarity with Arlington residents who, once again, were left reeling by acts of hate and violence against kindred people in other parts of the country, victimized for simply being who they are. Town leaders from our superintendent, our town manager, our police chief, the Rainbow and Human Rights Commission make it clear again and again that in Arlington, everyone belongs. Arlington continues to work hard to navigate the complex but crucial need to add more housing in the right places. Our planning department and redevelopment board have laid the groundwork for Arlington to respond to the state's MBTA community zoning requirements this fall in a special town meeting. And thanks to their work, we will be able to consider thoughtful, strategic opportunities for housing growth and, at the same time, qualify for participation in the state's program to ban fossil fuel connections and new construction as town meeting overwhelmingly voted to do last year. And that town meeting vote is just one of many ways that Arlington continues to be a statewide leader for local action in addressing the climate crisis. In November, Electrify Arlington was launched to give residents and businesses concrete help in powering buildings and transportation with clean electricity. And in that same month, the town began a new supplier contract for the Arlington Community Electricity Program that increased the default level of renewable energy from 11 to 30 percent at very competitive rates for the thousands of residents who participate, many of whom have opted up to 100 percent renewable energy for a modest additional cost. The past year also saw the community increasingly able to come together in person. After a three-year hiatus, it was wonderful to see thousands of people come out for the return of town day in September enjoying food and music and learning about myriad opportunities to get involved in their community. These are just a handful of milestones from the past year. And for many more, I refer you to the annual town report just published on the website. And for those of you in the room, there are copies on that back table. I know that reading it will make you as proud of our amazing staff and volunteers as I am. Now, maintaining this high level of service to residents requires tackling increasingly difficult structural challenges to our finances. In this town meeting, you will be presented with a balanced budget for fiscal year 2024, but there are rough seas ahead. The Finance Committee report contains a five-year summary that shows significant deficits beginning in fiscal year 2026. We must work together to minimize the projected deficits while providing the best services possible to our residents. The Select Board is considering an override for this fall to responsibly address these realities. So, let us begin our work tonight. Town meeting will vote on over 70 warrant articles this year. Making good decisions together will require respect for different points of view and the presumption of good faith in one another. That approach to civic discourse is in terribly short supply in America right now. But as our late Select Board member Kevin Greeley was fond of saying, we can disagree without being disagreeable. May we remember those wise words and remember why each of us have chosen to be here as representatives of the 46,000 people who call Arlington home. If we do, we will exemplify what I believe in my bones, that the state of our town, our beloved community, is strong. Thank you. Do we have a second? All those in favor, say yes. All those opposed, say no. It's unanimous. Let's now move on to Article 3, Reports of Committees. We'll now receive the Reports of Boards and Committees. Thank you, Mr. Moderator, Eric Helmuth, Chair of the Select Board. We're reported the Select Board received and I'd like to express quickly my thanks to Attorney Doug Heim for his crucial role in preparing it and our Board staff, Ashley Maher, Lauren Costa and Britton Mallard. Do we have a second? Do we have a second? Second. All those in favor, say yes. All those opposed, say no. It's unanimous. Ms. National? Thank you. Let's now move on to Article 47, which is on page 23. In Article 47 it should be indemnification of medical costs, 10,810 dollars. That is indemnification of medical costs, 10,810 dollars. Board on behalf of the board I respectfully request that the report of the redevelopment board be received Deputy moderator of the satellite room, can you confirm that you can hear me? Yeah, if I could hear you, we can hear you fine now. Great. Thank you. Thank you Yes, sir Yes, this row, would you please accept the Community Preservation Act? Committee report. Do we have a second? We have a second. All those in favor? Yes? All those opposed? I declare that it's unanimous. Thank you. We'll move on while we get that. I guess we didn't think about getting the report across the board. Ms. Desher? Mr. Moderator, I move that the recommended votes contained in the respective reports of the finance committee, the select board, the redevelopment board, the Community Preservation Act Board, and other committees be before the meeting without further motion. Oh, the other committees. Okay, if there are others, we'll just take those split by voice vote when we receive them. Apologies for that. Do you have another motion, Ms. Desher? Mr. Moderator, I move that Article 3 be laid upon the table. We have a motion to lay Article 3 upon the table. It's effectively tabling it so we could take it up each night to have more reports received. Do we have a second? Okay, do we, all those in favor? Yes? All those opposed? It is unanimous. Two-thirds is required, but it's unanimous. Okay, that takes us to Article 4, appointment of the measure of Wood and Bart. Do we have any nominations? I think Mr. Foskett raised his hand, but he might have been adjusting. Mr. Foskett? We have a nomination for Mr. Warden. We have a second, seeing no other nominations. All those in favor of Mr. Warden as the measure of Wood and Bart say yes? All those opposed? It is unanimous. Congratulations, Mr. Warden. Okay, this now takes us to the Consent Agenda before we get into the regular sequence of the articles. So if we can bring up the presentation of the Consent Agenda. Oh wait, no, we still have, let's do Assistant Town Moderator first, sorry. Do we have any nominations? We have Ms. Stamps. Okay. We have a second. So we have Mr. Oster nominated for Assistant Moderator position. Any other nominations for Assistant Moderator? Seeing none, let's take a vote. All those in favor of Mr. Oster to be appointed the Assistant Town Moderator say yes? All those opposed? It is unanimous. Congratulations, Mr. Oster. Ms. Brazil, did we want to cover administrative corrections at this point or do we want to just leave that to the annotated warrant? Okay, well, it's on the website. Okay, so we'll now take up, now we'll take up the Consent Agenda. So if we can bring up the document that has the three Consent Agendas in it. Yeah, it's on the Town Meeting homepage, not on the annotated warrant page. There it is. Can we zoom into that a little bit? And so I will, the way this will work is that I'll run through this article by article and there will be three sections in the Consent Agenda. Technically we're only going to cover two because all the articles were removed, were held from one of the parts of the Consent Agenda. So we're back to two. Sorry if that's confusing. So for the Majority Vote Consent Agenda, say Article 7 has already been held, so when I get to it, I'll enumerate all the numbered articles in the Consent Agenda, and I assume that this list will scroll magically behind me as I go through the articles and if you hear a number of an article that you would like to discuss, debate, you might have motions for it to amend it, substitute motions. If there's any business that you wish to do under that article, as I'll make a brief pause between each of the numbered articles and you can shout hold and we will remove it from the Consent Agenda and consider it separately like we ordinarily do articles. And when we're done with this exercise, whatever articles are remaining in this list highlighted in green will remain on the Consent Agenda and will vote on all of them as a batch. So it'd be one vote that covers each part of the Consent Agenda. And so now we're looking at the Majority Vote Consent Agenda, which is the largest part, and so let's see. Article 7 has already been held, 8 has already been held, Article 11. You can yell hold if you want to hold it and discuss it. Article 14 is already held, Article 18 was that? Oh, I'm sorry. Let me look at this list here because I have a different list. Okay, sorry, I'll use the regular list. Article 14 was already held, 25 was already held, 33. Okay, we have a hold on 33. 34, 39, hold on 39. Article 40, Article 41, Article 45, Article 46, Article 47, Article 48. This is the time meeting member, right? It's not so much from the gallery. Just check it. We don't need a rationale at this point. Thank you. I just wanted to confirm it wasn't some heckler from the gallery. Thank you. Article 50, it will remain, Article 51, Article 55. Did we not hold 54? Let's do that again, I'm sorry. We covered 51, 54, 55, Article 55, Article 58, hold, Article 59, Article 61. Okay, so now I move on to the legislative consent agenda. This was a late addition. I apologize for any confusion. It has to do with some time meeting members because of their day jobs, they need to precuse themselves from certain types of votes that have to do with legislative business. So we've separated that out. Article 18, Article 65 has already been held, Article 68, hold on 68. And I want to remind folks that any holds on no action, articles that have a recommended vote of no action, no action is the main motion that comes up when that article comes up. And there is literally nothing to debate at that point unless certain motions are made such as a motion to substitute so that we do have something to talk about. So if your intention is to speak to an article that has a recommended vote of no action, it will not be within scope unless there's first a motion that creates some non-zero scope for us to discuss. So please be prepared. Okay, so let's now take a, let's say, and the two-thirds vote consent agenda has already been depleted of articles. Okay. So we will now vote on the majority vote consent agenda. Okay, so if we can bring up, okay, scroll back up to the first list. Okay, so the ones highlighted in green are still on the consent agenda. Those are articles 11, 50, 51, 54, and 55. Oh, was it health? Okay, my mistake. Yeah, I was one row off at that point. Apologies. 51 was held. Mr. LaRoy, is that right? Okay, that should be updated now. Okay, so can we now bring up a vote screen for the majority vote consent agenda? So just to be clear, the vote that you make on the majority vote consent agenda, that one vote will be propagated to all of the articles that remain on the consent agenda. Which is the rows that were highlighted in green. And again, that's articles 11, 50, 54, and 55. About 20 seconds left. Get your votes in. Vote one for yes to vote for the recommended vote of the articles on the majority vote consent agenda. Vote no if you are opposed to those favorable actions. And vote three to abstain. There's a few seconds left on voting. Okay. The majority vote consent agenda passes 224 in the affirmative one and the negative. So those articles that were highlighted in green in that first majority vote table are now disposed of. We'll now take a vote on the legislative consent agenda, which is also a majority vote. Let's show those first. And those are articles 18 and 68. 65 was held. We'll begin voting when the green light comes on. There we go. Okay, voting is closed. And it is an affirmative vote, 217 in the affirmative two and negative three abstentions. So the legislative majority vote consent agenda passes. Yeah, if you accidentally clicked into speak, we're going to clear those out because we don't have debate open yet for any articles. The articles on the consent agenda are not debatable, but if you want to debate them, you could have held them. There's nothing to vote on on the two-thirds vote consent agenda. Okay, we'll now move on to article six. Would the chair of the select board wish to introduce this article? Do you do have a point of order, Mr. Lordy? Yeah, the number nine. Yeah, once the speaker queue opens, and we'll begin the speaker queue, I think in general, when we introduce the article. When I invite the chair of the reporting board or committee to speak, as I did a moment ago, we'll open the speaker. So we'll open that up. It looks like it's already opened up at this point. And Mr. Helmuth in this case will give his introduction. And you pressed nine on your keypad. I can't promise what will happen if you press a different button, but press nine to request to speak. And you can also press nine again to cancel your request. And it'll tell you on the text display on your handset whether your request to speak was received or removed. The light will not come on because the light only comes on when we're voting, not when we're in debate. Mr. Helmuth, you want to introduce? And so we'll open the speaker queue now. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Eric Helmuth, chair of the select board. The select board by the vote of five to zero unanimously recommends a positive vote on article six. I think in my 12 years of town meeting, this has been maybe the third time that self-serve as gas has come before us. Maybe this will be the charm if town meeting says the wisdom to say yes. But we thought that there was a thoughtful solution to some of the discussion last year that really rightly focused on preserving the ability for people who don't want to use self-serve for whatever reason that there would be full service mandated and available. And the select board was satisfied that the strategy that put out would get that done. So I will let the proponents give the details, but we do recommend and ask for your action. So Ms. Stapps and Mr. Leone, did you wish to present on article six? I'm sorry. Yes. Sorry about that, Mr. Leone. I'm going to bring up the slide deck from... Can we get that full screen? Back up to the title slide. There we go. The floor is yours, Ms. Leone. Good evening. I'm John Leone, town meeting member, precinct eight. I represent Eli and Richie El Cooley, who are over here. And I've been asked to moderate it to allow them to address the meeting if necessary. Is he a resident of Arlington? They're not a resident of Arlington, but with the vote of the meeting they come in. Okay. We'll take a voice vote on to allow the speaker. Just say yes if you want to allow the speaker who is not a resident of Arlington to speak at the meeting. All those in favor, yes. All those opposed, no. Okay. It's a majority vote and I declare it. And so he can speak... I didn't catch the last time, but you can speak if you'd like during your time. Go ahead. I'm also disclosing that I'm an attorney and have a direct financial interest in this as I'm representing the two Mr. El Cooley's. We're asking that you vote to approve a bylaw change to allow self-service for motor fuels. Can we go to the next slide, please? This is how the bylaw currently reads. Why self-serve? Allowing self-serve gas stations in Arlington has many benefits. This warren article with a petition article which receives 62 signatures of town residents. This would require that there always be at least one full service attendant available at the gas station to man one of the dispensing pumps if someone doesn't want to pump the gas themselves. Can we go to the next slide, please? One of the benefits would be an upgrade and a rehabilitation of the stations to a more modern and inviting streetscape. Third slide, please. Self-service option is also a benefit to the consumer. Stations will hopefully be able to stay open longer as they may be able to hire additional employees. Currently, Eli... I'm going to read from where I say Eli's. Eli's at the gas station down on Broadway near the North Union Street's playground. They're currently retiring upon retirees for the purpose of pumping gas. No high school kids want this job as they did in the old days when we were young. It's also faster. You can get out quicker. Next slide, please. Self-serve or local small businesses. There are 10 gas stations in Arlington. Next slide. We have spoken to nine of them. Right now, only three, which are locally owned and operated stations, are interested in the possibility of converting. To convert to a self-serve will require an investment of $200,000 to $300,000 to upgrade the islands, the canopies, the point of sales, and the fire suppression systems. Next slide, please. Arlington has gas stations are not all independently owned or operated businesses. Several of them are owned by corporations and big chains, and they lease to the operators. Only the operators who own their stations would most likely be willing to make the substantial investment to bring the stations up to code to be self-serve. Go to the next slide as well. The remainder are corporate-owned and the rented operators will not be willing to make that investment. Let's see. We're on that slide. Go to the next slide, please. This is Eli's station. He has another station. He and his son operate in Revere. They have upgraded it and they've renovated it to be a self-serve. And this is possibly, if we pass some of the upgrades, they may be willing to do down on their station. Next slide, please. We also have in Arlington five electric vehicle charging stations, none of which are attended by an operator. They're all self-serves. None of them, hey, they are. They're all self-serve. None of them have a service station attached to them. One of them here is a town hall right outside, and the other one is at Whole Foods. Next slide, please. Go to the next one, too. Arlington gas stations are also service stations, a place where you take your car to get fixed and inspected. The service station is usually faster and less expensive than a dealership. This will not change. The service bays are where they currently generate the bulk of their income. The markup on a gallon of gasoline is 8 to 10, 12 cents per gallon. That small net markup barely pays the 18 to 20 dollar an hour wage of the pump operator. It takes 200 gallons of gasoline per hour just to pay the guide pump and the gas. If we let them go to self-serve, that attendant could be doing other, more productive jobs at the station, which would be a benefit to the owner, and hopefully they'd be able to hire more people. The elderly and disabled. Next slide, please. Elderly and disabled are currently treated just as everyone else in Arlington. This will not change. Under the proposed bylaw which we proposed, this is in compliance with the American Disabilities Act and the Massachusetts Gasoline Station law. Together these acts require self-service stations to provide equal access to their customers with disabilities. They must provide refueling assistance upon the request of the disabled person. They do this by letting the patron know by either honking their horn or some other means that they want to have an attendant come out and pump the gas for them. And that is that for the disabled and for disabled veterans and handicapped, the price is the same. This proposed bylaw amendment goes one step further. It does not change that. It actually makes it a little more difficult for the station owner. We as a town would allow self-service so long as there is at least one full service attendant employee dispensing system available. What's that mean? On all the pumps, there's two sides. One of the two nozzles will be a full-serve nozzle. You don't want to pump your own gas. You don't want your parents to come out and pump the gas. It's raining out. It's snowing. You beep your horn and a attendant will come out and pump it for you. That's how it is now. It's going to have that option will remain. If anyone doesn't want to use self-serve, they will not have to. Is there one more slide? Yes. We as a town should be helping out locally owned small businesses and providing them with all the opportunities we can to help them stay in business. We should not be setting artificial limits upon the types of businesses and services they conduct or that they wish to provide. There's a disconnect between our fueling for internal combustion engine and electric vehicles. This should not be. They should be the same. We should not have a difference in the bylaws. We ask that you vote yes on the article and no against the proposed amendment. Thank you. Any questions? Great. Thank you, Mr. Leonie. Before we take, we have an amendment. Do we have a point of order, Mr. Weinstein? Great. Thank you. It's just about to address that. Thank you. Because I'm looking at the speaker here and it seems not even remotely possible that no one has clicked in to request a speaker. Is the speaking queue open? It's open now. I can test that by pressing 9. I see it now. Thank you. Mr. Loretty, would you like to come up and introduce your motion? Point of order? Yes? If you press it an even number of times, then you will not be on the queue. Sorry. Let's bring up, before we start the time, let's make sure we have Mr. Loretty's presentation up. Is that up? It's the, I think it's called the Loretty presentation. It should be in the annotated warrant under Article 6. Yeah, just while we're waiting for that to come up, I just want to point out, I did see, because I could, but did they find it? Okay. But just briefly, as far as the speaker queue, sorry for the interruption, Mr. Loretty. I did notice, I can see the speaker queue at all times and I'll try to show it to folks because we have the switch displays and we'll try to get that a little smoother through the evening. I did notice at one point the speaker queue grew quite large and then it shrunk and it kept changing size, which indicates that folks were adding themselves and removing them. So it wasn't just Mr. Wagner. I think several folks were probably doing that. So if you hit the button repeatedly, it'll just toggle you on and off the queue, I think. Is there a point of order? It's not possible to show it currently all the time, unfortunately, because we have to switch between the video sources and we don't have like a fancy picture-in-picture capability at the moment. But I will occasionally between speakers. Well, I think we'll get into a better rhythm as we all include it. Yeah, exactly. I'll try to remember to do that, especially when we're waiting for someone to walk up to the microphone to switch over to the, I'll signal folks over there to switch over to the speaker queue so you could see if you're actually in the list, or where you are in the list. Mr. Loretty, sorry for the interruption. Go ahead. I think we're now at the very critical, ready, present, seven. I moved to amend the Select Board's recommended vote under Article Six to restrict self-service to auto service stations that provide services in at least one service bank. The full tax of the amendment has been distributed. And with your permission, Mr. Moderator, I'd like to forego reading the whole thing. And this will suffice. I mean, folks should have already printouts of it. Go ahead, please. Thank you. Mr. Leone for his presentation, because I think in many ways we agree on what the outcome of the original vote will be, but where we disagree is on the desirability of that outcome. Next slide, please. My amendment aims to prevent gas stations that look like this, or like those Mr. Leone should, self-serve pumps with lots of asphalt, and a mini-mart where you can buy junk food, coffee, donuts, maybe even lottery tickets and cigarettes, or perhaps beer and wine as at one of the proponent's existing stations. But what you can't buy is services for your automobile, because they don't provide them. This is the big oil business model for selling gasoline. They make more money from the mini-mart than fuel sales, and that is why about the only new kind of gas station you see being constructed today are those like this. Next slide, please. In contrast, what we now have in Arlington, and what my amendment seeks to protect, is a small business model of selling gasoline, namely service stations that actually provide service, such as repairs and inspections. This station, which is no longer a Gulf station, and all other stations currently in town, would qualify for self-serve under this amendment. But they couldn't be converted to mini-marts with self-serve gas. Last slide, please. I'd like to clarify a few things about the select boards proposed by law chains. First, despite the title and the warrant, this change does not apply only to conversions of gas pumps. It also applies to newly built stations. This map shows in red all the locations a new station could be sited with a special permit from the redevelopment board. They're primarily on Mass Ave, Broadway, and Summer Street, such as the Fresh Pond Seafood site. Any new station would most likely be the big oil self-serve mini-mart model, and my amendment does not pass. But if the amendment does pass, I wouldn't expect any new stations to be built. I don't think Arlington needs more gas stations. It really doesn't make sense to be encouraging more fossil fuel infrastructure when the sale of gasoline-powered cars is to be phased out within a dozen light years. Second, I'd also like to address an opponent's claim that anyone who wants to will be able to get full-serve gasoline at stations that self-serve. At best, the non-disabled will have to pay significantly more for their self-serve gas at these stations. The bylaw change contains absolutely no requirement that they pay the same for full-serve as for self-serve. And since the bylaw language doesn't say who can use the full-serve pump, an owner might limit its use to be disabled, whom they are required to by state and federal law to serve at the same price as self-serve. Finally, town meetings should understand that this bylaw change is unlikely to result in lower gas prices. I did a quick survey of four stations along Fresh Pond Parkway in Cambridge this morning. The lowest price was $3.40 a gallon. That was at the full-serve only Fresh Pond gas station. The self-serve shell and mobile stations were both at $3.50, and the self-serve Sonoco station was at $3.60. That Sonoco station also sells full-serve gas for $3.86 a gallon. That was the highest price I found. The cost of full-serve at the two stations of self-serve and full-serve were $0.20 and $0.26 a gallon higher than for their self-serve gas. Incidentally, the $3.50 a gallon price for self-serve in Cambridge is the same as at the Eli station, self-serve station in Broadway in Reveria that Mr. Leone was showing, and it's the exact same price as his full-serve station on Broadway in Arlington, and also the full-serve Arlington service station next to Walgreens. In short, self-serve does not save money, and it adds a significant premium to the cost of full-serve at stations that sell both self and full-serve gasoline. In conclusion, I ask you to support this amendment to help preserve the small business service stations in town and to prevent big oil mini-marts from entering the Arlington market. When voting on the main motion, please keep in mind that there's no evidence that it will reduce gas prices. On the contrary, it will increase the cost of full-serve gas for those who are not disabled at those stations that sell self-serve. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lurie. Let's see. Can we switch over to the speaker queue so folks can see what that looks like? And before we take the next speaker in queue, I did want to raise a point that came up in discussions about this amendment ahead of time, which I wanted to bring to the attention of the meeting. I wanted to call up Mr. Heim, Town Council, to ask about the question came up during discussions earlier about whether Mr. Lurie's amendment can be done in the context of the town bylaws, whether that requires zoning bylaws, giving an opportunity if you had anything to share about that question that might be informative for the meeting. Since that's not exactly a question of scope that I would typically be looking at but a question of statute or... Doug Heim, Town Council, good evening, Town Meeting. The short version of it is that the Attorney General's Office allows town bylaws to supplement a provision of the zoning bylaw but does not allow it to contradict them. This is a pretty close call. I would not say that it's not permitted or that it's something that would be a surefire thing to be rejected by the Attorney General's Office, so I think it's something to be debated by the meeting. Thank you. Great, thank you, Mr. Heim. Let's take our first speaker from the queue, which is Mr. Marr from the conference room. Is that all right? Yes, thank you, Mr. Moderator. John Marr, Precinct 14. Like many of you, I try to spend whatever disposable income I have in the town. Contrary to the suggestion by a previous speaker, I find that self-serve gas generally is cost less than full-serve, and I have to go out of town in order to access self-serve pumps. Some of the concerns that have been raised by previous speakers in previous years was that handicapped individuals would not be afforded the opportunity to avail themselves for gas stations that solely had self-serve. I think that the Selecton's proposed vote addresses adequately, in my view, that concern. Another concern that had been raised in previous years was that people will lose their jobs if they have self-serve. I think we would be singling out this particular service to determine what level of employment is going to be at that particular business, and we don't do that for other businesses in town. So I strongly suggest that we support the main motion of the Selectment, and I have not had a really opportunity to consider Mr. Loretty's substitute, but I would certainly support the main motion proposed by the Selectment. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Marr. Two corrections there. It's not a substitute. It's an amendment, and also no one caught that I didn't ask for a second on the motion. So we have a motion from Mr. Loretty to amend the main motion. Do we have a second? Second. Okay. So we now have a stack of two motions before us. The main motion, which is a recommended vote of the Select Board, and stacked on top of that, is discussion of, and we're going to discuss them together, the amendment from Mr. Loretty. Okay. Nick Pretzer from the Satellite Room. Go ahead. Hi. David Pretzer, pre-617. I just want to say that we've talked some about what gas station owners might want, but I encourage everyone to also think in mind what gas station employees. The gas station workers I've talked to are concerned about losing their jobs, and while the proponent might imply that they're all retirees who don't really need the income, many gas station employees are immigrants or other people that might have limited job opportunities where these jobs may be a very important source of income that cannot easily replace. So I'd like everyone to bear that in mind. Also my experience in other places is that when a gas station offers both full serve and self-serve, often in practice it is slow or difficult or sometimes even impossible to get full service gas in any sort of reasonable time. So I worry that even though on paper full service will be available, but this might not be available in practice or it might not be well enforced. So I would encourage everyone to vote for the amendment and vote against the main motion. Thank you. Thank you. Nick, we're ready as Nick's in the queue. He already spoke. He had a privileged position of introducing a motion. So can we remove Mr. Loretty from the speaking queue for now? Time being members can come back again after we've actually exhausted the queue. Was that? No problem. So we'll take Ms. Preston next. Good evening, everyone. Joanne Preston, town meeting member precinct five, formally precinct nine. I didn't move the precincts did. I'm glad to see everybody. This came up as a big surprise to me. I thought we had been decided last year and I'm sorry I don't have charts and so on, but the amendment seems to want to pres- can I- can everyone hear me? Not yet. The amendment wants to preserve the regular full service service stations where you can get your car repaired. And I'd like to speak to the larger context. Lowering self-service gas stations in Arlington has only one possible benefit. Lower gas prices. However, if you notice driving through the surrounding towns and look at gasbuddy.com for last year and this year, a website with live gas prices, Arlington's low-priced gas stations have already been competitive with self-service prices. Sometimes lower, sometimes higher. Self-service options are rarely done, point two, to benefit the consumer. Look at the relatively recent self-service checkout lines using CVS and now Whole Foods as an example. At first it seems a benefit to be able to get out quickly if only if you could have a couple of items. However, the corporate purpose is to reduce labor costs. So next step was to reduce checkout cashiers. Now you can wait in line for both the land and self-service lines. I was just at Whole Foods. That's exactly what happened. Another change you don't realize until it's gone. Now, since there's really no benefit to self-service stations in terms of gas prices for the consumer, what are the negatives? Equity. Equity is a trendy consideration these days. More well-off people with newer cars do not have to worry about keeping an old vehicle functioning. Those with lesser means benefit from a neighborhood service station. Newer cars can be dropped off at the dealership for a sticker with a shuttle ride to work. Not a choice for others like me who has a 2010 car. Removing options and choices for those not as economically well-off is not equitable. Now I'd like to move up. Drive out small businesses over time. Our linked gas stations are almost all, maybe all, independent businesses. Self-service is usually chain corporate operations, which allows self-service over time. This is a process not only around here, but I looked it up nationally. You start out with one self-service possibility that, and you move to more self-service, especially in, as been proposed, in gas stations that have both a manned gas where they put the gas in for you and self-service, the one that has the operator costs more. This is not only around here, but it's true nationally. So what happens? People, even people like me who have a small, can you hear me? No? I'm sorry. Is this better? Good. Let me go. It's a process that in a gas stations as proposed that have both self-service and one with an operator, that the one with the operator costs more. So what happens is people, even like people like me, don't want to pay more. So you get more and more self-service pumps. Then down the line, people go, nobody's going to our manned one. Therefore, let's abolish it. That has been the national trend. The other trend is as they find out that the full service gas station was replaced, you get gas, have your tire pressure and radiator checked. If you need new tires or tire repair, two jobs, brake jobs, battery charged are being replaced with mini-marts. You can see that already in Belmont. And in some cases, as the person who's brought this forward at his revere gas station, there's a great big sign that says wine and beer. So when they can get a liquor license, it's even more profitable. So therefore, they do not have the service most of us need, at least I need. I drove into Mystic Gulf. They point the operator pointed out something along with my tire. I could get my tire fixed and go home. I didn't have to go across town to find a garage that could repair my tire. Now, whoops, I'd like to talk about my neighborhood gas station. Mystic Gulf is in danger of closing with the passage of this article. Like many small businesses who rent the property from a real estate corporation that would like greater profits from mini-marts and liquor stores that have a few cell service pumps outside. Mike Alacas, the owner of Mystic Gulf, corner of Mystic and Summer Street has been in business for 25 years serving the community. He tells me for over 25 years our full service garage has been serving residents of the neighborhood. Many of them are seniors. It's directly across the street from the senior residents. As we are located to two AHA senior residents, it's in a number of apartment buildings with many senior residents. When they need inspection stickers or car repairs, they only have to cross the street to get the service. When I'm able to do so, can I have one? You should have a five-second bill. Thank you very much. I hope you will vote against this for the benefit of the residents of Arlington. Thank you. Thank you. Point of order? Point of order? Yes. Thank you. Same is true of extraneous points of order. I'll take Mr. Holman next. Eric Holman, one meeting member, precinct six. Three points. Try to make them quick. Mr. Fleming referred to the fact that it costs $200,000 to $300,000 to do this. Being in business is a tough way to make a living. And I think we need to give business owners great latitude. However, I think it's up to us in Arlington to decide what kind of businesses we want to have in town. And I would like to see a gas station, be a gas station and a repair station, not another second-hand or second-rate grocery store. A couple of points that have not been made. I would rather see that money also go to the employees. They're not paid very well. Mr. Holman, I'm just going to call scope on this. We're not discussing the... If you can tie it to the main motion or the amendment, that would be helpful. But we're not talking about the salaries of the attendants. Okay. I would prefer Mr. Loretti's motion. I think we would be safer with more people there, not the one person who you will end up having if we allow these mini-marts. And I'll leave it at that. Thank you. Great. Thank you. We are at... We'll take... Let's take a 10-minute recess right now. 10 minutes and we'll take Mr. Schlickman next. Thank you. Okay, we're going to get started again here. And before we resume the speaker queue, I just had a brief announcement. There were several complaints about the quality of the audio that folks are hearing, especially from my microphone but also from the podium microphone. So we've made some adjustments. Hopefully that helps. I'll try to speak more directly into the mic and not turn my head, as I advised everyone else to do. So we'll see if that helps tonight and if it doesn't, we'll figure out before next meeting if we can make improvements. Okay. And once we... And also, thank you, when we leave at around 11 p.m. tonight, do not leave with your handsets. Look for the small gray bins near the exits when you leave and you can deposit your handset in one of those bins. Okay. Let's get back to it. Mr. Schlickman, floor is yours. Okay, let's give Mr. Schlickman some silence here. Thank you, Mr. moderator. Paul Schlickman, precinct nine. In context, we are a two EV family with 100% renewable on our all-electric home. I haven't bought gas in 18 months. Mention of self-service versus full-service EV chargers seems a bit silly. I've never seen a full-service EV charger. It's the kind of thing you plug it in and walk away from. Even in New Jersey, where they will never allow self-service gasoline. Mr. Schlickman? I mean, if you want to tie it back, let's bring it quickly. Thank you, because we're not talking about EVs. The point was made in the initial presentation of treating EVs and gasoline-powered cars equally in the last couple of slides in the initial presentation, which is why I'm making the point. Corporations, it seems, have a lot of money to go and build bigger gas stations with convenience stores as opposed to the small operator. For ExxonMobil, a $200,000, $300,000 investment in order to improve the profitability of their property is nothing. But let's get back down to the core element of what's going to happen here. First of all, cars are very portable devices. If you live in Arlington and you don't want to go to a full-service station as required by law in this town, the first station you hit going down Mass Ave is just across the line at L.Wife Brook Parkway, and they will charge you more for the privilege of pumping your own gas. If you want to do that, you're out traveling around. Most people I know with a car do leave Arlington on occasion. So nobody who wants self-service is at an immediate disadvantage. However, if we pass this, we are going to place the people who rely upon the full service within the town of Arlington at a disadvantage, because the full-service stations in town will have a financial incentive to convert to self-service. I look at Mr. Loretty's amendment as a necessity in this debate process. I will be voting for it because it will be an impediment to converting current stations to mini-marts. But after voting yes on the Loretty amendment, I intend to vote no and keep this by-law the way it is because it has served our residents well. People who need full-service stations and like full-service stations will continue to be able to avail themselves of them, and people who prefer self-service don't have very far to go in leaving our little five-square-mile town. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Slickman. And before we take next speaker, can we switch over to showing the speaker cue? Are we showing that now? And also, did the ice of a... Let me ask, did the balcony find the microphones? Yes, does it work? Great. Can you try it again? Does it work? Yes, thank you. Can you step to the microphone so the satellite room can hear you as well? Let's start again. When folks have a point of order, when you get recognized by me, please come to the podium so that the rest of the room and the broadcast can hear you. Mr. Jamison. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Gordon Jamison, precinct 12. Before they put the extended speaker list up, I was right behind Mr. Wagner. And I was similarly, without my own doing, removed from the list. Mr. Fisher. Please go ahead. Andrew Fisher, precinct 6. I rise to say thank you, Mr. Loretty. I will vote yes for Mr. Loretty's amendment. Mr. Sluckman, do you have a point of order? You can't hear the microphone. Okay. Mr. Fisher, can you... Is it possible to get it closer to your mouth when you speak? I've got it right in my mouth. And maybe if you can speak up as well. Okay. I'm simply opposed to risking large corporations turning gas stations into mini-marts. For that reason, I will be voting for Mr. Loretty's motion. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Fisher, and probably use hand sanitizer on that microphone. Mr. Wagner, you're next. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Carl Wagner, precinct 15. For the reprecincting, it was 11. I am the original proponent of the attempt to change the 1970s ban on self-serve. I did this in 2013 and I wanted to do it because my car I thought was better filled by me. I wanted to very, very briefly just give you though the concerns that 75% of the 60 or so constituents that I surveyed did not want to lose full-serve, and it wasn't even an economic thing. They know that it's special and different in Arlington. I rise to support the motion in its amended form because I think the Select Board has wisely changed what I said which was simply allow self-serve by deleting the ban on it. But Mr. Loretty has rightfully raised a very important point that everywhere I went people said if we just allow self-serve full-serve regardless of what we're talking about it will also kill the businesses that fix our cars that provide services to us. So Mr. Loretty's very smart intention here is to stop the death of the businesses we need and so I ask you to vote only for the motion if you also vote for the amended motion. Thank you very much. I don't think the lights work here either. Apologies for that. Thank you. And next we'll take Mr. Newton. Just a reminder to folks before we get started to speak directly into the microphone and when you turn your head it gets harder for folks to hear you. I'll try to keep that advice as well. Mr. Newton, precinct 10. I move to terminate debate on Article 6 and all items. All right. Do we have a second? Are you sure? Let's take up a vote on terminating debate please. So once the green light comes on we're getting a lot of requests to speak. Mr. Hallman? No. I'll clarify. We're voting on whether to terminate debate and I interpret that as terminating debate on the main motion and of all matters before it which would include Mr. Loretty's amendment. So that stack of motions that we have, the main motion and the amendment would be terminating debate on the entire stack of motions. So if you're in favor of terminating debate, press 1 on your handset. If you're in favor of continuing debate press 2 and if you don't know or care you can press 3. Debate is terminated. It's a two-thirds vote and I declare it. So now we will take up a vote on Mr. Loretty's amendment. So if he can bring that up on the screen, do we have that? Good. Actually, now this is the main motion. Can we bring up Mr. Loretty's amendment so we can see what his amendment is altering? If you scroll to the bottom you'll see Loretty's amendment as a link. I can explain it verbally. Mr. Loretty's amendment, it adds the language that adds a constraint on the self-surface gas so long as said station is an auto service station that provides services in at least one service bay. So if you're in favor of adding that clause to the main motion then vote 1 to amend. If you're against amending the main motion and you want to leave the main motion as is, as the recommended vote of the select board press 2. That's just wait a moment longer. Okay, voting has ended and the amendment passes. The main motion is now amended with Mr. Loretty's amendment. So we have a new main motion as amended by Mr. Loretty's amendment. Yes. Can you bring it over to the table over here where there's four gentlemen sitting? Let's just take a moment. What are we showing here on the vote screen? It says the letter that we already voted on in the affirmative. Yeah, can we stop this vote? I'll wait a signal from the handset folks when we're ready to go. Mr. Feige, are we ready to go? Okay, so we have now open voting. So if you are in favor of the main motion. Yes. Those votes and Mr. Feige can confirm that those votes were nullified. There was the initial vote on the Loretty amendment which passed. There was another vote that said Loretty amendment which didn't mean anything. That was not my recollection. No. We'll have to go back to we don't have video replay in town meeting, but we're going to move forward. The main motion I think is very clear my verbal instructions on amending the main motion with the Loretty amendment which passed. We're now voting on the main motion as amended by the Loretty amendment and voting is open. So if you're in favor of the main motion as amended, vote one and if you are against the main motion as amended, vote two and vote three to abstain. I was about to call up and now there's a countdown. Yeah. Okay. Let's close voting. Let's close voting. The main motion as amended passes 122 to 107 with one abstention. It's an affirmative vote. We'll now move on to well before we take on the next article let's just make sure that we're clear on when we're opening the speaker queue. So let's open the speaker queue when I begin the timer for the introduction by the select board chair. Okay. Do the folks over here catch that? We will open the speaker queue when I start the seven minute timer, when that starts going down, we will open the speaker queue. Does that work? When I start the seven minute timer like this that's when we want to open the speaker queue for the first person when the select board chair gets up to introduce the article. Thank you. Mr. Helmuth, can you introduce article seven, please? Thank you, Mr. Moderator. I come with chair of the select board. There is a recommended vote of no action on article seven, but Mr. Moderator I'm not aware of a substantive motion. If there is a substantive motion I would appreciate reserving the time to speak to that, but in the absence of that I'll just report the vote of no action. Thank you, Mr. Helmuth. This was held by Ms. Mosina who I believe is in the satellite room. Do we have any comment about this article? I'll note that there were motions that would be in scope, but there would not be any discussion that would be in scope because it's no action. It's a recommended vote of no action. And so a motion may be in scope if I so declare it relative to the scope of the warrant article text, but with a recommended vote of no action there is zero scope for debate unless we have a motion such as a substantive motion. Ms. Mosina, did you want to speak to this? No comment. Pass. Pass. Okay. We have one person on the speaker queue. Ms. Lim Miller. Pass. Okay. So we have no more requests to speak so we will go straight to a vote. The recommended vote from the Select Board is no action. So I'll just take a voice vote on this. All those in favor of doing nothing say yes. Yes. All those opposed? It is unanimous. That brings us to article 8. Mr. Helmuth, would you like to introduce this? And we'll open the speaker queue when I start the timer now. Thank you, Mr. Moderator Eric Helmuth, the chair of the Select Board. Same comments applied to article 8. We're not aware of any substantive motions. If there is, I could come back and speak to the Select Board's rationale for their 5-0 vote for no action. Okay. Ms. Mosina, you held this. Did you wish to speak to this? Again, no pass. This was made at the request of a constituent who's not presenting a substantive motion. So pass. Mr. Kepline, you want to speak to this? You've contacted me ahead of time about this. Can you come to the microphone, please? Mark Kepline, precinct 9. I move to delay this article until... Okay. Microphone, please. Step closer to the microphone. I move to delay hearing this article until after article 65 is taken up. They're both related. And it would be just court disposal, both together. Okay. We have a motion to... I'll translate it into the procedural language. We have a motion to postpone until a time certain, specifically after the business of article 65. Is that correct? So the motion to postpone this until after article 65. And that affords you more time to consider the substantive motion, and so it requires postponement to a date certain or after an article certain. Requires a majority vote. So we'll try a voice vote, and it's obvious that we'll move on. If not, we'll go to the handsets. All those in favor of... Oh, I'm sorry. You're right. Do we have any seconds? Okay, we have a second. Thank you. All those in favor of postponing until after article 65 say yes? Opposed? No. The noes have it. It is not postponed. We still have a main motion of no action. And we have next in the speaker queue, Ms. Murray. She's been removed from the queue. Ms. Menfield. Men's Field. In case someone wants to offer a substantive motion or other procedural maneuver, that would keep this alive. I did not see Ms. Menfield. Ms. Mazima. You had an opportunity to speak earlier at the beginning. So we've now exhausted the speaker queue. We don't have any postponement. I did not move us. I didn't recognize the substantive motion because it wasn't delivered 48 hours, two business days in advance, and the meeting has decided to not to accept the motion to postpone. So we still have before us a main motion of no action with no other recognized motions. And the speaker queue is Mr. Schlickman. Paul Schlickman. Pre-signal motion to terminate debate. We have a second. We have motion to terminate debate. I'll take this by voice vote. This is a no action article. We have no substantive motion that's been recognized. All those in favor of terminating debate on article 8 say yes. Yes. It is unanimous. So we will now move to a vote on the main motion, the recommended vote of no action. So let's bring up a vote screen, and as soon as the green light comes on, you can start voting. Voting is opened. So vote yes if you want to take no action. Vote no if you don't want to take no action, but nothing will happen anyway. Okay, let's close voting. And the motion passes. Okay. That brings us to article 10. By-law amendment. Municipal opt-in specialized street stretch. My apologies. Mr. Helmuth, you want to introduce this? Thank you. And I'll start the speaking queue now. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Eric Helmuth, chair of the select board. So article 9 really addresses a reality that's been increasing since the advent of automated, well, recording of town meeting, but automated transcription technology. And we've seen through the remote town meetings that we've had that we haven't really needed to actually pay someone to say that they're doing a stenographic recording when the recording almost de facto exists. And if a legal record would be required, this elect board feels like it's not a big deal to hire a stenographer in that point because it's a verified checked record. But that, in the absence of that, frankly it would just save money to not have to hire a stenographer every single meeting but only hire them to do what they already do now, which is reviewing the tapes. We were also informed by the clerk and who I think could speak to this more if needed that requests are exceptionally rare. In fact, they really couldn't think of any in recent memory. So the board was satisfied that this would, to care of this would save a little bit of money and streamline the process. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Thank you, Mr. Helmuth. The first, we don't have any amendments. So let's take our first speaker in the queue, Mr. Young from the balcony. Is Mr. Young in the balcony? Is Mr. Young anywhere here? Mr. Peter Young? Okay, so. Thank you. We'll take Ms. Kepka next. You didn't press your button. I don't see Mr. Warden in the speaker queue. Oh, I see. Yeah, he's in now. But that came in a few seconds later. Okay, so we'll take that as a pass. Mr. Blandy. Okay, can we show the speaker queue? Is it give folks an opportunity to see if they're not supposed to be on there or they can remove themselves? Okay, did we take Ms. Lim Miller? Did I skip her? Ms. Lim Miller? Did you intend to be on the speaker queue? She passed. Okay. How about Ms. Howard? Is this the same speaker queue from before? I thought that he was automatically cleared between votes. The time stamps are recent in the last couple minutes. Mr. Revillac? Point of order. Yeah, Mr. Wagner. Point of order. Point of order, Carl Wagner. Precinct 15, sorry to say this, but I pressed 5 and it put me on the list. Yeah, I warned earlier that I could not your mileage will vary with other buttons. It looks like you win the lottery and it added you to the speaker queue. But these folks should use button number 9. Mr. Revillac, you have the floor. Good evening. My name is Steve Revillac and I am a town meeting member in precinct number 1. A few brief words. I have a collection of town meeting transcripts. I even have favorite town meeting transcripts. These are something I found incredibly useful when trying to understand the history of some of the bylaws and the motivations for passing them. That said, I understand that these are not a frequently requested item. They're expensive to produce. And I agree with the town manager's cost-benefit analysis. However, I would ask that the clerk's office and you, Mr. Moderator, where possible once transcripts of town meeting are made, even if they are automated machine transcripts, please post them to the town website. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Revillac. We'll take Mr. Loretty next. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Chris Loretty, precinct 7. I rise in opposition to this article and I do so because I think it's important to keep a record of what is said at town meeting, not just the votes. The problem I have with the recommended vote of the Board of Selectment is that if you look at what it does, it removes the stenographic record, but it doesn't replace it with anything. I'm not aware that there's any requirement that these meetings be recorded. Now, certainly ACME does that, but that's not a requirement. In my experiences, ACME recordings sometimes get lost. They're not always there. They're not a permanent record. And so while certainly you don't necessarily, in this day and age, have to have a, you know, stenographer creating a written record of what is said at the meeting without having in the bylaw itself a process for creating the digital record, whether that be on some type of optical device, whether it's a magnetic recording. In some specification of what the record retention policy is, I'm not prepared to just wipe out what is there now. I too, like Mr. Revlech, have found the transcripts at the past meetings very interesting and useful. I'm really not sure where the statement comes saying that people don't request them. I don't tell the select board when I'm going into the clerk's office that I'm looking at the transcripts. I call the clerk and often the clerk's not there. I would say just about every town meeting I go in because articles tend to repeat themselves so often. I tend to go in almost every town meeting to look at them. So I appreciate the desire to come up with a more modern way of dealing with this. But frankly a YouTube video of town meeting that ACME posts who knows how long that's going to be up there. I frankly don't trust big tech to maintain documents and perpetuity. I don't think anyone should and I don't think the town should either. So I'm going to vote no and I'm going to ask the select board to come back next year with an amendment to this bylaw section that actually specifies how the transcript, not the transcript, but how the oral record, the spoken record of town meeting is created and maintained in perpetuity. Thank you. Thank you Mr. O'Reilly. Let's hold the applause. This is not a theater. Mr. Fisher from the balcony. Andrew Fisher, precinct six. An archivist spoke in the community room in the library and insisted that only on paper printed out records are permanent. Like Mr. Ravillac and previous speaker I have a collection of transcripts also and I will vote no unless I'm assured that whatever we do results in a paper record that can be accessed in the town's clerks office. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Fisher. Mr. Ruderman, next. Thank you Mr. Moderator. Michael Ruderman, precinct nine. It's good to see you all again. I have occasions to sort to the actual transcript of the meetings to figure out what was the intended meaning of certain measures. I follow land use articles in particular and there are shades of meaning and differences that are often explained in the give and take in the dialogue and the questions that we're asking right now. What do you mean by this or how do you interpret that point? What is it that this article means? Those things are part of the record of the meeting. But if they're not captured and retained in some way then we're left to the interpretation of people in the future what it was that we meant or none. You don't realize that you need a transcript of the meeting until you go looking for it and perhaps it isn't there. Transcripts of meetings are almost a given these days in state public hearings for all types of boards and commissions. It is becoming exceedingly easy and almost automatic with various types of voice recognition technology to at least get the rough draft or the first draft of the transcript down which someone can then proofread and verify and submit for approval. I would say to you that a transcript of a meeting is yes a cost but a well worth cost to record what it is we thought we were deciding on in the meeting. So I would ask you to say no to this article. Thank you. Mr. Ruderman, I believe Mr. Pooler did you have a relevant piece of information to add? Thank you Mr. Moderator, Sandy Pooler Town Manager. I think it is relevant to understand that paper is going away. Paper in Town Hall we are trying to get rid of as much paper as possible. We are screening and scanning papers and getting rid of file cabinet after file cabinet. That is the future. Paper, if you go into the basement of this building you will see what happens to the paper. It gets eaten by rats. That is just how things are. It is just reality. Let's be practical about how things are going to be stored in the future. ACMI records these things. We have technology that we use for Zoom meetings for other things. It is called Otter that you can run a video, an audio recording through, will give you a transcript that then needs to be edited sometimes, but it gives you a paper transcript when you need it. Finally, I would just say from my experience over the years, I know certainly when I worked in the legislature Massachusetts courts did not look at intent or the transcripts of what people said. In Massachusetts the law really is that you look at the votes. That is what is legally important and so I think in terms of where this town is going, it's electronic and I hope you support the amendment or the article. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Poehler. I'll take Mr. Foskett next. Can we show the speaker queue? So folks, please preemptively clear yourself out of the speaker queue so that we can see what's going on there inadvertently. Mr. Foskett, go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Charles Foskett, Precinct 10, formerly Precinct 8. I've used the transcripts from town meeting on several occasions and found them invaluable. I would hope that we don't abandon that. I agree that the future is digital. Paper is not the issue. The issue is what's the quality of what the town is going to use for its digital transcripts and how will they be available. I'm going to vote no on this article until we get a plan from the town manager and the selectman as to how we are going to properly record the transactions and the speakers at the town meetings of the future. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Foskett. Next up is Mr. Warden. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. John Warden, Precinct 8, still Precinct 8. I have a couple points on this. For one, is there a quick answer? What is the cost of this demographic record? Mr. Puller, can you answer that? Sandy Puller, town manager, over the last few years we've spent between four and 13,000 dollars in various years. Okay, four and 13,000. That's a big range. I don't know how much we're talking about in terms of how much we talk. However, whichever number it is compared to the multimillion dollar town budget it's spent in the ocean, I have a collection of videotapes that for the 19 years when I served as moderator and how about my collection of little discs I recorded from favorite radio shows? Nope. And so the point is that this electronic and non-written copies of stuff, it's great. You can hear it the next day, the next week, maybe the next year. But then after a while technology changes and it all goes away. And this case full of stuff is my wife also recorded all the school committee meetings she was at and she served for 13 years I think. And we can't listen to those either. I don't know if we want to but the possibility is out there. So in the written records, we've kept the written records of this town meeting ever since we became a separate town in 1807. And if they're not safely kept in the basement they should submit that maybe some basement security should be implemented rather than saying we'll just do away with all our paper records. As other speakers have said, those paper records are an invaluable resource historically, legally and in other ways. And it's a relatively small expense to have that written transcript and I urge you to join as previous speakers have suggested and let's preserve this tenographic record of the proceedings of this meeting. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Worden. Let's hold the applause until we've dissolved town meeting. Mr. Batek you're now recognized to speak. Adam Batek precinct five. Microphone please. Oh, you're our captain. Adam Batek, precinct five. I also noticed that the recommended action eliminates not just a scenographic record but a complete record. There is no requirement in the law and perhaps you'd like to ask town council Doug Hime. My understanding is there is no bylaw requiring that any recording of this meeting be kept other than the scenographic record. I would like to offer a substitute motion. I know it's the last second but you did say in your instructions that you may allow exceptions and advance filing in cases of motions that are short, clear, concise and easy to understand. So I suggest that instead of striking all of the requirement to have a record we simply strike the word scenographic and complete scenographic which I've written. Do you have it signed? By simply eliminating the word scenographic we eliminate any of the issues around having to pay for a stenographer or whether it has to be a written record clerk decide the best way to have a record but I think that eliminating any record is outside the scope of the warrant first of all and second of all it would be a disservice so that folks who have mentioned that they like to collect records can still access those records if we have one. Thank you. Mr. Bader, thank you. Did you want to hear from Mr. Hime about, did you have a question or was that rhetorical? My understanding is only the moderator has to ask the questions to other people. Do you have a question that would benefit from Mr. Hime's response? My question is, is there any other requirement in our bylaws to have a recording of this meeting? Mr. Hime? Doug Hime, Town Council, thank you for the question. The bylaws don't contain any separate requirement to maintain a recording of town meeting. I do want to clarify one thing. The official record of town meeting is the votes and the motions as recorded and captured by the clerk. But that does not include a standard graphic record under the general laws. The only other law that really comes into play are the public records laws and the retention records with some folks of reference. But there is no other provision of our town bylaws that would require an audio recording or a standard graphic recording to be maintained. Thank you. Thank you, Council. I'd like to point out that the stricken language requires recording of all discussion and debate that should be made under the direction of the town clerk. So striking this requirement goes beyond what the Council just referred to. Thank you, Mr. Biddy. Is my motion accepted by the modern? Can we bring up the article text where it says, just so I'm clear, you wish to strike I wish to substitute a motion that would only strike the word stenographic from the town bylaws. I got a substitute motion. Which adheres much closer to the Warren article. And you wish to... Well, it's... The current motion strikes all of section B and I'm suggesting we only strike three words. Got it. Striking stenographic and complete stenographic. So you want to strike the first word. This is relative, just so I'm clear. This is a substitute motion that seeks to amend the town bylaws. Not amending the main motion. So let's ignore for just a moment for this exercise. Let's ignore the main motion just so we can understand what's being requested here. So looking at the town bylaws. So title one, article one, section four Part B. You wish to strike stenographic which is the first word of that to just say record. And then instead of a complete record of the proceedings of town meeting you wish it to say a record of the proceedings of town meeting. Correct. So does someone have a point of order here? Can you come to the microphone and state your point of order please? Well, it's striking one... Excuse me. So let me repeat it. I think this is... I think we're agreeing that the substitute motion would change the town bylaws. Again, we're ignoring just for this exercise the main motion before us. Point of order? Did someone have a point of order? You're going to step up to the microphone Mr. Kepline? Well, I recognize Mr. Kepline. Mark Kepline, prec 9. Mr. Moderator, was this submitted 48 hours in advance? It was not. And so should we even be considering the substitute motion then? Or is it your prerogative? The letter that came out said I may allow exceptions to this advance filing requirement in cases of motions that are short, which mine is clear, which mine is, concise, which mine is and easy to understand, which mine is. Let's hold the applause. Because everyone who is applauding is probably not going to like what I'm about to say. The ruling that Mr. Kepline is pointing out refers to substitute motions and substantial amendments to motions must be submitted to me and so on. And although this is a very simple substitute motion, the rule, and it's not arbitrary that those words were chosen, those words were intentionally chosen, that the substantial part refers to amendments. It's assumed implicitly that substitute motions would be more significant than that. And just in the fact that we've spent the last several minutes just trying to understand which exactly which words would be stricken from the bylaws and we're ignoring the main motion, there's a complexity to this that I don't think we're going to resolve at 10.37 p.m. In my last seven seconds I'd like to suggest people vote no. Thank you. I'm sorry, what was that? Can you repeat that? With my last seven seconds on the clock I'd like to suggest that people vote no. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, I'm not going to accept this substitute motion. I mean I physically accepted it, but I don't accept this motion on the floor. Thank you, Mr. Kepler. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. So we'll go back to the speaker queue. Mr. Hulman, Mr. Newton. Sonja Newton, precinct 10. I move that we hold this article to allow Mr. Badek to give his substitute motion. Okay, so we before we I ask for any seconds we need a date certain or an article certain after which it would appear and for him to satisfy the 48 hour rule I believe I have to say Monday. Is that correct? Monday would be more than 48 hours of two business days in advance. Correct. Great. So I would like to move that we hear the article. So we have a motion to postpone article 9 until next Monday. We have a second. Is that a second in the back or a point of order? Okay. Okay, so let's just try this by voice. All those in favor of postponing this article until next Monday to allow for potential substitute motion. Yay. Say yes. Yes. Okay. So let's go to the handsets on that. It was pretty close. Plus we don't know if the satellite room might have been going a certain way. I see a bunch of folks clicking into the speaker queue just wait for the green light. Because the handsets serve both functions and so we have to wait for the light to know that we're voting. And so it might take us a second to bring up the vote screen. This is postponing article 9 until Monday. A week from today. So voting is opened. If you're in favor of postponing article 9 until Monday, vote yes. That would allow time for substantive amendments or substantive motions to be submitted. If you don't wish to postpone and you want to continue debate vote 2 for no. Let's close voting. The motion carries. The article 9 is postponed until next Monday. That brings us to article 10. Mr. Helmuth, do you want to introduce us here? Let's keep it quiet. We'll open the speaker queue now. Thank you, Mr. Moderator Eric Helmuth, chair of the select board. Article 10 is a really important example of what I talked about in my state of the town address and that is we are a leader in the state for very thoughtful and intentional town action and local action to address sustainability in the climate crisis. The select board was frankly just blown away by the quality of the presentation in favor of this and the work that has gone into it by the Clean Energy Future Committee and the Sustainability Coordinator and they certainly persuaded us that this is a smart thing to do. It will not incur an inordinate cost to developers, to people who are building or purchasing new homes given the state of technologies that are available to adopt this code but it does have the potential to make a really meaningful difference in reducing the carbon footprint of the new construction. I would point you to the select board's report or you can read the comment more fully of the select board report. There's a really nice two-page spread that summarizes the stretch code in a very comprehensive way and is very clear what that is. There's lots of people here who can answer your questions and I suspect that you may hear from some of the proponents so I'll just leave it at that but we urge your support. Thank you Mr. Helmuth. I now want to invite up Mr. Katowski or Ms. Fox or both to offer a presentation. Please, it's linked from the annotated warrant. Good evening. My name is Ryan Katowski and I'm the chair of the Clean Energy Future Committee. The CEFC is tasked with guiding the town towards its 2050 net zero greenhouse gas goal. If you can go to the next slide please. I want to start by thanking Town Meeting for its prior support of efforts to make Arlington a more sustainable community. As some of you may have heard me say we are really on a journey together and warrant article 10 is the next step on that journey. Arlington's net zero action plan or NSAP which the select board endorsed in 2021 is the town's road map to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. A key strategy in the net zero action plan is eliminating the use of fossil fuels in buildings and a primary strategy for that is to electrify heating systems and other appliances including water heaters stoves and clothes dryers. A metric of success for this strategy is the town's adoption of a statewide net zero energy code. There is now such a code known as the specialized stretch energy code, the municipal opt-in code or simply the specialized code. Warrant article 10 asks Town Meeting to vote to have Arlington opt into this specialized code. I'm now going to turn it over to Talia Fox sustainability manager to go through some of the key features of the specialized code. Thank you Mr. Chair. Talia Fox, sustainability manager. I will now provide some technical details on energy codes and the specialized code. There are three energy code options in Massachusetts which build on each other successively as this pyramid diagram demonstrates. The higher up in the pyramid, the more energy efficient the code. At the bottom of the pyramid is the base code which contains the minimum requirements for buildings in the state of Massachusetts. The next level up is the stretch code which provides greater efficiency over the base code for communities that opt-in. Arlington Town Meeting voted to adopt the stretch code in 2010 right after the stretch code first became available. Most communities in the Commonwealth have since opted into the stretch code. Updates to the stretch code including the most recent 2023 updates are automatic for Arlington and other communities that have opted in. On the top of the pyramid and new as of this year is the specialized code which helps align new construction with the state's climate goals. Like the original stretch code, the new specialized code requires that communities affirmatively opt-in by a vote after which updates to the specialized code will be automatic. Eight communities in the Commonwealth have already opted into the specialized code. Watertown, Somerville, Cambridge, Brookline, Newton, Lincoln, Lexington, and Boston. There are around 20 others planning to opt-in this year. Next slide, please. The specialized code applies to new construction only. In Arlington, the code would therefore apply to the approximately 20 to 30 new single and two family homes and one to two multifamily and mixed use commercial buildings constructed in Arlington per year. The specialized code was designed explicitly to facilitate all-electric construction and to ensure that new buildings that use fossil fuels can be easily converted to all-electric systems by 2050. The creation of the specialized code was mandated by the Massachusetts legislature with the goal of ensuring new construction in Massachusetts is consistent with the state's legally binding commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. If town meeting votes to opt-in, the proposed effective date for the specialized code in Arlington is January 1, 2024. This state aligns with recommendations from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources. Next slide, please. Many of the requirements of the specialized code which are summarized on this slide apply to new buildings that use fossil fuels for any purpose. Buildings that are all-electric are, for the most part, not subject to additional requirements above and beyond those of the stretch code, which again is automatic for Arlington. Specialized code requirements for new construction in Arlington are summarized on this slide. First, homes over 4,000 conditioned square feet that use fossil fuels must be net-zero energy. Net-zero energy means that enough energy is produced by renewable energy, usually through on-site solar arrays, to offset the total energy use of the building. Second, buildings that use fossil fuels must pre-wire for future electrification. That means that sufficient electrical capacity, circuits, and plugs would be needed to accommodate future electric heating, ventilation and air conditioning, hot water service, and appliances. Third, buildings that use fossil fuels must install a certain amount of rooftop solar, which varies by the type and size of the building. There are exemptions for shaded sites and passive house-certified buildings. Finally, multi-family buildings over 12,000 conditioned square feet must be designed to meet the requirements of the highly-efficient, energy-efficient passive house standard. Passive house ensures a superior building envelope and high-performing mechanical systems to reduce energy use and enhance occupant comfort and health. Thank you, Town Meeting, for the opportunity to present to you all this evening. Great, thank you. Let's go to the speaker queue now. Ms. Murray, do you wish to speak? If anyone sees themselves listed on the speaker queue and it was unintentional, please remove yourself from the queue. Caroline Murray, Pre-Sync 12. I currently work as a project executive for a large construction firm building commercial projects in Boston and Cambridge. So I have some level of expertise with the stretch code, the new mass energy code, and then the specialized code. And when we've discussed it with our clients, the first question is, are the architects, engineers, builders, testing agencies going to be prepared for this? And so in anticipation of somebody that asked that question, the answer is yes. Just as been outlined by the previous speakers and in the write-up in the book we received, it's all about electrification and creating that robust building envelope. So I will be proud to support this presentation, this article. This is perfectly aligned with where Arlington wants to be, and I hope that you do the same. Thank you. Great, thank you. We'll take Dr. Meeks next. Hello, Amos Meeks, Pre-Sync 3. I want to add two quick points, one of which is updating Talia's point from earlier. Actually, as of tonight, nine communities in Massachusetts have passed the specialized stretch code. Wellesley just passed it tonight. And the other point I would like to make is that this is really just the beginning. This is all about trying not to make the problem worse and trying to not dig the hole deeper. This still only affects new construction and new buildings, and we are left with a huge question of what to do about existing buildings that will need to be retrofitted. So I think that's something to keep in mind after tonight. Thank you. Great, thank you. I'm keeping an eye on the time. We'll be closing up soon. Let's take Mr. Ditulio next. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. James Ditulio, Pre-Sync 12 Town Meeting Member and Member of Arlington's Clean Energy Future Committee. As I have for many town meetings, since I was first elected in 2016, I rise to ask you to support the next important and critical step in helping Arlington reach its goal of being net zero by 2050. I will not attempt to repeat or top the presentation you just heard from the Clean Energy Future Committee, and if you really want a well-reason and highly informative summary of this article and its related issues, I strongly recommend the letter submitted to Town Meeting by Pat Hamlin, who's been a long time and fierce advocate for Arlington's path to net zero. What I want to say tonight is very simple. If you're committed to getting to Arlington to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, then you simply must support the next important and critical 10. Article 10 is the next important, logical and critical step in Arlington's path to net zero. The key strategy on that path, as everyone has heard already, is electrification of buildings. Article 10 allows Arlington to be in the vanguard of municipalities in Massachusetts in going beyond the stretch code and allowing us to opt in to a specialized stretch energy code that will facilitate the electrification of current and future buildings. Arlington, particularly large new homes, are either going to be net zero buildings or pre-wired for future electrification. Article 10 is not a silver bullet. It's not the end of the net zero story for Arlington. It applies only to new construction, not gutter routine renovations, but it's the next critical step in our net zero journey. Think of the net zero journey like the Boston Marathon. At this point we're somewhere probably in the West Hamer West Nadek on the Marathon route. We've set a good pace, but we still have a long way to go until Boylston Street. Much tougher and more daunting challenges lie ahead on our net zero marathon, like whatever the equivalent of our heartbreak hill, which is coming. But for now, we're making good time and we're ahead of our expected pace. By adopting Article 10, we'll be keeping pace with our running pack, which you just heard, Lincoln, Newton, Somerville, Watertown in Boston, and apparently now Wellesley. We simply have to adopt this Warren article if we have any chance of winning this net zero marathon. So I conclude by saying that this Warren article is incremental, but there's nothing wrong in this case with incremental. The longest journey begins with a single step followed by many more single steps. This article builds on prior articles from prior town meetings and builds towards future articles from future town meetings. It's just another critical step in our march to net zero by 2050, and I conclude by saying if you vote for this, your future you will thank you. Thank you. Let's take one more speaker, Ms. Kelleher. Ms. Karen Kelleher. Thank you, Karen Kelleher. I'm also the chair of the Arlington Affordable Housing Trust Fund, but I speak on behalf of myself. I wanted to address some of the concerns that have been raised by the Warren article and also speak to it from the perspective of affordable housing. Many people often raise concern about affordable housing being negatively impacted by a Warren article like this, and the specialized stretch code imposes requirements that would increase energy efficiency but do not do so in a way that would oppose a material, and I think that's one of the most important things that we need to address. I think that's one of the incentives that are baked into the state's affordable housing resource documentation that essentially incentivizes passive house construction for multi-family housing. The difficult challenges that we face ahead, perhaps that heartbreak helm is the existing action plan that the Affordable Housing Trust Fund adopted just last fall, which attempts to find ways that we can align our affordable housing agenda and our other priorities like climate resiliency. This is one of those issues. I hope you'll support the adoption of the specialized stretch code. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Kelliher. I would now at this point entertain any, before I entertain a motion to adjourn. Do you want to take one more speaker? Okay. We have a few minutes left. I'll take one more speaker. Mr. Hamlin. Is Mr. Hamlin here? Mr. Wagner. Thank you, Mr. moderator. Carl Wagner, precinct 15. I motion to terminate debate on the article in all matters. Do we have a second? We have a second. Let's bring up a vote to terminate debate. All those opposed? Wow. It carries. Debate is terminated. Let's bring up a vote for article 10. Thank you, Mr. Wagner. The green light is on. Voting is open. Vote yes to amend the town bylaws to adopt the specialized stretch energy code. I can't recite the whole thing. There's a lot of words and we need to be able to read the whole thing. If you are opposed to amend the town bylaws to adopt the specialized stretch energy code, vote no. The motion passes. So before we wrap this up, do we have any notices of reconsideration? That means if you voted on the prevailing side, the winning side of a main motion vote earlier tonight is to amend the town bylaws to adopt the stretch energy code. If you voted on the prevailing side of a main motion vote, you can declare that now. Hearing none. Also, do not leave your handsets. Do not leave with your handsets. Put them in the bins. Do we have a motion to adjourn? Do we have a second? All those in favor? Yes.