[0:00] so we're going to start by talking

[0:04] about what is town meeting and how Dev voters participate so town meeting as

[0:10] everybody uh should be aware hopefully is aware is town meeting is um usually

[0:17] twice a year our annual town meeting is coming up as everybody knows next Monday

[0:21] May the 20th we um start at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Oliver Ames High

[0:27] School in order for us to begin or even have a town meeting we need to have 100

[0:33] people a quorum of 100 people 100 citizens 100 voting citizens at town

[0:38] meeting so you come in about quarter to 7 uh 20 of 7 you you check in just like

[0:46] you would when you vote you get a little orange card you come in and sit down in

[0:50] the auditorium we wait for a quorum and then we start the meeting generally with

[0:56] using some rules and regulations of the meeting because it's important for us to

[1:00] be orderly and we follow town meeting time which is parliamentary rules of

[1:06] procedure and although it's a little Antiquated it does keep everybody kind

[1:11] of under control and keeps the move the meeting moving along as Town moderator

[1:17] I'm I'm the individual who runs the town meeting and makes sure that it goes in

[1:22] an orderly fashion we then um go through each warrant and as as uh you if if

[1:30] you've seen them before um somebody from the select board will get up and read

[1:34] the warrant and then talk about the motion then sometimes there are

[1:38] presentations and discussions and then a vote so usually up on stage with me is

[1:44] the town clerk Danielle sard and Danielle is there she has an extremely

[1:49] important role in taking the meetings the notes minutes for the meeting and

[1:54] making sure that the vote is uh counted appropriately she obviously keeps me a

[1:59] check to make sure that the vote is counted correctly sometimes depending on

[2:05] what uh what the warrant item is or what the article is sometimes it's just a

[2:11] majority vote sometimes it's a 2third majority vote so it's important for the

[2:16] voters to uh follow the directions use those orange cards raise their hands

[2:21] high and sometimes it comes to um having to do a standing count uh when it comes

[2:28] to Counting the votes there are times when we've had to do a secret ballot um

[2:35] I'm going to turn that part over to Danielle just so that you can hear from

[2:38] somebody else for five minutes instead of me so go ahead Danielle if if the

[2:43] moderator is unable to obtain um a Voice vote or a hand vote by looking at the

[2:49] cards she then has the opportunity to call for either a counted vote where we

[2:53] would have um some other department heads or election workers who are

[2:57] sectioned off in all of the different stands in the auditorium and would do

[3:02] the count the moderator would ask those who are in favor to stand and then those

[3:06] who are opposed to also stand and then we would as I said proceed to Counting

[3:11] them manually to see if we can get the the exact number to determine if the 2/3

[3:15] has been met um on rare occasion but occasionally there is the opportunity

[3:20] that we would need to go to a secret vote this is an open town meeting so not

[3:24] all votes are like in a ballot on an election day they generally are by of

[3:30] hands and the cards or a Voice vote um but we do have a mechanism in place

[3:34] where we could go to a secret ballot vote it is very time consuming but we

[3:38] have done it and we have the procedures always in place for every town meeting

[3:41] and should we need it right and so during the town meeting while the

[3:46] articles are being presented it's really important obviously for um the voters to

[3:51] be able to participate and attached to the warrant uh this evening attached to

[3:56] every warrant when you come into the town meeting are the uh official

[4:02] procedures that are to be used at town meeting you can see at the bottom of the

[4:06] screen there's just kind of a snippet of the two first two official procedures to

[4:12] be used to town meeting basically their motions so if there are certain motions

[4:18] that can be raised during um during the discussion or as the discussion is

[4:24] ending or closing uh for an article and they become extremely important so so if

[4:30] you're wanting to come to town meeting willing to come to town meeting which we

[4:34] are are encouraging everybody to do we really really you know hope that you

[4:38] just take a a few minutes to read through the official procedures as far

[4:43] as the Motions go as far as actual procedure again at the very beginning of

[4:48] the town meeting I will uh explain to everybody how we kind of make it through

[4:55] town meeting effectively efficiently and um quickly so um let's see is there

[5:02] anything else that you can think of Danielle that I'm missing no I think

[5:05] obviously when we get to town meeting um the moderator does spend some time and

[5:10] those are really important rules uh for everybody to know including when you're

[5:13] making a motion being very clear and intentional in stating your name and

[5:17] address so that again for the record um all motions need to be recorded and I

[5:21] need to know who's made the

[5:25] motion so unless there are any questions about the official

[5:31] procedures um it in order to I would say that if anybody you know wants to get

[5:38] caught up on what the warrant tic the articles on the warrant are and any more

[5:43] information on how to participate um you can look online at on the town of eastn

[5:50] website to see uh the warrant articles if you can't see them or access them

[5:55] right now um I and it if you want to stay informed as

[6:01] to any other material as they develop you can s sign up for the town CER you

[6:06] can sign up on social media there are certainly a number of uh meetings that

[6:10] you can go to if you're interested in uh accessing and listening to any

[6:16] particular issue that may end up coming up on the warrant select board meetings

[6:20] school committee meetings Etc um if there's anything else about that I think

[6:25] I'll turn it over to Shan who I did not introduce because

[6:29] and I'm sorry he was he was busy behind the so the airplane mode I I'll

[6:35] introduce myself I'm I'm Sean Dugan I'm the assistant Town Administrator and to

[6:38] pick up where Kate had left off um an important part of coming to town meeting

[6:42] informed is to be able to have the information to be able to make those

[6:45] informed decisions so uh we use our website as a central point of

[6:49] communication or of like a central Hub of information I should say um so eastn

[6:54] ma.gov toown meeting um and we use that to post all the details that you would

[6:59] need to make an informed decision so that's the warrant um and that warrant

[7:02] iterates over time um starting months before a town meeting begins and we

[7:07] iterate um every time uh there is an updated version of that we also have all

[7:11] the budget documents that you would need as the budget um continues to iterate

[7:15] over um the spring and winter months um we also have information about

[7:19] accessibility um if you have any if you need an assistant Li assist of listening

[7:24] device um or um any other accommodations um there are options for us to be able

[7:30] to help you with that um and we we list that in the warrant but we also try to

[7:34] push that out because we' recognized that not everyone's perusing the warrant

[7:37] or the town meeting website so um we also push that out through our social

[7:41] media like Kate uh the town moderator said um the town CER um but we also

[7:46] recognize that not everyone's digitally connected so we also have um posted

[7:50] copies of the warrant in town buildings as well as um we mention these at open

[7:54] public meetings as well so people can remember the important dates um as we go

[7:58] through the process and then we also have physical signage around town to

[8:02] remind people of the important dates um and we try to push back um always back

[8:06] to the website so um because that's where you find the breadth of

[8:09] information that you need to make those decisions so um we try to use that as

[8:12] the central Hub and then connect people in a two-way form of communication to

[8:16] get them to uh to be as informed as possible before they make it to town

[8:21] meeting so unless there are any questions

[8:27] comments no questions from the audience no okay so we'll move on to the next um

[8:32] point on the agenda which is what is the warrant and

[8:40] um who prepares the Articles sure uh thank you Kate so uh Connor I'm the Town

[8:47] Administrator one of my UH responsibilities is serving the select

[8:50] board the select board in an open town meeting form of government are uh

[8:55] responsible for calling for a town meeting and uh doing something that's

[8:58] called opening warrant which basically is just

[9:01] soliciting uh articles from boards committees departments uh across the

[9:07] town and School uh to submit items that will be acted on by the town meeting so

[9:13] uh although it's called a warrant and the action items are articles it's

[9:16] really you could think of it as a a business agenda and the articles are

[9:19] just the items that are going to be acted on by the voters at town meeting

[9:23] uh so town meeting by east's Charter is uh held the 3rd Monday of May at 7:00

[9:29] and so we really in our office back a lot of our work basically immediately

[9:35] after the new year uh out from that Charter date and so uh because town

[9:42] meeting is in May it's very typical for us in January or February at a public

[9:46] meeting to have the select board vote to open the warrant they have that

[9:49] discussion uh at a public meeting they send information to the U various boards

[9:54] and committee chairs we rely on almost 200 citizen volunteers across our boards

[9:59] committees many of those are uh ad hoc committees or advisory committees but a

[10:03] lot of them are also Regulatory and have significant legal Authority on behalf of

[10:07] the town like the Planning and Zoning Board the zoning board of appeals uh

[10:11] Community preservation act committee so we notify those folks that uh town

[10:15] meeting is coming we give them a deadline to send their articles to my

[10:20] office we pull that together uh usually beginning in February and so as uh Sean

[10:26] touched on under the law we have to post a warrant I think 7 days in advance of

[10:31] an annual town meeting but we start publishing drafts of that document

[10:36] usually two to three months ahead of any uh given town meeting uh these are legal

[10:41] documents are relatively dense so uh although we could wait until 7 days

[10:47] before we don't really think that that's the right way to do it uh and so we make

[10:50] that available early uh and the board the select board holds meetings usually

[10:54] two per month every month and throughout uh winter and spring every year they

[10:58] review the articles that been submitted by those boards and committees um

[11:03] warrants are finalized or closed by a vote of the select board uh they're

[11:08] signed and then they are posted with the town clerk they are posted by constables

[11:13] uh around the town of Easton in various physical locations they're also

[11:17] available in the uh Town Offices at the library at frothingham Hall um and you

[11:22] could tell I'm not reading my notes because it actually says seven days

[11:24] before town meeting right in front of me and I only got there now so uh that

[11:29] process must happen uh no closer to annual town meeting than 7 days for a

[11:36] special town meeting um two weeks ahead of time

[11:41] um so get or Kate anything we didn't really talk about special town meeting

[11:46] so special town meeting generally happens in November it's not uh a a

[11:51] strict date like we have the annual town meeting which is the third Monday in May

[11:55] but the special town meeting is not something that we have to do every year

[11:59] but in East we generally have a special town meeting in November right that's

[12:04] right yes and so special Town meetings are helpful uh they allow us to finalize

[12:09] or make some usually Minor Adjustments to the operating budget that was passed

[12:13] earlier that spring in May uh because the town operates on a July to June

[12:19] fiscal year calendar so does the Commonwealth of Massachusetts but the

[12:22] state usually is not done with their budget uh by the time we are and so at

[12:28] minimum there usually some shifts uh in state revenues and state assessments

[12:34] that we want to adjust for by the time we get to uh town meeting in the fall

[12:39] and that's a really important part of setting the tax rate we occasionally

[12:42] have other special Town meetings for kind of oneoff really significant

[12:46] projects things like the Bland James Elementary School uh debt authorization

[12:49] of a police fire Public Works debt authorization where you have voters

[12:53] making a decision about you know 75 100 $150 million projects that it would be

[12:58] pretty tough to fit um the presentation and the debate for that within the

[13:04] agenda of your routine business and so sometimes you have a a kind of a special

[13:07] oneoff uh extra special town meeting so thank you Kate um so what does town

[13:14] meeting decide and what does it not decide and this is something that comes

[13:17] up uh from time to time and when we were thinking internally and and talking with

[13:22] a moderator about having an information session this is one of the things that

[13:25] we think is important because uh if you aren't some someone who watches

[13:30] Municipal board meetings for fun uh which very few people do

[13:34] um town meeting can be an intimidating format uh it's great that you as a voter

[13:41] can show up and uh you know be part of that direct uh Democratic process but it

[13:48] can be intimidating if you've never gone uh you most people public speaking is

[13:53] right behind death as things that we're the most afraid of and so going to

[13:57] something new in up in front of depending on what's on a warrant 100 to

[14:02] 1,000 neighbors and saying can someone please give me a really quick rundown of

[14:07] what my responsibilities and rights are is not um not usually how it would go so

[14:13] there are really important decisions at town meeting makes and there's important

[14:16] decisions that the executive branch so to speak makes and so in eastn in open

[14:21] toown meeting form of government if you're a registered voter uh you

[14:24] qualified to participate in uh town meeting uh period there's no kind of ifs

[14:28] ands buts and we hope people uh do participate and so all voters form uh

[14:34] the legislative branch it's uh I don't say this as a in a pejorative way but

[14:38] you could think of it as Congress right uh and the executive branch Duties are

[14:43] shared in Massachusetts towns on the municipal and town side between the

[14:47] select board who are is the chief elected board it's a five- member board

[14:50] elected directly by voters uh and they appoint a Town Administrator to uh

[14:55] manage the day-to-day Affairs hiring that type of thing on the school side in

[14:59] Massachusetts you have a uh a very similar structure where you have a five-

[15:03] member elected school committee and an appointed superintendent and so um just

[15:08] like on you know kind of state or federal level there are a separation of

[15:11] functions and so legislative bodies including town meeting uh make

[15:16] significant decisions as far as uh the appropriation of budgets the

[15:20] authorization of the town uh to issue debt the adoption of bylaws which we'll

[15:25] touch on in the next slide um which have a a pretty big impact on day-to-day life

[15:30] for the community and the acceptance or not of certain uh state laws uh you know

[15:35] in order to do certain things think about uh uh bulk purchasing of

[15:41] electricity which is a little bit more interesting than it sounds uh voters at

[15:45] town meeting need to accept a certain provision of state law in order for a

[15:49] town to do that um on the other side you have executive functions between the

[15:53] town and the schools of hiring and organizing staff and departments

[15:58] managing the funds that have been appropriated administering bylaws and

[16:02] regulations that have been adopted formulating policy uh operations and

[16:07] management of town and School departments so uh bylaws which town

[16:14] meeting votes on so bylaws uh have a really significant impact on daily life

[16:21] for residents businesses visitors and a community the local government authority

[16:26] to adopt bylaws are limited by state and federal federal law and constitutions

[16:30] you can't adopt uh for instance bylaws that would uh you know violate state law

[16:37] or the State Constitution and that's why after every town meeting any bylaws that

[16:41] are adopted or amended get sent for review uh through the town clerk's

[16:45] office to the Attorney General of the Commonwealth to ensure that uh all of

[16:51] those bylaws that voters have acted on are compliant with state law compliant

[16:55] with the state constitution that's also why as we go through iterative

[17:00] process in my office and with all of our uh other boards and committees and the

[17:06] school department the warrant is routinely reviewed by legal counsil uh

[17:10] so that we don't put ourselves or the voters in a situation where there's a

[17:14] bylaw in front of town meeting that uh won't withstand legal scrutiny uh of the

[17:20] Attorney General so there's a a selection of bylaws up on screen I won't

[17:24] read them word for word but as you can see they they have a really really

[17:27] meaningful impact on on uh the community that includes zoning which we'll talk a

[17:32] little bit more about tonight Environmental Policy uh Wetlands

[17:35] protection storm water management historic districts uh licensing for

[17:41] restaurants rent control for mobile homes public sewer and public water use

[17:46] and health bylaws so these are um these are policies that can have a really

[17:51] really profound impact on what it's like to live in in a community uh which is

[17:58] part of of why it's great when more people get involved and participate

[18:01] because uh in the United States the the larger the the office that the

[18:05] electioned is for the more the higher the turnout typically um although

[18:10] arguably the larger those offices are the more remote they are from uh what's

[18:15] happening on the street you live on and so we really like to see people uh

[18:19] coming and participating in their own uh community and in their own

[18:26] government so this seems duplicative because we've

[18:32] never done this before uh but it's it's not necessarily so um

[18:37] preparing articles for Warrant is obviously a kind of administrative part

[18:40] of that we've talked about but um when you look at a warrant which again if

[18:45] you're following Along online you can go to easton. ma.us toown meeting every

[18:51] article has the kind of uh legal text that will be read as a motion it shows

[18:56] you who it was submitted by which very very regularly what you will see is

[19:00] Select board Community preservation act committee Planning and Zoning Board

[19:04] building committees uh and myself you have case specific ones where for

[19:09] instance if you're leaving Civil Service you might have an article submitted by

[19:12] the chief of police uh but the large majority come from those handful of

[19:17] boards and officers on screen um you'll then also see a more uh

[19:22] plain uh spoken explanation about what an article actually would do uh uh and

[19:29] so we're going to in the next few slides invite a few of the other folks here to

[19:32] talk a bit about what their processes are to pull together the actual content

[19:37] for town meeting because one of the things that we hope the the folks who

[19:39] are watching remotely come away from this from is an appreciation and

[19:43] understanding uh for the fact that town meeting is uh kind of it's a big deal

[19:48] it's a big night but it is the final step in what is usually 6 to 12 months

[19:52] of public uh iterative process by a lot of boards and committees and departments

[19:57] so articles on a warrant can also come from a citizen petition or any other

[20:02] department or board or committee with relevant jurisdiction so I I noted you

[20:06] might have one from the police department occasionally other times with

[20:09] something like a plastic bag uh bylaw you might have something coming from a

[20:13] green communities committee or something of that nature

What Happens at Easton's Town Meeting? 2024

Transcript