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so we're going to start by talking

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about what is town meeting and how Dev
voters participate so town meeting as

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everybody uh should be aware hopefully
is aware is town meeting is um usually

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twice a year our annual town meeting is
coming up as everybody knows next Monday

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May the 20th we um start at 7 p.m. in
the auditorium at Oliver Ames High

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School in order for us to begin or even
have a town meeting we need to have 100

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people a quorum of 100 people 100
citizens 100 voting citizens at town

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meeting so you come in about quarter to
7 uh 20 of 7 you you check in just like

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you would when you vote you get a little
orange card you come in and sit down in

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the auditorium we wait for a quorum and
then we start the meeting generally with

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using some rules and regulations of the
meeting because it's important for us to

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be orderly and we follow town meeting
time which is parliamentary rules of

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procedure and although it's a little
Antiquated it does keep everybody kind

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of under control and keeps the move the
meeting moving along as Town moderator

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I'm I'm the individual who runs the town
meeting and makes sure that it goes in

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an orderly fashion we then um go through
each warrant and as as uh you if if

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you've seen them before um somebody from
the select board will get up and read

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the warrant and then talk about the
motion then sometimes there are

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presentations and discussions and then a
vote so usually up on stage with me is

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the town clerk Danielle sard and
Danielle is there she has an extremely

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important role in taking the meetings
the notes minutes for the meeting and

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making sure that the vote is uh counted
appropriately she obviously keeps me a

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check to make sure that the vote is
counted correctly sometimes depending on

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what uh what the warrant item is or what
the article is sometimes it's just a

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majority vote sometimes it's a 2third
majority vote so it's important for the

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voters to uh follow the directions use
those orange cards raise their hands

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high and sometimes it comes to um having
to do a standing count uh when it comes

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to Counting the votes there are times
when we've had to do a secret ballot um

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I'm going to turn that part over to
Danielle just so that you can hear from

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somebody else for five minutes instead
of me so go ahead Danielle if if the

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moderator is unable to obtain um a Voice
vote or a hand vote by looking at the

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cards she then has the opportunity to
call for either a counted vote where we

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would have um some other department
heads or election workers who are

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sectioned off in all of the different
stands in the auditorium and would do

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the count the moderator would ask those
who are in favor to stand and then those

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who are opposed to also stand and then
we would as I said proceed to Counting

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them manually to see if we can get the
the exact number to determine if the 2/3

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has been met um on rare occasion but
occasionally there is the opportunity

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that we would need to go to a secret
vote this is an open town meeting so not

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all votes are like in a ballot on an
election day they generally are by of

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hands and the cards or a Voice vote um
but we do have a mechanism in place

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where we could go to a secret ballot
vote it is very time consuming but we

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have done it and we have the procedures
always in place for every town meeting

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and should we need it right and so
during the town meeting while the

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articles are being presented it's really
important obviously for um the voters to

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be able to participate and attached to
the warrant uh this evening attached to

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every warrant when you come into the
town meeting are the uh official

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procedures that are to be used at town
meeting you can see at the bottom of the

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screen there's just kind of a snippet of
the two first two official procedures to

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be used to town meeting basically their
motions so if there are certain motions

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that can be raised during um during the
discussion or as the discussion is

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ending or closing uh for an article and
they become extremely important so so if

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you're wanting to come to town meeting
willing to come to town meeting which we

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are are encouraging everybody to do we
really really you know hope that you

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just take a a few minutes to read
through the official procedures as far

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as the Motions go as far as actual
procedure again at the very beginning of

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the town meeting I will uh explain to
everybody how we kind of make it through

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town meeting effectively efficiently and
um quickly so um let's see is there

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anything else that you can think of
Danielle that I'm missing no I think

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obviously when we get to town meeting um
the moderator does spend some time and

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those are really important rules uh for
everybody to know including when you're

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making a motion being very clear and
intentional in stating your name and

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address so that again for the record um
all motions need to be recorded and I

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need to know who's made the

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motion so unless there are any questions
about the official

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procedures um it in order to I would say
that if anybody you know wants to get

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caught up on what the warrant tic the
articles on the warrant are and any more

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information on how to participate um you
can look online at on the town of eastn

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website to see uh the warrant articles
if you can't see them or access them

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right now um
I and it if you want to stay informed as

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to any other material as they develop
you can s sign up for the town CER you

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can sign up on social media there are
certainly a number of uh meetings that

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you can go to if you're interested in uh
accessing and listening to any

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particular issue that may end up coming
up on the warrant select board meetings

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school committee meetings Etc um if
there's anything else about that I think

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I'll turn it over to Shan who I did not
introduce because

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and I'm sorry he was he was busy behind
the so the airplane mode I I'll

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introduce myself I'm I'm Sean Dugan I'm
the assistant Town Administrator and to

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pick up where Kate had left off um an
important part of coming to town meeting

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informed is to be able to have the
information to be able to make those

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informed decisions so uh we use our
website as a central point of

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communication or of like a central Hub
of information I should say um so eastn

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ma.gov toown meeting um and we use that
to post all the details that you would

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need to make an informed decision so
that's the warrant um and that warrant

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iterates over time um starting months
before a town meeting begins and we

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iterate um every time uh there is an
updated version of that we also have all

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the budget documents that you would need
as the budget um continues to iterate

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over um the spring and winter months um
we also have information about

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accessibility um if you have any if you
need an assistant Li assist of listening

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device um or um any other accommodations
um there are options for us to be able

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to help you with that um and we we list
that in the warrant but we also try to

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push that out because we' recognized
that not everyone's perusing the warrant

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or the town meeting website so um we
also push that out through our social

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media like Kate uh the town moderator
said um the town CER um but we also

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recognize that not everyone's digitally
connected so we also have um posted

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copies of the warrant in town buildings
as well as um we mention these at open

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public meetings as well so people can
remember the important dates um as we go

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through the process and then we also
have physical signage around town to

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remind people of the important dates um
and we try to push back um always back

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to the website so um because that's
where you find the breadth of

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information that you need to make those
decisions so um we try to use that as

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the central Hub and then connect people
in a two-way form of communication to

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get them to uh to be as informed as
possible before they make it to town

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meeting so unless there are any
questions

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comments no questions from the audience
no okay so we'll move on to the next um

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point on the agenda which
is what is the warrant and

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um who prepares the Articles sure uh
thank you Kate so uh Connor I'm the Town

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Administrator one of my UH
responsibilities is serving the select

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board the select board in an open town
meeting form of government are uh

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responsible for calling for a town
meeting and uh doing something that's

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called opening warrant which basically
is just

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soliciting uh articles from boards
committees departments uh across the

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town and School uh to submit items that
will be acted on by the town meeting so

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uh although it's called a warrant and
the action items are articles it's

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really you could think of it as a a
business agenda and the articles are

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just the items that are going to be
acted on by the voters at town meeting

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

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and so we really in our office back a
lot of our work basically immediately

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after the new year uh out from that
Charter date and so uh because town

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meeting is in May it's very typical for
us in January or February at a public

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meeting to have the select board vote to
open the warrant they have that

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discussion uh at a public meeting they
send information to the U various boards

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and committee chairs we rely on almost
200 citizen volunteers across our boards

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committees many of those are uh ad hoc
committees or advisory committees but a

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lot of them are also Regulatory and have
significant legal Authority on behalf of

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the town like the Planning and Zoning
Board the zoning board of appeals uh

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Community preservation act committee so
we notify those folks that uh town

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meeting is coming we give them a
deadline to send their articles to my

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office we pull that together uh usually
beginning in February and so as uh Sean

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touched on under the law we have to post
a warrant I think 7 days in advance of

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an annual town meeting but we start
publishing drafts of that document

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usually two to three months ahead of any
uh given town meeting uh these are legal

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documents are relatively dense so uh
although we could wait until 7 days

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before we don't really think that that's
the right way to do it uh and so we make

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that available early uh and the board
the select board holds meetings usually

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two per month every month and throughout
uh winter and spring every year they

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review the articles that been submitted
by those boards and committees um

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warrants are finalized or closed by a
vote of the select board uh they're

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signed and then they are posted with the
town clerk they are posted by constables

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uh around the town of Easton in various
physical locations they're also

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available in the uh Town Offices at the
library at frothingham Hall um and you

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could tell I'm not reading my notes
because it actually says seven days

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before town meeting right in front of me
and I only got there now so uh that

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process must happen uh no closer to
annual town meeting than 7 days for a

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special town meeting um two weeks ahead
of time

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um so get or Kate anything we didn't
really talk about special town meeting

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so special town meeting generally
happens in November it's not uh a a

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strict date like we have the annual town
meeting which is the third Monday in May

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but the special town meeting is not
something that we have to do every year

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but in East we generally have a special
town meeting in November right that's

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right yes and so special Town meetings
are helpful uh they allow us to finalize

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or make some usually Minor Adjustments
to the operating budget that was passed

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earlier that spring in May uh because
the town operates on a July to June

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fiscal year calendar so does the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts but the

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state usually is not done with their
budget uh by the time we are and so at

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minimum there usually some shifts uh in
state revenues and state assessments

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that we want to adjust for by the time
we get to uh town meeting in the fall

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and that's a really important part of
setting the tax rate we occasionally

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have other special Town meetings for
kind of oneoff really significant

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projects things like the Bland James
Elementary School uh debt authorization

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of a police fire Public Works debt
authorization where you have voters

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making a decision about you know 75 100
$150 million projects that it would be

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pretty tough to fit um the presentation
and the debate for that within the

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agenda of your routine business and so
sometimes you have a a kind of a special

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oneoff uh extra special town meeting so
thank you Kate um so what does town

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meeting decide and what does it not
decide and this is something that comes

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up uh from time to time and when we were
thinking internally and and talking with

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a moderator about having an information
session this is one of the things that

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we think is important because uh if you
aren't some someone who watches

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Municipal board meetings for fun uh
which very few people do

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um town meeting can be an intimidating
format uh it's great that you as a voter

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can show up and uh you know be part of
that direct uh Democratic process but it

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can be intimidating if you've never gone
uh you most people public speaking is

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right behind death as things that we're
the most afraid of and so going to

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something new in up in front of
depending on what's on a warrant 100 to

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1,000 neighbors and saying can someone
please give me a really quick rundown of

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what my responsibilities and rights are
is not um not usually how it would go so

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there are really important decisions at
town meeting makes and there's important

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decisions that the executive branch so
to speak makes and so in eastn in open

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toown meeting form of government if
you're a registered voter uh you

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qualified to participate in uh town
meeting uh period there's no kind of ifs

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ands buts and we hope people uh do
participate and so all voters form uh

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the legislative branch it's uh I don't
say this as a in a pejorative way but

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you could think of it as Congress right
uh and the executive branch Duties are

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shared in Massachusetts towns on the
municipal and town side between the

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select board who are is the chief
elected board it's a five- member board

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elected directly by voters uh and they
appoint a Town Administrator to uh

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manage the day-to-day Affairs hiring
that type of thing on the school side in

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Massachusetts you have a uh a very
similar structure where you have a five-

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member elected school committee and an
appointed superintendent and so um just

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like on you know kind of state or
federal level there are a separation of

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functions and so legislative bodies
including town meeting uh make

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significant decisions as far as uh the
appropriation of budgets the

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authorization of the town uh to issue
debt the adoption of bylaws which we'll

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touch on in the next slide um which have
a a pretty big impact on day-to-day life

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for the community and the acceptance or
not of certain uh state laws uh you know

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in order to do certain things think
about uh uh bulk purchasing of

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electricity which is a little bit more
interesting than it sounds uh voters at

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town meeting need to accept a certain
provision of state law in order for a

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town to do that um on the other side you
have executive functions between the

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town and the schools of hiring and
organizing staff and departments

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managing the funds that have been
appropriated administering bylaws and

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regulations that have been adopted
formulating policy uh operations and

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management of town and School
departments so uh bylaws which town

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meeting votes on so bylaws uh have a
really significant impact on daily life

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for residents businesses visitors and a
community the local government authority

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to adopt bylaws are limited by state and
federal federal law and constitutions

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00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:39,440
you can't adopt uh for instance bylaws
that would uh you know violate state law

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or the State Constitution and that's why
after every town meeting any bylaws that

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are adopted or amended get sent for
review uh through the town clerk's

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office to the Attorney General of the
Commonwealth to ensure that uh all of

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those bylaws that voters have acted on
are compliant with state law compliant

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with the state constitution that's also
why as we go through iterative

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process in my office and with all of our
uh other boards and committees and the

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school department the warrant is
routinely reviewed by legal counsil uh

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so that we don't put ourselves or the
voters in a situation where there's a

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bylaw in front of town meeting that uh
won't withstand legal scrutiny uh of the

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Attorney General so there's a a
selection of bylaws up on screen I won't

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read them word for word but as you can
see they they have a really really

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meaningful impact on on uh the community
that includes zoning which we'll talk a

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little bit more about tonight
Environmental Policy uh Wetlands

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protection storm water management
historic districts uh licensing for

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restaurants rent control for mobile
homes public sewer and public water use

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and health bylaws so these are um these
are policies that can have a really

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really profound impact on what it's like
to live in in a community uh which is

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part of of why it's great when more
people get involved and participate

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because uh in the United States the the
larger the the office that the

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electioned is for the more the higher
the turnout typically um although

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arguably the larger those offices are
the more remote they are from uh what's

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happening on the street you live on and
so we really like to see people uh

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coming and participating in their own uh
community and in their own

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government so
this seems duplicative because we've

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never done this before
uh but it's it's not necessarily so um

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preparing articles for Warrant is
obviously a kind of administrative part

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of that we've talked about but um when
you look at a warrant which again if

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you're following Along online you can go
to easton. ma.us toown meeting every

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article has the kind of uh legal text
that will be read as a motion it shows

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you who it was submitted by which very
very regularly what you will see is

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Select board Community preservation act
committee Planning and Zoning Board

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building committees uh and myself you
have case specific ones where for

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instance if you're leaving Civil Service
you might have an article submitted by

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the chief of police uh but the large
majority come from those handful of

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boards and officers on screen um you'll
then also see a more uh

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plain uh spoken explanation about what
an article actually would do uh uh and

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so we're going to in the next few slides
invite a few of the other folks here to

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talk a bit about what their processes
are to pull together the actual content

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for town meeting because one of the
things that we hope the the folks who

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are watching remotely come away from
this from is an appreciation and

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understanding uh for the fact that town
meeting is uh kind of it's a big deal

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it's a big night but it is the final
step in what is usually 6 to 12 months

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of public uh iterative process by a lot
of boards and committees and departments

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so articles on a warrant can also come
from a citizen petition or any other

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department or board or committee with
relevant jurisdiction so I I noted you

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might have one from the police
department occasionally other times with

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something like a plastic bag uh bylaw
you might have something coming from a

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green communities committee or something
of that nature