[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