Above: Night 2 didn’t draw the same big crowd as Monday, but there were enough voters to reach quorum for resuming the Special Town Meeting on Tuesday. (image cropped from streamed video)
A small number of Southborough voters showed up to the second night of Special Town Meeting to take care of the unfinished business from night one.
As I previously posted, Articles 1-10 and 13 were passed on Monday. All of those were listed in the Warrant as proposed by Town boards/officials, although one was submitted by members of the Community Preservation Commission in the form of a Citizen’s Petition.
Last night, the remaining Articles proposed by Town boards were passed as written. Those were:
- Amend Town Code – Establish Board of Trustees of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund
- Amend Town Code – Eliminate Southborough Housing Opportunity Partnership Committee
- Appropriation for Economic Development Coordinator position
- Appropriation for Breakneck Hill Farm Dump Remediation
- Appropriation for new Lieutenant position for Police Department
- Amend Town Code – Annual Town Meeting date
The one Article that failed was the last Article of the night. That was #18, a Citizen’s Petition for a Recall Bylaw brought forward by resident Joe Palmer* (and at least 99 other signatories).
The Article would have had Town Meeting require the Select Board to “establish” a bylaw (modeled on Hopkinton’s) that would create rules that allow voters to recall elected officials. (You can read more about the details here.)
In the meeting, Article sponsor Joseph Palmer asked Town Counsel to confirm what had “reached his ears” about counsel’s legal opinion on the Article. Attorney Jay Talerman explained that Town Meeting can pass bylaws directly, but it can’t can’t require the Select Board to do anything.
Palmer then asked Select Board members if they would agree to do what the Article asks if the Town Meeting voted in favor of it. Instead of answering, they deferred to Talerman. He explained that the board doesn’t have the authority to establish a bylaw. That is up to voters.
(He actually said “a bylaw requires a vote at a ballot box”. But he also indicated in other comments that it can be created directly by Town Meeting, even through a Citizen’s Petition Article.)
Palmer attempted to press members to answer:
if this body voted for it, and it was within your power to do so, would you do it?
Select Board Chair Kathy Cook said they hadn’t discussed that since they were advised that the Article was deficient as written. Members’ faces and body language made clear that they weren’t interested in discussing it. Select Board Vice Chair Andrew Dennington asked to move the question.
Instead, noting that nobody else in the hall was approaching a microphone to comment, Moderator Paul Cimino said he believed it was time to vote directly on the Article.
The few voters still in the room (after 9:00 pm on the second night) opposed the Article by a large majority.
For my prior explainer on what each Article is about, click here. Stay tuned for my coverage of other highlights from the two-night meeting.
*As a member of the Capital Improvement & Planning Committee, Palmer is also a Town official. But his Article was sponsored as a voter, not in his official capacity on that committee.
