Brookline Town Meeting Night 3: Dogs, Tobacco Ban, Pot Shops

BROOKLINE, MA — Brookline Town Meeting continued Tuesday, Night 3 of the annual meeting, with a report on how the formal bidding went to acquire the Newbury College property. The short answer? Not well. Brookline was not the highest bidder, nor was it the accepted bid. And with that information, the elected representatives were on to discuss a number of changes to bylaws.

During the second night of Town Meeting, Brookline became the first municipality in the country to require all public bathrooms are supplied with tampons and pads, and on Night 1 it voted to continue working on the Driscoll School renovation, so what could they possibly have left to discuss?

Night 3 the town voted to enforce leash laws for dogs, especially at Brookline's Green Dog Parks and to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol-flavored products. Read more >> Brookline Bans Sale Of Flavored Tobacco

There are about five other items to discuss in Night 4, including a proposal calling for the town to issue a public apology to former firefighter Gerald Alston who was fired after reporting a racial epithet left on his voicemail by a supervisor.

How Town Meeting Voted Night 3:

Article 10/Newbury College: This revisits Article 2 ( The possibility of purchasing Newbury College) of the April 9 Special Town Meeting.

Result: Brookline was not the highest bidder.

Article 17/What's in a name: This would allow the Select Board to expand the town Naming Committee (the group tasked with recommending names for new town buildings) to up to seven participants.

Vote: Passes.

Article 18/ Dogs: This proposes stricter enforcement of leash laws at the Green Dog parks and around Brookline.

Vote: Passes by majority vote.

Article 19/Flavored tobacco ban: This article proposes banning the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol-flavored products.

Vote: Passes. 174 people voted in favor of the ban, 20 against it and 13 abstained

Article 21/Pot Shops: This article relates to the agreements Brookline enters into with Marijuana businesses in town. It would require a number of things from such businesses before the town and business enter into the "Host Community Agreement" phase.

Vote: Passes unanimously.

Article 22/ Pedestrian friendly lighting

Vote: Passes unanimous

Article 23/ Electrify Town Vehicles:

Vote: This passes unanimously

Article 24/ Greenify electricity

Vote: Passes.

Article 25/Diversity in Town Hall: To see if the town will appropriate up to $250,000 next year to spend on a consultant to come perform a comprehensive race and equity review of all town departments and then make recommendations in order to advance racial equity in town.

Result: Town Administrator Mel Kleckner said his office was able to find $150,000 to use for this. So no vote necessary.

Article 26: This asks the town to approve bringing a consultant to come perform a comprehensive race and equity review of all town departments and then make recommendations in order to advance racial equity in town.

Vote: Passes.

Catch up on what happened the last two nights:

• Brookline Makes History In The Bathroom At Town Meeting Night 2
• Brookline Town Meeting May 2019: How They Voted Night 1

Follow along on Twitter: