2013 Chelmsford Spring Town Meeting Night #4 -- Meeting Adjourned

9:49 p.m. - Three union agreements have been met with town unions. School union agreements are not brought to Town Meeting according to state law, says Cohen.

9:47 p.m. - Finance Committee and Selectmen recommend against this article, same as 32. It is moved to question immediately.

9:44 p.m. - The Assistant Town Engineer was not present during the Parkerville School clearcutting incident to oversee while that happened, but Paul Cohen says that like other organizations, the Town of Chelmsford sometimes makes mistakes too.

Town Counsel says that procurement by the town is strictly enforced by state law.

9:40 p.m. - It's asked why Van Liew is still at the podium while other presenters have had to leave the podium, DeFreitas says it's because we're in Question and Answer period still.

9:37 p.m. - Van Liew specifies this petition is focused on verbal agreements and says the Department of Public Works has open purchase orders for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cohen says that statement is false. Van Liew says the accountant told him that, the accountant says that was not what was shown.

9:35 p.m. - Cohen is asked by Nancy Araway how much extra work this would cause. Cohen defers to the town account again, she says $5,000 is sufficient, and $2,000 would be time consuming.

9:33 p.m. - Bob Joyce asks if there is a P.O system to the Town Manager, he defers to the Town Accountant, saying that there are people judging his integrity (but not Joyce.)

9:28 p.m. - Moderator DeFreitas asks the crowd to be quiet again as Roland Van Liew presents the final warrant article.

9:26 p.m. - Town Manager Cohen gets applause when he says it is the duty of the Selectmen to present anything on the warrant with 10 signatures. Planning Board chairwoman Ann McGuigan says this was never before the Planning Board, so DeGregorio says it is out of order. We move on.

9:24 p.m. Moderator DeFreitas changes course and pulls the vote off the table again. DeGeorgio says it cannot be considered without an opinion of Planning Board.

Brian Latina says it's already in the book and Town Meeting already acted on things that were illegal tonight.

9:22 p.m. - There was a motion by Bob Joyce to delay indefinitely, but it apparently interrupted Jerry Loew, the presenter of the article, so it was not a priveledged motion, so now things are in limbo again.

Town Counsel DeGeorgio says that all actions of Town Meeting have to be consistent with state law.

9:17 p.m. - Article 33 is considered out of order as it requires a charter change, not a bylaw change. However there will now be a vote on it as there is a motion.

9:16 p.m. - First article failure of Town Meeting. Applause, and a gavel stopping applause.

9:08 p.m. - Okay, the motion is by Jerry Loew for Article 32, it was submitted by Roland Van Liew. Confusion there.

9:06 p.m. - Now to the citizen's petitions, Moderator DeFreitas asks the crowd to respect the petitioners.

8:58 p.m. -- We're in the home stretch....

8:48 p.m. - Brian Lantina is talking about 2001's town meeting and how it took two warrant articles and the attorney general's approval to say the Pledge of Allegiance at Town Meeting.

He says preferences should not be in bylaws on that note.

8:39 p.m. - Now on the political sign bylaw. The current political sign bylaw is not enforceable. Town Counsel DeGeorgio specifies the change is a preference of the town, and that everything else in the the proposed bylaw is Constitutional.

8:32 p.m. - The call to question is by tickets this time, amendment is defeated, the main article passes.

8:24 p.m. - "I find it ironic that you thank God there are no billboards and we're thanking God for the opportunity to have billboards. I wonder what God thinks."

8:18 p.m. - Fran McDougall says she is upset that the issue is being cast as pro or anti-religion, saying it is more complicated on issues like power lines to billboards and sightline access.

8:14 p.m. - "We're here to do the business of the town, not the business of the church." Stansfield says the church is part of the town, and that this will never be expanded since it is so controversial.

Other supporters of removing the overlay district have said if someone was going to get a billboard, they would have done so by now.

8:11 p.m. - Bob Joyce asks what harm there would be from delay, Belansky says no specific harm, only the possibility that there may be additional properties in the overlay proposed in the future.

8:06 p.m. - Planning Board member Colleen Stansfield is very upset at the possible repeal of this due to its impact on the member of the North Chelmsford Congregational Church that spoke earlier as well as other possible groups it might impact.

8:04 p.m. - There's a motion to defer this to Fall Town Meeting. Nobody knows what microphone to go to.

7:55 p.m. - Town Planner Evan Belansky says now is the time to delete the Billboard Overlay District to avoid unintended consequences.

7:52 p.m. - Article 26 would remove the Billboard Overlay District, approved back during the recession. It would only impact Oak Hill, the High School and a small sliver near the Connector.

7:44 p.m. - Nobody is sure what microphone to be at. Colleen Stansfield asks everyone to vote for the moratorium due to concerns over the new dispensary law, hoping the town can get stricter laws with time.

7:41 p.m. - Just a reminder, marijuana is not allowed on government property, even medicinal marijuana.

7:38 p.m. - "Dispensaries are not pot-smoking speakeasies, they're more like corner drug stores."

7:35 p.m. - Amendment to change the date to the end of 2013. Passes easily.

7:32 p.m. - We have a quorum, we stopped counting around 100 reps.

7:30 p.m. - We are underway!

We'll continue with updates tonight right here.

You can also watch the meeting live at live.chelmsfordtv.org

What do you think will happen tonight? Let us know in the comments.