Marblehead Resident Seeks To 'Turn Town Meeting Inside Out'

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Marblehead annual town meeting could be in for a shakeup at its very outset on Monday, pending an amendment that would reorder the warrant articles to put the more "high-interest articles" earlier in the evening when attendance is at its strongest.

James (Sheamus) Hourihan told Patch that he will propose the amendment to Article 1, stating that articles must be taken up in numerical order. His intent is to have Article 23 involving the multi-family overlay zoning district, Article 34 involving the Marblehead High School roof and HVAC system capital tax override and Article 33 involving the Mary A. Alley municipal building capital project taken first instead of what could be late on night one, or even a second or third night of the meeting.

"This amendment, hopefully, will encourage voters who have difficulty attending the entire meeting to show up for the most important issues," he told Patch. "This would include parents with school-age children, seniors and busy people in all professions."

Many of the town meeting articles are perfunctory, but can add up to significant time because they still have to be introduced, explained, with most requiring a statement of support or otherwise from the Finance Committee and/or Select Board.

Town Moderator Jack Attridge acknowledged the intent to make the amendment in a message to potential town meeting attendees on Tuesday.

"I have received notice that a citizen plans to make a motion at Article 1 to alter the numerical order of the presentation of articles after Article 1," Attridge said. "This is an example of how delicate the process of motions can be and legislators should be prepared."

One counter to reordering the amendments in favor of starting with those of greatest interest is that a quorum of town meeting attendees is required to vote on any amendment — as well as to vote to dissolve the town meeting at its conclusion.

Hourihan said that would be a "very, very remote chance" for enough attendees to leave after the early articles to put the quorum in jeopardy. And, in that event, the town meeting could always be reconvened the next night with an emphasis on maintaining the necessary quorum to complete town business.

The annual town meeting will commence at 7 p.m. at the Veterans School Performing Arts Center at 217 Pleasant Street.

The full annual town meeting warrant can be found here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)