Live Blog Session 4: Town Declines to Reconsider Article 10

Editor's Note: Wayland's 2013 Annual Town Meeting began on Thursday, April 4 and continues, as necessary, on April 7, 9 and 10. Patch plans to attend each session and bring you live updates from the floor of town meeting. The live blog will be updated with time stamps, the most recent posts at the top.

Feel free to jump in with your own comments and questions in the comment section below.

8:11 p.m. - Mike Lowery is going to speak to the motion to reconsider Article 10. This is just a motion to reconsider it, which would require a two-thirds vote. If it achieves a two-thirds vote, the article will be reopened for discussion and another vote.

Lowery says that a grievance filed by the DPW workers is significant new information and requests that voters reconsider Article 10 in light of that.

Nancy McCarthy is now discussing the grievance that was filed by two unions.

"Both unions cited the current state of the work environment as the reason for their grievance," McCarthy says, going on to read from the grievance.

The grievance states that the "health and safety" of employees have been "woefully ignored."

The employees have requested a full investigation by state agencies to bring their working environment up to full compliance.

Berry stops McCarthy and says he's allowing reconsideration of the article based on discrepancy of some town land, not because of the grievance.

McCarthy then continues to state that she believes a full investigation could lead to the shutting down of the town's current DPW facility, at considerable cost to the town.

Lowery returns to the mic and says that there is a different situation with regard to the land that might be available for a DPW garage given that Articles 16 and 17 failed to pass, which would have paved the way for a housing project at the former septage site on Route 20.

Tom Sciacca now says he doesn't understand what the land has to do with Article 10. He asks if the BoPW would offer the land proposed for River's Edge as a site for the new DPW facility, if Article 10 was reconsidered.

Berry is now explaining that he doesn't feel the possible outcomes of the filed grievance are appropriate "new information" on which to reconsider Article 10.

Lowery says that the town needs to understand that the BoPW owns both the parcels proposed for River's Edge. The board planned to relinquish that land only after the town had voted to fund and site a new DPW garage at the site on River Road, which didn't happen when the town failed to pass Article 10.

Kent George says he cannot believe that "we're even thinking about reconsideration with a packed house."

"I think you're allowing a reconsideration on very narrow, very suspect grounds," George says.

Now we're voting whether to reconsider Article 10 -- it requires a two-thirds vote.

The motion to reconsider fails to achieve a two-thirds vote: 202 yes, 113 no. That's 64.1 percent; 66.6 percent was needed. (The original blog stated that 66 percent was needed, but a reader pointed out that two-thirds is actually closer to 67 percent).

7:57 p.m. - Ed Collins is presenting the motion under Article 24: Hear Reports. They are included in Appendix J in the Warrant, he says.

He points out that there is a typographical correction: page 162, the table titled "Fund Revenues % Expenditures by Year, Total Fund Balance by Year," the fifth line (Expenditures) for FY12, the figure $103,475.00 should be in parentheses.

Richard Turner is moving that the Public Ceremonies Committee report naming the 2012 Lydia Maria Child's Award to Lea Anderson and members of the High School Building Committee be accepted.

Also, an oversight in 2009 leads the Public Ceremonies Committee to give a LMC award to Margo Melnicove, as well.

In response to a question, Mary Antes is now presenting an update on the Habitat for Humanity project. She says there is a tentative groundbreaking date of June 29.

Jerry Heller also rises to address the report of the Community Preservation Committee.

Now we move to a vote on Article 24. The article passes 251 yes, 7 no.

That's the end of the Warrant. There is a motion to reconsider Article 10 that we'll now take up.

7:45 p.m. - Article 23 is being moved now. This has to do with gifts of land, and Joe Nolan says that it was been expanded to include additional information.

The additional information in the motion incorporates the information written in the Warrant under Finance Committee comments, describing the two parcels, into the motion itself.

There is no discussion under this article either (there hasn't been any discussion yet tonight), so we're moving to a vote.

Article 23 passes by a vote of 206 yes, 6 no.

7:41 p.m. - And Article 22 is up for a vote: 159 yes, 7 no to approve the article proposing the sell or trade of vehicles and equipment.

Moderator Dennis Berry is now taking a non-binding test vote. He wants to know whether voters would be comfortable with shortening the voting window from 30 seconds to 15 seconds.

And the vote -- 88 yes, 107 no. Apparently, people like the 30-second period.

7:34 p.m. - Four minutes in and we have our first vote. Article 21- Choose Town Officers - passes 143 yes, 6 no.

Session 1 (April 4) 

Session 2 (April 7) 

Session 3 (April 9)