by Frank Schroth

The final evening of Town Meeting began with Moderator Walsh addressing questions regarding Town Meeting process. Chair of the Library Board of Trustees, Brendan McLaughlin, introduced the newest town department head, Library Director Will Adamzyck, and then the members waded through the remaining 10 remaining articles of the warrant. There was substantial discussion regarding the composition of the traffic commission, awarding a stipend to the retirement board, and the town’s support of a citizens petition for an amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling.

The Board of Selectmen (BoS) submitted an article regarding the Traffic Commission that was housekeeping in nature but developed into a discussion of the commissions makeup. The article sought to amend the title of one of the appointees from Director of Facilities / Milton Public Schools to Director of Consolidated Facilities. Consolidated Facilities department was a newly formed town department and there is no longer a facilities director at the schools. Though the new department head for Consolidated Facilities is Bill Ritchie who was the MPS facilities director. The BoS also would appoint a resident to the commission. Peter Mullin of Precinct 2 sought to amend the article and reduce the size of the commission to 5. While the selectmen and Cheif of Police, Richard Wells, did not dismiss the suggestion out of hand, the Chief wanted more time to consider it. He also was reluctant to remove the voting rights of some of the members and thought his presence on the commission was needed (Mr. Mullin recommended an appointee of the chief’s attend). The selectmen followed the Chief’s recommendation to defer until further review by the Government Study Committee (GSC). The Warrant Committee recommended against the amendment and it did not pass, though it will be reviewed by the GSC.

Town Meeting voted to establish a Fire Space Needs Committee. Member Morash (Precinct 2) sought to amend the article and expand the scope to include a review of the mission, roles, staffing, and training of the department in order to create a model department for the 21 century. This friendly amendment was deemed out of scope of the article and not accepted. Mr. Morash then recommended a no vote arguing that we were “putting the cart before the horse.” Chief Grant and former Chief, Malcolm Larson supported the article as written. Grant identified that a major issue would be the number of buildings and location. Mr. Larson did not find the language of the article “overly restrictive.” The motion passed. Moderator Walsh extended an invitation to members who would want to serve on the committee to get in touch with him.

The retirement board sought to receive a stipend of $3000 for members. The article cited the additional tasks, responsibilities, and requirements of the members as reasons for the stipend. For example, it is mandatory for board members to complete 18 hours of continuing education annually. The two sides in the argument were articulated by Member Mary McNamara who once served on the Retirement Board. She made an argument for
the stipends given the time and effort the members put in. Member Richard Howe disagreed and said that the stipend was not significant nor needed. He believes there are a number of qualified individuals in town who would be willing to serve if made aware of the need.

Moderator Walsh ruled that the based on a voice vote, the motion passed. A standing vote was called for and after it was tallied the motion failed.. The vote was 83 in favor to 116 opposed. Mr. Walsh apologized for calling the voice vote incorrectly.

The last article of the evening also reviewed significant attention. Milton resident Mitchell Rabkin presented the article which requested that the town support a constitutional amendement to overturn the Citizens United decision. That decision is viewed as opening the flood gates of contributions to super PACs. These super PACs make sizable contributions to elections and causes at all levels of government in an attempt to have the vote go their way. Mr. Rabkin noted that they exist for both parties. The Warrant Committee remained agnostic on the issue stating that “members should vote their conscience.” in their recommendation. Members who spoke took one of 3 positions. Some such as Jeff Stone and Bill White spoke in support, others like Bob Hiss spoke against saying a “corporation” can be an individual and overturning the decision could restrict their rights. Another position voiced by members Terence McNeil and Paul Needham questioned whether Town Meeting was the appropriate forum for discussions on national issues. They did not think so. The voice vote was again a close one; a standing vote was called for. The motion was defeated by a vote of 116 to 83. Per a gentle admonishment by the moderator last Thursday, no members appeared to take any photos of the standing votes.

In other business:

• The “Swift Hat” article passed. This article gives relief to developers by providing a credit for parking spaces. They get a waive and do not need to provide as many parking spaces for a commercial property as required by zoning assuming they preserve a historic structure. The specific structure the article was targeted at was the Swift Hat Shop in Milton Village which is one of the oldest commercial structure in that area.
• At the beginning of the session Moderator Walsh addressed questions he had received regarding process. Members had asked if the moderator could limit the time a member spoke and the number of times they spoke on an issue. He cannot. Moderator Walsh noted a motion could be made by a member to limit the time any member spoke to, say 5 minutes; but that would apply to all speakers and could be problematic. Complicated issues that needed explanation from a board member could take longer than 5 minutes. Members making such a motion would need to be mindful of that. He recommended all members be succinct and to the point.