Session 6, School Fees

The big news from last night is that we finished, and the 2014 Annual Town Meeting has been dissolved.

There are several topics touched on throughout this Town Meeting that I hope to find the time to discuss. Cemeteries, Electronic Voting, and how we decide whether something should go to the ballot for a vote are topics I hope to write about, if I can do so while they’re still considered relevant by readers.

This morning I’ll write about the long standing argument in town over extracurricular school fees.

Background in a nutshell: student participation in a variety of sports, music, and whatnot costs money, and in Arlington those costs are passed on to the individuals participating. There are efforts to insure that those students that want to participate are not prohibited from doing so due to financial disadvantages, but if you have a child in the school system that wants to participate in these things, it comes with a significant price tag attached. Further, this is not the case elsewhere.

Every year or so someone at Town Meeting attempts to eliminate or reduce these fees by either an article or an amendment to an existing article, appropriating money to the schools and saying that this money is intended to be applied to reducing or eliminating these fees.

Problem Number One: Town Meeting does not have the authority to direct how the money we appropriate to the schools is spent. In Massachusetts the law grants the elected School Committee the authority to direct school spending. Town Meeting appropriates a sum to the schools, but the schools determine how it is used.

Problem Number Two: Town Meeting has only come up with ideas that are short term solutions to the issue. This year it was $405,000, and when it runs out we’re right back where we started.

Problem Number Three: The schools already have a lot of money that they could use to reduce or eliminate school fees if they were inclined to do so. In fiscal year 2015, the schools have a budget of $50,729,968. Another $405,000 is not going to convince them to shift their priorities and eliminate fees. If it would, I am positive they would tell us so.

So how should one go about solving this issue, and eliminating these fees? Here’s an analogy of the current approach:

A man is walking down the sidewalk, and passes in front of a lemonade stand. Suddenly, a burly looking youth jumps out from behind some bushes, blocking the man’s path.

"If you don’t buy a glass of lemonade from my little sister, I’m going to give you $5."

The man looks confused.

"I mean it, I've got $5 right here, and if you don’t buy a glass of lemonade, I WILL give it to you."

The man is really confused.

"Don’t think I won’t do it!" says the angry youth.

I humbly submit that this strategy lacks the necessary leverage to force the man to buy that glass of lemonade. Yet this is how Town Meeting attempts to "force" the schools to eliminate extracurricular fees.

If Town Meeting wanted to leverage the schools and try to force them to eliminate these fees, they’d introduce amendments that took money away from the schools each year, until the School Committee gave in.

Good luck with that. I know I wouldn't vote for it.

Here is how this issue should be resolved:

The town of Arlington should have a vote on a targeted tax increase, directed at eliminating school fees.

If passed, this would provide dedicated revenue forever, and extracurricular school fees would be a thing of the past.

I realize that many would find the idea of this tax increase distasteful. Every proposal to eliminate these fees, just like every other increase in spending, is just that: a tax increase. The money has to come from somewhere.

Like all things, it’s a matter of priorities. Do we put the costs of these activities on the individual families of students involved in these programs, or do we all share the burden?

Let’s have a vote, and make our decision.

Session 5, the Budget

Tonight was our annual airing of grievances, also known as the night we deal with the town budget. We spend a lot of time discussing things we don't like, and then pass the budget unanimously on a voice vote.

If we were showing up and giving serious consideration to a lot of amendments, it would be a sure sign that something is seriously wrong in Arlington, as it would imply that the town staff and our Finance Committee are not getting the job done.

So instead of discussing what we ought to change in this article, we discuss what we liked - or as is the case 99% of the time - did not like about how the town conducted business as enabled by this money we gave them last year.

The town uses too much salt on the roads in the winter. The town doesn't use salt the right way. The contractors hired to clear our streets never learned how to drive, and where are we going to put all that snow, and none of this would be an issue anyway if people would just slow down and drive more carefully. There are too many lights over here, but not enough lighting at the Uncle Sam statue. Etc.

This year I felt the discussions positive and less resembling of an angry mob, pitchforks and torches in hand, throwing ad hominem attacks back and forth across the hall.

That said, I personally find budget night to be the most painfully long night of Town Meeting. I think our business is to vote on articles, and discussions should be reserved for amendments and changes to the articles before us.

It's not that what people have to say isn't valid or interesting in the right context. I simply don't feel this is the place it needs to happen. If however my view is in the majority, it is a very silent majority, and tradition triumphs.

Speaking of more people with a lot they'd like to tell us about, I am part of a growing crowd of Town Meeting members rather frustrated with the time spent each night on announcements and reports of committees, which takes place before we begin working through the articles. Last night we spent 50 minutes on this activity.

What people have to announce and report on is almost always good stuff. I feel that this practice is getting a bit out of control, and needs to be curbed a bit.

If we took all the time needed to say good and informative things, we'd never deal with anything else. When we approach one third of our meeting time taken up by announcements, performances, and reports that could be (and often already are) printed up and handed out, I feel this practice has gotten to be out of control.

Whether it is announcements and reports, or discussing at length articles we aren't going to change, I am sympathetic to the feelings of people who have a lot they'd like to say and share with the rest of us. I often feel the same way, and I found an outlet that allows me to share all sorts of things that I think people really need to know. In case what I do could be beneficial to others also, I share this advice:

Get a blog.

Session 4, Beauty and the Beast

Last night we dealt with arguably the most popular and the most important business before Town Meeting this year.

We passed the CPA, sending to the voters of Arlington the question of whether we adopt this act or not. This I would characterize as the most popular article in front of Town Meeting this year, in the sense that it is what most people are interested in and will take away as the key action from this year's Town Meeting.

While this year's Town Meeting will be spoken of as "the one where they dealt with the CPA," many would say the most important article considered by us was article 21, "Amendments to the District Agreement of the Minuteman Regional Vocational School District."

In case you are unfamiliar with what our membership in the Minuteman school district means for Arlington, I will try to supply some background:

UPDATE: for a more articulate and informative explanation of this whole issue, go read the comments made last night by Paul Schlichtman of precinct 9, which he has shared with us all on his blog:
http://schlichtman.org/blog/2014/05/07/amending-the-minuteman-regional-agreement/

The Minuteman Regional Vocational School is a real gem.

It is governed by a school committee composed of representatives from each town that is part of the district. If you are a "member community," you get a vote on how the school is managed. This of course includes how much money is raised from member communities to spend on the school.

Each community gets one vote.

Funding the Minuteman works a little differently. Naturally, if your community only sends a couple of students to the school, it would be unfair for you to pay as much as a community that sends a hundred students to the school.

Herein lies the problem. Taken independently, the statements "one community one vote" and "one student one dollar" both seem fair and equitable.

Taken together, the statements fall apart.

Arlington, Belmont, and Lexington are three communities that send a lot of students to Minuteman. There are 16 member communities, and some of those don't send very many students at all. I believe it was said last night that Dover sends 1 student.

When a question comes up that involves a serious investment of money, towns like Dover can afford to vote their ideals. They are basically asked this question: "How much money should Arlington taxpayers spend on the Minuteman?"

In Town Meeting each year we vote on an appropriation to the Minuteman. This gives you the illusion of a choice. Once 11 other communities have passed the appropriation, it doesn't matter how Arlington votes. We are required by law to provide the money the other member communities have approved.

Let me say it again: the Minuteman Regional Vocational School is a real gem, and it isn't hard at all to understand why.

We approved a new agreement last night that will take steps toward lessening this nightmare. It doesn't go far enough, but it is a step in the right direction.

I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable than I will take the time to post a comment to this entry, providing the highlights of this new agreement. I don't want to take that on, as I don't have the materials in front of me right now to double-check my facts, and it is a complicated set of changes. That's part of the reason why this article doesn't win the title of Most Popular Article of Town Meeting, 2014.

Popular or not, it is probably the most important vote I have ever made, and may be the most important vote I ever make in Town Meeting.

Session 3, the CPA

We debated Article 22, which if passed would place a question before the voters on whether Arlington should adopt the Community Preservation Act, or CPA for short.

In a nutshell, adopting the CPA is accepting a small (current proposal is 1.5%) surcharge on existing property taxes, and pledging to spend that money on particular categories of projects: low income housing, the preservation of open space, historic preservation, and recreation projects.

There is a website where you can find out more about the CPA, here:
http://www.communitypreservation.org/

In exchange for accepting these limitations, the state provides matching funds of a variable amount depending on how high of a surcharge a community chooses to adopt and on how much money the state makes available for the program. I think of it as an employer match for a 401(k). There is money on the table, if you agree to the limitations.

The deliberations last night boiled down to 20 or 30 different arguments.

Those opposed to sending this before the voters argued that we have necessary things we need to pay for, and we have nice things to pay for. Things that would fall under the CPA, it is argued, are "nice" but not "necessary."

Those in favor of sending this before the voters argued the remaining 19 to 29 different points or so, all of which can be summed up as "It would be fantastic If we could find the money to do [insert your valued project here]."

That sounds like I’m being dismissive of the proponents arguments, and I’ll confess to some mild frustration with a lack of focus I perceived in proponents arguments, compared to the tight and narrow arguments being made by the opponents.

In defense of proponents arguments: if you look at it another way you take away this: the CPA can be used for all kinds of things that we currently routinely appropriate money for year after year after year.

With the CPA, the spending we already do on these projects will be cheaper for the taxpayer, thanks to the state matching funds.

Overall I don’t have the brain for this level of financial planning, and I can’t say whether we would spend as much money as we are asked to put into the CPA anyway even if we did not adopt it, or not.

I suspect the later, but if the former were true then the CPA seems a no-brainer to me. It makes our money go farther than it would otherwise, and that’s a good thing. There are even arguments being made that CPA money could be used partially to help pay for work at the High School and other very large capital projects we have looming in our near future.

It may still be a good idea to adopt the CPA, even if it results in us spending more money in these areas than we’d otherwise choose to.

Say that overtime the investment made in these projects returns dividends through a higher quality of life, a more desirable destination for people to visit and spend money, make us a more desirable destination to relocate to or establish a business: this could be a fiscal win for Arlington in the long run.

That scenario is more similar to the 401(k) many of us are encouraged to contribute to at work: there are other necessary ways we need to apply what money we have available, and we’re being offered this carrot in the form of matching funds to convince us to take a longer view.

What I believe, and this was only lightly touched on during our session last night, is that the voters in Arlington understand how important decisions about our financial future are.

Over here in East Arlington, we are very aware of what it means to our pocketbooks when we talk about the need to rebuild the High School, renovations we’re going to be asked to cover at the Minuteman Regional Vocational school, and choosing whether or not to adopt the CPA.

I don’t know how Arlington would vote on the CPA if they get that chance, but I do know that they are qualified to make this decision.

Further, from what I've heard from my neighbors, they want a chance to do so.

I will be voting to let them do just that.

PS: If you're reading this and you think the voters should consider this issue, I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE you to contact your Town Meeting members prior to Wednesday night's session and let them know you think that.

There are some powerful arguments being made against sending this question to the voters, and members are in a tough spot, trying to guess what the people want. So remove some of that guesswork for them, and just let them know.

You can find out who your Town Meeting members are, and how to contact them, here:
http://www.arlingtonma.gov/public_documents/ArlingtonMA_TownMeet/2014_TMMembers.pdf

Cemetery Parking

After working through the articles for the Special Town Meeting (for a description of why we have a Special Town Meeting, go read Dan Dunn's blog post for last night) we resumed discussion of Article 12, which sought to establish parking restrictions in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

My guess is that if we had moved a little quicker on Monday and held a vote that night, this would have passed then, and I'd be writing this morning about our debate on the CPA.

Take that prediction with a grain of salt. My recent track record on predicting vote results, turnout, and pretty much all things related to Arlington politics has been abysmal. I should try and learn from this, and stop trying to make predictions.

There was one argument against passing these restrictions last night that really got to me: Town Meeting does not traditionally legislate where people can and cannot park, at least not on such a specific case-by-case basis.

I agreed with the argument that we did not want Town Meeting feeling it should rightfully take up the issue of where parking is allowed and not allowed on every street in town.

We want these policies to be consistent throughout town, and that is something you stand a much better chance of getting with a smaller board than you do with a 252 member legislative body, deciding policy on this block over here, that block over there, on what days and hours, and etc.

That concern had me twisting in the wind, figuring out how I ought to vote.

I felt that this instance in Mount Pleasant cemetery was a unique enough situation that Town Meeting would be able to stop itself from going down the path of micro-managing parking in town. Not last night though, as we discussed this issue for the bulk of the evening.

"If we beat this dead horse any more, can we bury it in the cemetery?"
--Paul Schlichtman, Precinct 9

Before it was all over, we had a motion to terminate debate, a motion to postpone debate, a motion to amend the language of the restriction, and another motion to terminate debate before we voted on the motion to amend and the motion to vote on the amended substitute motion that would establish the restriction.

I did something I have never done before: I did not vote "Yes" to terminate debate.

I have always felt that Town Meeting spends a lot of time rehashing the same arguments or introducing minor statements that don't change our votes. Better to just take the vote and move on. After the issue came up regarding whether Town Meeting ought to legislate parking restrictions in the first place, I wasn't prepared to stop listening. At that moment, I didn't know how I was going to vote.

I still couldn't bring myself to vote "No" against terminating debate. I cast the lone abstention on the question.

An hour later I was feeling like my old self again, and ready for a chance to terminate debate and take the vote.

When that finally happened, I chose to vote for the restrictions.

The rest of Town Meeting surprised me, and defeated the proposal.

What happens now? I bet you'll hear different answers to that depending on who you ask.

The issue has been significantly described, and people made much more aware of it. Even among members of the Board of Selectmen, there is a far greater understanding of the issue.

I believe and hope that this will result in this issue being seriously addressed.

In the end the proponents of this issue have "won" even though the vote went against them. They will see the change in policy and behavior that they sought to achieve with this bylaw that did not pass.

Of course you'll recall how abysmal my track record of predictions has been of late, with regards to these things.

So we'll just have to wait and see.

Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers

On Monday we passed Article 6, a zoning bylaw amendment defining where a medical marijuana treatment center could be located within Arlington.

We won’t be seeing a medical marijuana treatment center in Arlington, regardless of where we say they can go.

The state provides a lot of hoops for these facilities to jump through, and greatly restrict how many can be established, and where.

Arlington is also not where someone wanting to open up a treatment center will want to put it.

That’s not to say it is absolutely impossible for one to exist in Arlington: just exceptionally unlikely.

Nonetheless this article saw some opposition.

When we talk about the benefits of living in a democracy, we often talk about the strength and stability of our government, the balance of powers that exist, etc.

We forget about one key benefit. It’s may not be the best thing about living in a democracy, but I think it is too often overlooked.

Entertainment value.

Two-thirds of Arlington voters supported the legalization of medical marijuana use, and the existence of medical marijuana treatments centers that came with that law.

However if you approach any precinct in Arlington and suggest that a treatment center be established in their neighborhood, all of a sudden roughly two-thirds of the voters in that precinct feel that opening up a treatment center in their neighborhood is a very bad idea.

Let me be fair: they have excellent reasons and arguments about why their neighborhood is a poor location.

The problem is, every single neighborhood has excellent reasons.

Luckily for all of us in Arlington, I don’t think we’ll ever have to hear the protestations of neighbors when one of these things gets set to open up here.

It just isn't going to happen.

I hope not anyway, as I voted in favor of zoning that would permit treatment centers in my precinct, along Massachusetts avenue.

If one ever overcomes all the odds and actually does open here, I’m guessing that about two-thirds of the residents in my precinct will eagerly kick me to the curb the next time I’m up for re-election.

2014 Town Meeting Begins

Town Meeting has begun.

If you're curious about what takes place, there are several places you can go.

This is especially relevant if you just can't wait to find out what happened, as I am not a night person.

When I get home I don't sit down and write up a blog-post, I go to bed. Town Meeting adjourns after my bed-time.

But even if you are patient enough to wait for me to get around to writing up a post, you should visit the sites I'm about to list anyway.

They give more perspectives on what has taken place.

While I try to argue fairly, what I write here is opinion.

So if you're interested enough to read this blog, you'll be interested in what others have to say too:

• blog: Christian's Town Meeting Notes
• blog: Dan Dunn (the unofficial "minutes" of Town Meeting)
• news: ACMI Video On Demand, Town Meeting Page
• news: YourArlington.com's Town Meeting Page
• official: Town Meeting Information from the Town of Arlington

Last night we conducted "Electronic Voting" at Town Meeting.

That's right: Town Meeting has charged forward to the year 1993 or so.

All kidding aside, I was especially pleased to see this in action, as for the past two years I've served on the committee responsible for bringing it about.

If the nuts and bolts of our committee's work really intrigues you, on this page you can find our reports, agendas and minutes:
http://www.arlingtonma.gov/Public_Documents/ArlingtonMA_BComm/electronicvoting/index

For our first time out, I thought things ran pretty smoothly.

There are a few things people are finding confusing, but these are simple things like why there are two Robert Tosi's listed as voting on the display screen (need to enter a Jr. and Sr. there), why someone named VACANCY voted (new appointee who's name isn't entered in the system yet) and that sort of thing.

These are the sorts of things I can live with people being confused about on night one.

It's not 9:00 a.m. yet, so there's no information up just now, but later today the details of all electronic votes taken will be available for all to see here:
http://www.arlingtonma.gov/public_documents/ArlingtonMA_TownMeet/2014ATM/voting/index

That little web address is the real fruit of our committee's labor.

It may not look like much, but I believe it will significantly change the relationship between residents of Arlington and their government, and it's why I have been pleased to go to so many evening meetings over the past two years, and help work to bring this about.

Last night we passed a couple articles: one established zoning for medical marijuana dispensaries, one that protects residential property from excess lighting, and a clean-up article dealing with when we must display the results of electronic voting on screen as a result of a close vote.

I will attempt to post again before Wednesday's meeting and give more discussion to the articles discussed last night.

Till then, I'm going to spend some time hitting refresh on the Town Meeting Voting link on the town's website.

Anticipating the start of Town Meeting

This Saturday afternoon is chilly and damp, and I’m sitting indoors thinking about the fact that Town Meeting begins Monday evening.

Maybe it is the gloomy weather shaping my mood, but I am not excited for Monday to get here.

Ask any representative at any level of government and they’ll tell you that they love serving in their elected office.

I do love it.

There is something exceptionally satisfying about showing up and attempting to do the best you can by your neighbors.

Today though, I’m dreading Monday evening.

If it were only this coming Monday evening it wouldn't be that bad.

This Monday will be followed by Wednesday, and then Monday and Wednesday the week after that, and the week after that, etc.

Three hours of my evenings will be taken up two nights a week for a while now with meetings.

Here’s something about me: given a choice between going out and doing something or staying at home, I’ll choose staying at home, sitting on my sofa, spending time with my wife and my dog 100% of the time.

Despite being someone who spends a lot of time reaching out to other people, I’m really an introvert.

Spending time surrounded by other people drains me, and demands that I find some quiet time away from people to recharge.

There is something deeply rewarding about seriously contemplating things that may not sound all that exciting but taken together define what it is like to live in our community.

On the other hand, it isn't all that clear at all that you make much of a difference.

Sure, someone needs to show up and do the job; but by and large anyone else could show up and do the job just as well.

What’s worse is that you end up emotionally invested in some of the issues that come before us.

Everyone in town remembers the recent debate we had over leaf blowers.

Here’s a not so secret fact: how leaf blowers are used or not used in town has almost no impact whatsoever on my own personal life.

Yet I've spent many hours thinking on the issue, weighing the impacts of policies both on those that use the machines and those that don’t, trying to arrive at the best decision I possibly can, that represents the best move forward for everyone in my neighborhood.

I have lain awake at night, grappling with what the proper use of a leaf blower should be.

If the sun burst forth this afternoon, and all my neighbors and I walked outside, not one in ten on my street would know I served on Town Meeting.

So where are the silver linings to go with today’s gray clouds?

The answer to that is simple.

There are 250 others, give or take a few, who will join me on Monday night.

There are a dozen others in town who hold elected office and give up far more hours to meetings than we on Town Meeting do.

And there are hundreds of Arlington residents dedicating countless hours on voluntary boards and commissions, seeing that the business of our town is done, making Arlington a wonderful place to live.

So many people, putting in an enormous quantity of hours on mostly mundane items when they’d rather be at home with their families.

Even though the last thing you want to do is head out the door and give up another night to a meeting, you feel richer and more complete for doing it.

So much so that somewhat unbelievably, you find yourself full of gratitude to your neighbors for the privilege.

That’s how I’m feeling this afternoon, thinking about the fact that Town Meeting begins this Monday.

Survey on the CPA

I'm experimenting with posting surveys in order to gain a sense of what people think about different issues.

If it works out well, I may try this some more, in order to gain the perspectives of my neighbors on issues coming before me in Town Meeting.