Too crowded for Democracy
Published on March 6th, 2002
STONEHAM, MA-–Two articles, 1,300 seats, 1,500 registered voters and zero votes...
Too many people came to the March 4 Special Town Meeting, and they all left dissatisfied.
The meeting was scheduled to start at the Town Hall Auditorium at 7:30 p.m., but by 8 p.m. hundreds of people were still in the precinct check in lines stretching down the Town Hall steps out to Central Street.
Inside the auditorium amidst shouts of “Come on!” and “Bulls__t!” Moderator Michael Rotondi stepped to the stage microphone to plead for patience. Rotondi then conferred with Stoneham Fire Captain Joseph Rolli. Minutes later, at 8:05 p.m., Rotondi postponed the meeting.
“There’s a seating issue and a safety issue,” Rotondi said.
Rolli said 150 people were still outside at this point.
Rotondi continued, “The Fire Department doesn’t want all these people in here. We have to close the meeting and hold it next Monday at Stoneham High School at 7:30 p.m.”
“Bulls__t!” someone yelled, and then other anonymous snipers stepped to the floor microphones to fire nasty comments as they left.
One citizen called from the fray for a point of information. She asked if the meeting had to be opened before it was closed. Rotondi said no; the meeting was over.
Is it legal?
Town Counsel Bill Solomon said, in his opinion, legal challenges to the rescheduled Monday, March 11, meeting would fail in court.
But the most important opinion was still unknown as of press time. Tuesday afternoon, Town Administrator David Berry was waiting for a call from the town’s bond counsel, the lawyer representing the town on issues of lending and borrowing. If the bond counsel doesn’t agree that the March 4 Town Meeting was closed and postponed legally, the Monday meeting could be called off.
“It’s a gray area of the law, but if the bond counsel isn’t satisfied, we may not be able to borrow the money,” Berry said.
Stoneham officials are waiting anxiously for an answer to this complex legal issue that may determine the fate of Town Meeting and the school building project.
Under the accepted rules of Town Meeting, the body of the meeting votes when and where to reschedule meetings, and a meeting should be formally opened before it is closed by a vote of the assembled voters. And the Open Meeting Law, which says public meetings should accommodate those who wish to attend, does not apply to Town Meetings.
But what about the intent of an Open Town Meeting format? This form of government implies that the meeting is open to all. If the meeting had been held, people who did not get in to vote could have asserted that their right to vote had been denied.
Massachusetts law also grants the moderator general control of the meeting. If the moderator thinks there are problems — not enough seats or too many people jammed into the hall — he can take action. Rotondi did and some people are angry. These people said the meeting should have gone on and tough luck to everybody who was late. If you didn’t get a seat, then you forfeited your right to vote. This is fair, these folks argue, because everyone had the same notice of the meeting.
But if the meeting had continued, others outside would have been angry. One could argue that not getting a parking spot in time should not be grounds for forfeiting the right to vote. And don’t forget about the responsibility for the safety of 1,500 people. If someone is responsible for everyone’s safety, that person should have the right to say let’s try this again in a bigger room.
“This is frustrating, but safety is the primary issue,” said School Committee Vice Chair-woman Jeanne Craigie.
On Monday night 1,286 people checked in before the meeting was called. The Town Clerk’s Office expected a maximum of 1,000 but set up 1,300 seats just to be sure. Then 1,500 showed up. The Stoneham High gym can seat 2,000 people, and 1,100 overflow seats are available if necessary in the school auditorium.
Some people have said the meeting should have been in the gym to begin with. Maybe so. But Town Meetings are always held in the Town Hall unless a special request is made otherwise. No one made such a request.
“The issue was more popular than the Town expected,” said Selectmen Chairman Tony Kennedy. “But it’s encouraging to see people care enough to come.”
“Everyone was caught by surprise,” agreed Superintendent of Schools Joseph Connelly.
Connelly said he hopes the same large crowd turns out next Monday, but others are uncertain.
“I don’t think we’ll have the same numbers next week. A lot of people made special commitments. Three or four put off vacations,” said School Committee Chairwoman Marie Christie.
Other people disagreed over how the vote on Article 2 would have gone. The opinions included yes, no and impossible to say.
Voting yes allows Stoneham to place up to $6 million more under a debt exclusion from Proposition 2 1/2 to pay for four new elementary schools. In 1997 Townspeople approved a debt exclusion of just under $40 million to finance the project, but bids came in higher than estimated. Two schools are built. The other two have been designed.
At around 8:30 p.m., three people, a couple and another man, were making a late arrival to Town Hall. They asked if they were in time to vote on Article 2. Obviously, they weren’t, but they participated in an Independent straw poll. The Article passed two votes to one, but this poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2,000 votes.
Selectmen say vote yes
Selectmen voted 5-0 in a brief session before the attempted Town Meeting to recommend voting yes on Article 2. The Selectmen, Finance Board, School Committee and The Stoneham Independent have all unanimously recommended voting yes.
The other article
Article 1, a DPW request to borrow $600,000 for drainage work around Oak Street, will be the opening act before a restless Town Meeting crowd next Monday.
But will it be next Monday...?
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