Citizens follow officials lead at Town Meeting
Published on May 8th, 2002
STONEHAM, MA - Only 149 people showed up, and none of the votes were close, but people made noise for more than hours — including five minutes of snoring from one gentleman — at the first session of the 2002 Annual Town Meeting.
The Monday night Meeting in the Town Hall Auditorium voted on the entire Special within the Annual and eight of the Annual articles.
There was only one hand count, on John DeGeorge’s citizen’s petition, Article 8 of the Annual. Sixty-five people voted and rejected removing the requirement for a Special Town Meeting in October and requiring a majority vote of the full Board to call a Special. The article failed by a vote of 39 no, to 26 yes.
Of the 65 people who voted on Article 8, at least 10 were town officials seated at the front tables.
Selectmen said they wanted more flexibility, which makes no sense because DeGeorge’s article would have given them the ability to call a Special, whenever they wished. They said they didn’t want to confuse people about the date of the meeting and end up with a low turnout... Lower than 65 people to vote on $53 million?
Town Counsel William Solomon said requiring a full Board would present a problem if a member had resigned or was ill or dead, and he said DeGeorge’s language contradicted state law which requires only a quorum of three members to call a Special. But a full Board means all the members on the Board, not the openings, so even if two people resigned or died, a full Board of three could call a Special. In fact, state law requires three to show up; DeGeorge’s amendment just asks that these three agree to call the meeting.
DeGeorge simply proposed a stricter version of the state law, and as Town Counsel told DeGeorge months ago — when DeGeorge questioned the Selectmen’s former policy of requiring TA applicants to live in Stoneham, as opposed to near the town as the state ratified TA Act requires — town officials can make municipal legislation stricter than state law.
The small crowd, however, deferred to town officials. The Town also opposed DeGeorge’s proposal in Article 7 to eliminate the out of date listing of committees in the Town Code with the intent of drafting and inserting a new section within a year.
DeGeorge asked Selectmen to do this last year. They didn’t. New Selectman Charles Smith said he would work with DeGeorge this year, but he agreed with the Board and Town Counsel that elimination of the section could threaten the authority of the Open Space and Recreation Committee outlined therein.
DeGeorge pushed his luck a bit, arguing that if being in the code doesn’t mean a committee exists, then not being in it shouldn’t mean a committee doesn’t exist.
Voters agreed with town officials, rejecting Article 7 by a visible majority.
In Article 6, the first of DeGeorge’s three citizen’s petitions, the Selectmen agreed with him, and so did voters.
Article 6 asked the Meeting to eliminate the Town Code requirement that the Town Administrator update the personnel bylaw twice a year. DeGeorge argued that the Town Administrator shouldn’t be held responsible because a Town Meeting vote is necessary to make any bylaw changes.
Although Selectmen thanked DeGeorge for his efforts, he couldn’t pass anything without the Selectmen’s endorsement. Selectmen were five for five in Annual Town Meeting recommendations.
Article 1 was the Town Election from April. Articles 2 and 3 are annual articles authorizing the town to choose officers and hear reports of committees. No big news.
Time ran out before the Meeting could address the biggest issue, the $53 million town budget, and the rest of the final 10 articles.
Article 4, fixing salaries of elected officials, is usually a formality but was more interesting this year.
Finance Board member Peter D’Angelo said his board had hoped to help control the rising unfunded pension liability by paying elected officials outside of the pension system. Officials would receive stipends, not salaries under this proposal. But D’Angelo said state law makes it impossible for a town to effect this change alone. He called on state legislators to revisit this legislation and warned townspeople that creative solutions to the town’s unfunded pension liability will be necessary in years to come.
The Town approved $68,383 in salaries for elected officials, including the full-time Town Clerk’s $52,583.
Article 5 asked the Town to set up a revolving account to pay for vending machines and concessions at Stoneham Arena. According to work done by a Northeastern co-op student, Stoneham should see a multi-thousand dollar annual return on the investment after the first year.
Selectmen agreed with the college student, and apparently so did the voters who passed the article.
Article 9 through 18 will be taken up on Thursday, May 9, at Town Hall, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The town budget is Article 10.
The Special Town Meeting
The minutia of the motor scooter bylaw and ways to get around an outside water ban were discussed in detail in Articles 1 and 2.
Voters eventually banned scooters on public property and gave the town authority to fine people who violate state water restrictions. But the length of the discussion signaled the long night to come. Chronologically, the Special fell between Articles 3 and 4 of the Annual.
Some of the questions asked about Special Articles 1 and 2 sounded silly but made sense. Constitution Road resident Larry Rotondi asked if he could take water from inside to water plants, reasoning that an inside meter charges twice, for water and sewer, whereas an outside meter charges only for water. Town Counsel said water means water.
“What about wells?” asked Alden Avenue resident Mark Vaughan.
Well, not that water, and so on...
Article 3 was amended to request rezoning only one of two lots discussed in the original article from medical use to business use.
The lot is owned by Gerald McCarthy of Mac Landscaping. The lot was previously rezoned to accommodate an assisted living facility that backed out of a deal, according to McCarthy’s attorney, Mark Vaughan. Vaughan argued that rezoning the lot would be consistent with past use and allow for “productive future use.”
Finance Board member Stephen Geary, speaking as a resident of Perkins Street, opposed the article, arguing that the lot in question is surrounded by residential property.
But the Finance Board and Selectmen deferred to the Planning Board who recommended passing the article, and voters went along with every voting recommendation town officials made.
Article 4 asked voters to OK renting space on town property to cellular companies. The town has an offer in the $30,000 to $80,000 range on the table to put an antenna on the Fire Station.
Town Counsel Solomon said these antennae are usually only a few feet long and are often not visible from street level. Stoneham has a bylaw in place that forbids cell towers.
Voters gave the town authority to rent the space.
Article 5 asks voters to accept a state early retirement program, but state legislators have yet to pass this law. Town Meeting cannot accept the bill until it becomes a law. The Meeting postponed the article until the end of the Annual. Perhaps the bill will pass in the interim. If not, Selectmen can accept the program without a Town Meeting vote after June 30 (an exception granted by the state for this law) or wait until the next Town Meeting.
In Article 6 voters gave town officials the authority to shift around $254,000 among accounts to finish fiscal year 2002 with a balanced budget.
In Article 7 voters OKed moving $354,000 from the Health Insurance Trust Fund to pay an eminent domain settlement for property taken for the Town Common.
In Article 8 voters agreed with the recommendation of the School Committee to borrow $65,000 to pay for a new boiler for the East School. Citizen Charles DeCoste of Crystal Drive suggested contacting Keyspan to see if the company would pay for conversion to a new gas heat system.
The vote authorizes the School Department to buy the boiler, but the schools could still check out gas heat.
Article 9 was the annual acceptance of state money for roadwork, $129,418.62 this year.
Article 10 would have been more contentious if an agreement hadn’t been worked out minutes before the Town Meeting.
In a pre-Meeting session, Selectmen agreed to give the Auxiliary Police $2,000 in July and $17,000 in October to pay for uniforms. Most of the 24 volunteer officers got their uniforms in 1987.
“For our last two officers, we had to give one the short sleeve shirt and the other the long sleeve shirt. Their pants kind of match,” said Auxiliary Police Chief Gus Niewenhous.
Niewenhous asked the Selectmen to put their promise in writing. Selectmen said they would. At Town Meeting, this agreement was made public, and voters agreed to indefinitely postpone the article.
However, Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello was angry that the town didn’t just dip into the Stabilization Fund to pay the $19,000 up front.
“They provide a great service, and don’t cost the town a cent,” Ciccarello said at the Selectmen’s meeting. He added that making the Auxiliary Police wait was “an embarrassment.”
A hopeful perspective
One optimistic soul said that a low turnout might indicate that people are happy with the decisions made by Town officials.
Considering the 149 in attendance to be a representative sample of the townspeople, this theory holds up because voters followed all the recommendations made by town boards.
Also, the meeting lasted four hours because of much talk about small details. Those who are interested in getting to this level of analysis show up. Others only make the trip if they are concerned about a big vote.
Remember the crowd at the school building Special Town Meeting. Around 2,000 people turned out to vote on $6 million in funds for schools because they were excited or worried about the project. A $53 million budget dwarfs the school issue in dollars, but people aren’t worried about it. The budget last year was $51 million. New elementary schools were built 50-plus years ago.
This theory may be overly optimistic, and some new faces and minds might spice up the debate and contribute to the public good. But just because a hot room full of predictably dull talk wasn’t jam-packed on a beautiful spring night doesn’t mean democracy’s dead in Stoneham.
Elected officials, champions of democracy and anyone with questions about the remaining articles will be back Thursday night when Moderator Michael Rotondi gavels open the continued Annual at 7:30 p.m.
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