Our next Town Meeting will be held on January 23, 2023, in the BHS Auditorium. There will be no hybrid participation option, but it will be broadcast on BCAT. I am summarizing, paraphrasing, and otherwise stealing from the official documentation, the Warrant and Backup (supporting documentation) which can be found in the Town Meeting section of the Town Clerk’s website. For clarification, please go there.

After Town meeting, I’ll be sure to update this document so you can see how the votes went.

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January 23, 2023, Town Meeting

General Articles

• Article 1 – This just says Town Meeting will hear reports from town officers and committees. Town Economic Development Director, Melisa Tintocalis, formally announced to Town Meeting the selection of Ted Brovitz Design for the Middlesex Turnpike rezoning initiative. They expect to present a proposal at September Town Meeting.

Zoning Bylaw Articles

Article 2 – Burlington signage districts. This article makes some changes to Article XIII of the Zoning Bylaws to allow the town to have an electronic sign. The DPW sign at the corner next to Simonds Park would be removed in favor of a more attractive sign on the corner of the Common where two posts currently hold banners for various events. The Select Board’s position (they are the proponent of this article) is that an electronic sign would allow for more flexibility and also would allow for more than one event to be advertised at a time. In the backup are a few examples of what this could look like.

Zoning Bylaw Review Committee and the Planning Board voted in favor. Land Use voted against it. In general these committees say it is a good idea, but they had concerns about deployment and design specifics. – POSTPONED

Financial Articles

• Article 3 – Replenish Reserve Fund – We have a reserve fund that we set at $200k each year and then replenish to $300k from free cash after free cash is certified. This article allows for that to happen. – PASSED
• Article 4 – Transfer from Free Cash to Stabilization Fund – When we fund items before free cash is certified, we pay for them from the stabilization fund. The police station feasibility study ($150k) and Middlesex Turnpike corridor project ($80k) were paid for in this manner, and now that free cash is certified, we are being asked to replenish the stabilization fund. PASSED
• Article 5 – Transfer from Free Cash to Water Stabilization Fund – Like Article 4, but with water. We pay for MWRA service out of the Water Stabilization Fund and have since 2019. Water is a local receipt and has to be taken into free cash. When free cash is certified, we pay the stabilization fund back, so we can finance the coming year’s MWRA service. PASSED

Articles 6-8 are about funding contracts from the Negotiated Settlements account. My memory of the details are fuzzy, but I believe the amounts are already budgeted, but as negotiations weren’t complete as of the May (or September) Town Meeting, we hadn’t transferred the exact amount yet. I will update this information when backup is in the Town Meeting website and after talking to my sources.

• Article 6 – Fund the Burlington Municipal Employees’ Association Contract. PASSED
• Article 7 – Fund the Department of Public Works. PASSED
• Article 8 – Fund the Administrative & Professional Compensation Plan. PASSED
• Article 9 – $25k for Cyber Security Assessment – The town’s Information Systems Security Advisory Committee (ISSAC) has been working on getting a blanket, baseline cyber security policy in place and is now looking to go deeper into the needs and requirements of all the different departments in town. PASSED
• Article 10 – Five-Year Municipal Solid Waste Collection/Disposal Contract – We have the opportunity to enter into a 5-year contract with Republic, which the proponent (the DPW) says will provide stability to our services. The town needs permission from Town Meeting to enter into a 5-year contract, and that’s what this article is about. PASSED
• Article 11 – Transportation Infrastructure Fund – Each year, we get money from the state for all ride shares originating in Burlington. This article requests those funds (nearly $15k this year) go toward offsetting the costs our subsidized rideshare program. PASSED

General Articles (continued)

• Article 12 – Acquisition of Land by donation (Peach Orchard Rd) – From the backup: “This parcel consists of most of the “island” between Peach Orchard Road and Old Peach Orchard Road. The Department of Public Works wishes to acquire this parcel as it abuts two town roadways and has Town Water and Sewer infrastructure beneath it.”
• Article 13 – Acquisition of Land by donation (Skilton Lane) – From the backup: “This parcel is approximately 25 feet by 200 feet and runs behind homes on Mill Street and Patriot Road. The Recreation Commission wishes to acquire this parcel as it abuts Rahanis Park.” It does seem like there might be a title issue with this one, so it’s possible the article will be withdrawn. WITHDRAWN

General Bylaw Articles

NOTE: Articles 14-18 have been WITHDRAWN

Articles 14-18 are a collection of articles designed to expand participation options for all meetings, both at the Town Meeting level and at the Town Board/Commission level. Since we’d be bypassing state law with these bylaw changes, each change to a bylaw requires an accompanying home rule petition to ask the state legislature for permission to make these changes to our bylaws.

Proponents argue that these changes would align with ADAAA (the successor to the Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements and would allow for a greater ability to attend for folks with disabilities, childcare responsibilities, or other circumstances that make it difficult or impossible to attend in person. This suite of amendments would require 48-hours’ notice for remote participation and allow for in-person and online participants to count for a quorum.

For more information, refer to pages 25-26 of the Warrant Backup.

• Article 14 – Amend Article II – Representative Town Meeting – Section 1.0 by Adding Paragraph 1.3 – Open Meeting Accessibility – WITHDRAWN

• Article 15 – Home Petition to Amend Chapter 686 of the Acts of 1970, as Amended – An Act to Add a New Section – Open Meeting Accessibility – WITHDRAWN

• Article 16 – Home Petition to Amend Chapter 686 of the Acts of 1970, as Amended – An Act to Add a New Section – Exempting the 12 Town of Burlington from In-Person Quorums – WITHDRAWN

• Article 17 – Amend Article II – Representative Town Meeting – Section 1.0 by Adding Paragraph 1.2 – Town Meeting Accessibility – WITHDRAWN

• Article 18 – Home Petition to Amend Chapter 686 of the Acts of 1970, as Amended – An Act to Add a New Section – Town Meeting Accessibility 1 – WITHDRAWN

• Article 19 – Amend to General Bylaw Article XIV, Section 5.9 – This is an article to increase the fines for outdoor watering when there is a watering ban. WITHDRAWN

  The current fines—written warning → $50 fine → $100 per day thereafter—have been static for a long time. However, the last few summers have been exceptionally dry, and the water level at Mill Pond (where we get a lot of our water) has gotten critically low. The town has asked residents to be mindful of outdoor watering for the benefit of the whole community.

  Now, there is talk of increasing the fines for those who aren’t convinced by the collective responsibility argument. After the first written warning, the second offense would garner a $100 fine, and the third and subsequent offenses would rack up $300 per day.

  The General Bylaw Review Committee voted 3-3 in favor of supporting this article. Some arguments:

  In favor:

  • People don’t want to run out of drinking water

  • Fines aren’t painful enough yet (see argument above)

  Against:

  • We already don’t have clean drinking water*, so why should we pay more to use it on our lawns?

  • We are still going to have outdoor watering bans after we are fully on MWRA water, and increasing the fines won’t change that. In other words, this isn’t a temporary situation.

  • That’s a big increase, and financially people are finding themselves having to decide whether to let an expensive, freshly-installed lawn die or spend even more money on fines for watering illegally.

  • The money collected from fines will be going toward the general fund, not toward education and helping residents figure out alternatives to a lush grass lawn.

  *According to my many conversations with folks (including now-retired DPW director, John Sanchez) about water, the water coming from the MWRA does not contain PFAS above allowable levels, and the filters installed at Mill Pond should be active quite soon.