Compiled by Kim Siebert MacPhail
On Monday, November 4, the citizens of the Town Of Bedford will gather at 7:30 pm in the Bedford High School auditorium to conduct the business of the town at the Special Town Meeting. All Bedford citizens may attend; those not registered may not cast votes, but are nonetheless welcome to participate in the discussions that take place in this all-town, open meeting held twice a year, fall and spring.
Special Town Meeting warrants have been mailed to every household and are also available online: https://www.bedfordma.gov/home/news/special-town-meeting-warrant
This November, there are 18 articles of business on the warrant. Moderator Betsey Anderson will guide participants through the proceedings, keeping order and explaining the process as the situation requires.
The meeting commonly starts with several committee reports, then moves to the article that opens each Town Meeting: Article 1—Debate Rules. Most articles, like Article 1, require a majority vote. A show of hands is sometimes used when the outcome of a voice vote is too hard to determine.
Some articles, particularly zoning bylaw changes and those asking voters to allow the Town to borrow funds (otherwise known as “bonding” articles), require a 2/3 vote rather than a simple majority. Moderator Anderson will announce before each vote which type of article is being moved so that participants know whether the outcome will be decided by 50% or a 2/3 majority vote.
Leading up to the Special Town Meeting, The Bedford Citizen has covered in depth two of the issues that are slated for discussion on November 4: Article 12—Community Preservation Budget and Article 13—Bond Authorization: Town Hall Building System Replacement. Below are links to those articles as reported in earlier editions of The Citizen. The Special Town Meeting warrant [refer to the link above] also has detailed descriptions of what voters are being asked to consider.
Article 12—Community Preservation Budget
The Community Preservation Committee oversees funds earmarked for open space, historic preservation, recreation and affordable housing under the provisions of the 2000 Massachusetts Community Preservation Act.
Below is a link to coverage of the meeting at which the Community Preservation Committee discussed and voted on what to recommend for funding in this round of projects. (It should be noted that some of the amounts and the positioning of these line items have changed between the Committee’s vote and the printing of the warrant, although the basic parameters of the items remain the same.) https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/09/24/community-preservation-makes-recommendations-for-november-town-meeting-vote/
One of the Community Preservation line items is the Affordable Housing Life Management Collaborative that was the subject of a Bedford Housing Authority presentation earlier this month: https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/10/18/bha-discusses-affordable-housing-life-management-program/
The presentation was followed by a letter to the community written by BHA Chair Gene Clerkin: https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/10/19/letter-to-the-editor-bha-life-management-program-follow-up/
As happens every year at Special Town Meeting, voters will be asked to consider continuation of the 3% Community Preservation surcharge that Town Finance Director Victor Garofalo says has brought over $8M dollars in matching funds from the State since Bedford (the first community to do so) adopted the Act at Annual Town Meeting in March of 2001. This year, the Community Preservation surcharge is the subject of Article 11.
For a list of projects that have been funded by Community Preservation funds, visit https://www.bedfordma.gov/sites/bedfordma/files/file/file/cpc_progpln_fall_2013.pdf
Article 13—Bond Authorization: Town Hall Building System Replacement
While this project has been in the early stages of development for over a year and a half, the most recent estimate for systems replacement work on the Town Hall is $2.975M, up from the original estimate of $1.5M.
Following recent discussions about the project at the October 21 Selectmen’s meeting [https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/10/25/decision-postponed-on-town-hall-project-with-startling-price-tag/], the Capital Expenditures Committee met and voted unanimously to recommend “indefinite postponement” of the article, meaning that if the Selectmen agree, voters could decide to discuss the article at a later date when more information will be available about such factors as utilities rebates and funding sources. [See https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2013/10/28/capex-recommends-postponement-of-town-hall-maintenance-article/]
In the coming days before Special Town Meeting, The Bedford Citizen will report more information about the Bicycle Master Plan which is also a line item under Article 12—Community Preservation Budget.
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