Approval and Signing of Special Town Meeting Warrant

[00:00:00] 2025. If we could stand for the pledge
[00:00:03] of
[00:00:05] [Music]
[00:00:10] allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the
[00:00:13] United States of America and to the
[00:00:16] republic for which it stands. One nation
[00:00:19] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[00:00:21] justice for all. Mad recording
[00:00:26] and um this is not a normal meeting. So,
[00:00:29] this is the only thing that's on the
[00:00:30] agenda tonight is discussion and vote to
[00:00:32] sign on the April 24th special town
[00:00:35] meeting warrant. And we did get changes
[00:00:38] back from town council. And both the
[00:00:41] board and the planning board has seen
[00:00:43] those changes. So, the intention tonight
[00:00:46] is to vote to approve the warrant the
[00:00:49] warrant, excuse me,
[00:00:53] as tweaked by town council.
[00:00:56] So, that's our intention is to vote that
[00:00:59] way. You folks have a meeting at 6:00
[00:01:03] tonight or 6:30, sorry. Um, with the
[00:01:07] intention to do the same thing as long
[00:01:08] as they're the same, the meeting can go
[00:01:12] on. Correct. Whatever you vote and sign,
[00:01:15] whatever you vote for is what happens.
[00:01:17] they so if they have a a qual or
[00:01:21] disagreement with it depending upon what
[00:01:23] that is and what the article reads okay
[00:01:26] you know but at the end of the day
[00:01:27] whatever you vote on tonight right is
[00:01:31] what is what goes to town correct right
[00:01:34] they can sorry so you can yeah you can
[00:01:36] vote and you can incorporate the changes
[00:01:39] into the warrant and you can sign it by
[00:01:40] the 10th it's it's whatever you're
[00:01:43] voting correct is what will be on the
[00:01:45] warrant make an amendment on the floor,
[00:01:47] but what is going to go to the special
[00:01:49] time is what you're voting on. Correct.
[00:01:51] Yeah, that makes sense. Although I don't
[00:01:54] think you got you didn't get and forward
[00:01:56] what I said, right? Could I could I read
[00:01:58] that quick? Cuz I'm I'm thinking
[00:02:01] this could be divided into things about
[00:02:03] the warrant itself. And by the way,
[00:02:05] thank you. Sent to legal was good. They
[00:02:07] had some good good points particularly
[00:02:09] about the warrant. Um and you know, it
[00:02:12] has to be a twothirds to pass so forth,
[00:02:14] stuff like that. Um like I said last
[00:02:17] time we were here
[00:02:19] um my feeling about the content
[00:02:21] questions
[00:02:23] um like he had a couple that were
[00:02:24] already looking at and considering
[00:02:27] amending on the floor which had to do
[00:02:29] with the maximum size maximum acreage
[00:02:32] and some stuff like that that I think
[00:02:34] we'll we would be happy handling as
[00:02:38] anybody could as amendments on the
[00:02:40] floor. But the warrant, I'm sure you
[00:02:43] don't want to sign a warrant without the
[00:02:46] changes that we want to put in the
[00:02:48] warrant part of it, you know. So that
[00:02:50] what I had said was, you know, I had I
[00:02:54] just said whatever. Yeah. Again, thanks.
[00:02:56] And we've got several we want to take
[00:02:58] several legal suggestion on several
[00:03:00] items.
[00:03:02] I think it could be done by amendment to
[00:03:03] the warrant by the select board before
[00:03:05] signing the warrant to in and number one
[00:03:08] was to insert in or after the
[00:03:10] description of each of the six articles
[00:03:12] the phrase a 2/3 favorable vote is
[00:03:14] required to amend. You don't need to do
[00:03:16] that. That's just the law. Yeah. So you
[00:03:19] don't need to do
[00:03:20] that. Brian points that out during a
[00:03:24] meeting like what is if I may if I just
[00:03:26] may interject I always and this is
[00:03:29] another one of the things where it's
[00:03:30] like I would never say the vote passes
[00:03:33] 60 to 40 I would say the vote receives
[00:03:36] 60 in the firm and 40 in the negative
[00:03:38] because of the fact that my declaration
[00:03:40] is just that the declaration of the vote
[00:03:42] the interpretation of it is what matters
[00:03:44] later so if it if it required a 2/3 and
[00:03:47] I say it passed 60 to 40 but it really
[00:03:50] didn't because it needed a 2/3 vote.
[00:03:53] That's that's why I always do it that
[00:03:55] way. And the thing is is I don't we can
[00:03:57] you can announce it. People can announce
[00:03:58] it at the meeting, but it never it
[00:04:00] should never be in the warrant. What the
[00:04:02] vote quantum should be for something to
[00:04:04] pass. The warrant is just not the
[00:04:06] business. I heard you say that before
[00:04:07] and along with also the same thing about
[00:04:09] who's sponsoring him. On the other hand,
[00:04:11] um legal legal was pointing that out. I
[00:04:14] thought he would say, you know, so
[00:04:16] that's fine if it was you. So that's not
[00:04:19] necessary. So, our intention is to vote
[00:04:22] on the warrant
[00:04:24] as modified. I'm going to say right as
[00:04:27] modified, amended by town
[00:04:30] council. That is what you folks need to
[00:04:33] go forward with during your meeting or
[00:04:37] change it on the floor during town
[00:04:39] meeting. Does that make sense? Except
[00:04:42] that some of his some of his stuff was
[00:04:43] just suggestions. Are you saying that
[00:04:45] every suggestion that he made you would
[00:04:47] want to incorporate in the warrant that
[00:04:49] we then that you that you sign? Well,
[00:04:52] it's either that or we can't sign it
[00:04:54] tonight and then it's not happening. So,
[00:04:56] we sign
[00:04:57] it based on
[00:05:00] that or and and again like Justine said,
[00:05:04] you can amend it on the floor.
[00:05:06] Absolutely. That's what we're we're
[00:05:08] we're already figuring to
[00:05:11] just think it's important to remember
[00:05:12] like this is the select board's warrant.
[00:05:14] Um it's the select boards calling for
[00:05:17] the special town meeting. Um so it's
[00:05:19] it's the select board's discretion. It's
[00:05:22] just how they want to set their
[00:05:24] boarding.
[00:05:28] and where he suggested he said, "Oh, you
[00:05:30] may not want to you might want to take
[00:05:32] these in a different order or reumber
[00:05:34] them so that the battery one, which if
[00:05:37] passed requires some change in the
[00:05:40] proposed in the use table, use
[00:05:42] regulations." But he was like saying,
[00:05:44] "Well, put it put it put it down put
[00:05:49] that after first do the one so that you
[00:05:53] well the you don't adopt something in
[00:05:55] the table if you don't have the You can
[00:05:57] take them in any order. Yeah, you can.
[00:06:00] That's correct, too. That's what I
[00:06:01] think. So, we'll be suggesting then we
[00:06:04] can leave them as it is, but then when
[00:06:05] it comes down to one and then take them
[00:06:07] in whatever order after the other gone
[00:06:10] by. Correct. That would make perfect
[00:06:12] sense to me.
[00:06:16] Um Um Okay. Okay. So, you're you're just
[00:06:20] with what was printed in his copy coming
[00:06:22] back, you want to set that as the and
[00:06:26] where he had something that said, for
[00:06:28] example,
[00:06:29] um because of the, you know, the 483 bit
[00:06:34] about solar regulation that they might
[00:06:37] have a question about this, you know,
[00:06:39] about whether the maximum acreage of a
[00:06:41] solar facility.
[00:06:42] uh we're already talking about that that
[00:06:44] maybe having looked at some other towns
[00:06:46] that have that have had that rejected,
[00:06:48] you know, we want to make it so that
[00:06:50] they're workable, they're reasonable,
[00:06:52] right? But
[00:06:53] um when there's a suggestion like that,
[00:06:57] you know, I mean, that's something that
[00:06:59] we we figure to do on the floor and it's
[00:07:01] just a suggestion because it doesn't
[00:07:03] make it correct. So, anything that
[00:07:05] anything that town council advised to
[00:07:08] amend,
[00:07:10] okay, that would be what we're what
[00:07:12] we'll vote on when it comes to a
[00:07:14] suggestion or a then you take that up on
[00:07:18] the floor as the article was already
[00:07:20] written and then take it up on the
[00:07:22] floor. Okay. And then we'll we will um
[00:07:26] dress that up a little bit formatwise,
[00:07:29] not contentwise, and put it on the we'll
[00:07:32] give you what's
[00:07:34] needed to post, right? It needs to be
[00:07:37] posted by Thursday. And and yeah, it
[00:07:39] needs to be posted by Thursday. I need
[00:07:41] the actual warrant with all of the
[00:07:43] verbiage contained within. Correct. So,
[00:07:47] I thought we were going to have that
[00:07:49] here to review. The problem is if we
[00:07:52] accept all changes, we're taking out all
[00:07:54] that like it's accepting all changes
[00:07:57] because they've changed, you know, they
[00:08:00] have stuff in bold, they have stuff
[00:08:02] crossed out. So, if we go ahead and
[00:08:04] accept all track changes and stop
[00:08:07] tracking, then we're messing with it has
[00:08:10] to be done. We can't just accept it all.
[00:08:13] All right. So, you're going to you're
[00:08:14] going to, Madam Chair, you're going to
[00:08:15] hate me for this. Um, just a suggestion
[00:08:18] once you've ironed this all out. Why
[00:08:20] don't you move to recess or adjourn this
[00:08:22] meeting until tomorrow? That way we all
[00:08:28] know. Look, I mean, with all due
[00:08:31] respect,
[00:08:32] I'm going to be the one posting. I'm
[00:08:34] going to be the one running the meeting.
[00:08:35] I'm going to be the one recording the
[00:08:37] meeting. And right now, I have nothing.
[00:08:39] So, I can't even I can't even make an
[00:08:41] opinion regarding something like, you
[00:08:44] know, with the suggestions to say
[00:08:45] whether or not that would even be proper
[00:08:48] for someone to do. So, I can do is after
[00:08:51] this after this meeting, after the
[00:08:54] planning board meeting at 6:30,
[00:08:57] I can I can go in and clean that up and
[00:08:58] get it over to you. Right. I need to see
[00:09:00] I need to know how they're what they're
[00:09:02] I understand but what I'm saying is that
[00:09:03] whatever they decide to vote on is what
[00:09:05] the warrant is. So if they have changes
[00:09:07] after the they can't make changes after
[00:09:10] so it's only the amended
[00:09:13] not any suggestions it's the amended
[00:09:16] warrant but they council they gave you
[00:09:19] the the verbiage and the language for
[00:09:21] each article that needs to be correct.
[00:09:23] Okay that's fine. So if it's other
[00:09:25] things were only things to like kind of
[00:09:28] think about, you know, I'm not taking as
[00:09:31] other comments. It's not a normal but
[00:09:33] this this speaks to the thing that two
[00:09:35] weeks ago you were sitting there saying
[00:09:38] why are we why are we doing this now?
[00:09:40] Why shouldn't we wait till the to the
[00:09:42] annual town meeting and now this is now
[00:09:45] we've got fluid. Now we've got a missing
[00:09:47] board member and now you're talking
[00:09:50] about changing some things. This is
[00:09:52] we're not we're changing it. We're It's
[00:09:54] amended because town council reviewed it
[00:09:57] and that's what we wanted them to do. So
[00:09:58] you so you could so you could vote to
[00:10:01] accept as amended by town council.
[00:10:04] Correct. Thank you. That's correct.
[00:10:06] That's fine. And we we certainly we're
[00:10:09] going to meet again um to say what
[00:10:13] amendments, if any, do we think are
[00:10:16] necessary to raise at the floor of the
[00:10:17] special town meeting. But we're
[00:10:18] certainly happy to be able to say even
[00:10:21] later tonight at our meeting and at the
[00:10:23] next meeting and have posted, you know,
[00:10:24] that this is right. This is coming up
[00:10:26] and here's the warrant and the warrant's
[00:10:28] available what the post
[00:10:30] office. It's the it's the three post
[00:10:32] offices, the bulletin board and it will
[00:10:34] be on the website. Yeah. So, it's and
[00:10:36] that you you have that that came back
[00:10:39] from um from legal. So, that's just
[00:10:42] printing that up and that' be what?
[00:10:44] Well, except that if we go ahead and
[00:10:45] accept changes, it's also the changes
[00:10:49] you've made. I can do it once, right? We
[00:10:52] don't want to mess up what you've made
[00:10:54] changes to. We haven't made any changes
[00:10:56] since what went off to legal. Yeah.
[00:10:58] Correct. But it's still going to because
[00:11:01] it's a word document. It would take them
[00:11:03] It would change it all. Just do one at a
[00:11:05] time. So, like what you've lined out,
[00:11:06] what you've it would accept those and
[00:11:09] you still want to see that in the
[00:11:10] warrant. And I Yeah. And we also you
[00:11:12] need to everyone still needs to see that
[00:11:14] in the one. Right. So we just don't want
[00:11:16] she has to do it one at a time rather
[00:11:18] than just accept it all so we have it in
[00:11:20] front of us. Okay. That's that's fine.
[00:11:24] Right. Um then it's posted and then
[00:11:27] we'll we'll that'll get up on correct on
[00:11:29] the website and be at the meeting and
[00:11:31] we'll have printed copies at the
[00:11:32] meeting. So what your board has to do is
[00:11:36] you know accept it the same
[00:11:38] manner to change you know accept
[00:11:42] to except the amended yeah I can't even
[00:11:46] speak tonight changes from town
[00:11:49] council and then change it you know
[00:11:52] amend anything on the floor if if
[00:11:54] necessary
[00:11:55] right but we already have that copy so
[00:11:57] you're not actually talking about
[00:11:58] changing anything in the warrant that
[00:12:01] came back from town council that whole
[00:12:02] No, that's all right. So that's what we
[00:12:04] sent over before. Correct. We saw his
[00:12:06] comments back so we know what we're
[00:12:08] going to be signing tonight and we'll
[00:12:10] we'll get up on our own to plan any
[00:12:13] amendments but not the change of law.
[00:12:15] Perfect. Correct. Okay. As long as
[00:12:16] everyone understands that it's the only
[00:12:19] because your meeting's after ours and if
[00:12:22] we want to, you know. Yeah. Right. So,
[00:12:25] okay. Madam Chair, are you going to read
[00:12:27] Mr. Tinker's letter? I'm not and I'm not
[00:12:29] taking any visitor comments tonight.
[00:12:33] You looking for a motion? Yes, please. I
[00:12:36] move that we sign the warrant for the
[00:12:40] planning board meeting.
[00:12:43] Special town meeting. Special town.
[00:12:46] Special town meeting. April 24th.
[00:12:48] Correct. As amended by town as amended
[00:12:51] by town council. Correct. Want me to
[00:12:53] start again? Yeah. Yes. Thank you. Okay.
[00:12:55] I'm sorry. I I move that we uh sign the
[00:13:00] warrant for the April 24th, 2025 special
[00:13:05] town meeting
[00:13:08] amended as amended by town council house
[00:13:11] 6:30 the no.
[00:13:15] It's just the warrant the meeting we've
[00:13:17] already voted on that was voted on for
[00:13:19] the suggestion. Right. Correct. And I'll
[00:13:22] second that. All in favor? I
[00:13:26] I move we adjourn.
[00:13:29] Second. All in favor? I