A Voter's View of the Second Night of Canton's Town Meeting

If you did not believe me that can be interesting and did not attend Wednesday’s session of Town Meeting, you missed out on one of the more interesting discussions.

At Monday’s Town Meeting session, the last article that was voted on was whether or not Canton should adopt a as authorized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  After a lengthy debate, the vote ended in a tie. Since a majority vote was needed to pass the article, the motion failed.

I had wondered myself if a tie should result in an automatic re-count. Furthermore, the vote counting was a little confusing.  It was a standing count and it appeared as if some people sat down prior to actually being counted.  Leaving Town Meeting, I wished I had thought quickly enough to stand and move for a re-count, not necessarily to change the vote but just because it was so close.

The first order of business on Wednesday was a point of order motion as to whether a recount of that vote was in order.  Town Moderator Jonathan Arata referenced town by-laws which indicated that the Moderator had discretion as to whether or not to hold a recount. The next point of order motion was to call for the Local Meals Tax article to be reconsidered by Town Meeting. Upon hearing a second on that motion, the Moderator declared that this article, and related budget articles, would be heard Monday, adding a third night to Town Meeting.

Other voters rose and asked the Moderator why there was no vote on the reconsideration motion.  According to the Moderator, any reconsideration motion cannot be voted on at all until 36 hours have passed since the motion was made.  This was cause for some debate and discussion. The bottom line is that the motion to reconsider the article will be on tap for Monday night.  If the reconsideration motion passes, the Local Meals Tax article will be brought up again.

Town Meeting then moved forward.  One of the big articles to be considered was the , which would impose a 1% real estate tax to be used for specific open space, recreation and historic preservation purposes.  These funds are matched (in part) by the state. After an impassioned debate, the article passed.  Now that it has passed Town Meeting, it will go to a townwide ballot vote in April 2012.  Stay tuned for more information on that!

Finally, to the relief of many in attendance, the article to approve the acquisition of and reservoir pond dam came before Town Meeting. Many Precinct 2 voters were present as they live in the neighborhoods surrounding Reservoir Pond. They were quite happy to have that article voted on and approved.

The third (and probably final) night of Town Meeting will be on Monday, May 2 at 7:00 pm. at Canton High School.