June 9th Town Meeting Update: Articles 13 and 14 Pass, Article 47 Fails

As a reminder, the May 16, 2022 Town Meeting has been rescheduled. Town meeting will now be held on the following dates via Zoom:

• June 6, 2022
• June 7, 2022
• June 9, 2022
• June 13, 2022
• June 14, 2022

Milton Residents can watch Town Meeting via live stream on Milton Access TV by clicking here.

To view the Annual Town Meeting Warrant, please click here: https://www.townofmilton.org/town-moderator/pages/town-meeting.

A Town Meeting member made a request for Article 17 to be reopened and reconsidered. After multiple points of order and back and forth discussion, the motion to reopen failed.

Brian Walsh was appointed temporary moderator for Articles 13 and 14.

Article 13 Appropriation for Electronic Voting.

Article 13 was a heavily discussed and debated Article with several motions to amend made.

Town Meeting member Robert Kelly urged Town Meeting members to vote no. He cited overtime use as a concern, stating, “there is a substantial amount of overtime being expended by the Town already in other departments, the Town does not need to be spending even more money on overtime.”

While others were somewhat on the fence about the article, like Town Meeting member Douglas Hyne, who stated that he “likes the idea, but the timing isn’t right.”

Town Meeting member Kevin Donahue rose in support of this Article, stating he believes it is “money and time well spent.”

When it came time for the vote, Article 13 passed.

Article 14 Amend Chapter Two of General Bylaws to include Electronic Voting.

When it came time for the vote, Article 14 passed with the recommended language changes.

Article 47 Citizens’ Petition – Algerine Corner.

A special request to move Article 47 to this meeting was approved. Gerard Burke, the citizen behind the petition presented a slide presentation highlighting his reasons behind not wanting the Algerine Corner Stormwater BMP project to move forward. His presentation provided points regarding the disadvantages of water retention areas.

Information on the Algerine Corner proposed design can be found here: https://www.townofmilton.org/stormwater-management/pages/algerine-corner-stormwater-bmp-proposed-design. 

Town Meeting member Sean Fahy would like to find an “alternative means of accomplishing what we want to accomplish before we use an area such as Algerine Corner.”

DPW Director Chase Berkeley mentioned that all work has been paused due to the legal review of the project.

Town Meeting member Diane Agostino would like to “keep the land healthy for the neighborhood.”

When it came time to vote, the motion failed.