Town Meeting Night 2 - Weds 4/27

 Session 2 of Arlington's 215th Annual Town Meeting

There were a number of voting glitches and we had to vote in waves (instead of all voting in a normal open-voting time).

Reports (including the Finance Committee were received). Here's the bad news - after 2024 because the ARPA funds disappear, we will need a large override unless spending can be cut.

The long range budget:

By 9pm, things were going pretty slowly.   At least one TM Member was unable to vote on Article 6 and said the voting process was worse than last year.  On Article 7, a member wanted to speak but had technical issues.

Article 7 BYLAW AMENDMENT/ YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULT ADVISORY BOARD - we voted to create an organization of 21 precincts and 42 youth and young adult members who will provide vision and voice of the young people of Arlington to the Town, and interface back to the youth from the Town.

Article 8 BYLAW AMENDMENT/CIVILIAN POLICE ADVISORY COMMISSION
Town Meeting voted to amend the Town Bylaws to establish a Commission to provide a public forum for feedback on policing in the Town, to educate the public about their options for filing complaints and commendations regarding police conduct, to guide community members in filing complaints and commendations, to work with the Arlington Police Department to analyze and publish data on policing, and to comment on police policies and procedures; setting forth the membership, duties and responsibilities, administration, and requirements of such Commission; or take any action related thereto.  

There was a lot of question and debate about this, 2 different Amendments (one preventing former police officers from joining the civilian police advisory commission. Both passed (preventing former non-Arlington police from joining, and expanding the set of competencies of members of the commission.)

Fun fact: We are the 21st safest community out of more than 350 communities in the Commonwealth!

Immediately, there was notice of reconsideration on Article 8 - meaning someone who voted on the Article wanted to ask TM to run the vote again (meaning that something was unclear or there was some reason that the affirmative vote would not have been cast.).

And we concluded at about 11:10pm