[Rich, 02:23]
A Wet Arlington?

• Note from me -- when Town Meeting approves a home rule petition, the Moderator always asks for a counted vote no matter how overwhelming the approval, as the Legislature likes to see the actual margin of support in the record.
• Called to order at 20:04.
• Article 2 taken from the table.
• Article 2 - Reports of Committees:
  • Ms. Howard presented the Vision 2020 report which will shortly be avilable at the V2020 website.
  • Article 2 tabled.
• Ms. Mahon moved to table Articles 37-93, approved.
• Article 94 - Home Rule Petition/Package Stores:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report to authorize the BoS to file a home rule petition to put on the 2005 town election ballot the question of whether to authorize up to three licenses for sale of alcohol for off-premises consumption.
  • Ms. Mahon said the petition would give the voters a choice between all-alcohol stores and beer and wine stores, and that the BoS plans to have a wide-ranging process with plenty of discussion leading up to the 2005 vote, and wants any such stores to be tasteful. One hope is that it will help foot traffic in the business districts. She said there will be strict rules and regulations.
  • Mr. Fiore said that people have already decided they do not want these stores. He said that if the people are giving the chance to vote, he is worried that a telemarketing campaign will sway the vote. He said he is also worried about store interests putting pressure on the BoS and urged the meeting to vote no.
  • Mr. Jamieson asked how much revenue would be generated. Mr. Hurd said $2,000 per license. Mr. Jamieson asked if the vote would allow wine tastings, as the requested language would only authorize off-premises consumption. Mr. Maher said it would not. Mr. Jamieson asked about the Winchester process. Town Manager Sullivan said Winchester filed a home-rule petition to increase the number of stores and that there were extensive discussions about criteria, such as the type of store, parking issues, and neighborhood issues. He said there were strict guidelines. Mr. Jamieson asked if the questions to be put on the ballot could be amended. Mr. Maher said they could not, but the BoS as a licensing board has flexibility to set conditions.
  • Mr. Ruderman asked if proposed guidelines would be in place before the 2005 vote. Mr. Maher said they would be. Mr. Ruderman said he would prefer to have some idea of them now. He wondered how a "nice" store could be defined and doubted a beer and wine only store was feasible. He said he would vote no since there were no guidelines to examine.
  • Mr. Cacavarro wondered why such stores are needed since there are so many in neighboring municipalities. He said the proposal does not makes sense and should be voted down.
  • Mr. Abbott said there is plenty of beer and wine around -- one need only stop by typical teen hangouts. He asked why the BoS cannot put the question on the ballot itself. Mr. Maher said the BoS can only put non-binding public opinion questions on the ballot. Anything else requires state authorization. Mr. Abbott questioned whether the increased convenience would be worth it.
  • Mr. McKinney said in a previous job he worked on producing drug abuse literature and that drinking is simply recreational drug use. He said he was against the proposal and that if it did go forward, the Town should only allow Town-run stores.
  • Mr. Dunn asked when the last time a store proposal was on the ballot. Mr. Maher said it has never happened. Mr. Dunn said many objections by others were red herrings and that the people of the Town should get to decide.
  • Ms. LaCourt asked if any law enforcement personnel could speak to the topic. There were none, as Chief Ryan was home sick. She said there was no reason to believe in-town stores would increase underage drinking, and as she would like to support local businesses, she was in favor of the proposal.
  • Mr. Fischer said he was opposed and that the Town has more important things to do. He asked if stores would be open on Sunday and if they could be prevented from selling nips. Mr. Maher said probably and no.
  • Mr. O'Riordan asked what the inspectional requirements would be and which Town bodies would be involved. Ms. Mahon said the APD, the Board of Health, the state ABCC, and the BoS would all be involved.
  • Mr. Bernardin moved the previous question, approved, challenged, approved 120-47 - debate terminated.
  • BoS recommendation defeated on a voice vote, challenged, approved 109-63 on a counted vote.
• Ms. Mahon moved to remove Articles 37-93 from the table, approved.
• Article 37 - Home Rule Petition/Package Stores:
  • BoS recommended no action as set forth in its report.
  • Ms. Mahon said the Article 94 vote made this moot.
  • BoS recommendation approved.
• Article 38 - Home Rule Petition/All-Alcohol Licenses:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report to authorize the BoS to file a home rule petition to put on the 2005 town election ballot the question of whether to authorize an additional five all-alcohol licenses for on-premises consumption.
  • Ms. Mahon said that five licenses are authorized and four of them are out (N.B. flora's, Shanghai Village, NYAJ's, and Jimmy's). She said the BoS would like more flexibility and so would like to see the allowable licenses doubled. She said that would not mean all ten would be given out.
  • Mr. Judd said there does not seem to be many DUI or drunken persons reports in the blotter, and those that do appear tend to be from out of town. He said that due both to laws and to liability risks, the rules are strict and that so far the Town has regulated the restaurant licenses well. He said he favors the recommendation and noted that adults should be left to make their own choices to drink or not. He said that he himself was an alcoholic, though has not had a drink since 1985, and that people can get over it. He said lack of local availability obviously is not stopping underage people from obtaining alcohol and that the question should be left to the voters.
  • Mr. Greeley asked for support of the proposal and said the voters should have the chance to decide. He said no one is currently interested in any extra licenses.
  • Ms. Mann said the long-term competitiveness of the town must be considered and that banning alcohol will not stop underage drinking. She said she supported the proposal, since it would provide various boards with more options for town planning.
  • Mr. Ruderman asked how many restaurants currently meet the license criteria. Mr. Greeley said only the four that currently have licenses.
  • Mr. Ford said he was in favor of this proposal though not the store proposal. He said he was worried about the voters being confused with both proposals on the ballot.
  • Mr. Cleinman asked if the 99-seat requirement would be retained and worried if it would be an impediment to new restaurants. Mr. Maher said the 99-seat rules was in the original vote to establish these licenses and so could not be changed. Mr. Cleinman said he was in favor of the proposal.
  • Ms. Fiore said the Town first got liquor licenses in 1970 and that 34 years later the Town can barely use all five and that beer and wine licenses are everywhere, as only 19 seats are needed. She said she does not drink and always votes against liquor. She said liquor much more than drugs causes problems in town and that the proposal should be voted down.
  • Mr. Abbott moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • BoS recommendation approved on a voice vote, approved 154-15 on a counted vote.
• Article 39 - Revolving Funds:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report to reauthorize the revolving funds.
  • Ms. Mahon made an amendment to change the upset balance in Section A from $50,000 to $200,000, to put in a $20,000 upset balance in Section G, to put in a $2,000 upset balance in Section H, and fix a typo ($526.15 should be $3526.15) in Section C.
  • Mr. O'Conor moved to table the article due to issues with the Hardy School Program - defeated.
  • Ms. Harrington asked about the $50,000 to $200,000 increase. Mr. Moderator said it was because of the "down payment" increase under Article 23. Mr. Maher said the number is an estimate as some limit must be specified, but slack is desirable. He pointed out that revolving funds do not affect the tax rate. Ms. Harrington asked if the number is a guess. Mr. Maher said it is an educated guess and the idea is to not be so low as to hamstring the fund.
  • Mr. McKinney questioned whether the Uncle Sam Committee should continue to exist as it spends no money and has no meetings. Ms. Mahon said it participates in Town Day and in some events and helps raise the profile of the Town.
  • Mr. Malone asked to postpone the article to 26 May due to discrepancies in the Hardy program.
  • Mr. Foskett noted the vote is not an appropriation.
  • Malone motion to postpone defeated.
  • BoS motion as amended approved.
• Article 40 - CDBG Endorsement: Ms. Mahon moved to table as the printed report is not yet ready, approved.
• Article 41 - Home Rule Petition/Town Counsel Residency:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report to authorize the BoS to file a home-rule petition to eliminate the residency requirement for the job of Town Counsel.
  • Ms. Mahon said Town Counsel is the only job remaining with a residency requirement and that the requirement should be eliminated. She said that in any case Mr. Maher has represented he will remain a resident.
  • Mr. Judd said he would prefer to see these employees be required to be residents, that he was against removing the Town Manager residency requirement and that he was against this. He said he hoped the hiring authority would hire a resident.
  • BoS recommendation approved on a voice vote, approved 100-20 on a counted vote.
• Article 42 - Authority to File for Grants:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report to authorize certain persons to file for grants.
  • Mr. Judd asked if the language would unnecessarily preclude others from seeking grants. Ms. Mahon said the vote is not legally required, but that grant givers like to see that authorization present. Mr. Judd asked about non-mentioned people. Mr. Maher said no one except those mentioned file for grants.
  • Mr. Cleinman also said authorization statements were nice to have.
  • BoS recommendation approved unanimously
• Article 43 - On Street Parking:
  • BoS recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • Ms. Mahon said that among other things, there are issues with small streets in east Arlington. She said the BoS does not believe allowing on-street parking will help the Town.
  • Mr. Candelas presented a substitute motion to urge the BoS to allow weekday 07:00-19:00 parking with a sticker on all streets except Massachusetts Avenue. He introduced Mr. Rowe. Mr. Rowe thanked TM for letting him build on Water Street and said that businesses still need help. He said there is an unhealthy imbalance between employee and residential parking and that 455 jobs have been lost in three years due to employers leaving over parking issues. He said businesses are willing to pay more for stickers and that especially after taking away the 90 stickers Arlington Catholic students have, the 160 available stickers are far too few. He urged passage of the substitute motion.
  • Mr. Smith asked if the BoS could do this without TM action. Mr. Maher said the vote would be advisory only. Mr. Smith said it was better to spend TM time and energy elsewhere.
  • Mr. Bernardin asked what the final sentence of the motion meant. Mr. Hurd said it meant people with stickers could park in one spot beyond the usual time.
  • Ms. Gormley said she was also an executive member of the Chamber of Commerce and that she was against the substitute because it does not do what the Chamber wants and because more thought is needed over exactly what to do.
  • Mr. Ruderman urged rejection of the substitute, saying it would not create any more spaces and would tilt the parking balance too far in favor of employees.
  • Ms. Munsey said she was opposed, as she knows too many people battling with being parked in, having to park too far away from their houses, and so forth. She said the impact of such a policy on residents must be considered.
  • Ms. Mahon said 35-45 stickers for Water Street remain for all months except June-August, and over 100 remain for those months. She said the BoS is sensitive to business concerns but that it also wants to strike the proper balance. She said the TAC is considering the issue.
  • Mr. Candelas said the surplus stickers at Water Street are meaningless because the lot is full of non-stickered cars who are never ticketed for violating the rules. He said employees are already all-day parking on the streets and the Town is getting nothing for it. He said the Town has talked and talked about the problem but has not done anything and that his motion would be a start.
  • Mr. Gilligan moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • Candelas substitute motion defeated.
  • BoS recommendation approved.
• Article 44 - Home Rule Petition/Insurance Trust Fund:
  • BoS recommended a vote to authorize the BoS to file home-rule legislation that would allow the Town to appropriate $1,500,000 from the insurance trust fund into the stabilization fund.
  • Deputy Town Manager Galkowski recapped the BoS comment in its report and said an analysis showed that $800,000 remaining in the fund would last at least 10 years if we had a loss every year.
  • Mr. Foskett said FinComm supported the BoS recommendation.
  • Mr. Kohl asked if the $100,000 deductible was per year or per loss. Ms. Galkowski said it was per loss. Mr. Kohl asked when before the library appropriation was the fund last used. Ms. Galkowski said it had not been used in at least 18 years. Mr. Kohl said he supported the proposal.
  • Mr. Fischer asked what the policy costs and what the policy limit is. Ms. Galkowski said it cost $40,000-$50,000 and the limit is the replacement cost of all Town-owned buildings. Mr. Fischer asked if the Town self-insures. Ms. Galskowski said the Town joined a self-insurance co-op and the "premium" is the Town's payment into the co-op. Mr. Fischer said he would like to see the money better leveraged and said he was against the proposal.
  • Mr. Judd said the FinComm report showed $300,000 for indemnity insurance and $39,000 for liability. He asked if the Town should just grow the fund and self-insure. Mr. Foskett said the total value of Town assets was $54 million and that it is impossible to self-insure without a reserve. Mr. Judd asked if it were worth raising our deductible to lower premiums. Ms. Galkowski said she looked into it but the premium savings were negligible. She also said auto insurance was the bulk of the insurance costs in the budget items Mr. Judd cited.
  • Mr. Dumyahn asked about the Dallin School damage and was told by Ms. Galkowski that no one made a request for reimbursement from the fund.
  • Mr. Abbott said the Town should not be sitting on the funds, but asked why two sets of numbers were different in different reports. Mr. Foskett said one difference was because in one case monies ended up being appropriated in two calendar years, and in the other case because the BoS made a typo in its report (on the fund balance).
  • Mr. Starr moved the previous question - debate terminated.
  • BoS recommendation approved on voice vote, approved 124-2 on a counted vote.
• Article 45 - Home Rule Petition/Insurance Trust Fund:
  • BoS recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • BoS recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 46 - Establish Committee/Information Systems:
  • BoS recommended a vote of no action as set forth in its report.
  • BoS recommendation approved unanimously.
• Article 47 - Establish Committee/Technical Advisory:
  • BoS recommended a vote as set forth in its report to create such a committee.
  • Mr. Moderator inserted a "to" at the beginning of Section 4(c) and changed the "The Board shall"s to "to" in Sections 4(d) and 4(e).
  • Ms. Mahon recapped the BoS comment in its report and introduced Ms. LaCourt. Ms. LaCourt said it was clear to her that applying citizen knowledge to the Town's IT needs would increase productivity and financial efficiency. She said the whole website/webmaster thing further inspired her to get this committee going. She said there discussions with Mr. Hurd and Ms. Mahon as well as with the existing DPAB about the committee's role. She said all sides agreed the committee should in essence be the DPAB with additional citizen members. She said she and volunteers have had meetings with Town IT staff and have had a public hearing at which the language of the vote was worked out. She said she wanted a positive vote to get make the committee official.
  • Move to adjourn.
• Meeting adjourned at 23:02 to 20:00 on 12 May.