Brookline Special Town Meeting 2017: How They Voted, What To Know

BROOKLINE, MA — The Brookline "Special" Town Meeting, usually a stretch of two or more days when the elected town representatives gather in the high school gym and vote on the direction the town will take using a mix of a show of hands and a fancy hand held device started 7 p.m. November 14. Except the electronic voting Tuesday (via said fancy hand held device) did not exactly work, creating a bit of a slow start.

Night 2 moved along quickly with the passing of the proposal to stop calling it the Columbus Day and start calling it Indigenous People's Day and passing a proposal to celebrate a Brookline sculptor by placing a giant sculpture of MLK in Town Hall. By 8:40 p.m. with nearly all the articles voted on, the Town Meeting turned to the possible conclusion to the controversial Hancock Village project. ..

The talkers on night 1 of the Special Town Meeting included recommending the expansion of the ninth school search to include renovations to the Pierce School in addition to continuing to look into Baldwin and Pine Manor (passed), and the taking of a building on Cypress Street by eminent domain for the high school expansion (also passed).

Throughout the first evening, Town Meeting members speaking on the range of topics inevitably had to refer to the elected Board of Selectmen but found unique ways to do so ahead of a vote to alter the way those folks are referred to. Nope, it's not going to be selectmen, or select-persons, select-trons or selectors. The term? Select-board members.

Here's how the voting went:

Article 1: Unpaid Bills

Vote: No action
Article 2: Unsettled Labor
Vote: No action
Article 3: Budget amendment: Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund capital improvement projects, including Single Tree Hill improvements.
Vote: passed
Article 4: Authorizes the taking of 111 Cypress Street by Eminent Domain for expanding the High School.
Vote: passes 212 in favor, 1 opposed, 2 abstained
Article 5: Authorizes funding of a 9th School
Vote: No action

>> Inside a special Town Meeting:

Article 1: Asking the town to back up and study more options than just Baldwin and Pine Manor

Vote: Passes 208 for, 2 against.

>> Back to regularly scheduled Special Town Meeting:

Article 6: Senior tax Deferral and Raise the income limit for program eligibility.
Vote: passes unanimously (hand count)
Article 7: Senior tax change: Adjust the interest rate from a fixed 5 percent, to a rate tied to the market interest rate.
Vote: passes unanimously
Article 8: Senior tax change: Create a fund to aid elderly and disabled, committee to manage said fund.
Vote: passes unanimously
Article 9: Liquor license increase
Vote: Motion passes, majority vote.

Wednesday talked about in a lump:

Article 10: Hancock Village

Article 12 Hancock Village

Article 13 Hancock Village

Article 14 Hancock Village

Voted on together in a lump: It failed 112 yes, no 85, and 7 abstained. Didn't get 2/3.

Article 15 Hancock Village:

Article 16: The issue of amending a bylaw regarding posting of meeting notices and agendas to be referred to selectmen.

Vote: passes

Article 17: Establish a Tree-preservation by law

Vote: No action

Article 18: Replace “Selectmen” with “Selectwomen” (motion changes to "selectperson" )

Vote: fails

Article 19: Change “Board of Selectmen” to “Select Board.”

Vote: Passes 155 to 2

Article 20: Resolution to change Columbus Day To Indigenous People's Day

Vote: Passes 168 to 14 to 23

Article 21: Commemoration of Brookline Artist John Wilson at Town Hall with Sculpture

Vote: Passes Unanimously

Article 22: Resolution On Criminal Justice Reform

Vote: Motion passes with 2/3 vote. 114 74 11 AC Motion, and then one more motion to go with the Advisory Committee's proposal.

Article 23: Reports (no action required)

Town Meeting photo by Jenna Fisher/ Brookline Patch

Brookline To Consider Changing Name of Board Of Selectmen

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch