Town Meeting: Night Two

Four hours of discussion on Monday failed to address all of the 47 articles in the Town Meeting Warrant and as a result, the Town was summoned back for Round Two yesterday evening at 7 p.m.

The first meeting at  was well attended, yet as the allotted time for proceedings to start came and went, it was evident from the empty chairs in the gymnasium that the moderator would not be able to begin the transaction of business until a quorum of 300 registered voters had been checked in. 

A flurry of mobile phone activity, along with the decision to send an email asking for residents to attend, was the only action for the first hour and it wasn’t until 8.10 p.m. that moderator Thomas O’Donnell was finally able to use his gavel to bring the meeting to order. Relieved that Town Meeting could continue as planned,  O’Donnell was confident that the remaining 16 articles wouldn’t take too long to go through and this was the case until Article 36 needed to be addressed.

Local resident Bernard Manning, who had spent some time at the podium the night before, raised the motion that $400,000 be appropriated from the town reserves to install traffic lights at the intersection of . This is a matter that has been under discussion for some time and brought several residents to the microphone to express their concerns. Over an hour of debate resulted in the request for a standing vote, and despite not seeming to fulfill the requirements of a quorum vote, it was declared that no action would taken on Manning’s suggestions. 

Articles 37 to 40 also passed with no  debate as they related to changing the definition a of "sit-down restaurant", the replacement of "drive-in restaurant" with "fast food/take-out restaurant" and the clarification of what a street is under the Zoning By-Law of the Town of Hingham. Article 40 relating to clear definitions of what is involved in a Wind Energy Conversion Facility was also passed with no audience engagement.

Articles 41 and 42 brought a familiar figure to the podium.  Manning, who had spent some time considering the various By-Laws of the town, was again given the time to inform the residents of possible improvements in the way the town could be run.

His suggestion that committee appointments be approved by the Board of Selectmen to “remove adherence to the party line” drew responses from Advisory Committee member Daniel Dwyer, Selectman Laura Burns  and Sewer Commission member Michael Salerno.   Dwyer admitted that there were occasional differences in opinion in appointed committees but the adoption of Article 42 in concentrating power in the hands of the selectmen would be likely to destroy the diversity of opinion that  Manning seeks to foster. The recommendation of no action on this Article was a unanimous vote. 

Article 42 also related to the appointment of advisory committees. The motion was that members should be elected by voters rather than appointed by the Town Moderator and those present again voted unanimously to maintain the status quo. 

The last point of  discussion was a proposed sale of South Shore Country Club for the sole purpose of reducing residential property taxes. Bernard Manning, who had once worked as a caddie there, presented financial figures that showed that the Club still owed a significant amount of money to the Town of Hingham. However the facilities at the club are an essential part of the town’s resources and infrastructure and the recommendation that no action be taken on Article 46 was another unanimous vote.

The final two articles were passed with no discussion and after nearly six hours of debate and discussion spread over two evenings, Town Meeting was brought to a close by the Moderator.