The letter writer re-submitted his letter in a new format. This is the re-submission.
To the editor,
I will be proposing an amendment to Article 1 “requiring articles in the warrant to be taken up in
their numerical order.” The goal of this amendment is to increase participation at Town Meeting
well above the very poor 5% turnout last year.
My amendment will propose that three very high-interest articles be considered before all other
warrant articles on Monday, May 5, starting at 7 p.m. In order, these articles include Article 23: 3A
multifamily overlay district zoning, Article 34: MHS roof and HVAC system capital project, and
Article 33: Mary A. Alley municipal building capital project.
This amendment reflects one of my recommendations for increasing Town Meeting turnout in
my February 5 column, “Town Meeting is broken.“
It encourages voters who have difficulty attending the entire meeting to show up for the most
important discussions. This would include parents with school-age children, seniors and busy
people in all professions.
If you are interested in weighing in on these very important topics and care little about approving
payments for unpaid accounts, vehicle leases, pay scales for seasonal workers and other mundane details of the operating budget, you need to show up at 7 p.m. sharp. We need to first approve my amendment.
Yes, Jack Attridge the moderator knows that I am planning to do this.
Seamus Hourihan
Fort Sewall Lane
