ATM Article 14 SBC Bylaw More Heavily Vetted vs. 2018 Statutes

Medfield MA

07 May, 2022

6:02 PM

Description

(Medfield 2022 Annual Town Meeting is 7 p.m., Monday, May 9 in Medfield High School Gym. The attendance of all voters registered in Medfield is encouraged.) Proposed Article Important for School Building Projects In 2018, Medfield voters adopted the existing Permanent Planning & Building Committee (PPBC) bylaw to govern municipal projects, however evidence shows that the current bylaw was not as extensively vetted compared to 2022 Town Meeting Article #14. Article #14 seeks to amend the current PPBC bylaw with school building-project specific statutes. The amended version of the article in the Warrant booklet as of April 30, 2022 can be found here. Article #14 for 2022 Town Meeting was drafted by a new School Building Committee (SBC) Bylaw Review committee comprised of bylaw-writing experts appointed as of Feb. 28 by Medfield Town Moderator Scott McDermott. Members were charged with drafting language to specifically govern a School Building Committee (SBC) in response to a successful Citizen's Petition from 2021 Town Meeting. According to McDermott's appointment letter, SBC Bylaw Review Committee members brought to the table years of service to the town and "deep insight and experience." Each appointee has served or currently serves on a town board or committee such as Zoning Board of Appeals, Planning Board, Energy Committee, School Committee, Warrant Committee, and most notably, a previous Town Bylaw/Charter Review Committee. Since March 7, 2022, these are the steps the 2022 SBC Bylaw Review Committee has taken to reach consensus on a final draft over an eight-week period: A total of 9 public meetings held (including on a Saturday); Two public meetings designated for public input (with one designated a Public Hearing); Citizens regularly encouraged to e-mail input to the Committee; Citizen e-mails and meeting documents, including bylaw drafts, readily posted on the Town website on a dedicated Committee page; and Intensive reviews by and/or discussions with Board of Selectmen and Warrant Committee, as well as Town Counsel. In contrast, based on public records from 2017 and 2018, these were the steps taken before the Permanent Building & Planning Committee bylaw draft was brought forth to 2018 Town Meeting on April 30: Board of Selectmen reviewed and discussed a preliminary bylaw draft at its Oct. 17, 2017 meeting as presented by the PBBC Chair Mike Quinlan (per meeting agenda, minutes and meeting recording). At the Oct. 2017 Selectmen meeting, former Selectman Mike Marcucci reminded Quinlan that he had shared suggested language "back in the spring," and Town Counsel Mark Cerel noted he had provided "preliminary remarks a long time ago." (Quinlan said at the meeting he didn't recall seeing Cerel remarks).At the Jan. 16, 2018 Board of Selectmen meeting, minutes indicate the board was waiting for a final bylaw draft from Quinlan. On March 27, 2018, Warrant Committee voted to approve the draft PPBC bylaw but did not read the bylaw aloud, according to the minutes. (Based on Board of Selectmen minutes between Jan. 17 and April 30, 2018 Town Meeting, no further in-depth discussion about the proposed PPBC bylaw took place.) Missing Steps? At the Oct. 17, 2017 Selectmen meeting, the recording and minutes indicate that Quinlan had promised to have the draft PPBC bylaw reviewed by the Town Charter/Bylaw Review Committee that was in place at that time. Based on recent individual outreach to all five committee members who served at the time, none can recall reviewing the draft PPBC bylaw. There is no record of PPBC public meetings held prior to 2018 Town Meeting during which voters could review the proposed bylaws, ask questions, and provide input. In fact, none of the PPBC meeting minutes from 2018 show any discussion of the proposed bylaw. (Last year Massachusetts Attorney General Office mandated the re-creation of 2018 PPBC meeting minutes in response to an Open Meeting Law violation. When a question was posed to the PPBC at its December 2021 meeting about lack of bylaw discussions in the newly drafted minutes, no response was received.) No 2017 PPBC meeting minutes were ever created, so public documentation of bylaw discussions does not exist. Previous Town Hall website postings indicated that only two PPBC meetings were held in 2017, and neither one noted bylaw discussions on the agendas (the agendas have since been removed from the website). Recent Lobbying of Selectmen On April 27, 2022 (the night of Warrant Committee meeting), PPBC Chair Quinlan sent an e-mail to Selectman Gus Murby (copying Selectman Pete Peterson, Town Administrator Kristine Treirweiler, and his fellow PPBC members), taking issue with the proposed bylaw for Article #14. Chief among Quinlan's criticisms: The PPBC was not consulted on the proposed SBC bylaw (even though the 2018 Town Bylaw/Charter Review Committee appears not to have been consulted on the original PPBC bylaw). Allegations that the PPBC was being completely written out of school projects (even though the original, proposed 2022 SBC bylaw gave Selectmen the ability to choose PPBC members if they desired, while also providing the flexibility to look elsewhere in the event no one from PPBC wanted to serve on an SBC); Disagreement with the equal weighting of appointments by Moderator, School Committee and Board of Selectmen (Quinlan provided no suggestions on different weighting. In October 2017, PPBC member Tom Erb expressed to Selectmen the desire to broaden the committee to include other citizens, including seniors, yet those appointments never happened); Disagreement with a site selection process that requires public input (despite hundreds of voters stating that lack of public input prior to site selection was a major reason for the failed school vote); and Concern about insufficient vetting of the proposed bylaw (despite the fact evidence shows the proposed bylaw for Article #14 appears to have been more fully vetted than the 2018 PPBC bylaw). Based on the SBC Bylaw Review Committee page on the Town website, no one from the PPBC provided input on the proposed bylaw. An e-mail to Quinlan asking if he had volunteered to serve on the committee was not answered. Earlier concerns about over-taxed volunteers reinforced After receipt of Quinlan's e-mail, the Warrant Committee asked the SBC Bylaw Review Committee to mandate inclusion of at least one (or more) members of the PPBC in the proposed SBC bylaw, and that change was made. Warrant Committee ultimately voted 8-1 to approve the revised draft at its May 2 meeting. With the newly written mandate, it's not clear what would happen if none of the current PPBC members want to serve on another School Building Committee. At the final November 2021 meeting of the Dale SBC, at least two members alluded to being done and wanted to see others in the community get involved. Back in October 2017, even Quinlan expressed concern to Selectmen stating, "It's best to seek out expertise to serve on the committee (PPBC) but there may not always be that option to find someone." The 2022 SBC Bylaw Review Committee seemed to agree, with members noting they wanted to prevent the PPBC from being overly burdened with multiple projects. In the midst of the Dale Street School feasibility study and other town projects, PPBC and other committee/board minutes lend credibility to the concern the five-member PPBC risks being stretched too thin. PPBC didn't engage in the Water Treatment Plant project until December 2020 (after initial ATM allocations and significant decisions had already been made), and it rarely engaged in the Parks & Recreation feasibility study. On Feb. 9, 2022, Parks & Recreation Commission met with its architect to discuss possible paths forward with concrete suggestions provided; no PPBC member participated in the discussion.