Please.
Would you have the Fire Department or Town Hall lose their $1,000 bottle water appropriation and have to drink municipal water?
Or reduce the staffing of the WPS to the level that is called out by school committee guidelines which calls for an average of 22.5 pupils/teacher?
Or cease to provide free education for teacher's children who do not reside in Westford, do not qualify for school choice reimbursement, or live in NH?
Or eliminate the town owned cars provided to special employees for their use in support of the 24x7 availability?
Or eliminate the dues and association memberships paid by the town on behalf of emplyees?

Or etc, etc, etc...?

You must be a cruel person picking on "the most vulnerable" so you can pay lower property taxes.

For readers on Jesse's comment on the bottled water, each line item of the now passed FY13 budget is available on the town website (http://westfordma.gov/pages/government/westfordma_townmeeting/documents/2012atm/FY13TownManagerRecommendedBudget.pdf)

The Town Hall bottled water is on Page 29 -- (it's $1,000 for FY12, $750 for FY13) the Fire Department bottled water is on Page 32 -- ($1,000 for FY13, not a line item in FY12)

Also a note, those are estimates. We'll have the final figures of how much was spent from those line items with the town reports for those fiscal years come out.

All that had to be done is to increase the school budget for FY2013 by $ 6 million which would have placed the money into school committee budget.
The good news is that you can make a motion to reconsider Art 10 on Monday night. If the motion to reconsider is passed then the school committee budget could be increased $6 million. So bring your friends and relatives to the adjourned session to Westford's 2012 ATM on Monday 26 March 2012.

Isnt it incredibly selfish of a relative handful of trail users to insist that they have convenient access to a leisure pastime at the expense of life quality and safety of others? These are not quality people!

@ Parker Village Resident: That is all wll and good but they have already disregarded these zoning laws in the center of town. They could just as easily choose to eliminate parking lots and simply add parking spots on all the surrounding streets.

@Parker Village Resident: You are correct in your zoning law assumptions. Unfortunately the Town has already thrown those out the window in the center of town, and this was not for a state owned parcel but for a private business. They may choose to eliminate the new parking lots and add striped spots along each of the neighboring streets to establish parking.

Just a heads up to everyone -- the Bruce Freeman related articles are done. There's no parking related articles on Monday. Two impact wetlands, one would make it easier for developers to make minor changes to site plans and special permits and another impacts the Earth Removal bylaw. That's about as close as it gets.

Each article passed in favor of parking lots by roughly 153-135 ish. The rail trail parking opposition folks couldn't mobilize voters like the Friends (not to its neighbors) of the BFT could. For people who were not affected by the parking directly, they voted yes because it doesn't affect them. Why not have parking! Of course until it happens to them. Unless they can afford an attorney they will lose on the residential zoning. In the center of town, they are allowing two private businesses to run on residential lots and have created municipal parking on a residential street to accomodate these business and their lack of parking. The precedent has been set. Fight things like this and you are called killer of arts and sometimes worse.

Rachel,

I'm curious -- there are parking lots on every other trail in town, generally very small and unpaved. Do you believe this things are happening in those neighborhoods as well?

Come on Andrew... the trails in other parts of Westford attract at most Westford residents and very few at that. The presentation Emily made at Stoney brook had only her car in the pictures and in Bills presentation at town meeting it was the same thing. The BFRT is a regional attraction and the lots wont be empty. It also wont be residents parking in the lots. Westford residents will still probably have to go to Hart Pond as the spots will be filled by those from Carlisle, Acton, etc.

I'd be willing to bet if you added up the users of all the other trails combined and the users of the rail trail, it wouldn't even compare.

Thanks for the follow up there, westford resident

That's a good thing to check on, I'll see if I can get stats from the BFRT and the WCT on trail usage if possible.

I confess to being perplexed by the strong push for parking as proposed. As a Westford resident and a rider of other Rail Trails in other towns I would like to point out most lots of other Rail Trails are in industrial or commercial areas. My understanding is that of the current 6.8 miles of completed trail, only 1.8 miles runs through Westford, while it runs 5.2 miles in Chelmsford and 4.6 miles proposed for Acton. It is a minimal section of trail with many breaks crossing residential roads. And unlike those other towns, the Westford section is not in a commercial area, and on the very busy Rte.27 with visibility issues - not an ideal spot for stopped traffic or children trying to cross. For Westford residents we are talking a mere 2 miles from the current (not final) trail start for folks to travel to an established lot. Does such a small distance really impose a hardship? I believe town folk are being short sighted when a long range focus is needed here. I hope the money spent on a "study" will include conversations with other towns possessing a rail trail in addition to an impact study to Westford residential areas.

I am confused by your comment. The whole point of the town meeting is for the town to vote on the articles on the docket. There was a warrant sent out with plenty of notice. If residents didn't show up to vote then they missed their opportunity. As far as seating. There was plenty and all registered voters were counted when it came to votes. I got there early and sat in the side bleachers. I did not feel left out.

westford resident,

I can't give you a definitive breakdown of the demographics there at this moment. In order to enter, you need to check in as a voter, so we could see who was there, but I don't know if it would be cost effective in terms of time for me to release that, the information there will be available at town hall.

The poll is posted at the 2:53 p.m. mark on the live blog, I'll see if there's a way if I can publish it on its own somehow.

I did see a few kids running around, but other than that there was a mix between elderly and middle aged people, and there was a large contingent of folks from streets near the BFRT.

And it's not appropriate for me to have an opinion on your final comment, but I would assume that this occurred on Saturday due to working folks not being able to get out during the week, and it was open to the public.

Also, there's been numerous meetings on the BFRT, as we've documented on the site. There will probably be more, and those are also likely going to be open to the public.

and on #15 versus #18, there seemed to be a sense that there would be a study arising from #15, so it would be premature to prohibit development until that study was done, which I think they believed would show that parking wouldn't be feasible.

I'll see if I can follow up with some of the Article #18 folks on Monday to confirm that was their sense of things.

I have a 19 month old child. My wife stayed home so I could attend the meeting. Which means of course that she wasn't able to vote. I appreciate that many could not make it due to conflicts. But I doubt that the 10,000 plus that didn't make it couldn't make it but rather didn't care enough to bother. I don't believe the town meeting process is perfect but it is the current process we have. I am not sure what it would take but perhaps you could look into how the process could be changed. Probably takes a vote at town meeting...

Dave L,

A few years ago, Westford was looking into a representative Town Meeting form of government, but that failed.

I'll try to write something up on the different forms of municipal government available in Massachusetts, but it'll take time. The Secretary of State's website has some good information, but I know it's not comprehensive.

Once upon a time up to ~ 2001, there was child care available at Saturday town meetings at the Abbot school cafeteria. I believe the fees ran $10 to $20 depending on the # of children. There were restrictions on the minimum and maximum age the children.
It was discontinued because of lack of use and I believe state regulations on training required for child care providers.
Maybe the Girl Scouts could run such a service.
IMHO The pricing would need to be increased and issues with insurance and other factors would need to be resolved.
Please note that the 7 hour length of ATMs and uncomfortable seating cause many senior citizens to forego attending.
Moving all town meetings to WA or one of the middle schools and having town meetings at night would increase attendance. There are 14,000+ voters so open town meeting cannot accommodate such a crowd unless we build a climate controlled covered sport arena with an 8,000 parking space garage. A $10 parking fee/car plus concessions and Keno games have the potential to bring in over $100,000/meeting.
The use of electronic voting causes a major security risk. I and others can give a friend my security keys and he/she can vote for me and others.
The absentee ballot is sort of impossible to apply to a dynamic forum like a town meeting. If you review the video of the 24 March 2012 meeting at WCAT, you will have a hard time keeping up with the discussion, motions, opinions, etc.
Town Meeting is last bastion of Democracy.

Online and absentee ballots don't quite work for TM. Frequently, articles are amended and new resolutions are added at the meeting. That's the beauty of TM, the citizens get to directly change things, if they bother to attend.

"if they bother to attend" -> that is on par with the "blow-ins" comments we so frequently endure. If the elite took a serious look at what they have produced and were honest they would have to come to the conclusion that it is not working. Further if an issue is deemed "ready for a vote" and requires further "modifications" I don't see "beauty" I see another potential waste of $. Ideally any issue that requires over ### $s expenditure would be covered in public sessions and only be voted on once fully understood (no need for amendments) and the vote would be ALL taxpayers.

Sarah,

All the line items are in that link I provided. It's also available on the town website.

How it worked yesterday is that the Moderator announced each department, and if anyone in the audience had a problem, they yelled "Hold!" and they go back to that section later.

When the Town Meeting goes back, amendments can be made, or questions can be asked. Once all the holds are completed one way or another, the final number is voted upon.

Generally, the moderator (both here in Westford and in any New England town) is going to cut in when speakers are going off the topic or not adding anything new to the proceedings.

Ms Marchand, the former Budget Director, told me that there were 27 autos assigned to town employees. The cost of these autos are spread out throughout the departments’ budgets.
The cost of educating non-Westford teachers’ children is known only to members of the School Committee and the Supt. The school committee meetings in which the topic was discussed only the numbers of teachers’ children (22?), that the town was not reimbursed by the sending school system because it was a part of the teachers contract and the number of NH teachers’ children attending WPS.
Only the school budgets and enterprise funds (?) are limited to bottom line consideration. All other budget allocations can be amended either by

“I move to divide the question for expenses of the Westford Fire Dept.”
or
“I move to reduce/increase the subcategory xxxxx-yyyyy of the expense line for the Westford Fire Department to $YYYY.


Old timers forget and newcomers are not aware that the Power of Town Meeting is absolute . Town meeting is the last remaining bastion of democracy. Only the Supreme Judicial Court or the US Supreme Court, in some cases, can overrule a town meeting action.

According to Town Meeting Time, the procedures authority for Westford Town Meetings”
The rulings of the Moderator can always be put to a vote requiring a majority vote.
A motion to suspend the rules is another way to restrict the power of the moderator, this requires a 2/3 majority vote.

Jesse -
You say the power of town meeting is absolute. I'm under the impression only the financial articles voted on are binding and not any of the others. I honestly dont know the answer and i've heard different things. Andrew, perhaps you could shed some light on the topic.

Sarah, please provide me with date/time of My specific post that claimed 50ish autos in use by town employees. The town manager claims to have reduced the number of cars under this category but an updated number has not been published. The last number was 27 according to Ms Marchand, the retired Finance Director circa ~2009.

Once upon a time before town manager form of government with a population of ~16,000, the Finance Committee book was very detailed. The Westford Eagle and the Lowell Sun covered town government in great detail.
Circa 1990, the town manager form was adopted and very quickly information became very hard to obtain. In fact, I could get a e-copy of the Secretary of Defense's daily appointment log easier than the salaries of town employees. Up until 1993, the total compensation of all town employees, which is a public record, was posted at the JV Fletcher library. After 1993, the compensation data was no longer posted. When I inquired about the compensation data, I was told by the TM circa 1994 "If you want it, sue me." Inquiries to the BoS yielded no support. More recently ~2006, the Lowell Sun did sue and got a court order for the release of the salaries of the top twenty wage earners for 2006. The Deputy Chief of Police was #1 with a salary in excess of $175,000. Prior to 1993, the posting of salaries revealed that several offsprings of high ranked town officials were on the payroll during college breaks.
Currently there are no media outlets that do independent coverage of town government in Westford. The blog WestfordForum.com has started deleting posts that are critical of government officials. The defunct Westford.com blog went silent when the webmaster started censoring posts that were critical of any public officials.

define "independent" Jesse. I think you're treated the way you are because you're not looking for answers, you're just looking to stir the pot, like you've been doing here.

Hell, as long as you're polite, I encourage you to stir the pot. It is possible to hold people accountable without being rude.

If you want me to ban you, I can do that too, but as I've said before, I'd prefer not to; you're a valuable source of information (just look at all the knowledge you've given here) and you sell yourself short with the crass attitude interspersed with that knowledge.

Agreed,

Jesse, I appreciate all the information you put out for all to gain from; but the delivery sometimes makes it difficult to continue following your notes. I appreciate some sarcasm here and there, but too much acid sours the whole meal.

Please keep posting all your great information....and please don't give Andrew cause to ban you.

Cheers,
Derek

You should ask Vinny for a copy of the FSF expenditures in Westford. The Dee bus company got a sum in excess of $200,000 Was this money to cover school buses covered under the school committee budget thereby releasing funds to hire more people.
Check the approved SC FY2013 and ask yourself the contributions that an Athletic Director does for the academics of the students at a salary of $90,000 plus. A salary which is higher than any teacher.

Dan do you expect me to sit by and let you take away my free lunch?

St. Thomas of Aquinas, I would never presume to take things away from such a revered saint such as yourself.

Oh my goodness, I hope we never get to that level here in Westford.