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Sudbury’s much-anticipated Special Town Meeting got called to order at 8:07 p.m., over an hour late, on Wednesday, May 20. As the room filled, Moderator Cate Blake informed attendees that she was delaying the start due to a long line of voters outside waiting to be checked in.
The meeting took place in the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School gymnasium, not the auditorium where Annual Town Meeting takes place. Microphones were set up for voters in favor, neutral and opposed to articles. That’s a new setup for Sudbury’s Town Meetings. The setup also provided for a center aisle, which eliminated a Sudbury Town Meeting tradition of grown adults and senior citizens crawling over rows of seats to get in and out of the room.
With just four articles on the warrant, but tension running high in the community, Town Moderator Cate Blake set firm expectations for decorum before Town Meeting took up the first article. She called for participants to treat each other with respect, and explained that Town Meeting is about “policy, proposals, and plans, not people.”
During the clicker test, attendance was announced at just over 900 residents.
Article 1 (PASSED) — Citizen’s Petition: Vote to Support House Bill 3464
There was no discussion in the hall and this went straight to a vote. It passed 677-261.
Article 2 (PASSED) — Citizen’s Petition: Resolution Regarding the Audit of the Massachusetts Legislature
The petitioner motioned to take the articles out of order, so that the hall could get to Article 3 and Article 4 sooner. That passed by the required 4/5 majority (835-76).
It came back up at the end of the night and passed by more than a majority on a hand count at 12:07 a.m.
Article 3 (PASSED) — Citizen’s Petition: An Act Providing for Recall Elections in the Town of Sudbury
Before the article was presented, the Moderator informed the hall there were 7 amendments proposed. Following the petitioners presentation, the hall had to process the amendments.
Amendment 1 – This amendment sought to increase the signature threshold to 20%. The Select Board supported the amendment. It failed 424-487.
A motion was made to call the question. It required a two-thirds majority. It failed 607-308. Which is just shy of the required threshold. The hall got rowdy and the Moderator had to engage the Police Chief Scott Nix to speak with a member who was being disruptive.
Amendment 2 – This amendment would have removed the simultaneous successor election component of the recall provision. This amendment did not pass.
The question was called a second time to avoid hearing the five remaining amendments. If voted by a two-thirds majority, it would have ended the debate and led immediately to the vote on the original, unamended article. It passed 613-263.
Once voted, Article 3 passed by a vote of 473-394.
Article 4 (PASSED) — Citizen’s Petition: Vote of No Confidence in the Sudbury School Committee
The meeting was extended beyond 10:30 p.m. by way of a two-thirds majority vote so that this article could be taken up.
Presentations, questions, and deliberation carried on for substantial time. As midnight approached, the Moderator called for a hand vote that she deemed was too close to call. The ensuing clicker vote passed the article 452-295. The tally showed that over 160 residents had left the room prior to this vote.