Town of Duxbury bylaws allow for a “motion for reconsideration” of any article at Town Meeting. It appears that the original intent of such motions to reconsider an article if new, previously unknown information about the article comes to light during the course of the meeting; in Duxbury, the motion has been used in the past to basically “undo” the will of the people on controversial issues. We will try to use it to our advantage to eliminate that “undo” possibility.
Reconsideration is confusing. We have tried to clarify as best we can here.
What it means for the school building project
This provision means that supporters of the school building project need to be at the continuation of Town Meeting on Monday night. Be in your seats at 7PM sharp! Allow yourselves sufficient time to park and check in; you need to check in anew and get a new slip of paper for handcounts.
Someone will enter a motion to reconsider article 18. You must be there until it comes up.
From this point forward, LISTEN TO THE MODERATOR. He will step us through the motion. He will tell us what each vote means, and how many need to vote either way. We want to vote down the motion, we do not want to reconsider.
Contingencies, as we understand them right now:
We recognize the challenge it is for many of you to get to Town Meeting at all. You have families and commitments, and 7PM on a Monday night is a terrible time for the little ones. It's to our advantage that we've just had the time change -- your kids might not be quite adjusted to the change yet; to them it will still feel like 6PM!
BUT!
Please DO NOT VOTE and RUN! While it is your right to participate in democracy in any way you choose, this appears extremely disrespectful to the process. We’ve been able to bring many empty-nesters over to the school’s side, and we don’t want to lose them. An immediate mass-exodus could lose some of those critical votes that we will need at the ballot box on March 26. (There are already some vowing to make sure the school design funds question is defeated on March 26.)
There are some important articles due to be presented on Monday evening. The CPC articles are always interesting from an historic as well as political perspective. The supporters of those articles were there through the schools article and it would be a show of respect for their causes to listen to their articles.
So what to do? We recommend you and your spouse bring two cars. Bring the kids. When the kids absolutely have had enough (and Article 18 really is settled), one of you can take the kids home and the other can stay for a while. THEY LISTENED TO US, LET’S LISTEN TO THEM.
Thank you so much to all of you for your support and action. Let's not let our guard down now! WE CAN DO THIS!
Reconsideration is confusing. We have tried to clarify as best we can here.
What it means for the school building project
This provision means that supporters of the school building project need to be at the continuation of Town Meeting on Monday night. Be in your seats at 7PM sharp! Allow yourselves sufficient time to park and check in; you need to check in anew and get a new slip of paper for handcounts.
Someone will enter a motion to reconsider article 18. You must be there until it comes up.
From this point forward, LISTEN TO THE MODERATOR. He will step us through the motion. He will tell us what each vote means, and how many need to vote either way. We want to vote down the motion, we do not want to reconsider.
Contingencies, as we understand them right now:
- If 2/3 of the audience votes Yes to reconsider Article 18, discussion on the article opens again, and another vote will be taken. Another 2/3 vote is needed to approve the article to get it on the March 26 ballot.
- If 2/3 of the audience votes No (which we NEED to have happen!), the motion to reconsider dies.
- A motion to reconsider Article 18 can ONLY be brought up on Monday and it can only be brought up once.
- If you are not there and ready at 7PM, the opposition could bring this up. See #1.
We recognize the challenge it is for many of you to get to Town Meeting at all. You have families and commitments, and 7PM on a Monday night is a terrible time for the little ones. It's to our advantage that we've just had the time change -- your kids might not be quite adjusted to the change yet; to them it will still feel like 6PM!
BUT!
Please DO NOT VOTE and RUN! While it is your right to participate in democracy in any way you choose, this appears extremely disrespectful to the process. We’ve been able to bring many empty-nesters over to the school’s side, and we don’t want to lose them. An immediate mass-exodus could lose some of those critical votes that we will need at the ballot box on March 26. (There are already some vowing to make sure the school design funds question is defeated on March 26.)
There are some important articles due to be presented on Monday evening. The CPC articles are always interesting from an historic as well as political perspective. The supporters of those articles were there through the schools article and it would be a show of respect for their causes to listen to their articles.
So what to do? We recommend you and your spouse bring two cars. Bring the kids. When the kids absolutely have had enough (and Article 18 really is settled), one of you can take the kids home and the other can stay for a while. THEY LISTENED TO US, LET’S LISTEN TO THEM.
Thank you so much to all of you for your support and action. Let's not let our guard down now! WE CAN DO THIS!
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