From the Moderator, Scott McDermott, by courtesy of Colleen Sullivan –

Town Meeting Brief #4, by Town Moderator, Scott McDermott

This is the FOURTH in a series of Town Meeting Briefs – Town Moderator, Scott McDermott suggests everyone bring PATIENCE and RESPECT.

Medfield’s Special Town Meeting on Sunday, Nov 7, 2021

An exercise in RESPECT and PATIENCE

Medfield is a community with a long heritage of respectful, civil, and thoughtful public dialogue. As the meeting unfolds, I will be leaning on the watchwords – RESPECT and CIVILITY.

• Please stick to the facts,
• Agree to disagree,
• No personal attacks will be tolerated,
• There is NO hate in debate,
• And, As Mary J. Blige might say, “leave your ‘situations at the door.”

Please join us and be a CITIZEN LEGISLATOR.

It is time to turn away from the substantive debate still raging on Facebook, and the procedural positioning still being debated, and for all of us to focus on one key factor – Sunday is about the composition of the legislative body convening on the high school campus. Each registered voter sitting within the Special Town Meeting when the question is called (not earlier than 1:30pm) will have the exceptional opportunity, serving as a citizen legislator, to cast a vote on this very important and strategic decision for the Town of Medfield.https://cd06748cb6ed04686dcf9b2ed4ef5f92.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

Medfield has over 9,300 registered voters invited to join us in a time proven exercise of direct, participatory self-government.

Beyond a heavy dose of respect and civility, please bring your PATIENCE. The meeting begins at 12:00pm and bear in mind we “fall back” Saturday night We will hear first from some of the town and community’s most committed citizens – almost all volunteers who have dedicated enormous time and efforts to this issue. Ultimately, we will call the vote, no earlier than 1:30pm. The vote will take time – please be patient. The counting of the vote will take time – please be patient. We have dedicated ourselves to a process that cannot be rushed. The Voting Cards are a new process being tested with very heavy volume. We will be deliberate, but neither the voting nor the count will be quick – PATIENCE. Legislators may leave after voting.

Here is the MOTION we will be voting on. Please Read it. This is our proposition: One Special Town Meeting Article, one vote – YES or NO.

Here is the School Building Project Subcommittee of the Warrant Committee inventory of key information, documents, and videos.

This is a comprehensive inventory of important meetings, analysis, summaries, videos, and statements that was compiled through the dedicated effort of the Warrant Committee to provide the community with a central location for each Legislator to prepare for the meeting.

I look forward to a Civil and Respectful Special Town Meeting.

Scott McDermott, Town Moderator

From the Moderator, Scott McDermott, by courtesy of Colleen Sullivan –

Town Meeting Brief #3, by Town Moderator, Scott McDermott

This is the THIRD in a series of Town Meeting Briefs to communicate key information in advance of our important November 7th STM.

Colleen M. Sullivan,Patch Mayor

Posted Tue, Nov 2, 2021 at 9:39 pm ETReply

Town Meeting Brief from Moderator, Scott McDermott…

This is the third in a series of Town Meeting Briefs to communicate key information in advance of our important Sunday, November 7, 2021

Special Town Meeting

Logistics and Safety Information

CLICK HERE for YouTube Live Streaming

From the Moderator, Scott McDermott –

At the annual town meeting (ATM) yesterday evening, the citizen petition, Article 29, asking for an advisory “sense of the town meeting” opinion with respect to the Dale Street School site selection passed 229-213, basically slightly favoring the Dale at Dale solution over the Wheelock site.

The only other article that generated any controversy was the other citizen petition, Article 30, which asked for the creation of a study committee to look into how future School Building Committees would be appointed, which was handily defeated.

Below is the view of the 450 town residents from the platform at the front of the ATM across the front of the bleachers – note Select Board photographer’s shadow to understand how residents had to look right into the setting sun. There were two great video screens at the front to either side of the front platform, just like at a concert, that were rented to assist viewing the speakers – they were the best addition to the ATM. We experienced typical New England weather, storm clouds with rain drops to start, then sunny and too hot, and at the end 63 degrees that felt like freezing after an hour of sitting still in it. Fortunately, at the very end at around 9PM, after four hours, the Moderator asked if anyone was still undecided on the last Article about siting the new school (only a very few hands appeared), and then he called the question. About a dozen people waiting at microphones then lost their opportunity to speak.