In Plymouth, Article 1 calling for the town to purchase almost 25 acres of land at 46 Sandwich Road in Chiltonville from developer Rick Vayo for $3.75 million failed at Town Meeting on Tuesday, the 21st, by a vote of 85 to 59—therefore, not accomplishing the 2/3rd vote requirement.
WATD’s Bobbi Clark files this report.
Selectboard Chair Betty Cavacco faults, in part, the process of virtual town meeting.
“It was concerning to me, for Town Meeting, because I don’t feel that they had a true debate—and I think it was a disservice,” said Cavacco. “I mean Town Meeting is our legislative branch. They should be able to talk about anything as long as they want. So I felt that it was a very curtailed thing and I’ll be honest with you, I will never support a virtual Town Meeting again.”
In the lead-up to Town Meeting, Cavacco and the Board put forth every effort, attending many caucus meetings, and putting together a professionally produced video, supporting the use of the property for a combined fire and police station—this video was played back at Town Meeting.
Would the Chair have done anything differently?
“This was a true test of whether we can act quickly and expeditiously,” said Cavacco. “I mean quite frankly, I believe that if we were in person and we were able to truly debate and have a back and forth about this article, I’m hopeful that it would have gone differently but there was just too much misinformation out there and as much as the Select Board tried to correct it—it just continued.”
In a phone call to Town Moderator Steven Triffletti, he would like to remind everyone that: “the debate is for Town Meeting members and in fact Town Meeting has a long-standing rule that speaking priority is granted to Town Meeting members. Town Meeting, once again, demonstrated its independence not only from the Executive Branch but also from the Town Moderator.
Town Meeting did not support the Select Board’s motion, that is, Article 1, but they also successfully appealed a procedural ruling of the Moderator regarding the length each speaker was allowed to present.”
