(Shout out to all you Lenox readers. You know who you are! – promoted by eli_beckerman)

I participated as a registered voter at the 2012 Lenox Town Meeting on May 3 at 7pm.  My votes on the twenty-nine articles are recorded below with annotation.  

It is important, in my opinion, for voters to know the voting records of candidates for office.  In 2010 when I ran for office I also made my 2010 town meeting votes public.

All votes except where noted were voice votes.  The full original text of the articles can be found on the Town of Lenox web site.

Articles 1-10.  I voted YES on these ten articles, which all passed unamended.

Article 11 (to form a charter review committee for town government).  I voted YES on the amendment, which passed, to remove representation from political party committees* and then voted NO on the amended article, which failed.

Article 12 (requiring web site posting of meeting announcements).  I voted YES on the article, which failed.**

Article 13 (to form a committee to review plaque/memorial guidelines).  I voted YES on the amendment, which passed with a show of hands to better define the composition of the proposed committee.  I voted YES on the amended article, which failed.

Article 14 (to form a Parks and Recreation Committee).  I voted YES on the article, which failed.

Articles 15-21.  I voted YES on these seven articles, which all passed unamended.

Article 22 (Municipal Solar Contract).  I voted YES to amend*** the article with contract specificity, which passed,.  I voted YES on the amended article, which passed.

Articles 23-29.  I voted YES on all articles, which all passed unamended.

Additional notes:

*  Article 11.  Although no Green-Rainbow Party members were among the original citizen petitioners for the question, the Lenox Green-Rainbow Party Committee was included in the original article, as were the committees of the two other political parties in Massachusetts, to provide a representative on the Charter Review Committee.  I am not a member of the Lenox GRP Committee, but I observed its April 25 meeting, where this article was discussed.  The committee took no position on the article, except to declare that if political party committees were to be a part of the charter review process then the GRP committee would participate in it.  My observation was that most members of the GRP committee wondered why political party committees would be involved.

**  Article 12 (Web Posting of Meetings).  I think that many people voted against this article when they heard town counsel opine that the Attorney General would strike it down.  I do not believe a town meeting vote on a by-law is the only way for the town to adopt its own policy to require web site postings of meetings in the spirit of the open meetings law.  I intend to pursue this with the Lenox Select Board to see if a town policy can be crafted.  When elected to serve on Beacon Hill I will support legislation to clearly allow citizen petitions such as this one to be considered at town meeting without fear that the Attorney General will strike it down.



*** Article 22 (Municipal Solar Contract).  I was the one who had suggested in advance the wording of the amendment, that the Select Board proposed immediately when the article was read.  I would have voted YES on the original article, but I believed both 1) that the article stood a better chance of passage with the amendment, and  2) that as much as possible a town meeting vote should be a ratification rather than a carte blanche granting of broad executive authority, which is how the original article was drafted.   Every contract specification in the amendment had already been presented and discussed at public forums.   The amendment read:

The contract to be negotiated will include the following specifications:

-it will be a contract for twenty years signed with Broadway Electric, which gives the town the right of first refusal on subsequent sales;

-electricity costs are to be no more than $0.06795 / kwh in the first year with an annual escalator of no more than 1.02519%, which can only be adjusted to net out any new property tax liability that the provider may incur in the future;

– there will be a pay-for-performance/weather-dependent minimum guarantee;

– net metering benefits will accrue to the Town of Lenox;

– there will be a buy-out provision and early termination values, as provided in Broadway Electric’s response to the RFP;

– there will be decommissioning assurance;

– the town takes no risk in the fluctuations of the Solar Renewable Energy Credits market;

– the town has no Operations and Maintenance responsibilities; and,

– all assets are fully  insured by Broadway Electric.

If anyone has any questions about votes of mine which I did not elaborate on in this post, please respond here or send an e-mail to my campaign at hq@scottlaugenour.org