Town Meeting members considered four articles during the seventh session of the annual meeting on Wednesday, April 20, leaving more on the table for an eighth night on Monday, May 4.
Most of Wednesday evening’s discussions centered around trash disposal, including two articles aimed at reducing waste from residential households and local restaurants. Members also revisited a playground infrastructure proposal to improve safety at local elementary schools.
Here is more information on what was discussed:
Article 31: Updating trash bylaw and charging for over-disposal
Article 31, which proposes amending the town’s “Regulation of Refuse Disposal” bylaw, was debated extensively at Town Meeting after being carried over from a previous session.
Under the current bylaw, trash pickup is considered a free town service funded by taxes, so the town does not charge residents separate fees producing too much waste. The amendment would update language in the bylaw to more accurately reflect what the town considers waste and to allow the Select Board to charge a fee (that fee has not yet been determined) for disposing of more than a baseline volume of waste (that volume has not yet been determined) as part of a future trash collection program that is still under development.
Several members expressed concern about passing the amendment because they did not feel they had enough specific details about the new trash disposal program.
“I think there is no doubt this will bring inconvenience and personal costs to some residents,” said Kate Colburn of Precinct 4. “We don’t have enough information to weigh the cost.”
Letitia Hom of Precinct 7 echoed Colburn’s sentiment and also raised concerns about accessibility. Hom worries people with medical issues such as incontinence may not feel comfortable disclosing that information to the town to justify increased trash allowances.
“Rather than humiliate themselves, these folks will suffer in silence,” she said.
Others, like Janet Kern of Precinct 1, spoke in favor of the bill, pointing out its potential benefits for the environment and neighboring communities.
“I’m concerned about disadvantaged populations outside of Lexington who will continue to breath in our exhaust if we do not pass this common sense bill,” she said.
The motion ultimately passed with about 70 percent in favor, allowing the town to move forward with designing the new waste disposal system.
Article 34: Skip the Stuff
This article was created out of a citizen petition created by Town Meeting member, Laura Swain, of Precinct 2. The idea here is to reduce single-use plastic waste from local restaurants by requiring businesses to only give out single-use items such as utensils, straws, and condiments upon request, rather than automatically when customers order takeout.
Swain told Town Meeting she has reached out to 70 percent of Lexington restaurants and found that many either support skipping the stuff or already practice it.
Avram Baskin of Precinct 2 spoke in support of the article.
“Just like everyone else, [my family] always ends up with a jar full of stuff we never use, and it always goes in the trash,” he said. “It’s a gentle nudge to have people like me and my family change our behaviors.”
A few members were concerned the motion could lead to miscommunication between businesses and customers, which could in turn reflect poorly on restaurants.
Swain emphasized that the proposed amendment seeks to put the burden on customers to consider their choices.
The motion ultimately passed with about 92 percent in favor.
Reconsideration of Article 10(f) – Fences around Fiske and Bridge playgrounds
The committee voted to reconsider Article 10(f), which focuses on playground infrastructure updates. The proposal asks the town to appropriate $100,000 to install 4-foot chain-link fences at the Fiske and Bridge Elementary School playgrounds.
From Bridge, Principal Margaret Colella explained that some students with disabilities or trauma backgrounds have a tendency to “bolt” from supervised areas. She argued a fence could help promote student safety.
“If I wasn’t seeing an uptick in bolting, I wouldn’t be asking for it,” Colella said, noting that Bridge staff have had to call police on more than one occasion because of a student bolting unexpectedly.
Bryan Baker, principal of Fiske, said he hopes the fence will solve the issue of balls rolling from the school into neighboring driveways, streets, and parking lots. “Our concern is safety,” he said.
The motion passed with about 80 percent in favor. The article will be reconsidered at a future session.
Article 2: Cary Lecture Series report
Rita Goldberg, a member of the Cary Lecture Committee gave a presentation on the library’s lecture series, which, with the support of the Isaac Cary Educational Fund, provides Lexington residents with four free lectures per fiscal year.
She detailed the library’s spring lectures. On April 11, Martha Minow, a professor at Harvard Law School, hosted “Not Born a Democracy: Preconditions for a Constitutional Republic.”
Looking ahead, Raney Aronson-Rath, a Lexington resident and executive producer of PBS’s investigative documentary series “Frontline,” is slated to speak on May 2 in a lecture titled “The Future of Investigative Journalism in an Evolving Media Landscape.”
Town Meeting adjourned at about 10:30 p.m. The precinct representatives will reconvene on Monday, May 4, for the eighth night of its annual session at 7:30 p.m. in Cary Hall. Members of the public can attend in-person or watch from home through LexMedia.
This story was written by a journalism student in BU’s Newsroom program, a partnership between the university, The Lexington Observer and other news organizations in the Boston area.