Changes to the trash bylaw passed in a resident-wide referendum vote on Tuesday — not because the majority of voters checked “yes” on their ballot, but because not enough no-voters went to the polls.
The ballot question asked about changes to the bylaw to permit the town to charge residents a fee for disposing of more waste than an undetermined baseline volume.
2,977 people voted “yes,” 4,374 people voted “no,” and six ballots were left blank. That translates to about 40 percent “yes” votes and about 59 percent “no” votes.
But Town Meeting already voted in favor of the change. In order to overturn the Town Meeting vote, at least 20 percent of registered voters, or 4,715 voters, needed to vote no. No-voters were 341 votes short of meeting that threshold.
This means the Select Board will be able to come up with a “reasonable fee,” as the motion reads, for the town to impose on residents who dispose of more than a baseline volume of trash.
In total, about 31 percent of registered voters in town turned out for Tuesday’s vote. That’s down about six percentage points from the debt exclusion vote in December, which was the town’s last special vote.
Tuesday’s vote brings some resolution to a long town-wide debate over its trash program.
Article 31 was originally presented to Town Meeting by Maggie Peard, the town’s sustainability and resilience officer, on April 13. Due to some technical difficulties, the town pushed debate of the Article to April 29.
During her presentation, Peard noted passing the Article could allow the town to switch to a different waste disposal plan that could be better for the environment and save the town money. Opponents argued the town should not be given another avenue to impose a fee, the new program could cost residents more money to throw out trash, and voting on Article 31 is premature because details of the waste removal plan the town wants to adopt had not (and have not) been ironed out.
The Article passed with about 70 percent of Town Meeting support.
But opponents immediately got more than double the signatures needed for a referendum — which is what led to residents weighing in at Tuesday’s vote.
Next, the Select Board will have town staff work with the Commission on Disability, the Council on Aging, and the town human services department to discuss the logistics of Lexington’s future waste program. The Select Board will also continue community outreach to figure out what size bins to buy.
LexObserver briefly posted a version of this article stating that the “no” vote had won. Minutes later it was edited to reflect that the number of “no” votes cast did not meet the threshold to overturn the Town Meeting vote a few minutes later.
The Lex Observer needs new glasses as the ones they have are distorted. Turnout today was significantly above the March town election while tax override and exclusion votes are the high water mark for every town’s local election – an almost impossible turnout to achieve otherwise. It takes a national presidential election to top that.
Last time the distorted headline was about Arlington decreasing trash volumes after switching to 64 gallon barrels without reporting trash tonnage had also decreased before the switch!
Now, you miss the lede – Town meeting voted the opposite way voters did today! They failed to represent their constituents except in one precinct, 2. If the Select Board disrespects the 59% of voters against fees and imposes them, they will prove right those voting NO to stop the board from acting against the will of the people. The Select Board can still choose a middle path and enable more modern collection without imposing fees. Current trucks already have mechanical lift assists to grab the steel bar and tip the bin into the hopper. That alone is a great labor saver. Coercing residents to be more green via fees isn’t required.