2020 Annual and Special Town Meeting - August 1, 2020 @ 9AM
2020 Annual and Special Town Meeting
Duxbury High School and Middle School gymnasiums
71 Alden Street, Duxbury, MA
Saturday, August 1st at 9:00 a.m.
Registration will begin at 8:00 AM
Meeting Framework
GENERAL
Duxbury’s Annual and Special Town Meetings will take place on Saturday, August 1st at 9:00 a.m. in the High School and Middle School gymnasiums located at 71 Alden Street, Duxbury, MA.
A second Special Town Meeting will convene at 12:00 noon for the purpose of discussing the one article on that warrant (Conservation Land Purchase – Temple Street – Harrington Property).
In anticipation of this event, significant planning and preparation have taken place amongst the key personnel involved to ensure that the meeting will be safe for all residents and staff to gather during this pandemic while preserving the deliberative process, importance, and validity of a Town Meeting.
As expected, the meeting will look and feel differently this year.
Due to the unpredictable nature of weather this time of year, particularly rain and/or extreme heat and humidity, the meeting is taking place in the High School gymnasium and in the Middle School gymnasium. There will also be additional seating in the main hallway (“Main Street”) of the building.
The Town has secured a vendor to provide a temporary cooling system for both the High School and Middle School gym areas. These air conditioning units will bring fresh, chilled air into the gyms and create a positive, conditioned airflow to keep the attendees comfortable during the meeting.
Attendees seated in the Middle School gym or in the Main Street seating area will be able to view and hear the meeting via television monitors provided for the purpose of bringing a live feed of the discussions occurring in the High School gym. Attendees seated in these areas will of course be able to speak if they choose and will do so by entering the High School gym and waiting in line (6’ feet apart) to address the audience.
We are carefully adhering to the state guidelines for conducting Town Meetings and as such, we ask that all attendees cooperate with these measures.
Please bring your own face covering. All Town Meeting attendees and staff must wear a face covering for the entire Town Meeting, including while waiting in line to register, unless exempted by Governor Baker’s Order No. 31 and any guidance issued thereunder. Face coverings should cover each attendee’s nose and mouth and fit snugly against the side of the face.
All attendees will be seated 6’ feet apart.
Hand sanitizing stations will be available.
Restrooms will be cleaned and sanitized as needed.
You should NOT attend Town Meeting if:
1. You have tested positive for COVID-19 within the 14 days prior to Town Meeting.
2. You have travelled by ship or plane within the 14 days prior to Town Meeting or been in close contact (see definition below) with someone who has; or you have driven by car to states outside of our immediate area that require 14 days quarantine upon return in accordance with Governor Baker’s Order.
3. Within the 14 days prior to Town Meeting you are feeling ill or are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms such as fever (100.3⁰ and above); chills; sore throat; cough; shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; fatigue; muscle or body aches; headache; new loss of taste or smell; sore throat; congestion or runny nose; nausea or vomiting; or diarrhea.
4. Within the 14 days prior to Town Meeting you have had “close contact” with an individual diagnosed with COVID-19. “Close contact” means living in the same household as a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, caring for a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, being within 6’ feet of a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 for 15 minutes or more without wearing a mask, or coming in direct contact with secretions (e.g., sharing utensils, being coughed on) from a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, while that person was symptomatic; or
5. Within the 14 days prior to Town Meeting you have been asked to self-isolate or quarantine by your doctor or a local public health official.
Persons who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 according to the Centers for Disease Control (e.g., due to age or underlying health conditions) are encouraged to stay home.
ARRIVAL & REGISTRATION
Please plan on arriving early so that everyone can be checked in prior to the 9:00 a.m. start time.
Parking will be available in the lots in front of high school. Town Meeting attendees will enter through the main front doors leading into the High School. Town Meeting attendees attempting to enter through the rear doors (leading into the Middle School) will be directed around the building and asked to use the front doors.
Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m.
Masks are required for all attendees at all times. If medical reasons prevent an attendee from wearing a mask, please let the Town staff know before you enter the building and prior to checking-in so that we can provide the requisite accommodations. You may also provide advance notice to Town Clerk Susan Kelley at 781-934-1100 x 5450 or via email at kelley@town.duxbury.ma.us.
A voter check-in station will be set up on the left-hand side of the main hallway (referred to as Main Street) just beyond the front doors of the building.
Check-in stations will be staffed by Town employees. Staff will use a contact-less computerized check-in system to register voters and attendees. Each check-in station will have a plastic barrier set up to separate staff from attendees.
Assisted listening devices will be available at the check-in station.
Hand sanitizer will be available at the check-in station.
When waiting to check-in, attendees will queue 6’ feet apart from one another. Tape lines will be placed on the ground in the queue areas every 6’ feet to help maintain social distancing between attendees waiting in line.
SEATING
Seats will be available on the floor of each gymnasium spaced appropriately to meet social distancing guidelines.
Individual seats will be spaced apart by 6’ feet, as required.
Attendees will choose their own seats. All seats must remain 6’ feet apart as set up.
The Town Moderator, Board of Selectmen, members of the Finance Committee, Town Clerk, Town Manager, Finance Director, and Town Counsel team will all sit with spacing of at least 6’ feet apart.
MEETING PROCEDURES
Social distancing of at least 6’ feet between attendees, including staff, should be maintained at all times.
The Town Moderator will move through the meeting with purpose.
The Special Town Meeting Articles will be considered first, before moving to the Annual Town Meeting Warrant. A second Special Town Meeting will convene at 12:00 noon for the purpose of discussing the one article on that warrant (Conservation Land Purchase – Temple Street – Harrington Property).
There will be a Consent Agenda for this Town Meeting.
The Consent Agenda will be articles of a non-controversial or routine nature that will be considered as a package for passage. The Moderator will read each article number contained in the Consent Agenda. Any Town Meeting attendee may object to an article being in the Consent Agenda at which point that article will be removed from the Consent Agenda to be debated during the normal Town Meeting process. The Moderator will then take a vote on the Consent Agenda.
Votes will be taken via electronic voting devices which will be sanitized prior to distribution at the time of check-in.
When the meeting concludes, staff will dismiss attendees row-by-row so that everyone departs in an orderly and socially distanced fashion.
AUDIO/VISUAL
PACTV will configure and operate a sound system and televised broadcast of the meeting with speakers and microphones in the High School gymnasium.
Attendees seated in the Middle School gymnasium or in the Main Street seating area will be able to view and hear the meeting via television monitors provided for the purpose of bringing a live feed of the discussions occurring in the High School gym. Attendees seated in these areas will of course be able to speak if they choose and will do so by entering the High School gymnasium and waiting in line (6’ feet apart) to address the audience.
Overhead boom microphones will be set up at various points in the High School gymnasium for attendees to use to address Town Meeting. Staff will sanitize microphones, if necessary.
There will be no screen set up at Town Meeting this year, which means that no live PowerPoint presentations will be possible. Printed handouts for any presentations, along with a copy of the Town Warrant and Annual Town Report, will be available on the Town web site and upon check-in at the Town Meeting.
A limited number of copies of presentations will be available and we urge residents to print their materials in advance and bring them to Town Meeting.
FACILITIES
Hand sanitizing stations will be available and spaced periodically throughout the attendee seating area.
Attendees will be able to access restrooms which are located off the main hallway in the Middle School/High School. Restrooms will be cleaned and sanitized as needed.
Residents should plan on bringing their own water to the Town Meeting to stay hydrated.
Food will not be provided this year nor is any food allowed in either gymnasium.
Several trash and recycling bins will be available throughout the venue.