Brookline Select Board Meeting - March 31, 2026

No evidence has been found that the town's people voted to have the 3.6 acres of their park taken as a permanent DPW yard.

Um, I was given a transfer opportunity, but I I'm deeply concerned that the structural gaps left behind during the 2013 heating renovation will follow me to the new unit. for over a decade.

Okay. Okay. So, let's move on to the next item which is our miscellaneous calendar. Uh first uh our minutes from August 24, 2026 the meeting where we voted the override.

No. Okay. Good. So uh I move approval of the minutes for February uh excuse me March 24, 2026 as amended. All in favor please indicate by saying I. John Vancoyak I.

Any other items people would like to take out and discuss? Okay. Okay. So then I move approval of items 3B through 3 L in our miscellaneous calendar. All in favor, please indicate by saying I.

I would just quickly note there are there are two donations contained in there and I just want to thank the folks who made those donations. It's always a great help to the community when folks uh provide that assistance,

Um as most of you know, I like to start with just a little history. In 83, the Massachusetts legislature passed a law saying that cities and towns could have uh commissions on disabilities. In 1986, Brooklyn was one of t

done during this process. Interestingly, a few people called looking for accessible parking spots. Gateway Arts down on Station Street called us for support. Uh we sent a letter of support to the transportation board and

I am so as you all hopefully know by now I'm Jonathan Simpson. I'm first assistant town counsel for the town of Brooklyn. Um so as the select board voted last week to put a question uh on the ballot uh related to the ove

emails to um to uh to people related to the election. Um, if someone asks you for something, you can give it to them, but you should not be distributing um, you know, sending out a a mass email uh, describing either cert

Hold on. I I'm going to let me clarify my question because you just said something that that I believe you are taking away the the first amendment rights of elected public officials. So, you just said, and my interpretat

Thank you for the clarification. I did not I should ab I should ab did not mean to apply even for a moment that an email list that you have worked to put together yourself cannot be used to advocate how you how you as an

I was just going to say you know right we I think as Jonathan moves through this you'll see right this this concept seems very simple in practice and then the deeper you dig the more exceptions you uncover and then excep

But you would also have to ex um allow a group opposed to the ballot question to use town facilities in the same way. It doesn't mean you have to invite them, but you have to make sure those facilities are available upon

It's already in the public realm. And I just I I I'm concerned we're we're overreaching and having our town council try to provide guidance to the public.

Joe, do you want to talk about that? Uh, I think you did a pretty good job last time when we were concerned about that.

There's a diversity of opinion out there. If you are opposed to this question, please reach out, contact town council. Um, it's 150 words. It's not a heavy lift. Um, we welcome the strongest argument. We need it's it's b

We had it after we submitted it this as a warrant article. Um so this did not make it to the version that is in the warrant. Um the police department expressed some concerns about enforcement of this bylaw and that they

Um, and I'm a little concerned about the precedent of saying this is a group of people who aren't allowed in the non-public spaces of public buildings.