Explaining Some Common Medfield Town Meeting Rules and Motions

Medfield's 361st Annual Town Meeting is only a few days away – held Monday, April 30 in the gymnasium – and to help you prepare, we've compiled a list of basic rules and motions commonly found at these meetings.

So whether you're an experienced Town Meeting goer or participating in your first one, we're providing you with these basic rules and motions mentioned below to make new participants feel a little more at ease.

Town Meeting Rules and Motions

Asking a question: If you have a question about the topic under discussion, you need only raise your hand or walk to one of the microphones located in the room and wait to be recognized by Town Moderator Scott McDermott. Don’t be afraid to ask if you don’t understand something – after all, these are your tax dollars being spent here.

Point of Order: If you believe something has been done incorrectly or the Moderator has made a technical error, you can raise a Point of Order. Unlike any other time, you do not have to wait to be recognized. A Point of Order supersedes anything else under discussion and the Moderator must rule on it before the meeting goes any further. While it is important to raise a Point of Order if you believe it necessary, you should be very careful. Moderators do not look kindly on those who constantly raise Points of Order without very good reason. The decision of the Moderator on any Point of Order is final.

Moving the Question: If you believe an article has been discussed enough, you may make a motion to Move the Question. This means you are motioning to cut off debate and move directly to a vote. A motion to Move the Question is non-debatable. However, you cannot speak for or against any motion and then move the question on the same trip to the microphone. Also, the Moderator has the right to refuse to recognize such a motion if he/she believes more debate is proper and there are voters waiting to speak.

Motion to Reconsider: This is one of the most common, confusing and misused motions utilized at Annual Town Meeting. A Motion to Reconsider is a motion to bring back an article already voted upon. It is meant to be used when new information arises on something previously decided that might cause voters to change their minds. If it passes, the article is brought back to the floor for more discussion and another vote. If the Motion to Reconsider fails, the article cannot be brought up again for the duration of the Town Meeting.

Because of that, a Motion to Reconsider is most often made by those who want it to lose in order to seal the fate of the article in question. Their purpose is to prevent a scenario where an article may pass at the beginning of a Town Meeting when a large crowd is present, then be reconsidered and fail later that evening when a much smaller crowd remains. The danger of quick reconsideration is that the Town Meeting loses the ability to change their vote if new information arises later in the night.

Medfield's Annual Town Meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Medfield High School gymnasium on Monday, April 30. There are 28 articles in this year's Town Warrant Report.

Medfield Patch will publish a resident's guide to 2012 Annual Town Meeting on Friday, April 27.