East Longmeadow's Town Meeting

Here are some "practices and procedures" applicable to East Longmeadow 's Town Meeting.

1. The Town Meetings are customarily held in the High School auditorium. Overflow crowd (and, at the Moderator's direction, non-voters) are seated in the gymnasium.

2. Children are a blessing, but can be distracting. Children under the age of 5 should sit with their parents in the gymnasium.

3. The Moderator uses Town Meeting Time (a publication which contains procedural rules) so far as it is applicable to the Town Meeting and does not conflict with the provisions of the bylaws of the Town. There are copies of Town Meeting Time available at the library.

4. Persons wishing to speak at Town Meeting must be recognized by the Moderator. A registered voter seeks recognition by standing in the aisle behind the microphone. When recognized, speakers should proceed to a microphone and state their name and disclose their financial interest, if any, in the article.

5. Any person who is a spouse, parent, grandparent, child, brother or sister of a person who has a financial interest in an article shall disclose such relationship before speaking.

6. The employment of any person as an attorney, engineer, architect, land surveyor, broker, or in any other capacity by a person interested in the article under discussion, shall be disclosed before that person speaks.

7. If, after a warning from the Moderator, a person persists in disorderly behavior, the Moderator may order that person to withdraw from the meeting, and if that person does not withdraw, may order a constable or other person to remove that person.

8. In debate, speakers must refrain from personal references and attacks upon individual persons. It is a by-law requirement, as well as more courteous, if an earlier speaker is referred to as the 'previous speaker' rather than by name.

9. Questions to previous speakers are placed through the Moderator, who may decline to place them if the Moderator believes them to be personally directed, impudent or offensive to decorum. Dialogue between two or more speakers is not permitted during debates, nor is dialogue between the speaker and any individual answering a question posed by that speaker other than for clarification. A speaker, when recognized, should make all of his/her points and ask all questions prior to any individual rising to answer those questions.

10. In general, all motions and proposed amendments must be in writing.

11. Before calling for a vote on motions involving the expenditure of money or by-law amendments, the Moderator first calls for committee reports as follows:

• Expenditure of Money - Appropriations Committee

• Capital Improvements - Appropriations Committee,

then Capital Planning Committee

• Zoning By-law amendments - Planning Board