Renderings of the new Longmeadow middle school, which would be built on the campus of Williams Middle School.
Photo credit: Longmeadow Public Schools
LONGMEADOW — The Town Meeting on Sept. 9, which will determine if Longmeadow’s proposed middle school will be funded, is expected to be attended by up to 3,000 voters. To accommodate the influx of voters, the most at a Town Meeting in Longmeadow’s recent history, there will be several changes to the structure of the meeting.
Town Moderator Rebecca Townsend explained the changes at the Sept. 2 Select Board meeting. The first change is in how voters will access Longmeadow High School. Rather than use the front doors, people will be directed to enter through the pool doors. This will allow for the voter check-in tables to form inside the building, rather than snake out the front doors.
Voters should prepare to arrive early, she said. While the meeting begins at 7 p.m., as usual, the doors will open at 5 p.m. There will be childcare on site, music to entertain people and food will be available. Despite having several stations set up to check voters in, Townsend explained that she expects it to take time to process people and the early hours were implemented to avoid a pile up of voters checking in at 7 p.m.
Usually, both sets of doors to the gymnasium are open during Town Meeting. At this meeting, people will only be allowed to enter and exit through one. Townsend said that is because workers will be tracking the number of people entering the room to ensure it does not exceed capacity. Once it does, voters will be directed to an overflow room. She said there will be as many overflow rooms as required. Each overflow room will be outfitted with audio and video connections to the gymnasium, and each will be overseen by an assistant moderator. Voters in the overflow rooms can speak in favor or against the motion and ask questions as usual.
The debt exclusion motion will be read by a member of the School Building Committee, the Select Board will make a recommendation, as will the Finance Committee. Townsend said she will allow time for the ad hoc group Save Our Middle Schools to voice its opposition to the project.
Select Board Chair Josh Levine asked Towsend about amendments. She said that anyone planning to offer an amendment to the motion from the floor of Town Meeting should contact her as soon as possible. Because the vote is on whether to approve a debt exclusion, possible amendments are extremely limited, she said. While the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is working with the town to reimburse a portion of the middle school project costs, “discouraged” amendments, Townsend said it is a voter’s right to propose them. “It would have to be worded just so,” she cautioned. For that reason, she urged voters to work with her on amendment language.
Voters will use the electronic devices that are standard at Town Meetings. However, with so many people submitting their votes at the same time, Townsend said the voting period will be left open for three minutes, far longer than the usual 30 second voting window. Vote subtotals from each overflow room may be required before a final tally can be calculated. Townsend emphasized the security and accuracy of electronic voting.
Select Board member Andrew Lam asked if there was a contingency planned “if technology fails us.” Townsend said that the company that manufactures the voting devices will be at the meeting to troubleshoot any issues that may arise. Should there be a catastrophic failure of the system, Townsend said the voting method will revert to a card count. Before electronic voting was adopted in 2022, voters raised a colored card to approve motions. If the moderator’s estimated count of cards were challenged, workers would count cards row-by-row. Townsend said that voters appreciate the anonymity that comes with electronic voting. Therefore, if preferred, people can vote to use paper ballots.
Longmeadow police will be on hand to direct traffic in the high school parking lot. Additional parking can be found on one side of Grassy Gutter Road and at Blueberry Hill School, Townsend said.
Townsend thanked the town employees for the work ahead of the meeting. “A lot of work” has gone into the preparations, she said, “and it has not gone unnoticed.”
