Friends of Concord-Carlisle Playing Fields

Here is a link to the Boston Globe article on the effort to mount a special Town Meeting to reconsider the vote in favor of the C-C fields.  The article recounts the sequence of events at the April 24th Town Meeting, at which two articles for public backing of the fields were approved:

The funding request had to pass by a two-thirds majority because the town plans to borrow $1.5 million for the project. On the first vote, the plan failed, 459 to 802. Supporters needed 843 votes.

A resident requested a reconsideration of the vote, which is allowed under the rules for Town Meeting. After more debate and after a number of residents had left the meeting, a second vote was taken and the plan passed 678 to 258. Supporters needed 625 votes.

Supporters say the vote changed because they had an opportunity to refute what they described as inaccuracies that were stated by the opponents during the first debate. They said the vote was called too soon the first time.

Despite the fact that five hours of town meeting debate were devoted in an evening devoted exclusively to the fields issues on April 24th, the article points out that opponents feel that wasn't nearly enough:

Mark O'Lalor hopes to collect 200 signatures to call the Special Town Meeting so residents can spend one evening focused just on the playing fields.

"All it would do is give us another opportunity to revisit the issue in an open forum where we can all get together," he said. "The town is really upset and divided."

If O'Lalor collects the necessary signatures, the Board of Selectmen must call a Special Town Meeting within 45 days.

Virginia McIntyre, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said she thinks residents have had ample time to debate the issue. It was debated twice at Town Meeting and has been discussed at more than 30 public meetings over the past year, she said.

The opponents could have asked for reconsideration during Town Meeting, McIntyre said, but chose not to.

"If the same question is being presented as was discussed ad nauseam at Town Meeting," she said, "it's a waste of town resources."

Town Clerk Anita Tekle said a Special Town Meeting would cost between $12,000 and $15,000.