Town Counsel Assistance with Citizen’s Petitions – January 30

Are you thinking about a Citizen’s Petition for our upcoming May town meeting? In case you didn’t know because you grew up in a place that didn’t have these, a Citizen’s Petition is defined as an “article brought by a citizen (rather than by a Board or Committee of the Town) to the Town Meeting. Any voter may bring a petition article on any topic that is relevant to action by the Weston voters at open town meeting, the town’s legislative body.”

In the past, there have been petition articles on numerous subjects. Articles from the past several years may be found on the Weston Town website.” I am far too lazy to look at past warrants but I do recall one about a fur ban in Weston, and one about changing the Select Board from three to five people. Both passed, as I recall. Someone will undoubtedly correct me if I’m wrong.

If you have a citizen’s petition and want some lawyer-y advice on it, the Town Counsel will be available for you to consult on Monday, January 30 from 4-6 pm at Town Hall. Please feel free to stop by and have a chat.

What is a worthy citizen’s petition is up to you and a few dozen of your friends–citizen’s petitions require the procurement of 50 signatures (Town Meeting) or 100 signatures (Special Town Meeting).

You can learn more here. If I had all the time in the world and an inclination to politicky-things I would write up a petition to allow non-US citizen Weston residents a vote in local matters. And yet, I am fully aware of the fight I would have and so, nah. My other thought would be a petition to have automatic poop bag and abandoned dog poop monitors installed on every Weston trail. Or to make the JST into a nightclub/speakeasy. Oh fine, none of these are realistic and I’l leave you think about it.

Happy weekend, Weston!