Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Concord Annual Town Meeting will look and feel different this year. It will be shorter, it will be outside, and there will be no video presentations. The Town Moderator has developed COVID-19 Protocols for Town Meeting in consultation with the Select Board and Concord’s Public Health and Safety Officials. All residents are encouraged to review the Protocol in advance of Town Meeting, it can be found on the Town’s Town Meeting website, concordma.gov/tm2020. In preparation to attend Annual Town Meeting, voters are urged to watch the recorded video public hearing presentations on the articles which are available on the Town website, concordma.gov/tm2020.
Town Meeting will take place on the Doug White Memorial Field at the Concord Carlisle Regional High School on Sunday, September 13, 2020, at 1:00 pm. The rain date for Town Meeting is the following day on Monday, September 14th at 5:00 pm at the same site. Voters are asked to park in the high school parking lot and walk through (or around) the high school to access the Doug White Memorial Fields, signs will help to direct voters to the field. Voters should plan arrive early in anticipation of the walk to the fields, voter check in, and time to find a seat and get situated. During check-in, voters will be provided with a Town Meeting Materials pamphlet containing narrative summaries of each warrant article. There will be limited supplies of hand sanitizer and umbrellas if needed. Seating will be provided and spaced 6 feet apart per social distance guidelines. There will be no childcare offered at Annual Town Meeting this year. Voters will be required to wear a mask and are encouraged to bring water, a hat/sunscreen, and insect repellent.
Due to the pandemic, the 52 warrant articles posted on February 5, 2020 have been grouped into one of three categories: (1) postpone to another Town Meeting, (2) add to the consent calendar, or (3) be moved by a motion during town meeting. This year, the Consent Calendar will be more broadly inclusive than usual incorporating not only “routine and non-controversial articles,” but also non-routine articles on which both the Select Board and the Finance Committee recommend affirmative action and strong community support is expected. In addition, this year any ten voters will be able to remove an article from the Consent Calendar for full debate, prior to the Meeting voting on the Consent Calendar. The consent calendar and Finance Committee Report are available on the 2020 Town Meeting website.