We applaud the principle of giving voters choices about our Municipal Buildings. The three "placeholder" articles that will be put in the draft warrant today, when they are fleshed out, will do that, to a limited extent. As voted at last Saturday's "quad board" meeting, voters will have a chance to endorse (and fund): (1) initial design of Town Hall improvements within existing footprint, (2) design of Hildreth House improvements and expansion to accommodate Council on Aging (COA) needs, or (3) improvements to the old library to accommodate COA. If voters follow what COA leaders have said they want, Hildreth House will be the choice, and the third article will probably be moved to "take no action."

We think there is an opportunity to give voters another choice—a resounding YES (or no) to the overall direction recommended by the Municipal Buildings Committee (MBC). The first article could be structured for a friendly amendment to expand its scope to include the enabling infrastructure work (roads, parking) leading to future phases of the project. The amendment could include funding from free cash, and a substantial portion of the town's $1 million free cash (money collected last year but not spent) could be committed, rather than moving it to Stabilization or the newly-created Capital Stablilization and Investment Fund, as the Finance Committee and Capital Planning and Investment Committee will want to do. The vote on such an amendment would be a clear opportunity for voters to weigh in and support (or not support) the direction recommended by MBC. Allocating such funds would do nothing to force them to be spent prematurely; to the contrary, it would make the funds available, when MBC deems it prudent and appropriate to use them, without the formality (and inevitable delay) of plowing through multiple layers of review, and another Town Meeting vote.

To be sure, the total project will still take many years, many reviews, and many votes, before it is fully realized, but this is an opportunity to take advantage of the thorough and professional analysis that MBC has led, and really get going.

For that to work, it would be necessary to place the three MBC articles ahead of the routine article to move free cash, often placed at the beginning of the warrant. Otherwise, it will already have been locked away before voters have settled in their seats.

Selectmen, do your duty. Listen to advice from financial advisory committees, but give us a warrant that lets us make real choices, real decisions, about how we invest our money.