Jack Weis, Town Meeting Member, Warrant Committee

I am writing to urge Belmont voters to vote for Adam Dash for moderator.

I served with Mike Crowley on the Warrant Committee and worked with him indirectly in other capacities.  I have the utmost regard for Mike.  However, I believe that Adam is the stronger candidate.

One important aspect that sets Adam apart is his extensive legal background, which makes him the better choice to serve in the essential role of presiding over Town Meeting sessions.  An article debated at the Fall 2025 Town Meeting concerning whether the Town should adopt a hotel room tax offers an example.  At the time that the article was proposed, hotels were not a permitted use in Belmont.  However, it was acknowledged that, if the article passed, the hotel tax would also be collected from properties operating as short-term rentals like Airbnb’s.  It was noted that there were over 70 such short-term rental properties operating in Belmont at the time.  Unfortunately, despite the fact that, in the near term, and potentially in perpetuity, short-term rentals would be the sole source of hotel tax revenue, Mike ruled that any discussion of short-term rentals was out of order.  Later in the meeting, after many Town Meeting members had already had their one turn at the microphone, Mike reversed himself, stating that discussing short-term rentals was allowable.  There is obviously no way of knowing whether that mid-meeting change of course impacted the outcome of the final vote; it certainly could have.  In that situation, I believe that Adam’s extensive legal background would have resulted in a clearer ruling at the outset and, going forward, will preclude similar mid-meeting reversals that might impact the outcome of a Town Meeting vote.  Consequently, I think that Adam represents the stronger candidate for moderator.