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Suggestions to Improve Town Meeting

Dear Editor,

Following my attendance at the Sept. 9 Board of Selectmen's meeting, I looked back at the last nine months and my attempts to offer various suggestions that I thought may improve attendance at Town Meeting. I came to the unpleasant conclusion that I had failed to consider that if we are to have a politically vibrant Town Meeting with a sustainable healthy percentage of the voters attending and participating in the process, we must view the meeting as an information flow and require all stakeholders in the process take on the responsibility to make this process the best it can be.

The Board of Selectmen will need to set the standards and lay out the project plan for changes, but it will be the responsibility of the initiators of the articles, the proponents, the opponents, the various boards, committees and the voters to understand their responsibilities to the entire process and act accordingly.

Just as voters are prepared to cast a ballot vote without any additional information provided in the voting booth, those who attend Town Meeting should have all documentation, presentations, and votes by Boards, Committees and Commissions at least one week prior to the first night of Town Meeting and to have the information on the town website. Proponents and opponents need to have at least a week to prepare a response to any vote on an article if we are to have standards in place for the meeting.

If the standard for the Board of Selectmen's meetings is to hold the meetings in Town Hall and to be recorded for view later, sitting in the cafeteria an hour before Town Meeting simply does not meet this standard. The vote has not been provided before Town Meeting, it is not available to the proponents or opponents to prepare a response. This is not an effective standard.

Boards, Committees and Commissions who receive the articles and the documentation must study and vote as quickly as is prudent. If the votes can be recorded and delivered to the Board of Selectmen prior to the Warrant being sent to the printer, voters will have the warrant and the votes well in advance of Town Meeting, they can refer to the documentation on the website, and be prepared to vote at Town Meeting.

If Town Meeting votes choose to waive reading of the warrant and individual articles and the Moderator is allowed to display each article by projecting it, time is saved, and debate can begin immediately. If all monetary articles are provided with a perspective on not only the impact to the tax rate but also the annual cost per $100,000 of a home's taxable evaluation, voters will be able to assess the impact to their home and value of the article.

The annual bashing of the any monetary article pertaining to the town's asset on Lovers Lane must stop. Maintaining the physical and fiscal integrity of all town assets is prudent management. For those who do not agree with town ownership, create an article for the warrant that would sell the asset, but please stop spending time questioning even the smallest expenditure. If the standard is to require more than three percent of the town to use an asset, then we need to monitor visits to Surrenden Farn, Fitch's Bridge, Lost Lake and other town assets. If we are to have a standard, then all assets should be subject to the same standard.

If voters want to have their views presented to specific spending elements, voters need to attend the Finance Committee meetings, Board of Selectmen's meetings and School Committee meetings to respond to details. Town Meeting is not designed to micro manage details of monetary articles. I believe it would be prudent to report briefly back to Town Meeting the success or failure of previous large expenditures voted.

Respecting all voters' investment of their time in Town Meeting will be critical to encouraging voter attendance. As our voting population has grown, the quorum requirements have diminished to the point no quorum is required. This fact alone allows for a concentration of power in the hands for a few, which is not healthy for a democratic process. Long term we should be working toward re-instituting a healthy quorum requirement.

Sincerely,

Rule Loving

Townsend Road

Groton Herald

Mailing Address
P.O. Box 610, Groton, Massachusetts 01450
 

Office
145 Main Street, Groton, Massachusetts 014510
[Prescott Community Center]
 

Telephone: 978-448-6061
 

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