Middlesex Town Meeting Solutions Committee
Meeting Minutes
April 12, 2001

Present: Russell Alger, Wilson Brett, Susan Clark, Mary Alexander, Gregory K. Whitchurch, Barbara J. Whitchurch, Henrietta Jordan, Martin Pincus, Mary Just Skinner, Dave Shepard

The meeting was called to order by Mary Just Skinner at 7:10 p.m. Mary stated that she and Mary Alexander had been tasked by the Select Board to set up the first meeting of this group. She said she would be willing to act as liaison between the committee and the Select Board but didn’t feel she should chair the group; rather she thought some of the citizens in attendance at the meeting should be in the leadership roles. It was decided to set out an agenda for this meeting and Susan Clark agreed to record people's thoughts and ideas on flip charts. Dave Shepard agreed to take meeting minutes.

The agenda was set out as follows:
• Introductions
• Goals and Objectives
• Determining officers of the committee
• Issues and Solutions

During a brief discourse on legal matters with regard to potentially changing how voting is conducted, it was noted by Susan that in order to do this, according to the Secretary of State's office, Middlesex would need to change its town charter. Mary then reported that Middlesex does not currently have a charter.

Discussion then moved to determining goals and objectives of the committee. Members noted that our town voted at Town Meeting to maintain the traditional face-to-face Town Meeting format, but that our committee was charged with increasing participation in Town Meeting.

Greg offered that he had been pondering on how Town Meeting developed over the years, how it ended up being held in March and during particular hours of the day. He wondered about how it was made welcoming to town residents to attend and express their opinions on matters of town government. Others added that it is important to increase public involvement in town government as a whole and not just attend Town Meeting. This involvement should include controversial or volatile issues.

Martin indicated that he thought the committee had a narrow issue to address and that it could probably be done in one meeting. He phrased the issue as maintaining participation at Town Meeting while extending the opportunity to vote on issues to those who can’t attend the meeting.

Wilson noted the importance of involving as many as possible in decision-making when it is a controversial or volatile issue. He pointed out that many issues are non-controversial and are passed easily but that when issues are controversial it would be beneficial if these could be taken up at a separate meeting, with notification to town residents, where voting would be by Australian ballot. Several people asked if that isn’t already achieved by the process of petitioning for a re-vote.

Henrietta suggested a need to help people participate who aren’t able to attend Town Meeting, perhaps because they are house-bound or are out of town on Town Meeting Day. She also mentioned wanting to find a way not only to improve Town Meeting attendance, but to motivate participation in self-government and community.

In reference to Wilson’s concern about broad participation in determining controversial issues, including participation by those who may not feel comfortable attending meetings, Susan proposed that it would be ideal to inform people about issues and get their input before an issue became polarized; this way, by the time an issue came to a vote, enough of people's concerns could have been addressed in the proposal, and it would not be as controversial. It is important that everyone have a chance to participate before voting.

With regard to the idea of postponing voting to another meeting for volatile issues, Greg questioned how “hot-button” issues would be determined-- who makes the decision of what is controversial? He doesn’t necessarily feel comfortable with only those who attend Town Meeting being the ones to make the decision that an issue is controversial or important enough that it ought to be voted on at a special meeting. Greg feels the important thing is how well town residents are informed and how welcome they feel to take part in decision making, even if not a lot of people actually show up to vote. We shouldn’t measure success just by how many people vote at Town Meeting.

Wilson posed the question of what obstacles there might be to allowing an issue on the agenda for Town Meeting to be postponed for a vote at a later date. Mary Just Skinner reviewed the Vermont League of Cities and Towns handbook for select persons but didn’t find an answer to this question.

Martin suggested our committee could make recommendations to the Select Board and leave it to them to resolve any questions of legality. Dave proposed it would be more helpful to the select board if the committee were to make an effort to research whether any of the recommendations we might make are not allowed under law.

A key problem the committee must grapple with is that those who don’t attend Town Meeting can’t vote. There was discussion of the reasons why people might not attend Town Meeting. Some of the barriers suggested were:
• people need more information throughout the year so they can feel informed and understand the need for their involvement
• need for a sign language interpreter
• people who are homebound
• people who may have difficulty in attending but don’t want to ask for help/don't want to be a burden
• people out of town on Town Meeting Day (including those in military service)
• those who have to work during the time of the meeting
• some people are uncomfortable in public situations
• insufficient space
• the town report comes out too late, people don’t have enough time to digest it prior to Town Meeting

 
There was also some discourse on whether some reasons for not attending are more legitimate than others. Should efforts to improve attendance be extended to everyone who can’t attend or only to certain categories of those who don’t currently attend? Some concern was expressed over making value judgments about people's reasons for not attending Town Meeting. Mary Just Skinner suggested that we should make as many reasonable accommodations as possible to allow as many as possible to attend. In this way, the town isn’t making value judgments about reasons people don’t attend.

A preliminary list of possible solutions was developed as follows:
• Use the Middlesex Monthly as a vehicle to inform voters
• Automatically budget for a sign language interpreter (or at least make it easy to have one come)
• Use of “streaming video” or other computer or audio options
• Televised select board meetings to keep voters informed/engaged
• Bigger space for Town Meeting and make it more accessible
• Investigate the possibility of a motion to postpone for controversial issues
• Town budget include money for mailing of informational material to Middlesex voters
• Town web site with interactive elements
• More creative ways to get information out--e-mail, posters with tear-offs, etc.
• Investigate changing the time, date or location of Town Meeting
• Use of phone calls/phone tree to encourage people to come to Town Meeting
• Have the meal before the meeting
• Offer child care and transportation

Wilson felt there are four main points to consider in assessing barriers and proposing solutions:
1. Issue volatility
2. How can the most amount of voters be included
3. Importance of an issue - some issues aren’t important enough to galvanize people
4. Solutions should be simple and timeless

By the end of the meeting the goals and objectives of the committee had been further refined as follows:
1. Support continuation of, and increase participation in, face-to-face Town Meeting
2. Facilitate access to Town Meeting and town governance(including better access to information)
3. Improve participation in town issues all along(including volatile issues, preferably before they get too volatile)
4. Motivate participation in self-governance and community

Officers were elected as follows
Chair - Susan Clark
Vice Chair - Greg Whitchurch
Secretary - Dave Shepard

A list of next steps to be taken was developed as follows:
• Identify groups with needs to target and name solutions
• Research possible “technological fixes”(computer streaming etc.)
• Develop a survey and explore “focus group” format to obtain input from Middlesex residents on Town Meeting participation issues

The next meeting will be held on May 24, from 7:00p.m.-9:00 p.m. at the Town Hall. The agenda will include.

1. Introductions
2. Reports on committee members' research/work:
a. Survey/focus groups (Henrietta and Barb) 
b. Motion to postpone for controversial issues (Mary Just Skinner)
c. Legal issues involved in improving TM participation (Martin)
d. Computer technology to enhance access (Greg)
e. Pending legislation in this area (Henrietta)
3. Expand and refine list of target issues and solutions (Susan)
4. Plan of action for committee, focusing on next steps

Please invite all interested folks to attend our next meeting! If you have any questions about the committee or would like to add an agenda item,please contact committee chair Susan Clark at 223-5824, e-mail sclark@sover.net.

Minutes recorded by Dave Shepard