Middlesex Town Meeting Solutions Committee
Meeting Minutes
November 8, 2001

Present: Susan Clark, Gregory Whitchurch, Barbara Whitchurch, Dave Shepard, Henrietta Jordan, Martin Pincus, Wilson Brett and David Lawrence

1. Town Meeting Survey
The Town Meeting surveys were prepared for mailing to the voters of Middlesex.

2. Frank Bryan Talk
The committee discussed the format for the Professor Frank Bryan talk as to whether there should be some form of information gathering from the attendees prior to Professor Bryan’s talk. Possibilities mentioned included a question and answer session or facilitated small group discussions. It was questioned whether people might be reluctant to engage in group discussion if they hadn’t come planning to do so. After considerable debate it was decided to make paper available for people who might wish to make comments and committee members will attempt to mingle with the audience and take opportunities to engage in conversations. There could also be a flip chart available if some people are interested in that type of interaction. Both Martin and Wilson expressed concern that our best efforts may not engage those who were in favor of replacing Town Meeting with Australian ballot voting.

3. Rumney Town Meeting
Susan announced that she had attended a grade 5/6 Rumney Town Meeting. She found it interesting and said that the children were quite engaged.


4. Other Discussion
Greg passed on a comment from his recent conversation with Russ Alger. Russ cautioned the committee to remember the proposed septic rules issue where he felt a lot of people were unaware of the issue at the time of the first vote.

Wilson mentioned that some issues are of such importance that they need to be voted on by something other than a voice vote at Town Meeting. Greg asked if an issue is voted on at Town Meeting, could concerned citizens petition the Town for an Australian ballot on this issue? This is a question that will need some research.

Susan encouraged the committee to call people to encourage them to attend the Frank Bryan talk and to fill out the surveys.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, December 5, 2001

Minutes recorded by Dave Shepard