Middlesex Town Meeting Solutions Committee
Meeting Minutes
May 8, 2002

Present: Susan Clark, Gregory Whitchurch, Barbara Whitchurch, Dave Shepard, Martin Pincus

1.Potential Committee Tasks
The meeting began with a discussion of tasks that could be worked on over the next year.

a. Town Charter
The committee should check with Mary Skinner or Henrietta Jordan about a list of towns that have charters. Patty Wiley believes Middlesex does have a charter but it may not be relevant to seeking to implement alternative means of participating in Town Meeting.

b. Website
Greg agreed to look into towns that have interesting websites.

c. Education
Susan reported there is a Woodbury College mediation student interested in doing an internship who is available until July. One idea is for this intern to present a workshop on how to discuss controversial issues in a civil manner and to be able to make progress on these issues. Martin reported that a presentation about “restorative justice” may be upcoming for the Middlesex Select Board. There is a group forming in Montpelier, of which Martin is a member, to establish a restorative justice center involving Montpelier and some neighboring towns.

Greg mentioned he was aware of school children involved with Town Meeting activities in Barre. He can get more information on this for the committee.

d. Guide to Middlesex
Ideas were discussed for topics that might be included in a guide to Middlesex. The guide might be published in the Middlesex Monthly or it could be a stand alone document. Susan suggested meeting with the Select Board to get their input and support. A list of topics that committee members had reviewed before the meeting was modified based on discussion at the meeting and topics were divided up among committee members to be worked on for the next meeting.

Next Meeting - June 12 or 19, committee members will contact Susan with their preferred date.

Minutes recorded by Dave Shepard