Middlesex Town Meeting Solutions Committee
Meeting Minutes
May 4, 2004

Present: Susan Clark, Barb Whitchurch, Greg Whitchurch, Nancy Reilly (?)

1. Minutes from the April 21, 2004 meeting
The minutes of this meeting were approved.

2. Election of officers
The group elected officers for the upcoming year: Susan Clark, Chair; Greg Whitchurch, Vice-Chair; Dave Shepard, Secretary. In addition, Susan invited Greg to chair a Technology Subcommittee.

3. Feedback to Selectboard about Town Meeting
Susan has drafted a summary of this committee’s feedback to the Selectboard about Town Meeting. She reviewed this with the committee, who offered suggestions and additions. Her points:

a. Having someone who serves on the Selectboard also serving as the Town Meeting moderator can be confusing to Town Meeting participants. (At one time, Peter Hood actually had two hats and would switch from one to the other.) Because the moderator is there to guide the meeting, when he offers an opinion as a Selectboard member or responds to a question as such, his response is not perceived to be as neutral as it might otherwise be. Suggestions from the group: He could physically step over and stand with the Selectboard. He could resign from the Selectboard (this was seen as a last resort). He could resign as the moderator. He could let the Selectboard answer questions whenever possible.

b. There should be something in writing to show Middlesex residents what the annual personal financial impact would be to each family when the town budget is increased by $100.

c. Regarding non-profit funding requests: Currently, those less than or equal to $200 must be brought to the Selectboard. Those over $200 must be presented by a petition signed by at least 5% of the persons on the household list (in the town of Middlesex, at least 62 names). If several organizations lump their names together on the petition, they can get a total of 62 names. Petitions must be submitted by the last week of January.

The committee is recommending that an instructional sheet be prepared, explaining that the grant amounts can be amended, line-by-line, and explain what it will cost residents if the grant is awarded.

There should be something in the Town Report, prepared by the Funding Committee, that would list each requesting agency’s name, its director’s name and phone number, how many years it has been in existence, and how to get a copy of its annual report, so each person can make an informed decision. Also, the agency should write a request letter, to be printed in the Town Report, with information (including budget information) about the agency. The Funding Committee would simply receive it and pass it along. Suggestion: The letter should express that we want to help citizens make informed decisions, rather than rubberstamp pre-filtered information or disenfranchise voters by being the “gatekeepers.” The Selectboard has asked the Solutions Committee for a list of information we would like included. Susan will email us a draft of her letter to the Selectboard for our comments/approval.

d. Regarding the location of Town Meeting, specifically the idea of moving it to Rumney School: We have received mixed feedback about this. We should consider discussing this and taking a poll at the end of a future Town Meeting.

4. Priorities identified at our last meeting:

a. Updating the contacts list inside the Operator’s Manual: Susan will divide it up and we will each do about five.
b. Setting up a table at the Rumney Fair with copies of our Middlesex Yellow Pages and perhaps a computer “tuned” to our website. Nancy will look into this. One of us could drop materials off and another pick them up; there is no need to staff the table the whole time.
c. Technology: We need to create a plan of action to address the idea of providing remote access to Town Meeting. We will talk about this at our next meeting.
d. Celebrating the purchase of the new fire truck should be a public event, perhaps part of a parade.

Next meeting: Wednesday, June 23, 2004, at 7:00 p.m. at the Town Office

Minutes recorded by Barbara Whitchurch