Middlesex Town Meeting Solutions Committee
Meeting Minutes
December 14, 2004
Present: Susan Clark, Tim Murphy, Nancy Reilly, Dave Shepard, Barb Whitchurch, Greg Whitchurch

1. Minutes of December 14, 2004 Meeting
Greg moved approval of the minutes of the December 14, 2004, Town Meeting Solutions Committee (TMSC) meeting, second by Nancy. The minutes were approved.

2. Living Room Meetings
Greg and Barb have contacted seven individuals that expressed interest in attending an informal meeting prior to Town Meeting. The date chosen for this meeting is Tuesday, February 22 at 7:00 at Susan's house.

3. Childcare During Town Meeting
Nancy reported she has the names of a couple of teenagers interested in helping with providing childcare at Rumney School during Town Meeting. There is some question as to whether the caregivers will be paid. Community Connections will be helping set up the childcare and will need to receive some income. Susan said it needs to be clear to the potential caregivers that donations will be requested with the intent that money raised would be used for some cause, such as a class trip, but that there will not be payment for individual caregivers.

4. New Vote Letter
The letter sent to new Middlesex voters last year was reviewed and committee members agreed it looked fine to use for this years letter with a few minor updates.

5. TMSC Annual Report
Susan presented for review a copy of the annual report of the TMSC to be printed in the Town Report. Committee members approved the report as drafted.

6. Information from Non-Profits for Town Report
Susan reported that on January 24 she will be reviewing the funding requests from non-profits for Middlesex for the 2005 Town Meeting. If any are lacking the necessary information about what they do, Susan will call them to request that they send it in for inclusion in the Town Report.

7. Middlesex Monthly
The next issue will have several Town Meeting related items. There will be publicity about childcare, the cleaning of Town Hall prior to Town Meeting and a reprint of "How and Why to Read Your Town Report" from the Middlesex Operators Manual.

8. Attendance at 2005 Town Meeting
TMSC will take a count of the number of people attending Town Meeting this year.

9. Participation in Town Meeting from Remote Locations
Susan reported that Secretary of State Deb Markowitz has spoken briefly with Adjutant General Martha Rainville about this issue but the discussion was not completed as other items came up. Ms. Markowitz indicated the Office of the Secretary of State would need a memo, proposing what would be done by way of attending Town Meeting from a remote location, to react to. She did think the process might be legal now without need for changes to statute or town charters. Given the time remaining until Town Meeting 2005 and the number of issues the National Guard is dealing with it would be difficult to work with the Guard to carry off a demonstration project this year. This type of project would be more realistic for 2006.

10. Next Meeting
The next meeting of the TMSC will be held on February 17, 2005, at 7:00 pm at the Town Hall.


Minutes Recorded by Dave Shepard