Middlesex Town Meeting Solutions Committee
Meeting Minutes
October 17, 2005

Present: Kelly Ault, Susan Clark, Ron Krauth, Dave Shepard, Barb Whitchurch, Greg Whitchurch

1. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meetings
Minutes from the June 29, 2005, and September 6, 2005, Town Meeting Solutions Committee (TMSC) meetings were approved.

2. Town Budget Presentation for Town Meeting
Susan met with John Riley and Bill Callnan about how to do a presentation on the town budget for Town Meeting. This year the Town Report will include a pie chart showing where the money in the town budget goes. They discussed developing a figure for what each $1000 on the town budget would result in for taxes on a property value for the average Middlesex home. TMSC members expressed a preference for developing examples for a couple of property values including one, such as $100,000, that is easy to scale up for greater property values.

Bill agreed that a presentation/report by the Select Board on the budget would be a good idea and expressed support for this being done.

3. Zoning
TMSC discussed an effort to present information about proposed new zoning regulations through a series of articles in the Middlesex Monthly. Both Kelly and Barb are willing to write articles. Susan has also contacted Kim Hagen who is willing to help with this. Potential article topics were considered with the following ideas emerging:
- What is zoning and why is it needed or not needed?
- What has been Middlesex's process for planning and zoning?
- How does Middlesex's zoning compare to similar towns?
- What would the proposed regulations mean for individual property owners?
- How can one get more information?
- Fact sheet with question/answer format

It is important that TMSC's neutrality be maintained throughout this process. TMSC's role is to help Middlesex voters be better informed.

3. Letter to Non-Profits Seeking Funding at Town Meeting
Susan has drafted a letter, approved by June Lakin, to send to all non-profit organizations seeking funding from Middlesex at Town Meeting.

4. Child Care for Town Meeting
Susan has contacted both Elaine Laine, the Rumney School principal and Ann Gilbert of Community Connections about child care for Town Meeting. She will be setting up a meeting with both Elaine and Ann.

5. Rumney Art Project
There is a possibility of working with Rumney on some sort of student art project related to Town Meeting.

6. Articles for Middlesex Monthly Related to Town Meeting
 The following are possible articles for the Middlesex Monthly related to Town Meeting:
- Roberts Rules summary
- How and why to read your town report

7. New Voter Letter
Essentially the same letter for new voters will go out this year as last year. It appears there will be less new voters this year.

8. Town Contacts Sheet
There was discussion of updating the list of town contacts as an insert for the Middlesex Operator's Manual including the best time to do this. While it would be desirable to have them available at Town Meeting, there is logic to waiting until after Town Meeting as some of those contacts will likely change on Town Meeting day. The question was posed whether it could be included with the tax bills that are mailed out in July. Dave volunteered to check with June Lakin to see if this could be done.

Meeting adjourned 8:38.

Next meeting: November 14, 2005 at the Middlesex Town Office

Minutes recorded by Dave Shepard