Middlesex Town Meeting Solutions Committee
Meeting Minutes
February 13, 2006

Present: Susan Clark, Dave Shepard, Barb Whitchurch, Greg Whitchurch

1. Minutes of the January 9, 2006 Meeting
A motion was made by Greg Whitchurch to approve the minutes of the January 9, 2006, meeting of the Town Meeting Solutions Committee (TMSC). The motion was seconded by Barb Whitchurch. Discussion ensued with Susan Clark adding the following clarification to the report on the zoning information session: The TMSC has no position on zoning (for or against). This committees work is focused purely on making sure all voters are informed on the issues. With this change the minutes were approved.

2. Town Meeting 2006
John Riley has completed charts for the town budget and Peter Hood has approved them. They are posted on the town website and will be published in the Town Report. Barb will also make large posters to be displayed in the Town Hall during Town meeting.

There was additional discussion of what property values to use in a table that will show how much each article to be voted on will cost in taxes for a property with a specified value. The TMSC recommended computing this for three representative property values: $100,000, $150,000 and $200,000. This table will be made available at Town Meeting but will not be in the Town Report.

Kelly Ault has interviewed Dick Alderman and Fred McCullough, the candidates for the open Planning Commission position, for an article to go in the Middlesex Monthly.

Child Care for Town Meeting:
Ann Gilbert will put out a flyer about child care to be offered during Town Meeting that will go home with Rumney students. A food request will be included in the flyer.

3. Zoning Proposal
Susan reviewed the two information sessions that were held about the zoning proposal.

4. Town Hall Cleaning
June Lakin would like TMSC to set up the chairs for Town Meeting following the cleaning session to be conducted on February 23rd .

5. Town Meeting Legislation
The League of Women Voters is supporting a bill in the state legislature pertaining to Town Meeting and allowing employees time off from work to attend. There was discussion about what if anything the TMSC wants to do regarding this bill. It was agreed that Susan would draft a letter in support of this legislation for the TMSC to review. Dave Shepard suggested the letter, once approved, could be printed in the Middlesex Monthly.

6. Middlesex Website
Greg asked TMSC members to review postings on the website related to Town Meeting.

7. Next Meeting
The next meeting of the TMSC will be held on April 10, 2006, at 7 pm at the town office.

This meeting was adjourned at 8:50 pm.


Minutes recorded by Dave Shepard