Middlesex Town Meeting Solutions Committee
Meeting Minutes
April 3, 2006, 7:00 pm

Present: Susan Clark, Barb Whitchurch, Greg Whitchurch.
Arriving at 8 pm: Ron Krauth, Anita Krauth.

1. Minutes of the February 13, 2006 Meeting
A motion was made by Greg Whitchurch to approve the minutes of the February 13, 2006, meeting of the Town Meeting Solutions Committee (TMSC), with the notation that the next meeting was set for April 3, not April 10. The motion was seconded by Susan Clark. With this change the minutes were approved.

2. Town Meeting 2006 De-brief
Members expressed satisfaction with the meeting, and with our work. We got very positive feedback on the pie charts and graphs, including an e-mail from Barry Goodman noting that the “What each item means for your taxes” was excellent, and he hopes we do it every year. We only got one evaluation form back; it noted that it was helpful when people called the question when discussion went on too long.

Susan reported on the child care collaboration with Community Connections. There were 12 kids in attendance, generally in the 2-6 age range. Three teenagers and one parent (Nancy Reilly) generously donated their babysitting time. Two Community Connections staff were paid, costing approximately $200. We took in $83 in donations from parents (plus parents donated all the food for the kids’ dinners). We need to consider getting more parent volunteers (possibly exchanging child care with other towns) to make this more sustainable. Other than that, it seemed to run smoothly, according to Ann Gilbert. The committee expressed its gratitude to Community Connections for supporting this important effort.

3. Planning/Zoning Update
Susan reported on discussions she and Dave Shepard have had with Conservation Commission and Planning Commission members regarding updates to Middlesex’s zoning and Town Plan. It appears that with the planning consultant’s contract already signed, there is little we can do in this short time frame to create comprehensive public involvement. Our committee will stay tuned and assist in outreach as needed, possibly organizing more small-group discussions as we did in April.

4. TMS Committee Involvement in Middlesex Affordability Exploration
Susan reported on an e-mail she received from Heath Wilson, who is concerned that Middlesex is becoming unaffordable. He wondered whether our committee would be interested in getting involved in this issue. His e-mail echoes the sentiments expressed by Fred McCullough in a recent letter to the editor of the Middlesex Newspaper.

After discussion, the committee decided that Susan would respond to him explaining that while our committee does not take stands on issues, we would be glad to consider helping to organize a community-wide exploration of this issue. Possible ideas include:
small-group discussions to define concerns and commonalities;
a forum (inviting the Vermont League of Cities and Towns or other experts) to explore where spending decisions come from (town meeting, selectboard, state, or federal levels, etc.) and how to affect them; and/or
articles in the Middlesex Newspaper and/or website with a pie chart that shows where spending responsibility lies.

5. Web site update
Greg reported that he has responded to website posting requests as they have come in, and the website is up to date. He noted that the Conservation Commission has plans to re-vamp their part of the website, but he hasn’t received anything specific from them yet. He reminded Susan that she needs to give him the feedback on our site from her meeting with Karen Cornish (Hinesburg’s webmaster).

6. Priorities for the coming year
We agreed to spend our next meeting setting priorities for the coming year.

Susan reported that Kelly Ault could not come to this meeting, and has informed Susan that she would prefer to attend meetings only in the fall and winter. The committee agreed to spend time at the next meeting discussing how many meetings per year we should hold, and how much of the summer we should take off. Maintaining our committee members’ energy and making sure our involvement in the committee is sustainable is important to us all.

7. Cemetery inquiry
Anita Krauth has met with neighbors on her road who are thinking of sprucing up the Carr Cemetery (corner of Bolduc Road and East Hill Road). She wondered what advice our committee could offer. We suggested that she contact June Lakin and Janet McKinstry (Assistant Town Clerk and cemetery commissioner) for more information, and the selectboard if money would be involved. She is aware of the Middlesex in the Making book write-up regarding Middlesex’s various cemeteries.

8. Next Meeting
The next meeting of the TMSC will be held on May 8, 2006, at 7 pm at the town office.

This meeting was adjourned at 8:50 pm.


Minutes recorded by Susan Clark