Commentary by Frank Schroth

A Special Town Meeting will be convened this evening at 7:30 at Milton High. There are eight articles on the warrant, including funding for the newly established Consolidated Facilities Department (Article 1). The most interesting, however, may be Article 8, a Citizens Petition from Town Meeting Member Michael Joyce requesting the Town Moderator appoint a committee to review our form of town government. Interesting in part because, if it passes, Milton may have 2 committees looking at this issue.

Joyce appeared before the Selectmen last September to present and discuss his submission of this article. After hearing Mr. Joyce the Selectmen decided to appoint a committee for a similar purpose. Following are the respective texts of Mr. Joyce’s article and the motion passed by the Selectmen. (Bolding is ours)

Text of Article 8 of 2012 Special Town Meeting Warrant

To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Town Moderator to appoint a Town Government Study Committee consisting of seven (7) members for the purpose of studying the form and organization of the Town of Milton government, and providing recommendations, if any, for changes in the present form and/ or organization of the Town of Milton government; said committee to report its recommendations to Town Meeting no later than the 2013 Milton Annual Town Meeting; and to act on anything related thereto.

Text of Board of Selectmen charge

The committee shall study the operation and structure of all departments and offices of Town Government with its goal being to recommend changes, if any, that would effect economics or increase efficiency including but not limited to the form of town government in Milton, potential benefits from regionalization of certain benefits of enhanced technology to improve operating efficiency and service and consolidation of certain operations and or department within town government. The committee shall submit a written report to the Board of Selectmen by December 1 of each year.

The charges are similar in that both include looking at the form of town government, the government’s organization  and will consist of 7 individuals. However, they differ is a couple of respects. The Selectmen’s committee is appointed by the selectmen and reports to the Selectmen. The Joyce committee would be appointed by the Town Moderator and report to the Town Meeting.  This is the crucial difference. Joyce is seeking a committee that would be independent of any possible bias. Can individuals who are involved in town government truly objectively examine and assess whether a change is warranted and advisable?

The two are also different in that the Selectmen put special emphasis on operations and call out specific areas to be addressed such as regionalization and enhanced technology.

In meeting before the Warrant Committee, which voted to recommend his article, Joyce stated that he was not opposed to having an elected official on the committee. He also stated that he was not saying a change was required but that it was worth looking at given it has been in place for 350 years. Milton had several hundred residents and a budget of less that 16 pounds in 1662 according to Joyce. It now has 27,000 residents and a budget of ~$90 million.

Selectmen Tom Hurley in a recent session said that should Town Meeting pass the article that the Selectmen may recommend that their committee recast the charge to focus exclusively on the operations of town government and how it might be more efficient.

This makes sense. There should be two committees. The magnitude of the task and the time allocated are too great for one. Having one group that focuses on the macro issue of our form of town government and one that concentrates on the micro issues of operations and efficiencies will provide each with a scope of study that is achievable and a clear sense of purpose to be addressed.

These two committees may both have a big picture opportunity. We hope they seize it. The challenge in this may be in how these two committees, should they both be formed, interact and coordinate their efforts.