Updated 10.31.13 @ 10:57
by Frank Schroth
One of the articles that recently passed Town Meeting amended a bylaw to have the Town Clerk promote the importance of town meeting and step up efforts to take advantage of media outlets to educate residents on the importance of town meeting membership and the process for becoming a town meeting member. Attendance was also an issue on Tuesday.
There are 279 Town Meeting Members. In additions there are ex officio members who are members due to elected office (e.g. Senator Joyce, Chairman Whiteside of Planning Board). On Monday night 248 members signed into town meeting including ex-officio members, according to numbers received from the Town Clerk’s office. Article 2 had an amendment which required a standing vote. That standing vote total was 202. Therefore, 46 members who had signed in either left the hall or abstained from the vote.
On Tuesday only 191 members or ~68% signed in. The Town Moderator had stepped out of the hall to round up members milling about in the foyer of the school to get enough members in the hall for a quorum to open town meeting.
There are eleven town meeting members who have not signed into a town meeting session for the last twelve months (i.e. this past town meeting or previous Annual Town Meeting). They are: Linda Craven, Robert Rota, Jay Lowney, Jeanne O’Brien, Joseph Grogan, Peter Arens, Willam Bulger, Daniel Joyce, Diane Colligan, John Davis, and David Shea.
Records of Town Meeting attendance for May 2013 can be found on the Town Clerk’s web site.
If I recall correctly, we had a standing vote on night one in which 202 votes were counted. What happened to the other 46 members who signed in but were not recorded on that vote, a number which was probably higher since there were ex officio members present as well?
I think the names of those 11 TMM’s should be published.
The post has been updated per Mr. Matthews request. His request is a natural one and it is in the public interest. A link to attendance records for May 2013 has been included. Fall 2013 are not available online but the sign in sheets for the past town meeting are available at the Clerk’s office.
Our only caution to readers would be to consider that there may be very legitimate reasons for absence in individual cases.
Frank Schroth
One additional note — some town meeting members, like myself, occasionally forget to sign in, as I did on Monday night. I arrived 10 minutes late, quickly grabbed a seat and forgot to sign in! Not an excuse, as it isn’t very difficult at all simply to sign the sign-in sheet, but I wanted to mention that not everyone marked “absent” is truly absent from TM. More importantly, I agree with Frank’s note of caution that some absentees may have very legitimate reasons for being absent, and perhaps shouldn’t need to have their names published for missing two back to back nights if they are dealing with a personal issue they’d rather not disclose. A better approach to publishing the names of the 11 people who happened to miss TM this week would be to list absent TM members who have repeatedly missed TM over the past 2 or 3 years. Someone may be out of town or have a sick family member this week, but if someone has repeatedly been absent over several years, such absences would more likely indicate a general lack of interest in participating as a TM member. Just my two cents.
I urge you to please be cautious with this. It smacks too much of a witch hunt for my liking. I understand that once elected, TM members should be committed to attending and I understand that attendance is vital in order for this form of government to function. But this “naming and shaming” could backfire and may even deter residents from running for TM. On a personal note, my husband and I are both TM members-in hindsight probably not the best idea – we have a child who is too young to be left home alone. This past spring we had a sitter no-show and I stayed home. I was not thrilled that my name was printed publicly as a non attendee. It was the first one that I had missed and I am nearing the end of my second term. Last week I found myself stressing over whether the sitter would come, if my child might be sick or have homework to finish or a test to study for, if I might be sick, if the dog might be sick, etc. I think its fine to make a note of those that are absent but think that the town might be better served by keeping that information at the Town Clerk’s office and making it available to those that request it. When it comes time to electing TM members, voters can, if they so desire, check on the attendance record of those who are running and vote (or run themselves) accordingly. The only good reason I can think of for publicly dwelling on the non attendance of TM members would be if one were making the argument that this form of government is not working because of the lack of members or the lack of attendance. And we know that Town Meeting works well as a form of government most of the time, don’t we?
Frank’s list is of members who missed all the multiple nights of last Spring’s Annual Town Meeting as well as both nights of this week’s Fall Town Meeting.