Commentary by Frank Schroth
A cast of town officials assembled at the 12/11 meeting of the Board of Selectmen at the invitation of Chair Katie Conlon. Brian Walsh, Town Moderator, Sue Galvin, Town Clerk, Ted Hays, Chair of the Warrant Committee, Rick Neely, Chair of Government Study Committee, and Alex Whiteside, Chair of Planning Board were all present to discuss how Town Meeting might be improved in light of criticisms received after last fall’s town meeting. A couple of good ideas were raised, and now is the time to implement them.
The discussion concluded that a small working group should be formed by Moderator Walsh to address the overall issue of how to improve town meeting (talk about an opportunity with nothing but upside). But three things should be done now per recommendations that largely come from Rick Neely and the Government Study Committee:
- Publish the town meeting articles electronically upon closing the warrant and notify town meeting members of availability. This is a straightforward request with a simple solution, and as Neely noted, it will improve transparency. It could be achieved in a number of ways. At a minimum, a PDF file could be posted to the town’s web site and an email broadcast could go out to all town meeting members who have answered Ms. Galvin’s request for to provide an email address (Quick aside – if you are unwilling to provide an email to the town clerk you should not run for public office. Get out of the way and let someone willing to communicate with their colleagues and constituents in a manner consistent with the 21st-century take your place). A slightly more elegant solution than a PDF might be a link to a “read only” Google docs version of the warrant. This would also support the next item. All articles, Neely suggested, should also clearly identify the sponsor and include an email so that person could be contacted in event a town meeting member had a question.
- Display of recommendations and amendments currently under discussion on auditorium screen during a session. This helps maintain the context of the discussion for the audience. This would likely assume that amendments and revisions would need to be transcribed. This could be done to a version of the article in Google docs or some other cloud-based document processor that could be displayed in real time. It is a good idea. All it needs is to be spec’ed and tested.
- Do no rush out articles that are not properly vetted and lack recommendations. Neely pressed this point and we agree. Ms. Conlon said that there were times when it could not be helped and Mr. Hurley said everything is so dynamic. The Hendries building came up as an example, but “dynamic” is not the first thought we have on that – inert seems a more apt description. In any event, the Selectmen and Planning Board could exert more discipline on themselves. Mr. Hays raised the issue of increasing the lead time for fall articles by moving up the closing date and the response has been that it is summer and difficult. Well – there is never a good time. Failing to put responsibility further upstream on the board or group sponsoring the article simply places an undue and unrealistic burden on the Warrant Committee. The whole issue of the warrant timetable being driven by print based publishing concerns in an era of digital communication raises a host of questions and opportunities for efficiency that, we hope, the working group will put some thought to.
Lastly, we would respectfully suggest that the Board of Selectmen give consideration to delivering a short State of the Town address to be approved by the board and delivered by the Chair. We understand that the board will possibly have a new member as annual town meeting immediately follows an election, but one would hope that any candidate would be educated enough on the issues to approve the content which would largely be fact based. Such an address would contain what one might reasonably expect: a concise and crisp synopsis of the year’s challenges and achievements and an outline of key tasks and goals for the year ahead. Annual town meeting is an appropriate time to take stock, and the Selectmen are the appropriate board to deliver it.
I am especially in favor of #3. When the head of a committee makes a comment such as “we know this is not perfect but we felt a change is needed” that is a signal to me that the article needs more work and should not be put out as ready for prime time.
I agree with 1, 2 and 3 as well as the synopsis suggestion; And I have another one. Milton is run as if it were a fraternity. There are many pluses to that but the benefits are not dispersed fairly and it makes communication and problem solving extremely difficult. Maybe this new committee also can work on the town’s socio-cultural environment to bring it up to the 21st century norms for an urban town of 26,000 residents and a 100 million dollar budget. The benefits of doing this would ripple throughout the town including the town meeting. It might encourage new voices to participate, improve town services, and could save taxpayers some money through better efficiency, fewer town legal fees, and better oversight.
Post all warrant articles as soon as they are filed.
These should be posted on line and available at the Town Hall, Library, Counsil on Aging, 2 Milton US Post offices, etc. along with the postings a list of meeting dates for all hearings where these articles are to be discussed & debated.
I had heard that the Warrant committee meetings would be televised, I think this is a great idea for us to be better prepared to discuss warrant recommendations at town meeting. Not sure if there is pushback on this being done and if so, can not understand why as it would also bring us into the 21st century with increased transparency for all sides of the issue.
MATV is streaming certain board meetings (i.e. Selectmen, Planning Board, School Committee, Board of Appeals, and Warrant Committee) that you can now watch on demand. You can find the most recent Warrant Committee meetings here. You can navigate to the other meetings by clicking on “Watch” from Main Menu at the top of page and then “Public Meetings.”
Any attempt to make Town Meeting more understandable and efficient is to be commended…I agree that the TM articles should be available online asap, and with Frank that all members must be willing to use email to stay informed given the amount of information to be culled to make wise decisions.
This is especially needed for new TM members. As a new member several years ago, I really appreciated a pre-meeting offered at a member’s home in which the basic functionality of TM was discussed. Nevertheless, I keenly felt that the “fraternity” of established members was not eager for questions and that some issues almost seemed to be predetermined. It was clear that some members had more insight through previous meetings or interactions and while questions from the members are allowed, they would have been unnecessary had everyone had more information. Having the opportunity to have questions clarified in advance with the discussion posted for all would provide transparency.
Finally, amendments and the context of the vote most definitely should be on a screen for all to see before voting…there are times, for example, when votes to defeat an amendment were “yes” or “no” votes, with double negatives confusing the intent.
In all, the process is extremely important and making it clearer is vital.