Minutes for Town Meeting Rules Committee

December 14, 2005

In attendance: Peter Burns, Bill Fonseca, Tom Florence, Donna Utter, Jim Sheils, and Rebecca Townsend and Joe Arute from Longmeadow.

Meeting commenced at 7:03pm with Jim Sheils as the chair. The minutes from 11/30/05 were approved and seconded by Peter Burns.

The participants welcomed and discussed issues with our guests from the Longmeadow Town Rules Committee, Becky and Joe.

• Becky opened the discussion with their responsibility of a Town Meeting Rules Committee. Joe said how their committee is comprised of 5 members and is ongoing. He also discussed physical problems they have with their auditorium and acoustics. He also reviewed a booklet they developed called their “Citizens Guide to Town Meetings”.
• They discussed their idea of having High School senior class members participate in teller counts and other Town Meeting functions.
• They reviewed the involvement with their local access cable TV called LCTV. They also have webmasters to help with their website and advertising. They have something compared to a “Moderator’s Corner” before each Town Meeting.
• Joe and Becky distributed a document which explained how to reach out and distribute messages to the public regarding Town Meeting changes as well as sharing website information from a number of other towns which shows their Town Meeting Citizen guides.
• The committee once again discussed the timetable for all changes. The Public Hearing discussing these changes will likely be held on January 11, 2006.
• The Committee, Becky and Joe were in concurrence to explain as much information as possible on the website and ELCAT before the Town Meeting so if there are any questions or misinterpretations, issues can be addressed before the meeting.
• Discussed the changes to our revision to the by-laws. Becky and Joe commented and recommended certain ideas on some of the changes.
• The committee reviewed having “Yes and No” secret ballot cards distributed before the meeting in an effort to save time in case of a secret ballot vote.
• We will meet again with the Board of Selectman after our Public Forum and will review recommendation and changes with the AG’s office before the final draft.

The next meeting was set for Wednesday, January 4, 2006.

There was a motion to adjourn at 8:21pm. Thanks to our guest for sharing their thoughts and ideas.

Respectfully submitted,

Thomas P. Florence

Town Clerk, Treasurer, Collector