Minutes for Town Meeting Rules Committee

September 21, 2005

In attendance: Peter Burns, Bill Fonseca, Tom Florence, Jim Sheils, Richard Brown, Donna Utter

Meeting commenced at 7:05pm with Mr. Jim Sheils as the chair.

It was discussed that the group will meet on Wednesdays, except for the upcoming Wednesday, October 5th, which was to be moved to Thursday, October 6th. The meetings, at least initially, will take place every two weeks.

Tom Florence was designated as clerk for the committee and responsible for taking and posting minutes for the meetings.

The committee reviewed the items on the Agenda, which was distributed by Mr. Sheils.

The core areas discussed were the Open Meeting Compliance, frequency of meetings, the Board of Selectman’s involvement, and Public Hearings. The committee mentioned the possibility of having two meetings open to the public in December and March.

Other of the topics covered for the potential of subcommittee discussion were:

• ADA Compliances
• Prayers
• Other Town’s town meeting rules committees to visit
• By-Laws for Town Meetings on the web page
• A room / daycare for children
• A need for a Deputy Moderator
• Time Limits for speakers
• Handling of non-voters
• Secret Ballots
• Moving of the Annual Town Meeting date to the third Monday in May

Each member had the chance to share his or her thoughts on the aforementioned items.

The meeting adjourned at 7:55pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Thomas P. Florence

Town Clerk, Treasurer, Collector