HomeMy WebLinkAbout_07082020-8697Town Government Study Committee
Minutes of the meeting of July 8, 2020. The meeting took place via Zoom. Members of the
committee present were: John Brescher, Curtis Barnes, Rick Atherton, and Campbell Sutton,
Tucker Holland.
1) Chair John Brescher called the meeting to order at 10:05 am with a quorum.
2) Agenda: Tucker Holland moved approval of the agenda, seconded by Curtis Barnes. All
voted in favor by voice vote.
3) Minutes: Rick Atherton made a motion to approve the minutes; it was seconded by
Tucker Holland. Rick, John, Tucker, and Curtis voted in favor; Campbell abstained.
4) Public Comment: None.
5) Election of Officers: A motion was made for John Brescher for Chair and was duly
seconded. All voted in favor with a voice vote. A motion was made for Tucker Holland
for Clerk and was duly seconded. All voted in favor with a voice vote. A motion was
made and duly seconded for Campbell Sutton for Vice Chair. All voted in favor via voice
vote.
6) Discussion of Select Board memo:
Chairman Brescher opened the discussion with whether or not the Committee agreed
with the form and content? Or just with the form? Or with just with the content?
Tucker Holland clarified that he thought the memo was more of an update, rather than
an a report. Campbell Sutton echoed this and asked if this was in final form or just an
update.
Curtis Barnes opined that our final report should be more robust than the one drafted.
Tucker recommended a slide presentation format, which would make it more visual,
more understandable, etc… Campbell agreed and added that we should give both a
report and a slideshow when presenting final report to the SB and/or the public.
Rick Atherton asked the Chair to ask Libby and/or Lauren Goldberg to join us. Last time,
Libby was receptive.
John then asked what the next step is - do we talk about the memo or do we ask Lauren
and Libby to join us?
Tucker suggested that we continue to discuss the memo/update and then ask Libby and
Lauren to join the group.
Tucker: For Item #1: We need to add the results from the election ballot. While less
meaningful statistically, we did have the forums and we did have some participation, we
have some informal voting, and I think we need to include those results.
Tucker also spoke with Suzanne Kennedy, and she was asking about our work. We
were discussing the ballot results and there is an organization that has effectively a
group of consultants with broad experience who can assist us with the work we
discussed about education/evaluation/etc… This may be a valuable resource
Rick noted that he circulated the bylaws of other Town Charters that required the Select
Board to have a process by which the Select Board was informed about the organization
and process. We are still missing this.
John asked if we should do this as a charter change and Rick suggested that we do.
Campbell suggested to recommend what we have in the memo. And then add final
recommendation to be submitted in final report and if it requires a charter change or not.
The discussion then focused on the need to have transparency not only in the
Government, but so that a layperson could understand the transparency.
The Committee recommended revising the verbiage and voting at the next Meeting.
With respect to the Audit Committee, this was passed at 2020 Annual Town Meeting.
Tucker will check with Erika; Campbell recommended adding the Article number and
body of the article to the memo.
The discussion then focused on the issues surrounding Code Enforcement.
John suggested adding this as a next to the organizational aspect of the Town – so that
it is clear to the layperson.
The Committee discussed whether or not local officials should be elected or appointed.
Campbell noted that there had not been much discussion in the year she has been on
the TGSC. John noted that we the committee did initially look at this, but we never did
anything with it.
Campbell and Rick suggested continuing the discussion item and potentially including it
in with #12 (Park and Rec).
7) Discussion of Future Responsibilities of Committee and topics investigated
The Committee recommended revisiting more of the discussion points in the memo in
order to bring this to the Select Board at a future meeting.
8) Other Business: None.
9) Date and Time of the Next Meeting:
The next Zoom meeting will be held on July 22, 2020 at 10:00 am.
10) Adjournment:
A motion was made by Rick and duly seconded by Curtis to adjourn at 11:11 am.
1. Adjournment