Confusion at Town Meeting?

At the all committee meeting of Templeton boards and committees on Tuesday, selectmen Brooks made a rare appearance and stated concern that the approach being looked at by the Advisory Committee will be confusing to Town Meeting. Well to be confused, first you have to show up.

Secondly, does anyone remember the snafu or confusion over the Town Meeting vote for debt exclusion for the police station project? I believe it was the summary saying one thing and the motion saying something else. Now, part of that is on Town Meeting, you have to know what you are voting on, so perhaps selectmen can change their approach to the Town Meeting warrant articles.

The approach Advisory has talked about and will further discuss at a meeting (s) will be not only having a yes or no recommendation but include an explanation of the subject, the vote and reasons for a recommendation and perhaps include say the benefit of the article such as an open space item. Then, their could also be a "minority vote" explanation for any no votes with reason (s) why members voted against a recommendation. This may not be important with a 6 yes and 1 no vote but with a 5 yes and 2 no or a 4 yes and 3 no vote for recommendation. I believe people at Town Meeting deserve to know why the Advisory Committee is split on an article. Perhaps the three no votes have an idea (s) on why an article would be bad for the taxpayers. I see this as a move that would give people more information so as to make a better informed decision rather than a one sided view.

So I guess the first thing is to ask ourselves is Town Meeting suppose to be a place for debate and questions or is it just a place to go through the motions and say yes or no by just accepting what is on paper in front of you? Since selectmen John Caplis stated he also wanted to see the end product and had questions, perhaps this new approach is making some selectmen nervous. Before anyone says the sky is falling, this new approach has to be voted on and put into place, then the information has to be available in a timely manner, organized, put on paper, be printed and made available to the people. It is a large undertaking as it is a new approach and if implemented, may not go off as planned. It would be a work in progress and for this year, the expense of doing it would be on individual members as there is currently no Advisory Committee budget structure to support this type of approach. The Advisory Committee has presented a budget for next fiscal year to support this and we will have to wait and see if the selectmen allow it or not.

Whether there will be any change is up to the "transparent, more information, good governance" selectmen of Templeton.

On another subject, selectmen Brooks explained her long absence from meetings because of family issues and health issues including mental health. The all committee meeting was recorded and selectmen Brooks' speech is at the very beginning. She will now "attend" meetings remotely.


So, how do you feel? Will providing an explanation for a yes or no recommendation be more confusing or will it be beneficial to Town Meeting? Would having an explanation for a no recommendation along with an explanation of a yes vote be beneficial to Town Meeting;

example: recommendation for - 3 yes and 4 no. Reason (s) for a no vote: etc., etc., etc.
                Minority report: reasons members voted for a yes recommendation - "While moving forward, this item may require careful monitoring,we believe this would benefit the town long range for the following reasons;, etc., etc., etc.

Town Meeting would receive both sides which could be a basis for questions and discussion.

Remember, every article that gets 7 yes or no votes would not have a minority report, only those articles having a split vote. Town residents would then have an on the record view of votes and reasons. This could give the residents an idea behind the votes and members: (seems like the no votes are not based on reason but rather they simply don't like the project, maybe I will volunteer for Advisory.) This approach has the potential to force a committee to actually have sound reasons and information for a particular article, subject and vote.

Again, before anyone yells "the sky is falling" this has to get done and tried first. This would be like having a policy or guidance for future Advisory Committee members on how to provide recommendations and information to Town Meeting. With a current board of selectmen big on policy and procedures, one would think this idea would be a slam dunk and have full support of the BOS.

Perhaps I am mistaken in that thinking.