WILLIAMSBURG — It’ll be awhile before residents forget the chaos of last spring’s annual Town Meeting — and town officials are intent on ensuring it doesn’t happen again.
In a letter to the community, signed on Monday and posted to the town’s website, town officials lay out a means to facilitate a Town Meeting “that is fair, feels comfortable for all participants, and makes reasoned decisions for the Town in the best interest of everybody.”
Signed by the three Select Board members, s of the Select Board, Town Clerk Brenda Lessard, Moderator Kayla Solomon, and Town Administrator Nick Caccamo, the letter opens acknowledging the contentious shouting match at annual Town Meeting on June 2.
Emotions flared up over an easement approval needed for proposed construction of a section of a shared use pedestrian rail-trail on South Main Street that will eventually connect to Northampton. The easement was taken up in Article 27 of the meeting, with many residents opposed to having the trail pass over their driveways, calling the plans a safety hazard.
But aside from the animosity and ad hominems, the Board also acknowledged other frustrations from community members that have been voiced since the meeting, including a lack of booklets, seating, and starting late.
“Comments ranged from the long time that it took to check-in, so that the meeting started before everyone was present to the lack of seating and information booklets for all participants,” the letter states. “Some people wrote to say that the meeting was too long or that it should be scheduled on a different day of the week or at a different time of day. A record number of voters, 355, came to Town Meeting that night and many of these problems were the result of this unusually large turnout.”
Based on public input, the Board also drafted strategies to mitigate chaos in the future, and apologized to the community for a lack of preparation.
The letter outlines the following strategies moving forward:
Several working days before the annual Town Meeting, the Select Board, town moderator, town administrator and town clerk will meet to discuss the content of the warrant and any special history related to specific articles. They will attempt to predict when a paper ballot might be appropriate for an article, and review details of the process and rules of order for the meeting.
The Select Board will offer an informal public session prior to annual Town Meeting to discuss and answer questions on the articles of the Town Meeting warrant.
The town will try to work out a system to check in voters more rapidly, as well as encourging voters to arrive early.
The town will provide enough copies of the meeting warrant or voter information booklets for all participants of annual Town Meeting.
The Select Board will ask the town clerk to be prepared to have a ballot vote on any article. To use a ballot vote a motion must be made and seconded on Town Meeting floor and then voted.
The Select Board will consider ways to make Town Meeting more accessible to voters. Among the options are offering child care during the meeting, and changing the day and time of the meeting. Any change to the day of the week of Town Meeting requires a general government bylaw change.
For future discussions on Town Meeting floor, two microphones will be available in the audience area. For articles with any comments, voters will be directed to go to the microphones to state their comments to the moderator. The board is also proposing a roving microphone for mobility-impaired voters. Having designated comment microphones will make it easier for the moderator to recognize voters and will make the comments easier for everyone else to hear.
The moderator will be encouraged to pursue further professional development.
Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.
