2026-10-05 - Form of Government Study Committee

00:05All right. So, I'm going to call to

00:06order the form of government study

00:07committee meeting for Monday, October

00:095th. Uh, the first item on our agenda is

00:12reviewing and approving the minutes from

00:14the September 14th meeting. Everyone get

00:16a chance to look at those.

00:20Any comments or changes? Anyone wants to

00:22make them?

00:24If not, I'd entertain a motion to

00:26approve. So, moved. Second. All in

00:29favor?

00:30>> I

00:31>> I.

00:32>> Excellent.

00:33>> Uh the next item was discussing outreach

00:36to town meeting members. I know between

00:39our meeting on the 14th, there was a

00:42meeting where town meeting members were

00:44able to come. It was on Thursday the

00:4724th.

00:48>> Yeah.

00:50>> Anyone that was there?

00:51>> Yeah.

00:53So, first of all, we as folks came in, I

00:56think 17 RP, but we only had 11 or 12

00:58show up. Okay.

01:00>> Um, we passed out just a our charge and

01:03then the different forms of the four

01:05forms of government in Massachusetts.

01:07So, 11 town meeting, current town

01:10meeting members spoke and they all were

01:13very positive about our current form of

01:15government.

01:17Um they were wary about either the open

01:19town meeting or the council mayor for

01:22for reasons that we've discussed

01:25>> like [clears throat]

01:26uh inconsistent uh population or

01:29decision-m with the uh open town meeting

01:33and just uh less resident less uh

01:37resident participation with the council

01:38mayor forum. And a lot of them we know

01:41were acquainted with folks on Worcester

01:42who constantly complained that they

01:44didn't feel that their voices were

01:45heard.

01:47Um and you know some of them did have

01:50some recommendations around improving

01:52town meeting like the town meeting

01:55members being better prepared um and

01:58just making more of a commitment. Um,

02:02[clears throat]

02:03so that was and and there were a few

02:05other things like maybe having precincts

02:07sit together. So if you know a certain

02:10issue affected, you know, a certain part

02:13of town, maybe that would be clear. Um,

02:17but they all were very positive about

02:19our corpora. They thought we, you know,

02:20we have a good local a good structure,

02:24good leadership. They feel that you know

02:27having citizens of the town brings a lot

02:30to the community and that these citizen

02:32these uh town meeting members were also

02:34um

02:37[clears throat]

02:37sorry um

02:40also representing their neighbors and uh

02:44friends and family. So it wasn't just

02:46the 240 people. It was Oh, but

02:50[laughter] it was more, you know,

02:53through their influence and tact. Um, so

02:56yeah, I think I was just explaining our

02:59meeting. Oh, and Mark was there, too. So

03:01anyway, the all of the comments that the

03:0411 folks made are in the folder in our

03:07fuller. Okay,

03:08>> perfect.

03:09>> But in general, very positive.

03:12>> Thanks.

03:14I don't think there was one.

03:15>> I would expect

03:16>> there wasn't one that was not

03:17>> evaluating yourself

03:20a terrible job.

03:22>> Um did we talk about it in our steps or

03:24>> Oh, no. We didn't talk about that. We

03:26just started talking.

03:27>> Okay. Well, um well, we um I think we

03:31calculated that was 6% of the town

03:33meeting that we heard from. And our

03:36question kind of was, do we need to hear

03:38from more of them? And if so, how do we

03:40do that? Any

03:44thoughts about that? Or 6% enough?

03:50One of the things we talked about was

03:52potentially having a second goaround at

03:54it out uh meeting or I mean u we also

03:59thought about maybe is there a way to

04:00connect via email to ask some questions

04:05and [clears throat] see what kind of

04:06response we get from that but I don't

04:07know what the group wants to do in terms

04:09of

04:13>> I'd say we probably want to do at least

04:15one more bit of outreach to town meeting

04:17members have just a single night where

04:20they can come. I think we want to

04:22provide another opportunity. Yeah. Mark,

04:25>> did we hear any response from anyone

04:28about why they couldn't

04:30>> attend? Did we get negative responses or

04:33>> Yeah, I think they were right.

04:35>> Just a few said about curriculum night,

04:37but

04:39>> I for the schools, but I it wasn't a

04:42ton. There was like probably

04:44three or so um that mentioned that. But

04:48>> I just don't want this to go the same

04:50way our survey went over the summer

04:52where we keep reaching out and keep

04:53reaching out and

04:57diminishing concerns.

04:58>> Yeah. Um and the the email um I think we

05:02might get more response but we already

05:07had response from them like they could

05:10have contributed to the survey. I would

05:12really love to hear them in person. Um I

05:16think that's the best forum especially

05:18because town meeting members that's kind

05:19of how you act. You you come to the

05:21meeting, you talk, we listen. That's the

05:25process. Um I'd be open to another forum

05:29like this. Uh I I didn't attend as a

05:33committee member. I didn't I just I sat

05:35in the back just kind of observing. Um,

05:38I would love to go and hear some more

05:39people, but I'm concerned that it'll

05:42just be um

05:45time not well spent.

05:47I'd love to be proved wrong.

05:49[clears throat]

05:49>> I think with both the survey and this

05:52meeting, we can draw some inferences

05:54from the

05:57lesser response rate turnout. I mean,

06:00maybe that just means people aren't

06:01passionate about a lot of apathy.

06:05I would say they were very curious. They

06:07they thought they were going to receive

06:09some education from us that night and uh

06:12we said, "No, we're just really

06:13gathering facts here." So, I think they

06:16were a little surprised. They they

06:17thought it was maybe an educational

06:19opportunity and we said, "No, no,

06:20that'll come down the road. We're just

06:21really we want to hear from you." So,

06:24there might have been some confusion

06:25about what we were [clears throat] what

06:28we were looking for.

06:31>> Yeah. I feel like when we as

06:33[clears throat] we continue this process

06:34and and we get to our to the phase where

06:37we start making maybe recommendations or

06:39floating some ideas perhaps doing some

06:42more outreach on that like what would

06:43you would you be in favor of or of

06:47whatever recommendations we make. I I

06:49feel like that would be some good

06:50feedback.

06:51>> I think that's part of our

06:52>> job. I think that's in the chart or our

06:55scope of work that there will be public

06:57outreach,

06:57>> right? Um, but this is to this elected

07:01body is the thing. So I don't know.

07:05>> I don't know if I'm more concerned by

07:06the fact if there was miscommunication

07:08and people thought it was an educational

07:10opportunity and only 6% of them showed

07:13up

07:14that I think I don't know if that's

07:17worse than only 6% wanted to be heard or

07:21only 6% wanted to learn or I'm not sure

07:23which way is worse. It's it's a I I

07:26think it's

07:28a sobering

07:29>> statement no matter how you look at it.

07:32>> Yeah, I think it's reflective of

07:33government in general right now and the

07:35ayute towards it. If you look at voter

07:36turnouts there between 12 I I think

07:40where was it in Dudley they just had an

07:43override Charlton Dudley for Shepard

07:46Hill and the um Charlton voters showed

07:48up at 3.8% for an 11 million override.

07:52That was their voter turnout and it was

07:54defeated by Dudley because they had

07:56somewhere in the 20s for a turnout.

07:59So I think it's all reflective of the

08:01the Apple towards government right now.

08:05The email itself did highlight quote

08:08this meeting is aimed at finding what

08:10you as the residents and elected town

08:12meeting members feel about our

08:13government. End quote. And that was

08:14bolded. So, I think your communication,

08:17the email you drafted

08:18>> to have sent was

08:21pretty clear on the

08:22>> like outreach session

08:25component.

08:28>> All right. Well, it sounds like in

08:30general we do agree we should talk to

08:31town meeting members again, but possibly

08:34after we've started actually writing up

08:36what our recommendations to the select

08:38board are going to be. Shop it around to

08:40the town meeting members. shop around to

08:42the select board before we write our

08:44official

08:45>> well why why are we shopping around

08:47report to the town meeting members

08:49>> I mean our report comes from what we've

08:51learned from them I don't want us to

08:54write this up and then have people who

08:56aren't on our committee come back and

08:57edit it effectively by saying well what

08:59about the thing

09:01>> yeah sorry that's a good point

09:02>> but I mean I'm happy to do this again

09:04>> but just a little further down the road

09:06or or not if we don't think it's going

09:08to be

09:09>> how many people on the committee are not

09:10on town meeting on of the 11 of us.

09:13>> Me and I I mean

09:14>> you're it could be right.

09:16>> I was a town. Yeah. Yes. And then I

09:18moved. But

09:18>> I'm going to say possibly have those

09:22people, but if there's only one that

09:24makes it more difficult at town meeting

09:26kind of at a table out there, you know,

09:28and people are getting up to go to the

09:30bathroom or moving around, you know, you

09:32might be able to engage them at that,

09:34>> right?

09:35>> You have a captive audience.

09:38>> Yeah. I I like that idea. about using

09:41the town meeting, but isn't it kind of

09:43late? It's December 7.

09:45>> December 7th. So,

09:47>> yeah. I mean I mean the sad truth is

09:52that the town residents who are the most

09:57interested in what goes on at the

09:59municipal level are either town meeting

10:03members or have uh run for town meeting

10:06me, but they're interested in town

10:07meeting to begin with.

10:09Um, and that leaves a lot of people who

10:12are not in that bucket. We still need to

10:16uh work with everybody in the town. We

10:19still need to serve everybody in the

10:20town even if they aren't at the active

10:23level.

10:25But then above that those people only

10:28some of them are going to show up to our

10:29forum and then you know some of them at

10:31the forum are going to speak and then

10:32you know there's a certain diminishing

10:35return

10:37which I get I you know that's that's not

10:39unfortunate. I said earlier I was wrong

10:42that's just the nature of the world

10:44>> because there's funny things I'm not

10:46interested in too.

10:47>> I think we could safely assume that

10:49there's not a ground swell of public

10:52support for a change of government right

10:53now. [clears throat]

10:55I'd say that's fair.

10:57>> Yeah.

10:57>> Do you think it would be different if

10:59there was a specific

11:02proposal? If there was a specific item

11:06whereas just a general, hey, we should

11:08keep it the same or hey, we should

11:10change it. There's no ground swell the

11:11other way.

11:13Like, let's just say we were here to

11:15discuss whether we should have a mayor

11:17and a council and blah blah blah. Maybe

11:19then there would be

11:21>> pitchforks or whatever the opposite of

11:23pitchforks are. to question Paul.

11:25>> Yeah.

11:26>> Yes. If there was a meeting saying

11:28should Shrewsbury become a city that

11:30would get a lot more attention then

11:31would you like to talk about the form of

11:34government? People say well the form

11:35seems to be working well. I don't really

11:36have much to say.

11:38>> Yeah. I mean people generally resistance

11:41to change resistant to change all the

11:43time. So I think if we give them

11:45anything

11:47I think they'll probably be opposition

11:48to it. doesn't mean there isn't a group

11:50of people out there that would like

11:51what's

11:52>> I think that's that's the the crux of

11:56our eventual report which is we

11:59interviewed all of the these town

12:00leaders from other towns where there was

12:02a ground swell either because there was

12:05some major failure in their formal

12:07government or just things had changed

12:09and it was ready to move on

12:11that ain't us

12:14or that is us or whatever but I mean

12:16that's that's kind of how we've been

12:18working for the last year has been

12:20comparing and all of the other

12:22municipalities that have done the change

12:24or didn't do the change. You know, we we

12:26we can compare them where there was some

12:30sort of ground swell. That's word.

12:34>> Also, um the one person I remember who

12:37spoke about the city form said something

12:41like I heard we might become a city. So

12:43there seemed to be some like rumors that

12:45oh I think you got I thought you guys

12:47were you know talking about making us a

12:49city and we were like no. So um the

12:52other point that I didn't mention was

12:54that a lot of members said how you know

12:56when you get involved in a town meeting

12:58you become educated about our tab and

13:00then you uh chances are you join a board

13:03or a committee. So there's it's kind of

13:05like feed it's like a feeder system and

13:07it um keeps people engaged and that was

13:10a plus.

13:15Well, I think we have a strong tradition

13:17in our community of tamping. So, I think

13:20it would take a lot

13:23to make people want to change that. And

13:25that's basically what we heard that they

13:26felt that it was effective, that it

13:28works and

13:31just, you know, a couple suggestions,

13:33but not a ton.

13:37And it was mostly about preparation,

13:39which I agree with because it is a lot.

13:41Um and we did someone one of the uh

13:44participants mentioned we have some huge

13:46ticket items coming up in the next

13:48couple years that we're going to have to

13:49make some big decisions on. So people

13:51really need to

13:53understand what we're doing,

13:56you know, attend more meetings or watch

13:59the meetings. I mean in a way it's

14:01easier now than ever to educate yourself

14:03about what's happening. self.

14:10>> All right. I think we give a fair

14:11opportunity for people to educate

14:13themselves. There's a lot of information

14:14on the website. There's a lot of

14:16communications that go out media

14:18connection. Not only do they broadcast

14:20live, but they have everything

14:24um archived so you can go back and watch

14:26whatever meetings you want.

14:28So I think I think I think it goes back

14:31to the to the apathy towards government

14:34or you know people are just too busy in

14:35their everyday lives to and it's not

14:38something they want to get involved with

14:39because they're involved with maybe with

14:41their school children they're involved

14:42with work they're involved with other

14:45hobbies or they might be carrying two

14:47jobs or you know all of the above. Um, I

14:49guess my my curiosity around ground

14:51swell there. It appears that from the

14:54outreach we've done, there hasn't been a

14:56whole lot of ground swell for changing

14:58the form of government. I'm not a social

15:00media follower. I don't know if there's

15:02any kind of ground swell out there on

15:04Facebook or Instagram or any of the

15:06other forums out there.

15:07>> Me neither.

15:08>> I can't answer that.

15:10>> I I think we would have heard about it

15:12if there were. So, my my sense is that

15:15there is not. And I'm I'm wondering if

15:18you know doing further outreach is just

15:20throwing good money after bad. Dine is

15:23kind of the specialist

15:26[laughter] conversation. But but I do

15:28periodically follow some of that and it

15:30seems like there's a lot of people

15:31talking about Shrewsbury becoming a city

15:34referring to like density or growth but

15:36not necessarily the form of government.

15:38I don't I don't see a whole lot of

15:40discussion about the form of government

15:42so much as you know are we actually a

15:44city because a lot of people just

15:46because of size.

15:47>> Yeah.

15:47>> Yeah.

15:48>> Yeah. That's true. I I agree with that.

15:50I think there's more kind of complaining

15:52that we've grown so fast we're like a

15:54city.

15:54>> Yeah.

15:55>> So versus debating

15:57>> we got we have city counselors.

16:00>> Right. Size is one thing. The problem

16:02comes when the government's no longer

16:04nimble enough which I don't know that

16:06we're anywhere near that. Um,

16:10>> and looking at the when you were saying

16:12like people thought that it might be a

16:13city like we're thinking that we were

16:15considering a city form of government. I

16:17also wonder how much of that lies with

16:19the news coverage around it because I

16:20went back to check on headlines about

16:22the form of government study committee

16:24and they they kind of

16:28some more explicitly than others but

16:30they kind of frame it in a way that's

16:31like Shrewbury will change its form of

16:34government or may change its form or one

16:37of them outright says these

16:40Massachusetts towns are residents are

16:42pushing for them to become cities and

16:43Shisbury is included in that and then

16:46you dig into the article and that's not

16:48the the case. But um I think the way

16:51that you know headlines are written can

16:54make people think oh well Shrewsbury is

16:56changing its form of government. I think

16:58most people know town city. So they're

17:01thinking well if we're changing town

17:03must be to city instead of all the

17:06different components we've been looking

17:07at. So I wonder if that maybe is part of

17:10it is that news coverage about it has

17:13made it seem as if Shrewsbury may become

17:15a city.

17:20>> Just food for thought.

17:21>> Thank you.

17:24>> All right. I think as far as outreach to

17:27town meeting members, I think we're good

17:28for now. And part of it is going in the

17:32future is going to depend on what we are

17:34going to report to the select board,

17:35which is two items down on the agenda.

17:37So, first let's quickly discuss the

17:40results of the outreach survey. We did

17:42discuss this last time just want to give

17:44anyone if they wanted an opportunity if

17:47they want to comment more on it. I know

17:49people now have more time to read all

17:50the comments and Tanner put it together

17:52in a nice document. If anyone has any

17:55additional comments on the outreach

17:57survey, now's a good time.

17:59>> Well, I think on the outreach survey, if

18:00I recall, that's where people cited open

18:03chat a bit, right? versus counselor.

18:07That's my recommendation,

18:11but I don't know how many

18:14maybe a handful of people.

18:16>> I think you said last time 10 that you

18:19ran the analysis and it's about 50%

18:21positive, 50% negative for the current

18:24form. I know there are lots of keep

18:26everything the same and lots of change

18:28to a city or change to a town meeting,

18:30but

18:32>> yeah, let me see if I can

18:33>> pretty well split.

18:35>> I will say that after our last meeting,

18:37I did ask Tanner to um rearrange the

18:42feedback that we the comments that we

18:43got um and and list some of them as like

18:47action items that we could maybe take

18:48later on as recommendations for any

18:52updates that we might want to do. and

18:54then um he put it together nicely in in

18:57our drive. So I think it's something for

18:59us to look back to when we're at that

19:01recommendation stage.

19:04>> The exact statistic on the

19:06representative town meeting was 47.6%

19:09support retaining representative town

19:11meeting. 18.1% were neutral and 34.3%

19:16oppose it, making for a 13.3% net

19:19approval margin,

19:22which I find

19:25interesting. I'm not sure it's positive

19:26or negative interesting because

19:29typically on an anonymous survey, you

19:31get more negative opinions or change,

19:33you know, folks who aren't going to come

19:35out and show their face. Um, which I

19:37get. Um and yet still we had people who

19:40came out and said they liked it. Um

19:44>> plurality.

19:45>> Plurality. Not not not but but more than

19:48negatives, right? Plurality. That's the

19:51>> Yeah. So um

19:53>> I mean I don't think that shows much.

19:55It's not a huge plurality. It's you know

19:57it's it's there.

19:58>> 13 points is

20:00>> Yeah. No, it's definitely there but it's

20:02not. But the other night at the town

20:04meeting member forum that was you know

20:06100%

20:08That's what I mean. It's just like

20:09sometimes, you know, when you have

20:10people in person and people online with

20:12people, you know.

20:12>> Well, that was that was the epitome of

20:15preaching to the choir there.

20:16Absolutely. It was the town meeting.

20:18>> But I mean, I can imagine town meeting

20:20members coming and saying, "I'm really

20:22upset about the way the system is

20:24working." Um, no, none of them did. Now,

20:26maybe those people who did who were

20:27upset had legitimate reasons not to

20:30show, and I don't want to discount that,

20:32but it could have been the same on the

20:33survey.

20:38Oh [clears throat]

20:39>> yeah, we were just uh we we talked about

20:41that a thing. So 18 people always

20:43repeated. I think 12 people showed up,

20:4611 spoke.

20:48>> That's my recollection.

20:49>> That is right.

20:51>> But we didn't really know why. I guess

20:52there was there was a curriculum night.

20:54>> Oh yeah, that's true.

20:55>> Was it Thursday night a couple weeks

20:57ago?

20:58>> It's the 24th, which is correct.

21:02>> There's always something.

21:03>> Yeah, true.

21:03>> Very true.

21:05All right, our next agenda item is

21:06discussing next steps for reporting to

21:08the select board. So, in general, it

21:11seems we've done a lot of information

21:12gathering. We've had a lot of guests.

21:14Uh, speaking of guests, the town manager

21:17of Amherst has conflicts the same nights

21:20that we have our meetings, which is why

21:22he's not here.

21:23>> Bianual week, uh, his bianual council

21:26schedule is on the same schedule as us,

21:30so I don't know that we'll see him.

21:32Thank you for checking.

21:33>> And I would guess the more we get into

21:35winter, the less he will be willing to

21:37drive, you know, the hour and 20 minutes

21:40uh

21:42>> that you have to go from Ammerst.

21:44>> Would he be willing to send us a message

21:46like an email? Just

21:48>> write up something. I can ask him.

21:50>> Yeah. Brief, but you know, just

21:52>> I can ask him.

21:53>> This is what the doesn't have to ask.

21:55>> I can ask him.

21:56>> Thank you.

21:57>> See if I could write.

22:00>> Yes. No, I people don't

22:01>> I mean if you come here we've been on

22:03video so it's theoretically worse

22:05>> and everything recorded.

22:07>> Yeah.

22:08>> Remind me when is our initial report to

22:10select board due?

22:13>> 12 to 18 months from charge.

22:16>> We have an interim report though.

22:17>> We're allowed to do an interim report.

22:20>> 12 months when 12 months uh

22:23>> 12 months is November.

22:24>> I'm sorry. That's the final report.

22:26>> That's the final

22:26>> 12 months is July. um when they adopted

22:29it when we first met was

22:32>> November

22:33>> November it's 12 to 18 months

22:36>> I'm hoping though that these are not

22:38hard

22:41>> ended

22:42>> do we have to give a report to town

22:44>> meetings

22:47board

22:49>> we could

22:50>> oh we certainly could always No only the

22:53annual meeting has an article accepting

22:57reports and even optional, but there's

22:59no reason we couldn't ask the select

23:01board to put us on the agenda if or just

23:05have the moderator say, "Hey, these guys

23:07want to talk for a bit."

23:11>> But I'm not sure there's any value.

23:13>> People are curious about what we're

23:16doing. I mean, that's the one I take

23:17away from our meeting, too, was

23:20>> what are you guys doing? You know, I

23:22mean, are you changing us? You know,

23:25>> the reason I ask is the 18 months is

23:27going to come up right right close to

23:30the annual town meeting next year.

23:32>> So, if there was some information

23:34put out to town meeting at the special

23:37town meeting in the fall, that might be

23:39>> beneficial. People then might reach out

23:41on their own if they're aware of what

23:43we're doing.

23:44>> That's the idea.

23:45>> That's a good idea. So on December 9th,

23:482025, the uh select board voted to

23:52update and amend the charge of this

23:53committee so that the effective starting

23:55date was November 2025, giving the 12 to

23:5918month um period for the final report

24:02um giving us from November 2025 to um

24:07>> 2027 May

24:11>> 2027, which is right around

24:14>> time. But I'm sure if we asked very

24:16politely

24:18like a good teacher would give an

24:21extension to a student, we could ask

24:23[snorts] oursel or not if it's even

24:25necessary.

24:26>> Yeah. Yeah. So I guess my question

24:29generally is do we feel prepared to

24:31start writing up some sort of or

24:34developing some recommendations that we

24:36would give to the select board. We've

24:37talked to elected officials, appointed

24:40officials, people from different towns.

24:42We've gathered a lot of information

24:44Do we feel comfortable starting to draft

24:47some of those recommendations either in

24:50meeting or in a subcommittee and then

24:52distributing it around and working on

24:54it?

24:57>> I I for one feel comfortable to start

24:59discussing what what we've what we're

25:02feeling and you know boxing it back and

25:04forth among the 11 of us. I'm not sure

25:07we're ready to write it.

25:09>> Yeah. I mean I think I think we are

25:10ready to give an update to the select

25:12board in terms of the work we've done

25:13and and what we found out you know just

25:16almost the a summary of our meeting

25:18>> that was helpful at our meeting wasn't

25:20that people enjoyed it or were

25:22appreciative

25:22>> I think that would be a good initial

25:24report to the select board the progress

25:26of the work we've done so far

25:30>> and and that you know yeah we're moving

25:32forward

25:33>> starting to work on our recommendations

25:35those will be available within the

25:3718month time period period in the

25:39charge.

25:40>> I haven't looked at our scope of work.

25:42I'm curious how we're matching up to the

25:45things we're ticking off there. And is

25:46there anything that uh maybe we should

25:49be looking at that's in the scope that

25:51we

25:53um haven't done yet?

25:56Um I know

25:58>> one one item we had originally talked

25:59about is producing a Shrewberry

26:01governance baseline report that

26:03summarizes the current legal and

26:04organiza organizational framework how

26:06major processes work in practice and

26:08themes from stakeholder and community

26:10input. So we've gotten the stakeholder

26:13and community input. We know how the law

26:16is written. Um so it's a matter of

26:18documenting that and how major processes

26:21work in practice.

26:25So, we should at some point start

26:27working on that baseline report, but I

26:29agree with you, Pat, that it would be a

26:31good idea for us to give some sort of

26:34summary of what we've done so far to the

26:35select board in person. Could just

26:38either our chair or our select board

26:40representative or both in concert. Just

26:43just do that in person at some select

26:45board meeting.

26:47>> You have to get on the agenda.

26:48>> Would have to get on the agenda. I

26:49assume

26:52>> you'd be okay with us doing that

26:53verbally. You don't need a notorized

26:56presentation.

26:57>> Yeah, I can let the chair

27:00>> keep you updated. I think it would be

27:01good for for you to come in front of us

27:04and just give a general update about

27:06>> Yeah.

27:07>> Is that before um special town meeting

27:09and stuff what we're thinking?

27:11>> Depends on

27:12>> I guess yeah how we feel and how slam

27:15the sled board schedule is. Until then,

27:18>> I can wait. I'll let you know.

27:19>> Yeah, I mean I wouldn't want to give an

27:21update the town meeting without first

27:22giving an update to some person.

27:25>> Yeah, that makes sense.

27:26>> I'd rather present to the five of them

27:28than

27:28>> Yeah, 240 of us.

27:31>> Well, they're the

27:33we should keep them updated before we

27:35let everyone else know seeing they're

27:37the ones who have given us our charge.

27:40>> Okay. So, we want to report in person to

27:42the select board, start thinking about

27:46recommendations, but we're not going to

27:48start writing our official

27:50recommendations yet until we have some

27:52discussions around that. Is that an

27:54accurate summary of what we all just

27:55said?

27:57>> Yes, I hope so.

27:58>> Excellent. That's fair.

28:00>> All right, that leaves us in a good

28:02spot. I believe our next meeting is

28:06scheduled for November

28:10don't have the date in front of me

28:11today. Um, but more relevantly, our

28:15December meeting was originally

28:17scheduled for Monday, December 7th,

28:20which is now the special town meeting

28:23date.

28:24>> 2nd November.

28:25>> Uh, no. Yes. Thank you. Monday, November

28:282nd is our next meeting and then we need

28:30to reschedu the meeting that otherwise

28:32would have been on Monday, December 7th.

28:35Could we special town meeting

28:37>> to the previous Monday then the 30th of

28:40November?

28:41>> I was going to say

28:42>> and that way it's a little bit close.

28:43It's right before that town meeting and

28:46we all know December is a toxic time to

28:47try to schedule meetings. So it kind of

28:49gives us a little leaprog over that.

28:51>> Yeah. Just that's the Monday after

28:53Thanksgiving is

28:54>> okay.

28:55>> That's the 30.

28:56>> We're all drunk on tryptophan and ready

28:58to get back to work.

29:00>> Tanner, can you check the availability

29:03of this room? You got it doing it right

29:05now.

29:06>> Thank you.

29:16>> I don't travel for the holidays.

29:21[laughter]

29:22>> Excellent. All right. So, our next

29:23meeting is the 7th. Tanner is checking

29:25us for the 30th,

29:28but other than that, start thinking

29:30about what recommendations we want to

29:32give and we will start thinking about

29:34talking to the select board when we hear

29:35back from them.

29:36>> It's available. I'll book it later.

29:38>> Perfect. Thank you, Tanner.

29:41>> With that, I would entertain a motion to

29:43adjurnn.

29:44>> So, moved. Second. Second.

29:47>> All in favor? I have a great night,

29:49everyone. You too. You too.