Town Meeting: July 2008 Archives
Notes from
(Video will be available on this website in the near future)
July 19th, 2008
Attendees
Audience: 43 (Including one reporter and photographer)
Town Officials on Stage: 12 (Included all 5 selectmen and only 1 school board member)
It should be noted that this was advertised as an informational meeting. It was unfortunately moderated as if it were a voting town meeting and as an audience member it felt as though time was going to be very limited (“we will have a short period at the end for questions”). In fact, select board chair Karel Crawford left before the last questions were even asked.
We do not think this format is very conducive to citizen participation.
Instead of a moderator, a facilitator would have been far more appropriate. Without being overly critical of Mr. Borrin, his style of moderating does not allow the audience to feel comfortable and he certainly did not encourage a two way informative conversation. He even prefaced a question from an audience member from the MCA. He inserted himself in the conversation which is not appropriate in this informal setting. We hope that Moultonboro will learn from other communities such as Meredith and their recent brainstorming session which was very open and successful.
Lastly, if this was truly an important and value added meeting as advertised by the selectmen, we would have hoped that our elected officials had stayed the course and not left early and that more members of the school board were present. The impression of some attendees was that the elected officials did not really want to be there and with some exceptions, ( the very informative messages from Betsy Patten, Chief Kinmond, Chief Bengston, Library and the seniors group ) not much was really said by either board. The Master Plan presentation was thorough, but did not receive any follow up or input from the officials in attendance. A real Q&A with audience participation during the presentation would have helped the public learn more about this important project.
How to make the process better? Make people feel comfortable. This is an informal meeting, make it feel that way. Facilitate the discussions by asking for follow up and encouraging participation from both sides. Most of all, don’t rush through it as if it were a burden to be there.
MCA
Meeting Highlights
- Only 4 non voting attendees
- Ed Charest updated the process for the new Advisory Budget committee. Stated he is looking forward to it.....
The Citizen Tuesday, July 15, 2008
MOULTONBOROUGH — The town will hold a summer informational meeting with town officials and residents discussing various topics. The Summer Informational Meeting will take place on Saturday starting at 9 a.m. in the Moultonborough Academy Auditorium.Town and School Board elected and appointed officials will meet to share information as well as hearing and responding to the comments and concerns of summer and year-round residents. The meeting begins the process of preparing for the upcoming budget cycle. Discussion items will include town/school cooperative efforts, the new advisory budget committee, review of common town meeting day, important changes in public safety law and public safety programs, update on the master plan, presentation by seniors, and update on changes in state law and donor town status. For further information, contact Town Administrator Carter Terenzini at 476-2347.
