Above: To participate in deciding our Town’s budgets, bylaws, and elected officials, you need to be registered in Southborough by tomorrow night. (Photo of 2011 Town Meeting by Susan Fitzgerald)
Town Clerk Jim Hegarty asked me to remind wannabe voters of an important deadline. If you aren’t a registered as a Southborough voter, you’ll need to change that by tomorrow night to participate in important upcoming votes.
Tuesday, March 22 is the deadline to register to vote for Annual Town Meeting, which opens on April 11th, and the Annual Town election on May 9th.
The Clerk’s office will stay open until 8:00 pm tomorrow, an hour later than it’s usual Tuesday hours.
But, you don’t need to swing by the Town House to take care of business. You can also register online, here.
I am fairly new to town, and I want to participate in Town Meeting this year. I am an active registered voter, but I have no experience with a Town Meeting format. Is there any document or site or video that can tell me what to expect, both from a procedural standpoint and in terms of the issues that will be up for debate?
Excellent question.
Really, most of what you need to know is explained as the night goes on. You show up, check in, and the moderator runs the meeting, telling folks when to vote.
But there are procedures about speaking and asking questions, calling for an end to discussion to make a vote, motions to postpone a vote or amend an article, and the possibility of a vote being recalled from earlier in the night, etc.
Those kinds of rules and nuances are explained in a video that Southborough Access Media produced a couple of years ago with former Selectwoman Donna McDaniel. I planned to share this again closer to the date, but no need for you to wait. You can take a look at that here.
em,
I have asked the Massachusetts Town Moderators Association for permission to copy their excellent CD “Town Meeting and You” and put it on the Town’s website for all to see.
This CD is about 30 minutes long and describes the history of Town Meeting, how Town Meeting operates, describes warrants, motions, etc.
When I receive an answer from the Massachusetts Moderator’s Association, I will report back.
In the meantime, you can borrow the CD from the Southborough Library’s CWMARS service. That’s how I found it.
Title: Town meeting and you
Author: Sahl, R. D.
Barcode: 37387090770593
Jim Hegarty
Southborough Town Clerk
(508) 485-0710 x3005
jhegarty@southboroughma.com
Wow, thanks to both of you (Beth and Jim) for sharing very specific resources. I really appreciate it!
em,
The Massachusetts Moderator’s Association gave me permission to post their excellent video “Town Meeting and You” and put it on the Town’s website for all to see.
This video is about is about 30 minutes long and describes the history of Town Meeting, how Town Meeting operates, describes warrants, motions, etc.
You can view it at this link:
http://www.southboroughtown.com/town-clerk/pages/town-meeting-information
Jim Hegarty
Southborough Town Clerk
(508) 485-0710 x3005
jhegarty@southboroughma.com
Also… There is a YouTube called “Southborough Town Meeting with Donna McDaniel”–a “walk-through” of the meeting and who does what, how to participate, etc. Viewed by more than 100 people…
I’m quite sure it’s there for this TM but will check.
Donna
I already provided that link above.
As I recall, there is also a page or two in that night’s Warrant that explains major procedures and protocols as well as providing some definitions for the various terms used in TM. I’ve always found it to be helpful.
Frank’s general observations of our TM (for new residents)
– If it is a spending bill, it will pass.
– No portion of the school budget will ever go down in defeat – bank on it. And you can also bank on one of the school’s presenters saying “this is a bare bones budget” or “we have cut everywhere we can” or something close to that.
– If you find yourself wondering if the PILOT payments made by Fay School and Saint Marks cover serves rendered to those institutions by the town, no they don’t. They have a constitutional right for us to subsidize their tuition. Purest definition of PILOT is: You pay, they don’t.
-You may find a few towns people overly talkative when they get the mike. Some are boring, some like to hear themselves talk but all have a few pearls of wisdom if you are willing to hear it.
-The articles most people are interested in are at the end which either means it will be late in the evening or the next day. If you are really out of luck the article will be postponed indefinitely at 10:55pm.
-You will learn a lot about the town when you go.