MY PRIORITIES AS THE MODERATOR

The Moderator has to be concerned about the health of Town Meeting. With fewer and fewer residents stepping up to run for Town Meeting Member, we have to boost outreach to the community. With attendance at Town Meeting barely hitting 200 out of 288 elected members on a good night, something must be done. I’ll work to boost participation by organizing community meetings at the library and Beech Street Center, and collaborating with local community groups to increase awareness. I’ll also work directly with Town Meeting Members to recruit new members and improve turnout. Further, we can do much more to boost communication from the Moderator, about the important work Town Meeting does, some of the critical issues coming before Town Meeting, and how residents can easily get involved. Town Meeting shapes our community’s future—we must do everything we can to keep it strong.

Town Meeting thrives on continuity, but there’s room to make it better. One important improvement, and something that will encourage more participation is bringing back hybrid Town Meeting. We’ve already shown during Covid that we have the capability to do this. And hybrid makes it easier for parents with child care responsibilities, the elderly and those with mobility problems, and those with traveling work schedules or business travel to continue participating in Town Meeting. We just can’t afford to lose important committee voices at Town Meeting. We can make other improvements, as well – ranging from relaxing overly narrow “scope” restrictions on speech at Town Meeting, to working to ensure that both sides of any issue have an adequate opportunity to be heard and in equal measure. Even small things like employing a timer that everyone can see to enforce time limits can help Town Meeting run more smoothly. Improving Town Meeting so that it functions better is one of my top priorities! 

Transparency and shared decision making are two keys to good governance. As your Town Moderator, I’ll work to improve Town Meeting and champion appointments to the Moderator-appointed committees that reflect a diversity of skills and backgrounds, and ensure the process is open and inclusive. That’s why I’m proposing a Moderator’s Advisory Committee to provide more input and help vet appointments—operating under Open Meeting Law for transparency. The Moderator’s Advisory Committee will be selected by other Town Meeting Members. Selection by precinct caucuses is one way to make this work and ensure representation from all eight precincts. The Committee also is a way to foster more participation in decision making, something that makes us stronger. We can have a more transparent and inclusive Town Meeting, and we can bring the same to bear on the Moderator’s many committee appointments.

We can do so much more to ensure that our Town Meeting and the Moderator's committee appointments reflect ALL of Belmont. Historically, renters, parents, young people and the elderly have been less likely to participate in Town Meeting. The same is true for many of the underrepresented communities that make for our amazing cultural and ethnic diversity in Belmont. We also have to be concerned about viewpoint diversity. No matter what residents' views on their town and town government, if those views aren't represented at Town Meeting, we lose important voices in our decision making. Ensuring diversity is one of my top priorities as I contemplate my work with the community as Moderator.