The nonbinding ballot question "Should the Town of North Andover consider replacing Open Town Meeting with another form of Local government?" passed this past election. What does that mean to people?

What do you like about town meeting? What do you dislike about it? Could it be made better to keep it or have we just outgrown it where it is no longer an effective way to govern our town? What are the alternatives and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each one.

Feel free to express your opinion, provide links to other sites with details of what other options are (instead of copying massive amounts of detailed information here) and whatever else would help people understand this topic better.

Dear Readers - Now that the ballot question has indicated that North Andover voters are interested in looking at our town government options, I believe it is even more important than ever to attend Town Meeting on Tuesday, May 13th, 7:00pm at the High School this year.

If the town wants to evaluate our options, we first have to be familiar with our current system. We need to be able to clearly identify what works and what doesn't. This is the year to watch and listen and write down what strikes you as important observations.

I think the value of this particular forum thread will really kick in when we've got a current reference point. But in the meantime, I'm hoping that readers will contribute their thoughts about the pros and cons now, and then we can keep those in mind as we attend Town Meeting. I'll get the ball rolling...

I share concern about something I've heard former Selectmen Jim Xenakis mention several times: he's expressed frustration that the town boards, managers and staff spend a year [sometimes more than one!] reviewing budgets and issues and discussing them in poorly attended public meetings, only to have all their work put at risk in brief discussions on the floor of town meeting by individuals who have insufficiently prepared themselves with accurate facts. NAU has been working very hard to address this for some time now, by getting honest and accurate town government information into the hands of voters.

I don't know if other forms of government would facilitate more informed decision making, but I'd like to explore that.

Sincerely,
Sandy Gleed

Regarding Mr Xenakis' frustration: I think he, essentially, is arguing for a different form of government (i.e. that town meeting doesn't work).

In the good old days, the town was small enough that you didn't need to pour over budgets, investigate cell tower radiation, and, know special education keep up to speed on crime/fire statistics to decide what was right for the town.

So not only do I need to keep informed before I get to town meeting, I need to listen to some speakers informing me of something I already might know, listen to some speakers trying to change my mind after its made up, and some speakers who don't know what they're talking about. And if get my courage up enough to propose an amendment, they look at you like you're proposing to throw out of those months of work. Needless to say, I voted to change the town government.

That said, I'd like less discussion during town meeting and more voting. If there's a controversial issue, I'd think it would be better to have two informed voters (the fewer the better) explain the pros and cons and answer questions rather than let every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Jane say something.

Best wishes,
ahbgone

I would like to expand the scope of this discussion. In addition to what people like about town meeting they need to think what they like and dis-like about our Town government, some of these issues are related to having open town meeting, as our form of government and some are just problems with our charter and others are the nature of government.

For example there have been two issues related to local government raised on this web site, one is the distribution or the Article warrants and other moving town meeting.

The more people speak up and participant the better the end product of a charter commission will be, which will benefit all of us.

Flow charts depicting various forms of government (Prepared by the Massachusetts Municipal Management Association, 580K PDF)
http://www.mma.org/images/stories/AbtLocalGov/forms_of_gov_charts.pdf


Also a great article "Changing Local Government Structure
http://www.mma.org/images/stories/AbtLocalGov/changing_localgov_structure.pdf

Regards,
George Vozeolas

[color=#FF0000]The happiness of the people is the purpose of government and therefore that form of government is best which produces the greatest amount of happiness for the largest number.
– John Adams[/color]

Boston Globe March 30, 2008

Majority votes to drop open town meeting
Nonbinding question may lead to study

By Kytja Weir Globe Correspondent / March 30, 2008

A convincing majority of North Andover voters who cast ballots Tuesday want to change how the town is governed.

Fifty-one percent voted that the town should replace the open town meeting format it has used for more than 150 years, while 36 percent opposed a change

Read More

I believe 51% either want to change it or "have an open mind to consider alternatives".

I do hope the vote now forces this topic to be taken seriously and a more formal analysis be kicked off with information shared in a way that everyone can understand the various alternatives including their strengths and weaknesses.

The Board of Selectmen on April 14 will be discussing how to proceed with evaluating our options on alternative form of local government..

The two options being consider are:

1)Supporting a petition drive in order to form an elected charter commission, which sends their recommendation to the ballot box for approval.
2)Having the BOS appoints a committee and then their recommendation goes to Town meeting. Now everyone is entitled to his or her opinion but this seems like having the inmates run the asylum.

Some selectmen will argue that the second option is faster, we had town meeting for over 150 years so what is the rush now?

While I do agree that the selectmen should appoint a committee to review our bylaws and look at ways to potentially improve open town meeting. Combining that with a local government analysis is not appropriate and doomed to failure with no chance of real reform.

If you have an opinion on any of this, this meeting would be a good time to make your opinion known.

George Vozeolas

Having recently been elected to the Board of Selectman and being the only candidate who "ran" on this issue I feel compelled to respond. Although George and I are good friends and I solidly stand behind his efforts I must respectfully disagree with appraisal of this issue and the formation of an appointed committee.

Here is the "lay of the land" as I see it:

Currently a citizen driven petition for a Charter Commission is being circulated. It is my understanding that there are about 1000 signatures on it and there is a need for about 1400 more or so to complete this task. It is also my understanding that this petition has been circulating for more than a year. So if we go with that then we are looking at another year and a half maybe before we can move forward with this process. Elections 2010 (possibly 2009 with much effort put forth by petition drivers) Of course please feel free to correct me should my info be off!

Now while I do not rebuff this effort I also feel that there is a quicker and possibly more effective manner in which we can move forward as a community while still working toward a Charter Commission should the voters want it. Both efforts could be done simultaneously.

I will be suggesting that a formal committee be created and appointed by the Board of Selectmen. I feel that this committee should be made up of 7 - 9 members from the community. This committee should consist of residents from various backgrounds of expertise, professions, and areas of knowledge. I would strongly suggest that we put this out to the community and see who comes forth before appoitments are made. A diverse group of folks covering the spectrum of residents, I feel, would be the most effective.

Beginning this process is a must in my mind. I feel that forming a committee to begin this large undertaking would be invaluable to us as a community and could address some compelling changes that should be made sooner than later. i.e. sending copies of the warrant to all households of registered voters which costs us tens of thousands of dollars each year. Items such as this should be addressed immmediately or at least in the most efficient manner we can within the constraints that currently bind us. If we immediately move forward with a formal committee they could recommend changes in a far more timely manner. As I see it right now all we have is some signatures and no true movement forward. Forming a committee that could bring forth changes to Town Meeting 2009 would actually affect positive change within acceptable time frames. All the while still having the citizen petition for a Charter Commission moving along as well. I also believe that forming this committee in the end would help a Charter Commission should one be elected. Much of the research could be shared and committee members may even move toward running for election to the Commission as well. Quite simply when looking at the big picture sometimes the beauty is found in the details.

It is my belief that forming this much needed committee will not only benefit the community and its residents but in the end just may benefit an elected commission should one come about.

For me the formation of a committee is a win-win!

Tracy M. Watson

A ballot box vote to approve town management changes would be a vote by the entire town. Those that attend town meeting would typically be those who like town meeting - so a town meeting vote might not be a fair vote of the town's wishes. On the other side of the coin, a town meeting has more ability to change what's recommended - although the "ability" of a town meeting with thousands attending to make intelligent changes to what's recommended is in doubt (seeing the Mark DiSalvo's in verbal combat with the Ted Tripp's might have some entertainment value - not).

Regarding whether a charter commission should be elected or appointed by the BOS: Moving towards a town council system, by definition, gives more power to the council. Having the BOS's commission recommend a town council might give too much power to a town council which might initially include most of the current BOS members. Of course, having an elected charter commission doesn't gaurantee commissioners with good intentions are elected.

I would let the voters decide at an election. I think the chances of a good outcome are pretty close either way. If it doesn't go well, the entire town is to blame when everything decided at an election. If the appointed charter commission & town meeting vote doesn't go well, it would tend to further divide the town.

Best wishes,
ahbgone

We have 2 different questions floating around here and I want to make sure people are clear on the differences

Tracy primarily addresses this one.
1) Should the Board of Selectmen appoint a committee to review our current charter with the goal of making short-term improvements to our existing charter and then have those improvements voted at Town meeting and possibly have that committee be a precursor to an elected charter commission?

My answer to this is a resounding YES. Especially if it is selected in a manner that Tracy outlined with broad participation outside of the “club” (Town democratic and republican committee members). Anyone remember a committee that Ted Tripp wasn’t appointed to?

In reality, this solves one of my big problems as I wrestled as I thought of forming a charter commission. Talking to Joyce and people in other towns I came to realization that our current charter has many shortcomings and can be improved in so many ways. Tracy mentioned a few that are on my radar screen but there are others. If we had gone thru all the work of a petition drive and had elected a charter commission they would have a choice - do they propose changing our form of government? Or do they look and fix our current charter, which hadn't been reviewed in 22 years

If the draft charter is approved at the ballot box all our problems go away. If it is not approved we missed an opportunity to correct some of the glaring problem in our current charter. And on the other hand if the charter commission elected to just fix problems in our current charter did we miss an opportunity for more sweeping reform.

2) In response to the ballot question should the Board of selectmen appoint a committee to investigate alternative forms of government or should they support a petition drive to elect a charter commission?

As you answer this, assuming a committee is formed on the up and up and has broad participation realize the committee is accountable to the BOS and Town meeting while the elected commission is accountable to the ballot box.

George Vozeolas