Town of Natick

Charter and By-Law Review Committee

13 East Central Street

Natick, Massachusetts 01760

 

 

Meeting, February 22, 2001

 

Present:  Linda Wollschlager, Raphael Herz, Jeffrey Phillips, Philip Verzani, Paul Connolly

 

The meeting was called to order by the chair at 7:10 PM in the School Department Training Room, Third Floor, Town Hall.

 

Minutes of the February 8 meeting were approved as written.

 

Committee members reported on their review of the Charter, Articles 4 to 5. As done previously, all possible areas for change to be considered for discussion at future meetings were listed. Ms. Wollschlager is going to post the growing list on the web site.

 

Mr. Herz asked whether the committee was making good time in reviewing the charter and by-laws. The consensus was that the review was taking longer than first expected. However, it is not necessary for the committee to have completed its review before the upcoming public hearings. The hearings are intended primarily for the public to provide suggestions for changes.

 

Assignments were made in preparation for the next meeting on March 8. All members will draft a list of attention grabbers to aid in defining the publicity campaign before the public hearings. Mr. Phillips will contact the West Weekly, the Bulletin, and cable television about ideas to publicize the public hearings. Similarly, Mr. Connolly will contact the Tab and MetroWest Daily News. Ms. Wollschlager will determine whether a trivia quiz can be generated similar to what columnist Maureen Sullivan writes in the Tab. Mr. Connolly will draft an article on what the committee is doing. Mr. Herz will report to the Selectmen during their public input period about the ongoing efforts of the committee.

 

There was some discussion of how the committee will interface with the contacts representing other town agencies. The consensus was that personal contact is the key to engage others in discussion and is certainly preferable to communicating by memos. Mr. Herz will provide an updated list of contacts at the next meeting.

 

In order to continue the review of the Charter and By-Laws, by the next meeting, members will provide inputs on the Charter, Articles 6-7 and the By-Laws, Articles 1-31.

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:10 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Paul E. Connolly