The Dust Has Settled: A Simple Look Back at Town Meeting

I’d be willing to bet a decent number of people did not realize on Monday and Thursdays from May 10 until May 21, Norwood Town Meeting (NTM) was happening! If you read my previous posts, you got a little insight of the happenings:

NTM ended and most people probably did not even realize that it did. The FY2013 budget is approved, topics were debated and the new town meeting members got a glimpse into future NTM if they choose to stick it out.

A few things I noticed at NTM:

1. It takes a lot of courage to stand up and speak. I personally observed members of town meeting getting annoyed at people speaking up. I feel, if people don’t speak up, nothing will get achieved! If you are annoyed at the notion of someone speaking up, then take your name off the list and let someone else get elected!
2. The last few nights of NTM, attendance levels had a pretty large dent. I get it, you cannot attend all of the meetings but not to attend because you know a majority of the stuff will just get pushed through; not cool! Just my opinion on possibly why the attendance took a hit later in the process.
3. Yes, Norwood Town Meeting can get boring but it is our civic duty to attend, listen and asked questions where we see doubt. Not just push things through!
4. People leaving in the middle or before NTM is finished. Don’t really have much to say here except, why?

Joe Greeley recently commented on one of my blog posting and essentially asked for feedback on NTM. I would like to echo his call to action and ask people to comment here. NTM, I feel, is in the beginning of a large facelift and this is a chance to throw ideas out there, get involved and possibly consider getting your name on the ballot next year! So…

1. What would you change about NTM?
2. What would you like to see added or subtracted from NTM?
3. General comments concerning the process and not the articles (I will spend the summer writing posts here and there on the various articles that stick out to me).

I will start with a simple feedback item…

What is with all the paper!!?? You should see the collection of printouts, sent correspondences and the blue binder that I have in my possesion. In my opinion, what a waste! Why… I have an iPad! Why can’t I get all these documents via PDF on my iPad. I know, not everyone has an iPad or a computer but I feel we can accommodate both sides. Maybe have an opt-out option for sending physical documents and post them securely online with an associated log-on of sorts. One would think between the three generously paid IT folks in our town, they could figure out a cool solution. [Norwood IT] if you need advice or ideas, feel free to reach out; I work in the software industry and spent ten years in IT prior to my current career track. If a by-law needs to be updated or changed, I am game to help change it! Let’s save some trees and some minor expenses!

There… I started, now let’s see some more…

Now that NTM is on ‘break’ until the next meeting, I will focus my blogs on various topics from local businesses in the down town, interesting local issues and maybe some cool fun topics that align to my career.

Sneak peak:

• A post on a recent debate surrounding the Blue Hills Regional Technical High School.
• A post on a cool local business in the downtown that is catching many peoples' eyes.

Until next time.