Attendance at Town Meeting this year was the lowest it’s been in more than a decade. Only 184 registered voters showed up to the meeting earlier this month. The last time attendance fell below 200 was in 2000 when only 166 turned out for the first night of Town Meeting. Read the full article → from POLL: Should Town Meeting be held on a Saturday?
A list of department and committee meetings for the week. Read the full article → from The week in government (4/16/13 – 4/19/13)
When it comes to talking budgets at Town Meeting, it’s a safe bet that the school budgets, which comprise 70% of the town’s spending, will take center stage. Not this year. Both the K-8 and Algonquin budgets passed on Monday with almost no discussion and almost no opposition. Instead, the budget that engendered the most debate this year belonged to the Southborough Library. Read the full article → from Against the advice of selectmen, Town Meeting supports increasing staff hours at the Southborough Library
Southborough’s Board of Selectmen has been a 3-member board since the Colonial era. Chairman John Rooney argued last night it was time to bring the board into modern times, and Town Meeting agreed, voting overwhelmingly to increase the size of the board to five. Read the full article → from Town Meeting makes historic decision to expand Board of Selectmen
I don’t know how common it is for Town Meeting to conclude its business in one evening – I suspect not very – but that’s exactly what happened last night. Read the full article → from Southborough Town Meeting wraps up in one evening
Tonight at Trottier, Southborough voters will dig into the 27 articles that make up this year’s town meeting warrant. It’s a shorter list than most years, but there are still some big issues to hash out, from budgets to capital purchases to changes to our town government, and more. Read the full article → from LIVE BLOG: Southborough Annual Town Meeting 2013 – Day 1
Hopefully you don’t need me to remind you that Southborough’s Annual Town Meeting starts tonight at 7:00 pm at Trottier Middle School. If you’re doing some last-minute cramming before tonight’s session, here are some links and resources that will help. Read the full article → from Reminder: Southborough’s Annual Town Meeting starts TONIGHT
A list of department and committee meetings for the week. Read the full article → from The week in government (4/8/13 – 4/12/13)
For nearly 30 years, Southborough Youth and Family Services has operated a summer camp for middle school children. After a round of budget cuts a few years ago, they lost town funding for the program, but continued to operate thanks the generous support of local businesses, community groups, and the Friends of the Southborough Youth Commission. This year, the donations were not enough, and SYFS made the difficult decision to cancel the camp program. Read the full article → from Youth and Family Services needs your help to send kids to summer camp
There has been much discussion on this blog over the past few days about a proposal to create an enterprise fund for the Transfer Station. Now town officials say they will likely move to postpone a vote on the fund at Town Meeting on Monday. Read the full article → from Selectmen may move to postpone Town Meeting vote on controversial Transfer Station fund
This is a post I publish every year before Town Meeting. If you’re on the fence about whether to attend Southborough’s Annual Town Meeting on Monday evening, here are seven reasons why you should. Read the full article → from Seven reasons to attend Town Meeting
As we continue our look at the issues Town Meeting will consider when it convenes next week, today we’ll talk about an article you won’t get to vote on. Read the full article → from On the warrant: Fingerprinting door-to-door solicitors (Article 24)
Chairman of the Board of Selectmen John Rooney has made no secret of the fact he believes the Transfer Station should be a self-funding operation. This year he hopes Town Meeting voters will take a step toward getting it there. Read the full article → from On the warrant: Enterprise fund for the Transfer Station (Article 23)
It’s not uncommon for Southborough’s Annual Town Meeting to stretch into a second or even third night as voters consider budgets, bylaw changes, and more. But this year, Town Moderator David Coombs said things might be different. Read the full article → from Moderator hopes to wrap up Town Meeting in one night