HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-05-04-2020-min (Implementation Committee)
2020 Vision Implementation Committee
Meeting Minutes
May 4, 2001
Members Present:
Fred Merrill, Fernando Quezada, Tony Siesfeld, Georgia Glick,
Nancy Wilson, Sherry Gordon, Peggy Perry, Alan Lazarus, Bernard Harleston, Doug
Shaw, Peter Enrich, Ellie Epp, Chuck Benson, Tom Harden
Staff:
Rick White, Candy McLaughlin, Rachael Herrup-Morse
Call to Order
Approval of Minutes
The minutes from the March 30, 2001 meeting were approved.
Organizational Considerations
Fernando Quezada informed new members of the Implementation Committee of the
creation of two subcommittees: Education and Operations.The purpose of the Education
subcommittee is to begin work on the issues that the community views as most important.
The Operations subcommittee is designed to work out the organizational details that will
arise with an undertaking of this size. Fernando raised the question of co-chairs for the
main committee. No committee members were willing to assume that responsibility at
the time of the meeting, although Peter is willing to continue as backup. It was decided
that members will spend some time considering the matter.
Reflect on Survey Results
It was decided to review the survey results before considering priorities, process,
milestones and barriers because Tony Seisfeld would not be able to attend the entire
meeting. Tony explained to the committee that the goal of the survey was to gauge the
overall community ratification of the 2020 Vision report and to involve as many people
as possible in this process. The response rate to the survey was fantastic, enabling the
results to be statistically significant to within 1% in all categories examined. Tony
pointed out the high rate of volunteerism reported by the community with approximately
44% reporting involvement in some type of volunteer work currently and 78% reporting
volunteer involvement at some point in the past.
Fernando asked Tony whether the priorities identified in the survey would come into
conflict with the 2020 Vision report. Tony stated that conflict was not likely. The
highest response rates revolved around valuing education; a fact mirrored in the report.
The second highest priority emerging from the survey was preservation of open space.
Where the greatest diversity of opinion existed was in the financing of the above two
values. Peter Enrich stated that it would be good to have information about how the
responses varied across demographic lines such as age, length of residence and income.
He requested that Tony sort the data by those demographics if that breakout is possible.
The committee moved on to discuss the way in which to take the survey results and the
2020 Vision report and prioritize action items for implementation. Tony suggested that
one way to prioritize would be to compare the importance level with the performance
level. Those items that the community identified as having the highest importance but
that were cited as having the poorest performance would be the first items addressed by
the Implementation Committee. Sherry Gordon suggested that that might pose some
problems as in the case where education was identified as being of high importance but
so was the importance of capping taxes. Peter mentioned profiling individual
respondents – how did those people who identified education as being important feel
about finance.
The survey response achieved the goal of validating the report. The Implementation
Committee now has clear endorsement for moving into the implementation phase. Tony
committed to provide some analysis before the next meeting to help the committee learn
more from the survey results. He will report on the 5-7 key issues, the major agreements
and disagreements that came out and how they line up with demographics, and a few
priorities. Peggy volunteered to work with Tony to frame the information as a press
release for the newspaper.
Priorities, Process, Milestones, Barriers
Fernando reaffirmed that the Implementation Committee’s charge is the report -- to
monitor its implementation and keep the community involved. The mission must be
focused but many things need to be accomplished simultaneously. The committee has
oversight over the report, but not over the implementers directly.
Discussion focused around the next steps, which are to prioritize and quantify the
recommended actions. The Education Subcommittee will meet as a group to predigest
goals and actions under the Educational Excellence theme, and then engage the School
Department staff in discussion. Rick said after Town Meeting the Town staff will discuss
and put some structure around the goals and actions under the other themes. Identifying a
few immediate action items will be important for visibility and momentum, and to help
“doers” get in the habit of referring to the 2020 Vision report as a framework for their
planning and implementing.
The Operations Subcommittee will meet before the next Implementation Committee
meeting to discuss a draft work plan with milestones and measures.
Future Meeting Schedule
Friday, June 15 at 7:45 a.m. in the Selectmen’s Meeting Room (top floor of Town Hall).
July 13
(no meeting in August)
September 7 or 14
Adjourn
Submitted,
Rachael Herrup-Morse