HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-09-05-2020-min (Implementation Committee)
2020 Vision Implementation Committee
September 5, 2003 – Meeting Minutes
7:45 a.m. Selectmen’s Meeting Room
Members Present
: Fernando Quezada, John Bartenstein, Tom Harden, Jeanne Krieger, Todd Burger,
Peter Lee, Ellie Epp, Peter Enrich, Alan Lazarus, Nancy Wilson, Jerome Smith
Others:
Elaine Sterzin, Rick White, Candy McLaughlin, Wendy Rundle, and Paul Hamburger
Minutes:
The minutes from the July 25, 2003, Implementation Committee meeting were approved.
Membership:
Candy read a message from Sherry Gordon saying she is no longer the School Committee
representative, but that she has enjoyed the collaboration and will stay informed. Elaine indicated that
Scott Burson is the new School Committee liaison. Alan reported that Helen Cohen has said she needs to
resign from 2020 Vision in order to focus on School Committee responsibilities. Nancy Wilson stated that
her term is up and today was her last meeting; she feels one benefit from the process has been to identify
common goals for the schools and the town organization. Peter Lee was welcomed back to the
committee. One item for follow-up with the Selectmen will be to identify additional people who might
join the committee.
Meetings with Selectmen:
Four of the five meetings with individual Selectmen have taken place.
Bill
Helen and Peter Lee plan to meet with next Wednesday.
Dawn
John and Jerome reported that felt it was important to consult the Selectmen, and that she
wonders whether 2020 Vision is a good use of volunteers’ time going forward because it seems to
have little connection to the budget process and the goals are hard to get a handle on. She feels
that buy-in by all the boards is essential to get progress and would like representatives of 2020
Vision to meet with the whole board.
Leo
Fernando, Alan and Todd met with , who welcomed the opportunity to learn more about 2020
Vision. Leo had a number of questions, including whether short-term as well as long-term
objectives have been identified, whether there are plans to reach out to existing groups to help get
things done, and whether Town Meeting members can be more involved. He felt the fall process
will help get more people involved and more knowledgeable about the community.
Jeanne
Peter and Jerome said their conversation with focused on strategies for moving ahead. A
suggestion emerged to have a small group attend the Selectmen’s goal-setting meeting on 9/24
and then to follow up with the School Committee and Planning Board, and ask the three boards to
help narrow down the goals after receiving community input. This would increase ownership of
the process and make it more collaborative.
Peter
Todd and Chuck heard some pretty tough comments from Kelley, who said that as it stands
he doesn’t think 2020 Vision is relevant, and needs to see fiscal discipline incorporated. He does
think that the process could be helpful, and that the committee should continue to get new people
involved.
Discussion of these meetings identified several common themes, including the need to focus the goals
within fiscal realities and the desire to engage more of the community, both individuals and existing
groups. No Selectman said long-term planning is not important, or that it is solely a responsibility of
the Board. At least three Selectmen clearly say they want the committee to move forward.
Fernando outlined several next steps:
Those who met with individual Selectmen should send a letter thanking them for their
feedback and identifying the new idea of involving them in the process to narrow the goals.
The Process subcommittee will address all the input received and make sure the fall process
responds to the Selectmen’s issues and concerns
2020 Vision Implementation Committee 1 July 25, 2003
A small group will attend the 9/24 goal-setting meeting (or alternatively a regular Board
meeting in September) to outline concrete plans for the coming year, ask for the Board’s
endorsement and involvement, and request suggestions for additional committee members.
Financial discussion:
Paul Hamburger reported that several Appropriations Committee members would
like to meet with representatives from 2020 Vision to outline the major financial factors affecting
Lexington in the next 5-10 years. Appropriations continues to work on a two-year projection which they
are happy to share, but anything beyond that is difficult to quantify especially given time constraints. He
handed out a preliminary list of major factors, stating that each factor could be researched to explore
issues and impacts. Rick said the staff could provide statistics on some of these factors today as
compared to 10-15 years ago. More qualitative performance assessment would need to be done by the
committee. The two sub-groups will meet next Friday morning to continue the discussion.
Subcommittee reports:
Outreach
Thesubcommittee developed a preliminary list of community groups, and will meet
with representatives of a few of these groups to plan future outreach meetings with each group.
These meetings would seek to engage more people in the 2020 Vision process. Fernando
emphasized that it is also important to encourage them to participate as a group, to move forward
some of the goals that may already be on their agenda. Candy gave Alan a copy of the list of
organizations that was compiled back during the first iteration of 2020 Vision.
Publicity
The subcommittee talked a little about how community meetings could be structured to
get the word out to the grassroots. They also identified important media for publicity, and asked
committee members for additional suggestions.
Upcoming dates:
September 10 -- TMMA Executive Board (Peter E will attend)
Friday morning 9/12 – Peter E, Ellie, Todd, maybe Chuck meet with subgroup of Appropriations
Friday morning 9/19 – Process Subcommittee meeting
Wednesday 9/24 – Selectmen’s goal-setting meeting (Fernando, Alan, possibly Chuck or Todd to attend)
September 26, October 24, November 21, December 19-- 2020 Vision Committee meetings
Meeting adjourned
at 9:05 am.
2020 Vision Implementation Committee 2 July 25, 2003