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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-10-30-2020-min Town of Lexington 20/20 Vision Committee Meeting October 30,2020 Remote Meeting 7:45 a.m.—9:00 a.m. Members Present: Fernando Quezada, Dan Krupka, Margaret Coppe, Peter Enrich, Robert Peters,Joe Pato, and Mark Manasas,Andrew Dixon, Kathleen Lenihan, Peter Lee Members Absent:Alan Wrigley, Bhumip Khasnabish Guests: Marian Cohen, Candy McLaughlin,Jyostna Kakullavarapu Professional Staff Present: Katharine Labrecque The meeting was called to order: 7:56am The Remote Meeting Opening Script was read by the chair, Fernando. Minutes: • Approval of the minutes from the September 25, 2020 meeting was postponed until the next meeting giving Katharine the time to make some minor edits. Handouts/Documents: • History of the 20/20 Vision Committee,Activities 1998-2020 Action Items Summary: • Katharine will edit and resend out the September 25th meeting minutes. • Katharine will make sure all the available meeting minutes are posted to the website. • Mark and the ECiL subcommittee will continue to work with Sean Dugan, the Public Information Officer,to implement the recommendations of the ECiL report. • Committee members will send their comments and feedback on the 2017 survey by the end of the calendar year. • Fernando will work with each of the 20/20 committee's elected board members to pursue one- on-one meetings with newly elected board members to familiarize them with the committee's goals and objectives, as well as to get a sense of what their vision is for the future. • Fernando will add a discussion about committee membership to our agenda for the next meeting. • Dan will send around some specific topics or action items to talk about related to the discussion on membership for our next meeting. Meeting Highlights: 1 Enhancing Communications in Lexington Subcommittee Report- Next Steps Fernando asked Mark for an update. Mark commented that it really boils down to having a conversation with Sean now. Given that we are in the middle of town meeting, Sean asked that we push off further discussions until after it is over. Fernando asked if Sean is going to be the one to help with the implementation of the recommendations. Mark said there is a lot of communication issues that we want to address, but again we want to wait until after Town Meeting to address these. Mark stated he has not heard from Sean or the Town about their interest in developing a communications plan. Fernando asked Mark about the working group status, and if they are still meeting. Mark responded that they stopped have meetings since COVID started, and questioned whether we should continue to meet. Dan asked if it would be helpful to start developing a rough outline of a communications plan to start. Mark agreed and added that maybe we should have a one-page document listing out the recommendations and their status. Fernando asked Kathleen about the school communications network, and whether there is something about school communications that needs some upgrading. Kathleen responded that they had discussions about communications and have been making progress, chipping away at little things. Kathleen said it is difficult for us, because people want to know what is going on but not at the granular level that a parent might. A lot of people stop paying attention to what's going on after their kids graduate from the school system. Town-wide Survey Planning Update Peter Enrich informed the committee that he is in the process of selling his house, and will unfortunately step down from his role on the committee and survey working group. Peter Enrich provided the update on the survey working group's activity.The working group has been making progress and meeting bi- weekly.The structure of the new survey will look similar to the 2017 one.The two things we are working on are related to the content of the survey. We have been working through the 2017 version to identify topics that evolved, areas of duplications, or new topics or areas we want to add. We also are identifying and targeting key stakeholders for feedback on the questions. Peter Enrich invited anyone on the 20/20 committee to provide feedback and review the questions. Mark added that he can send around the Google doc for people to add their comments to. Peter Enrich asked that everyone send their comments by the end of the calendar year. Fernando commented that outside of the survey,we are not planning on do anything else, such as focus groups, to gather consensus and priorities from the community. Peter Enrich added that after the 2017 survey, the committee did hold a dozen focus groups.The current focus group hasn't talked about it, but Peter Enrich noted that its worth doing again. Fernando commented that the focus groups were important and verified what we learned from the survey. Fernando asked how the survey may overlap with the Comprehensive Plan. Bob responded that the Comprehensive Plan report is in process and hopefully will be ready to present at Annual Town Meeting. Bob continued that the process involved,gathering public input and gauging the public on the comprehensive plan and other planning initiatives will be ongoing, especially related to Hartwell Ave and Bedford Street.The timing is such that the planning board and town meeting will have plans where the survey will be useful to reinforce and test to make sure the message is clear. Nonetheless, engaging the public is an ongoing concern, and the survey can only help. Bob said he talked with the chair and they have it on their agenda this upcoming Wednesday meeting.Joe mentioned that he also raised this with the Select Board and asked them to review the 2017 survey and send comments to the Executive Clerk.Jyostna asked what the Council on Aging should contribute to the survey to represent the senior 2 population. Peter responded that Alan was responsible for reaching out to the Council of Aging. Fernando will connect Alan with Jyostna to make sure they discuss the survey and get connected with the right people related to the senior population. Andrew mentioned that we should probably send out the report as well since that is most meaningful and includes the rich data. Mark agreed that it was a great idea and emphasizes the findings of previous reports. Peter Enrich mentioned that it's been a long time since members of the 20/20 sat down with newly elected boards to explain what the committee is and does. Fernando asked if there are members on the select Board who are unfamiliar with the work of the committee.Joe responded that there are at least two who might not be familiar with the committee's work. Andrew added that because they are new members, it is obvious that they have the drive and energy to be on these boards and have some vision of what they are thinking for the future. Mark stated that it would be great to invite them to our meetings to give their perspective and interests. Kathleen confirmed that her confidence of what the school committee members know of this committee is low. Mark added that perhaps we want to create a 20/20 communication plan to communicate the committee's goals and objectives to residents and other boards and committees. Peter Enrich added that in terms of outreach to the members of the elected boards, there is a real value of doing a one-on-one with them, even if it's over the internet is a way to engage someone conveniently and effectively. Bob agreed that doing something outside of board meetings is best because usually the agenda is packed. Fernando volunteered to work with each of the 20/20 committee's elected board members to pursue one-on-one meetings with newly members of their boards to familiarize them with the committee's goals and objectives, as well as to get a sense of what their vision is for the future. Reflections on 20/20 Vision Committee Areas of Focus and Continuing Attention Fernando commented that the committee has one confirmed vacancy and one pending with Peter Enrich leaving. Fernando turned to Dan for his thoughts on membership moving forward. Dan displayed his chart on the Zoom screen, and asked Peter Enrich to give his perspective. Peter shared his recollection of the history of the 20/20 committee and how a group of dedicated people sought public input in a strategic planning process. Peter Enrich recognized the many key and essential people who helped shaped the committee to where it is today. Dan followed up that in the first ten years,we see a lot of output, as compared to the last ten years where activity really slowed down.The only thing that really came out of our own work is that on communication that came out of the past surveys. Dan also showed a slide about the committee's membership from 2010 to 2020. Dan noted the members who dropped off and who they picked up since 2010. Dan commented that our committee has been pretty stable in its membership and has reduced in size. Dan suggested that we devote a chunk of our next meeting to looking at our membership. Dan asked Fernando if he could put this on our next agenda. Mark commented that the key for a lot of these things is finding a champion; people push for things that they are excited about. Mark added that we need to search for people that are passionate about certain topics that the committee agrees with and recruit people whose energy corresponds with those topics. Peter commented that he believes the most important thing in searching for new members, is finding voices who aren't well heard or underrepresented parts of our community. Peter added that you want people to step back from their individual concerns and look at the bigger picture. Margaret commented that she actually started as a liaison from the school committee, not in 2016 but when Carl Valente started the demographic study in 2010. She was a liaison originally but then the committee changed who their voting members were. Dan agreed with Margaret's recollection. Dan recognized Marian Cohen's work and activity over the years. Candy commented that from the beginning we wanted to 3 make sure we had members from different sectors. We had a few consultants, members from the Council on Aging, Human Rights committee,the Lexington ClergyA, CAAL, and realtor, someone from the school, and a business person. For a long time we made an effort to get members from these groups. Candy continued noting at one point we engaged with staff from the Town departments,who believed this interaction was helpful. Mark asked that we when bring this topic up at the next meeting, it would be nice to have some action items included rather than just a broad discussion. Dan volunteered to send out some action items to include in the conversation at our next meeting. Next Meeting Date • 7:45am, November 20, 2020 • 7:45am, December 18, 2020 Meeting ended at 9:09 a.m. Minutes submitted by Management Fellow, Katharine Labrecque 4