HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-05-14-2020-min2020 Vision Committee Meeting
Thursday, May 14, 2009
7:45 - 9:00 a.m. in the Legion Room, Cary Hall
In attendance: Fernando Quezada, Alan Wrigley, Ann Redmon, Marian Cohen, Barry Orenstein,
Jane Warren, Chuck Benson, Peter Enrich, George Burnell, Carl Valente, Candy McLaughlin,
Gavin Bates
The meeting was called to order at 7:50 a.m.
The minutes from the April 9th meeting were approved.
Citizen Academy:
The Committee discussed a draft outline for the Lexington Citizen Academy (annotated version
attached). Peter pointed out that many residents don't know the real differences between the
public and private sectors, or understand who controls what. The Committee discussed the
importance of outreach and the civic education value of the academy. Fernando added that he
thought another important value of the academy was that it provided transparency for the
Lexington government. Chuck suggested providing an overview of the strategic goals of the town
as context for the academy. Marian identified the importance of identifying the numerous
volunteer boards and committees, what they do and what involvement opportunities they offer.
Alan asked why there is no session listed for the School Department. Committee members
discussed this issue, generally agreeing that a school presentation could take a significant amount
of time and it was unclear whether the School Department would be interested in participating.
Alan made the point that if the Committee chose to leave the schools out of the program, it would
be necessary to address the reasons why. George Burnell suggested that the academy should at
least discuss the separation of the schools and the town government, and said he would like to
hear the schools' take on the project. Marian discussed the possibility of including a 20- minute
module as opposed to a full session. The Committee discussed another alternative of mentioning
the schools throughout all the sessions including budget, facilities, human services, recreation, etc.
The Committee agreed that the Town Clerk topic could be merged with the overall administrative
piece to free up one evening to devote to the schools, and if they wanted more than that they could
be encouraged to design their own academy. Peter stated his opinion that the Committee should
talk to the schools regardless, so as not to sidestep Dr. Ash and the School Committee. Fernando
said he would contact Margaret Coppe, the School Committee's liaison to 2020 Vision, and
discuss how to engage the Schools on these issues.
The Committee agreed that there were many potential recruits and again addressed the reasons for
limiting class size. The discussion then moved to strategies for keeping participants engaged.
Chuck suggested provided citizens with the structure and budget outlines for the departments and
showing them where their taxes were going. Peter also suggested bringing the citizens to the new
DPW building to provide them with a concrete experience. Candy reported that Stacey Hamilton
had asked about potential rewards for program participation. Carl suggested having the graduates
attend a Selectmen's Meeting and discuss their observations, then adjourning for a more social
event. This would also serve to reach out to new recruits via the TV and news coverage.
Futures Panel:
Fernando and Peter presented the Committee with a draft outline they had designed and asked for
input from the other members. They stated that they had yet to contact any of the suggested
speakers. The Committee discussed the identified topics and tentatively added the topic of
Technology, on the assumption that the panel could address five topics. Then if they couldn't find
a good speaker for one of the topics it could be easily dropped. The Committee agreed that it
should attempt to line up as many "heavy hitters" to participate on the panel as possible.
Peter Enrich asked about the availability of the Clarke Middle School as well as Cary Hall and
said that, once a few dates have been identified, the Committee could contact the speakers. Candy
said she would check on these two facilities. Peter Enrich and Fernando agreed that that it would
be better to move forward with this now and approach speakers before the next 2020 meeting.
The Committee then divided up the responsibility for contacting each potential speaker.
Other:
The Committee agreed that Marian should discuss the findings of the Demographic Change Task
Force at the next 2020 meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 a.m.
Future Meetings. Friday, June 12
Thursday, July 9th or 16th