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December 7, 2010 Meeting Minutes
Present: Judith Cole; Phil Edmundson; Scott Ford; Irma Lauter; Eva Marx
Absent: Edna English; Alec Macmillan
Chair Judith Cole called the meeting to order at 7:43PM in the Town Hall Building.
The Committee approved the minutes from the November 17, 2010 meeting.
Kitty Ward and Irma Lauter provided a status of the proposed telephone survey.
• The survey will be by telephone allowing for in-depth data gathering using questions that allow for a conversation. Utilizing open-ended questions will allow us learn what people are really thinking rather then limiting their answers to a fixed set of responses.
• The sub-committee (Kitty, Alec and Irma) continues to work on identifying the best universe to sample. Eva Marx supports using the voter list. Phil Edmundson has concerns that the voter list would exclude a significant number of people.
• The script is continuing to evolve.
• The target timeframe is after the first of the year.
Updates to the survey were provided by Committee members.
Mrs. Cole led the Committee on a brainstorming exercise identifying potential areas of investigation for the coming year. Attachment A contains the result of the session, unprioritized.
Mrs. Cole informed the Committee that the exercise will continue at the next meeting. She requested members to consider priority of the items and additional items that can be added to the list.
Mrs. Cole opened the meeting to audience comments. John Hersey spoke in support of the Committee efforts especially in the areas of consolidation of the DPW and Sewer Departments.
The next meeting will be on January 12, 2011 at 7:00PM.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:43PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Irma Lauter
Town of Hingham
Government Study Committee
December 7, 2010
Attachment A
AREAS OF POTENTIAL INVESTIGATION
• Is the current form of Town Government meeting the Town's needs efficiently and effectively?
• Size of Board of Selectmen.
• Treasurer/Collector – Elected or Appointed –
• Organization of the Town Finance Department.
• Consolidation of the Town and School business offices functions.
• Conduct of Town Meeting
• How is the new Community Planning Office working?
• Past GSC recommendation – merge DPW and Sewer Departments
• Role of Town Administrator (Town Manager)
• Term Limits – Elected/Appointed
• Regionalization
• Organization Chart
• Identify Committee redundancies
• Provide orientation to new appointees; clarify responsibilities and interdepartmental relationships (from Energy Action Committee)
• Warrant Articles – consider GSC endorsement:
o Permanent Building Committee
o Conduct of Town meeting
o Warrant Article Protocol
• Consolidation:
o HR Function
o Custodial
o IT (Town, School, HMLP)
o Facilities management
o Fields Management
o Vehicle Maintenance
• Transparency in Town Government – given technology, should the Town make its business more transparent?
• Development Officer (Town grant writer)
• Water Supply Board Appointments
• Public Safety Department: Police; Fire; Dispatch; Harbormaster; Board of Health; Emergency Management
• Bathing Beach governance
• Planning Board recommend limiting AdCom review of Zoning By-law changes
• Accountability between DPW and LRWDR Committee (submitted by LRWDR)
• Energy Action Committee – responsible for school department energy needs/uses (submitted by EAC)
• Cable Advisory Committee – BOS establish authority to operate a public access channel
• Elected vs. Appointed
o Treasurer/Collector
o Assessors
o Recreation Commission
o Planning Board
o Board of Health
o Light Board
• Delivery of Service/Customer Service/Business Process