Shortly after being elected to the position of town moderator in last year's election I requested that the Ways and Means committee take up the issue of moving their meeting location from the second floor at the police station to the main hearing room.
It has been almost a year since that request and a vote by the committee on the issue has still not been taken. Last week I requested that the item be taken up under old business and a decision rendered. I was informed via email that despite the fact that any member may take an issue to the committee under old business, that the chairman had decided that a discussion would be again put off to a time of his choosing.
In the mean time the town budget is being prepared and presented to the Ways and Means committee and important issues of public budget policy are being debated in a an early 20th century converted school room.
A case in point was the school budget. A number of parents appeared at the meeting to discuss increasing the budget over the allotted three percent guideline. There was not enough space or seats in the room to accommodate them, nor was any of the debate seen or recorded for the rest of the community to witness.
This is no longer acceptable. Neither are delaying tactics or stubborn refusals to comply with common sense requests to make the budget process more taxpayer accessible. With that in mind I sent the committee the following communication. I do not believe that the majority of the committee is against televising the meetings. Their a re a couple of obstructionist, the chairman being the primary one who want to make this into something it is not. This communication clearly states my position.
Dear Members of the Ways and Means Committee,
Please allow me the opportunity to be perfectly clear about this issue. It is not about complaints or punishment or personality conflicts. This is about simple issue of the voters right to know and the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law.
The town has a governmental channel designed solely for the purpose of bringing public meetings to the taxpayer. One by one over the past few years boards and commissions have been scheduled and regularly broadcast. The list includes the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Conservation Commission, Board of Health, Planning Board, Board of Appeals and Town Meeting. At some point in time it will also include the Recreation Commission and the Capital Budget committee.
The Ways and Means committee is the chief advisory body to the town meeting. In 2004 the town meeting requested that your meetings be televised. The issues that you are working on are fundamental to the operation of town government. Yes, you may be one of the first Ways and Means Committee to be televised in the state, however Burlington was also one of the first towns in the state to televise Board of Selectmen and Town Meeting.
The town has hearing rooms with robotic cameras and a sound system designed specifically to accommodate the broadcasting of these public governmental meetings. The town has designed and built an I-net for this purpose. The question that is being asked of you is to move your meeting location to facilitate a high quality broadcast of your meeting.
I am not asking for your permission to televise the meeting. If it is your choice to stubbornly resist changing your location and force the lugging of TV equipment to the police station then so be it. The meeting is going to be televised if I have to carry the equipment up there myself.
Regards,
Phillip Gallagher
Moderator
