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Clickers should be used in place of yay and nay voice votes. Some people are louder than others, some people are intimidated to be loud, etc. Clickers give everyone an equal voice and make the count very clear for the moderator. I think there was some mention they might only be used if a voice vote was unclear. Clickers should be used for the initial vote, too.

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Alternative Views

A process for alternative views would be great to look into. Could each board presenting on a motion include at least one alternative view to the solution they are suggesting. That might be a good culture to have and help the process leading up to Town Meeting also be open and inclusive.

Financial Disclosure

Weston has a short financial disclosure as part of the regular Town Meeting process. Could/would someone on TMSC look into why they have it and if it works. You mentioned in the presentation that there isn't much precedent for it - so I wonder why Weston has it.

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The Town Meeting worked well. I enjoyed the reenactment. I sat next to someone who had limited time to stay. Perhaps something like the reenactment could happen a the end of the meeting next time.

I'm not sure it's good that no votes got any nays - yes - it makes it fast, but it also suggests that there is only one good solution to every issue and that doesn't seem likely :-)

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I am not sure what suggestions might go here.

As part of Town Meeting procedures - how could alternate views/pros/cons be included as part of the presentations all the time - not just in contentious years. If we get in the practice of presenting pros and cons and alternative views all the time we will be better listeners and decision makers - in my opinion.

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The clickers work well.

I appreciated that when the idea of using clickers was presented, the presentation included pros and cons and at least one alternative view. That is a good thing.

I support using clickers without having to stand at the same time for all the reasons mentioned.

I am unclear - next town meeting - will all votes be using clickers or does the moderator have discretion.

Perhaps we don't need to do the initial voice vote yay and nay. Since clickers are fast - could everyone vote with the clickers even for the first round.

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I attended. It was helpful and interesting. Thank you for making it hybrid.

If you have a shared document you are working on relative to presentations - it could be displayed/shared on zoom during the meeting.

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I like the slides. I read them, and I didn’t read the primer (sorry!). Captive audience of people waiting for the meeting to start.

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Why did the select board put together a town mtg committee after the HCA vote? Why not delay the HCA vote & make changes to town meeting first to ensure transparency and fairness before the vote?

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The 2024 Town Meeting debacle was characterized by the approximately 3 hours of soul-sucking time spent on counting various procedural and substantive votes, and also by too little time left for discussion (the point of being at the meeting) partly because of unchecked talking by individual citizens.

I think voting by clicker and the 2 min clock on comments will vastly speed up the meeting (and especially when there are contested issues), and these changes by themselves are likely to solve the vast majority of Town Meeting problems.

I would hold off concern or implementation of any of the various suggestions we heard floated at TM until after the 2026 TM when we can get the clickers going. I believe we will be able to have all the discussion we want and should have and still maintain a reasonable meeting length through implementing those two improvements.

Steven R. Kanner, MD

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That was such an excellent touch. It really grounded everyone on what it was like back then. The commentary on women's rights to attend and vote, while humorous, grounded us on what we now have and why it is important to preserve the progress. Thanks for this. And a special thanks to Kim Bodnar for the hard work she put into this.

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...but you can't teach people how it works by simply explaining it. People need to participate and try it to learn. As they say "Explain, teach, demostrate, confirm." That is not a knock on the instructions by any stretch of the imagination. Great start. But people will have to actively participate to have it stick too. Thanks for listening and acting on the feedback.

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The clickers will bring a much needed efficiency to the process. It was suggested that the clickers would only be used as an exception to all other methods. I understand that ayes and nays are the quickest. But I suggest that if that is still ambiguous, we move directly to the clickers instead of stand with card. Going directly to clickers would go much faster than card counting. With what was spent on them, we might as well use them. Respectfully, Brian.

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It would be nice to have recycling bins near the trash bins as there is a lot of paper from the meeting that I saw put in to the trash bins.

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A small item to mention - - the instructions were not clear to some people that the Yes/No buttons were not the ones to push, but the buttons to the left of those were. I felt stupid in making that mistake for a moment and saw others with the same issue. Just a suggestion of added clarity on that in the initial instructions might be helpful. It might be helpful to put a graphic on the large screen and show what the clicker screen will look like with the number for the selected choice shown on the LCD.

I think that the numbers in the results showed an increase from the first question to the next as people realized when there was a need to hit one of multiple numbered buttons that those were the ones to hit, where they might have missed that with the first question that required a Yes/No.

Other than that, this is a great step forward. Thanks to all of you who worked so hard to get this done!

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I just left town meeting. As a Lincoln resident and a hearing impaired individual, I find the meeting environment/auditorium the WORST hearing environment I've experienced. I've attended with my hearing aids and without them and it makes no difference. As a result I do not feel included in the meeting. Before you conclude that I just need more powerful hearing aids, please realize that aids are just that, aids, they are not replacements for "normal" hearing.

I suggest that before spending money on the "clicker system" perhaps some devices for the hearing impaired be secured (if not already) by the town; like the ones available in many theaters and concert halls.

As I've contended at my previous employer who claimed to be sympathetic to special needs employees, hearing loss is he invisible handicap (sic) and the "cute" disability. I'd appreciate a response.

Steve Hines, Chestnut Circle

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To see all the questions, swipe to the left or use the pale purple scroll bar at the bottom of the screen :)

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To see all the questions, swipe to the left or use the pale purple scroll bar at the bottom of the screen :)