Announcement: New Town Meeting!
The first-ever Town Budget & Business Review and Action Meeting will be held on January 23 starting at 5:30 pm at the MMU High School auditorium and on Zoom.
This meeting will be a lot like the traditional Town Meeting that you're used to, but it will hybrid event—you can attend and vote in person or remotely. Same friendly moderator, same great location (for those who want to attend in person). Same tables of committees and citizen action groups – and refreshments! New are the day, time, and the possibility of participating from the comfort of your couch! Also new is that the final vote on the budget will occur separately, on the first Tuesday in March.
Led by our Town Moderator, folks will discuss and make amendments to the draft budget and Selectboard public questions. As before, citizens will be able to ask clarifying questions and propose amendments to line items. Procedures for voting on the amendments will be the same as always, and now will accommodate remote participation. The Selectboard will make revisions, taking into account the results of the proposed amendments, to build their final budget for consideration by voters on the Town Meeting Day ballot.
A report of the meeting and proposed amendments will be included in the Town Report along with the Final Budget. There will be plenty of time for voters to inform themselves before casting their ballot on the Town’s Budget at the polls on the first Tuesday in March.
The first annual Town Budget & Business Kick Off Meeting is October 5th 10 am - 12 pm at the MMU High School Library or on Zoom
What to expect at the Kick-off Meeting on October 5th: an interactive mix of presentation, small group discussion, and community-group tabling (plus baked goods!). Join us online, or on-site at the MMU Library. The program includes general information about the components of Town Meeting, followed by discussion designed for YOU to provide input for the Select Board as they enter budget planning season. Brief presentations include: how to provide input on the annual budget, how to develop public questions, and the "Getting It Done" chapter of the Town Plan. Many thanks to the Jericho Town Library for the much-anticipated bake sale! Also, please note: kids are welcome at this event! We will have activities in the room to help entertain, and warmly appreciate that youthful energy may accompany our conversation about Town business.
A full agenda for this event will be posted on the website: https://jerichovt.org/jericho-town-meeting-2-0.
Visit with neighbors, enjoy some baked goods, take advantage of free childcare, and discuss the business of the Town. This is an opportunity to share your ideas & concerns with the Selectboard BEFORE they build the Town Budget. Let them know WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE REFLECTED IN YOUR TOWN BUDGET. This is also an opportunity to discuss ideas and initiatives with your neighbors and learn about how to develop them into public questions and get them on the Ballot.
The discussion and input generated by the public at this meeting will be used by the Selectboard as they develop the Budget and Public Questions. A second meeting in January will be held to inform the public of the resulting Budget and ballot measures and allow for review and feedback. Finally, for the first time, all registered voters will have an opportunity to vote on the budget and public questions at the ballot box in March.
Note, if you’re interested in running for elected office, want to advocate for an initiative, and/or need to collect signatures, this October 5th Meeting is a great opportunity to do just that!
TOWN MEETING REIMAGINED - Please join the planning of a new Town Meeting process!
Remember last year's Town Meeting, where Jericho residents approved moving to an Australian Ballot for our budget vote and other issues and calling for a hybrid-format meeting in advance to prepare for the vote? A group of Jericho residents has been planning what that could look like and NOW JERICHO NEEDS YOUR INVOLVEMENT!
In July the Selectboard approved the recommendations of the Jericho Town Meeting Reimagined Task Force. These recommendations include a three-step process that expands on the traditional Town Meeting to involve citizens with a well-publicized venue in which to annually frame a vision for the town budget and provide them a means to have direct input on the draft town budget and other matters of concern to the citizens.
The process begins with an early-fall kick-off meeting focused on vision for budget priorities, followed by a winter meeting in which to discuss and have impact on the draft budget, and ending with the Australian Ballot vote in March.
The Task Force is ready put together a team of Jericho residents to organize and lead the first meeting, which we are calling the Kick-Off Meeting. We are aiming for a late September or early October date for the Kick-Off.
We are creating a new town event from whole cloth, knowing that this is its first year and we’ll build from whatever we accomplish as we move into next year. We welcome new participants in this work!
Most important for Jericho residents: WE NEED HELP to organize a well-attended Kick-off meeting by early October. We need folks with different skills, from hauling and setting up equipment, to setting up a hybrid meeting, to helping with refreshments.
Our first planning meeting will be via zoom, this coming Monday at 6 pm, followed by a second meeting September 9th, also at 6pm and also by Zoom.
Please join us to find out more about the plan and especially the Kick-Off meeting. Tell your friends; join us August 19th and September 9th - join either or both meetings!
Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87185939111?pwd=aGwP3X0qIBqZRXIOeswoyz4ll3HRax.1
Meeting ID: 871 8593 9111
Passcode: 558287
Thanks!
Dave Barrington and Gaye Symington, Co-Chair
Jericho Town Meeting Reimagined Taskforce
On Town Meeting Day, community members who were present voted to decide on budget matters and other warned questions by Australian ballot in the future. In the motion, however, voters included a provision by which a hybrid gathering similar to Town Meeting would occur at some point prior. This could allow citizens time to get together, discuss the budget and other issues and vote on what the Select Board puts on the Australian ballot. Our community wants the best of both worlds—inclusion for all in the making of policy decisions AND the opportunity to come together as a community and participate in direct democracy.
After Select Board chair Catherine McMains reached out to the community to staff a group to reimagine Town Meeting in 2025 and beyond, a newly formed task force met on Thursday, April 11 to begin the process. Members engaged in a rich discussion about the work before them and began planning how to get it done. Gaye Symington and Dave Barrington agreed to co-chair the committee and Beth Esmond agreed to serve as secretary with Cathy Paris as back-up. There is still time to join the task force! Please reach out to bethesmond@gmail.com if you are interested. The group is still working on a meeting schedule.
