1998-02-18 Rules Committee Minutes

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Town of Reading Town Meeting Rules Committee a' W v w> February 18, 1998 The Rules Committee assembled on Thursday, February 19, 1998 in Reading Town Hall and the meeting was called to order at 7:45 by Alan Foulds, '-Town Moderator and Chairman Pro Tempore. The following Precinct Chairmen were present: Virginia M. Adams (Pct 2), Mary S. Ziegler (Pct 4), Robert Fuller (Pct 5), Mark Johnson (Pct 7), and Fred Van Magness (Pct 8). Absent were Nancy L. Eaton (Pct 1,Alice Grau (Pct 3), and Jacqueline Chipman (Pct 6). The first order of business was the election of a Chairman and Clerk of the committee. For Chairman, the name of Mark Johnson was put in nomination by Mary Ziegler, seconded by Robert Fuller. No other names were offered for nomination. The nominations were closed and Mark Johnson was elected Chairman by a vote of 5-0-0. Nominations were then opened for Clerk. The name of Frederick Van Magness was put in nomination by Virginia Adams, seconded by Mary Ziegler and no other nomination s, were forthcoming. The nominations were closed and Frederick Van Magness was elected. Clerk by a vote of 5-0-0. Mark Johnson assumed control of the meeting and began to discuss various suggestions on the operation of Town Meeting as submitted to Alan Foulds recently. Following are items voted by the committee: • Discussion started around a Warrant article by Bill Brown. The committee decided that the moderator should be a part of the Rules Committee but in an ex-officio manner rather than chairman. It was further agreed that the committee should be called together by the Moderator to elect a Chairman after the Annual Town Meeting, as there may be no past Precinct Chairman reelected in the precinct caucuses. It was further agreed that a 30 day window after the Annual Meeting to have the Rules Committee meet was more reasonable than the 7 days suggested in the Warrant article. • Warrant motions - the committee felt that the Town should go to better steps to make copies of Warrant motions made available to Town Meeting members. In this regard and to cut down unnecessary paperwork and keep costs manageable, the committee would like to recommend that only motions that exceed one overhead screen would be appropriate for distribution to Town Meeting members. The concern is that it is very hard to follow multi screen motions on the overheads when they differ from the printed Warrant.