Adams Selectmen Discuss Government Review Committee
ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen began to explore the specifics of the General Government Review Committee at a workshop meeting on Wednesday.
The board approved the formation of this committee on Nov. 3, along with $20,000 for Paradigm Associates consultant Bernard Lynch, who will aid them in reviewing the town charter and discussing changes to town governance. The committee will conduct this work over approximately 12 to 18 months.
Chairman John Duval suggested that Town Administrator Jay Green and Lynch come up with a list of candidates to represent a cross-section of the community.
Duval said this committee should be a much more significant time commitment compared to some other committees. He said this should be kept in mind when selecting who is going to be on the committee.
"In the past, we've asked for volunteers on TV or our Facebook site. But this is more than that," he said. "The town administrator, I imagine, is going to need to bring them in and talk to them to understand what this is with this involves and the amount of time this will take. You really need to be committed to this for, estimated, a year."
Duval spoke about the last time a town committee reviewed the charter in 2009. He was a member of that committee and said it had little authority, with few changes ultimately coming to management of the town or the charter.
"At the time, we felt, as a study committee, our role was only to provide the Board of Selectmen with recommendations," he said.
Green explained that the town does not have one overarching charter but rather a collection of documents and special acts. These documents essentially act as the town's charter.
"This committee could very well say, 'Hey, let's not do that anymore. Let's just make one comprehensive document,'" Green said. "For all we know, that could be the consultant's recommendation."
Green spoke highly of the importance of this committee and the work it will do.
"I think there's a lot of interest in town from the public," he said. "They want to take at what we're doing, how we're doing it to make sure that we're doing it well."
Also at the meeting, David Rhoads spoke to the board to advocate for the town to add a Discover Books donation box at the Transfer Station and Recycling Center.
Rhoads, chairman of the Board of Health, requested the book collection bin in his capacity as a member of the board. He said this donation box could save books that otherwise would get thrown away and would not come at any cost to the town.
"The bottom line is, these are books that do not go into a landfill," he said.
Rhoads said the addition of this box should not impact the number of donations to the Adams Free Library, nor would the town need to enter any contract agreement with Discover Books, which collects and resells books.
"They are more than willing to provide a key to any entities in town," he said.
Department of Public Works Director Tim Cote, who the board invited to give his thoughts, said the collection box might cause traffic issues if located at the Transfer Station. Rhoads explained the box could technically go anywhere but thought the Transfer Station would be the most rational location.
The Selectmen and the Board of Health had in July postponed a discussion on the proposal but the Selectmen hope to vote on whether to install the donation box at its next meeting.
Tags: charter review,
