Chair Sam Tyler called the Governance Committee (GC) remote meeting to order Thursday afternoon at 4 PM.  The members voted to accept minutes from meetings of  Sept. 24 and October 1. To frame the meeting, Tyler recapped work accomplished in recent meetings.

With a goal of examining Holliston’s Fiscal Budget Process, the group has thus far met with the Select Board, the Finance Committee, the School Committee, the Town Administrator, Accountant, Principal Assessor, and Treasurer/Collector.  They have examined 15 other comparable MA communities, interviewed various Town Administrators or Managers, and closely examined Holliston’s pertinent By-Laws—that is, those that pertain to the Budgeting Process. 

Part of the meeting time Thursday was devoted to creating a process to review, clarify, or change the town’s applicable By-Laws.  When the members have a draft that the Committee accepts, they will share it with various town officials, boards and committees for review, and create an avenue to share it with residents.

Member Scott McKechnie proposed that the work might include not only the changes and revisions, but also the reasoning for each change. Additionally, McKechnie suggested the creation of a visual timeline of the Budgeting Process, spanning July 1 through June 30, including events and the people responsible for each. 

Tina Lingham is creating a Facebook page for the Committee to share out its progress and work products. 

The Governance Committee presently utilizes its Town website (WEBSITE) not only for its charge, meeting notes, calendar and agendas, but also as a resource for some of the documents they have created or are working from such as the 1994 Report by the Government Study Committee, the General By-laws (May 2019) the Holliston Comparable Towns’ Graph, and a Holliston Organizational Chart (see photo above).

The group adjourned at 5:33 PM, with plans to meet remotely on Thursday, October 29 at 7 PM.