The Comprehensive Long-range Planning Committee (CLRPC) commissioned at the May 2021 Town Meeting held its second meeting on Wednesday, August 4, 2021.  This meeting was a follow on to the work of organizing this large committee that represents a broad spectrum of our community.

Below is the current membership of the Committee.  The charter for the Committee authorizes seventeen members.  Currently, the Committee does not have a representative from the Department of Public Works.

The Committee’s Charge and planned actions can be found on the Town’s website, at -> https://www.townofholliston.us/comp-long-range-planning

As no Chair had yet been elected by the Committee, Town Administrator Ahern (below) called the meeting to order and read the legal statement required when conducting a remote meeting.  Mr. Ahern took a roll call and determined a quorum was present.

Organize Committee – Selection of Chair, Vice Chair, Clerk

Mr. Ahern led the group through the election of the Committee Chair.  Stacey Raffi was nominated by Ben Sparrell to serve as Chair.  No other nominations surfaced.  Mrs. Raffi was unanimously elected as Chair. 

Mrs. Raffi (above) shared that she, “is very excited to get started.”  The election of a Vice Chair and Clerk were deferred to the next meeting.

Discussion of Goals & Objectives of Committee

The next topic focused on the framing language for the Committee’s work on the Town website (above) and a working document that Mr. Ahern previously shared with the Committee.  Ahern noted that a secure shared document drive has been established with all relevant historical and current work products for access by the committee members. Members voiced their view of the Committee’s goals and work,

• “Really dig deep to get broad input,”
• “What do we value as a community?”
• “What are we trying to accomplish?”
• “There’s a sense of urgency to be ready for May 2022 Town Meeting.”
• “We need to capture the attention of more than the regular participants in Town discussions / activities.”

Glenn Brown made a motion to name the CLRPC “Envisioning Future Holliston.”  The Committee unanimously approved the name change.  There will be a Town-sponsored e-mail address developed for the Committee for resident input / communication.

With a committee of seventeen members, the use of subcommittees made sense to those present to accelerate the work of collecting data, synthesizing inputs, and creating output. The full committee would meet less often, and the subcommittees would meet as often as needed to accomplish their work.

Very quickly two subcommittees gathered energy: Surveys, and Outreach. The Surveys producing quantitative input and Outreach adding qualitative input.

Chair Raffi (school committee rep) assigned homework for the members. 

• Consider who should be Vice Chair and Clerk.
• Volunteer ideas for what subcommittees should be formed – and volunteer to be part of one or more subcommittees.
• Provide convenient times that each member can meet in order to schedule the next meeting that the most members can attend.

Prior to adjourning, Chair Raffi expressed her desire to have the next meeting held in-person at a location that would allow the members to meet safely. Raffi feels that face-to-face interactions build camaraderie and energy.

Watch the Town website for the next scheduled Envisioning Future Holliston meeting.