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Southborough committee outlines plan to refresh master-plan tracker and press boards for implementation updates
Summary
Members discussed updating the implementation tracker, soliciting status reports from town boards and committees, improving reporting formats, and using planning-board contacts to drive midterm master-plan progress.
The Master Plan Implementation Committee agreed to refresh its implementation tracker and intensify outreach to other town boards to close gaps on midterm master-plan goals. Committee members said the trackers first tab serves as an overview and can act as a dashboard; they proposed targeted follow-up with committee chairs and tailored outreach rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Why it matters: Committee members said many current town committee members may not be familiar with the master plan and that updated, clearer reporting could increase progress on recommendations that remain incomplete.
Members described several outreach tactics. Sam said contacting a well-informed committee chair for a 30-minute phone check can be efficient for some committees; for others, he recommended requesting a short agenda item at the committees next meeting so the group can provide a fuller update. Alan Belniak suggested inviting other committees to MPIC meetings to give 10—5 minutes of updates rather than trying to get on their busy agendas. Several members proposed orienting attendees to the tracker by showing the overview tab first and then guiding them to deeper tabs.
Several committee members said they would divide up liaisons and resume a crowdsourcing approach in which members who attend outside meetings add brief status notes to the tracker. Sam volunteered to do a first-pass update across many items from his recent meeting attendance to provide a fresher starting point for liaisons.
Committee members discussed the planning boards role. Several said the planning board has provided little direction in recent updates, often responding to MPICs annual reports with minimal comment. Members said more explicit guidance from the planning board could help prioritize the 200+ implementation steps and accelerate action on items the planning board deems most important, for example on housing or Route 9 corridor issues.
Ending: The committee will redistribute liaison assignments, ask committees for targeted updates, and Sam will perform a first-pass refresh of tracker entries; the group will revisit progress at the next meeting.
