Facilities committee to finalize one‑page education piece and QR survey after council feedback

Councilors received a progress report June 25 from the Facilities Committee on efforts to develop an education and engagement package and a short survey to help residents prioritize spending on municipal facilities.

Councilors Michael Strand, Veil Levesque and Kathleen Bemis described a one‑page educational handout with a map of town facilities, age/size indicators, and brief bullets explaining needs for police, fire, town offices and DPW sites. The committee emphasized open‑ended, non‑leading survey questions and proposed a QR code linking respondents to an online questionnaire. The stated intent is to gather voter priorities before the council undertakes capital planning or future ballot proposals.

Councilors and staff provided editing guidance: avoid language that implies current facilities are unsafe (risking perceived liability), replace vague terms such as “address” with specific options (repair/renovation/replace), clarify acronyms and remove unfamiliar abbreviations, and avoid technical shorthand that the general public may not understand. Several councilors recommended adding an option for respondents to comment and explained that comments can produce useful qualitative insights.

The committee said it would incorporate the input, refine question phrasing (for example clarifying what “funding with non‑tax revenue” means), add clearer location names (e.g., Chubbuck/Constitution Drive, Nashua Road), and return with a revised one‑pager and a functioning online survey (survey link and QR code). The council discussed outreach mechanics (Bedford Bulletin back page, library, events, live workshops) and asked the committee to suggest an outreach plan with sample calendar dates.

No formal vote was taken. Committee members will edit the materials and circulate a next iteration to councilors for final review and to prepare logistics for public distribution and collection of survey responses.