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Leicester to split town meeting: informational session and Australian ballot vote
Summary
Selectboard agreed to split the usual town meeting into an informational meeting on March 3 and a later Australian ballot day; the board noted the informational portion must be videotaped and discussed what can be said publicly.
The Leicester Selectboard agreed to change this year’s town meeting process, splitting the traditional single-session town meeting into two parts: an informational meeting on Monday, March 3 at 7 p.m., and a separate Australian-ballot voting day. The board said the March 3 meeting will cover what is on the ballot and must be videotaped.
"Town meeting is a little different this year," said a board member explaining the change. "We will meet March 3 at 7PM... and then we will have an informational hearing to say what's on the ballot." The chair added that only the informational part — the portion that explains articles on the ballot — is required to be recorded: "the only part I have to record is the part where we're talking about what we're gonna vote on." (transcript remarks)
Board members discussed how much explanation the board should provide about an item that proposes to switch to Australian ballot, cautioning that some procedural reasons (including local cost implications) may be sensitive to say on the record; the board also encouraged bringing affected petitioners or service providers to the informational session when their items are on the warrant.
The board recommended notifying voters of the two-step schedule and confirmed the March 3 informational meeting will be held in the brick building, followed by the ballot vote on Tuesday (date on the ballot as warned).
