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The following was submitted by the Winchester Town Meeting Members Association:
Fifty-three Town Meeting members turned out Oct. 23 for the first Winchester Town Meeting Members Association annual meeting in Mystic School’s auditorium.
Launched more than a year ago, the TMMA was formed to improve communication among and with Town Meeting members, as well as providing residents easier access to their representatives.
TMMA Chair Lance Grenzeback opened the meeting with a report of TMMA’s activities through Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 town meetings, as well as current activities around the upcoming Fall 2024 Town Meeting, which opens on Nov. 7.
Later, through a comments and question-and-answer session, issues and opportunities were identified for facilitating robust and effective communications within Town Meeting, and between Town Meeting members and residents in the future. Afterwards, executive board members were elected for the coming year.
In reporting on the past year’s achievements, Grenzeback described the creation of a member directory — accessible by residents — and highlighted recent improvements to TMMA’s website, especially refinements to the group’s monitored discussion board, which tracks critical town issues and key Town Meeting articles.
He urged all Town Meeting members to read and join in the discussions. At present, the discussion board is covering five topics on the Fall Town Meeting docket: North Main zoning (Article 7), Auxiliary Dwelling Units (8), New-Construction energy code (9), Capital Program (10-17), Finance Committee bylaw changes (20), Term Limits (22), and the Decennial Bylaw Review.
The discussion board is open for all residents to read, but only currently serving Town Meeting members can logon to post questions and comments.
In the past year, the TMMA has hosted an orientation session for new Town Meeting members last April, published previews of key warrant articles (taking no policy positions), emailed notices of relevant public hearings and information sessions, hosted several Saturday morning “coffees” with precinct chairs and, on Oct. 20, sponsored a walking tour for Town Meeting members led by Planning Board Chair Keri Layton to highlight specifics of the proposed North Main Zoning, Article 6.
The executive board is joined this year by new members Stefanie Mnayarji of Precinct 3 as recording secretary, and Susan DeLeo of Precinct 5 as membership manager. In addition to the two new members and Grenzeback as chair, the other members are Carol Savage, vice chair, Doug Marmon, treasurer, Jack LeMenager, communications manager, Bill Band, discussion board monitor, Michael Creane, event planner, and Shukong Ou, web manager. Advisory board members include Amy Poftak, Brian Rowan, Kathy Bodie and Stephen Engel.
