21:15A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to the council’s outreach strategy and feedback collection. The council acknowledged the limited number of responses received so far and stressed the need for more aggressive promotion of the feedback process. Members discussed the importance of engaging with the community through various means, including online surveys, paper copies, and public events, to ensure diverse and inclusive participation.

30:51The council also examined the feedback already collected, which included 84 suggestions on topics like the powers of the town manager, term limits, and the establishment of a standing building committee. There was a consensus on the need to organize this feedback into overarching themes, recognizing that some suggestions might be impractical. One member advocated for a structured discussion on the feedback, viewing it as an opportunity to gain insights into community issues. The council agreed to collaborate with the Collins Center, a consulting group, to develop further outreach plans and organize the feedback into usable data for future public engagement efforts.

01:36:45Concurrent with the outreach discussions, the council deliberated on the development of surveys intended to capture feedback from town staff and elected officials. A key consideration was whether to create separate surveys for these groups to account for their distinct perspectives. One member highlighted the differences in engagement levels with charter-related issues between town employees and elected officials. Another member argued for a single survey that would allow all stakeholders to participate, with responses categorized based on their roles.

56:10The technical aspects of survey creation were also discussed, with options including Google Forms and Air Table. The council explored the possibility of using conditional questions to tailor the survey based on respondents’ initial answers, thereby simplifying distribution and data collection. There was a consensus on incorporating both open-ended and scale questions.

A motion was proposed and refined to approve the use of a Google Form with scaled and Likert scale questions for town and school staff, alongside a separate survey for elected officials, including school committee members and library trustees. The motion garnered support.

01:17:16The meeting also addressed the procedural aspects of organizing and reviewing survey materials. Members agreed on the necessity of submitting materials in advance to ensure all documents were available for thorough consideration before meetings. This process was aimed at avoiding confusion and facilitating discussions.

01:53:14As the meeting drew to a close, the council briefly touched on the promotion of their new website, which includes a feedback mechanism for public engagement. While a proposal was made to draft an article for local publications to raise awareness, the council decided to defer this decision to a later date.