On January 3, at an event in the Concord Town House, the Massachusetts Moderators Association announced the availability of a new DVD called Town Meeting and You. This 30-minute DVD is designed to encourage all voters to participate in their Town Meetings across Massachusetts.
This was a project, however, that nearly wasn't to be, except for eleventh-hour intervention by Concord's own Moderator, Ned Perry. Nearly abandoned after ten years of work by the Association, the project was revived by Perry, several other Concordians, and Stow's Moderator, Ed Newman. This team worked with DigiNovations of Concord to successfully create the finished DVD.
The DVD is narrated by R.D. Sahl of the New England Cable Network (NECN), and includes comments from a number of voters on why they participate and why others should participate in their Open Town Meetings. Thanks to assistance from several moderators, the program includes scenes from a number of vintage and recent Town Meetings, along with current substantive and procedural information presented by three moderators including the warrant, the role of the moderator, and the most common motions available for use at Town Meeting.
Concord viewers will recognize many familiar faces and settings, as the video includes scenes from the 2003 Concord Town Meeting Workshop. The workshop was created by a team consisting of Moderator Perry, Town Clerk Anita Tekle, Town Meeting Resource Person Dr. Susan Curtin, and Concord-Carlisle Adult and Community Education Director Court Booth. It was filmed by Concordian Ken Furutani. The script is enlivened by interviews with attenders of Town Meetings in Concord, North Andover, and Stow. Concordians include Kit Nichols, Susan Frey, Katie Walker, this publication's publisher and editor Debbie Bier, and the late Renée Garrelick, well-known Concord historian. Additional footage was shot and edited by the staff at DigiNovations on Elm Street in Concord.
The premier showing of the DVD took place at the Concord Town House on Wednesday, January 3 at 7 PM. The showing was attended by public officials, representatives of the League of Women Voters, moderators from several towns, members of the press, and dozens of voters.
The DVD is designed both to help those who have not previously attended Town Meeting to prepare and participate, and to serve as a refresher for those who have attended previously.The DVD could be made available in several places in every town with an Open Town Meeting - the public library, the high school, Town Hall, and the library of the Town Moderator. The program was created so that it may be used on local access cable channels, in history and civics classes in schools, and in adult education classes in senior centers. The DVD also could be used by moderators, town clerks and other town officials to host an information session prior to their Town Meeting.
The Massachusetts Moderators Association is accepting orders for the DVD, which is available for $10.00 each, or three for $25.00 (postage is included in the charge). Over 250 have been sold at the time of this writing to voters, town libraries, town clerks, and town moderators with positive feedback on the quality of the program. Order information is available at the Massachusetts Moderators web page at www.massmoderators.org/tmy.html.
The real proof of the success of this project will be known only after the DVD has been used in several towns on their local access cable stations and an analysis is made to see if there is a resulting increase in attendance in the Town Meetings in those towns.
Find copies or opportunities to view this DVD at the following: The Concord Free Public Library (both locations); CC-TV, Channel 8 (check listings for future broadcasts); April 11, 10:45 AM at the Harvey Wheeler Community Center where Concord's Town Moderator will be speaking about the articles in the 2007 Warrant following the DVD presentation (copies of the DVD will also be on sale there at that time).
Artwork: Backgrounds by Word of Mouth Web Design. Images courtesy of Clipart.com.
