Letter: Upgrades to Governance
To the Editor:
At the beginning of a Weston board meeting, the chair may typically use the word “transparency” to describe the actions of that board and how the chair and its members intend to convey their hard work to Weston residents. Transparency in governance ensures that all Weston residents, from time-challenged young families to empty-nesters, become fully aware of the cost to their family’s financial health of Weston governance, well in advance of any referendum.
I suggest, in broad terms and at a minimum, the following ‘upgrades’ to our present governance be considered to ensure enhanced transparency and full understanding of the financial consequences of Board recommendations:
For every project or proposal that will impact the Weston mill rate, the working documents shall include an appendix detailing the approximate change to the mill rate to implement the various items of the proposal or project. A summary of the final document (with mill rate appendix) would be mailed to each Weston household well in advance of a referendum in addition to the full document concurrently posted prominently on the newly revised Town website as described below.
The Weston Town website would be reconfigured to eliminate confusing menus and redirects allowing residents at all levels of computer literacy to easily obtain meeting and financial impact information. The Town website would prominently show the meeting calendar schedules of all Boards in one place with links to phone calendar apps and update and publish all agenda, minutes and/or video links in a way that is simple and easy to select. Hyperlinks shall go where one would expect them to go to make selecting information options as simple as possible.
These two ‘upgrades’ may have the additional effect of increasing the voting participation of the town which, in addition to transparency, is a very good thing.
— William Weiss
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