Selectmen, Town Moderator Plan for Town Meeting

The met with earlier this week to discuss the format of this year's Annual Town Meeting.

All plans are preliminary, as there have yet to be any public hearings on warrant articles so officials are not yet sure which items may generate more discussion than others at the Town Meeting. At Van Loon's suggestion though, the meeting will be structured in such a way that will allow people  who may only be able to attend one of the three nights to be present to vote on the issues they find most important.

With nearly 50 articles on the Town Meeting warrant, Van Loon suggested organizing the articles in such a way that would make "the first evening pretty much a town and school evening," featuring budget issues and municipal and financial items.

"I thought it would make sense to make the second evening, Tuesday evening, as we did last year, somewhat of an environmental night," Van Loon said. Tuesday would include issues like the proposed water bottle ban, and potential locations for solar panels.

This type of format, Van Loon said, "leaves the third night for a rich mix of free speech."

With so many items to get through over the three nights, Van Loon said he may propose a slight reduction in presentation time at Town Meeting, from six mites per person to five.

This year's Annual Town Meeting will be held Monday, April 23; Tuesday, April 24; and Wednesday, April 25. The meeting will continue on Thursday, April 26 if additional time is needed. Each session will be held at , beginning at 7 p.m.