Selectmen To Residents: Explain Your Override Vote

Reading's Board of Selectmen has spent hours discussing the reasons for the town's failed override vote. But with another potential override vote coming next April, the board wants to replace theory with data.

At Tuesday's meeting at Town Hall, members unveiled, debated, tweaked, and listed to resident feedback for a survey they hope to have in your hands soon. The goal is simple, to find out why you voted the way you did last October. Whether you were part of the 4,097 who said no, or the 2,795 who voted yes, it doesn't matter. The Board of Selectmen want to do their homework and that means learning how people voted and why.

"There's something out there that we don't see, something we don't understand," said chairman John Arena.

"The sooner you have the information the sooner you can take the next step in the process," said John Halsey. "I want as much information as quickly as possible."

The town had already scheduled 13 meetings between Dec. 1 and March 1, all dealing with the budget. Tuesday night they added another on January 30 and the talk was of moving the meetings to the library to handle what they expect will be big crowds. It's expected that the decision on whether to ask for the override will be made by the selectmen the last week in January. But the selectmen were in agreement that more than just meetings were needed and the survey was an important tool in the process.

Not everyone agreed. Some in attendance voiced concern that some survey questions asked about town needs, others about school needs. They objected to pitting the two against each other.

"It's the kind of info we need," said vice-chairman Barry Berman. "It's for information, not to lead people in one direction or another."

After all the input and tweaks it wasn't clear when the survey would be available and how. The goal was "to get it out as soon as possible" according to Berman. Most of the survey will be done online through the town's website. But Town Manager Bob LeLacheur said paper surveys might have to be made available at the Senior Center and possibly the library as well.

The meeting started with a moment of silence for the man killed while working on the Woburn library ... The Board voted to make July 26 the Americans With Disablities Act (ADA) Day in Reading. July 26 is the 27th anniversary of the ADA ... communication among Reading's 30-plus committees was discussed with the suggestion of an annual summit that brings together the chairmen and vice-chairmen of each committee. "I think it's a really big issue," said Halsey in regards to the communication between the board and the various committees.

Photo of one resident's override opinion by Bob Holmes