Longmeadow Select Board discusses governmental changes, racism task force

Aug. 27, 2020 | Dennis Hackett
dennis@thereminder.com

LONGMEADOW – The Longmeadow Select Board met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 17 to discuss changing the town’s form of government and to receive an update about the town’s new task force tasked with addressing systemic racism.

One of the biggest talking points at the meeting was a discussion around looking into changing the town’s current form of government.

“I think the present form of government that we have disenfranchises our voters quite often, we have no remote options. We normally have less than 2 or 3 percent of our electorate show up at the Town Meetings,” board member Richard Foster said. “I envision this as an ongoing discussion with our Select Board to understand different forms of government that are available and we could make a motion toward another form of government if it is required.”

Board member Mark Gold chimed in and echoed Foster’s concerns over Town Meeting and low voter turnout.

“I think Richard identified two areas that frustrate me as well, and those are low participation and sometimes the minority can drive a decision in a different direction. It’s not necessarily a reason to change our form of government but it means we’re not doing our job,” he said.

One of the resounding concerns from the entire Select Board is the fact that the Town Meeting form of voting is outdated and does not accommodate for larger populations.

“I think Town Meeting was a really wonderful idea in 1720 but in 2020 with 11,000 town voters, the Mullins Center in Amherst is the only place in Western Massachusetts that could fit our voting population, as a form of government it’s outdated and just not what we need today,” board member Steve Marantz said.

While the board tabled the discussion for future meetings, Foster said that if the town did change its form of government it would go through the Select Board and not a Charter Commission.

After the board voted to declare racism a public health crisis at its July 6 meeting, Town Manager Lyn Simmons came before the selectmen to discuss the format for the task force.

“There would be a task force made up of nine residents with demonstrated interested, experience or expertise in the issues under review. The task force would discuss, research, gather data and report back to the Select Board with steps to tackle the scourge of systemic racism,” she said.

Residents have until Sept. 14 to submit their applications with the intention of issuing a report by March 31, 2021.

During the regular COVID-19 update, Simmons said that some residents had sent in complaints about people playing basketball without proper social distancing.

“We have been receiving more complaints about groups of people playing basketball not wearing masks or social distancing. The increased signage and education that we’ve done at the courts has not changed behavior, so we are unfortunately looking at different means to promote responsible behavior,” she said.

During the meeting, Superintendent of Schools M. Martin O’Shea jumped into the call to explain some of the strategies schools would be using to increase ventilation.

“Ventilation and air exchange become very critical and opening windows is a really simple but significant mitigation strategy. We are also purchasing tents for outdoor meetings and instruction,” he said.

He added that while some districts have set in-person return dates, the Longmeadow School District will be monitoring the pandemic before setting any kind of return date.

Among its regular business, the board also voted to enter an agreement with Colvest for roadway  The Longmeadow Select Board next meets on Sept. 8.

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