Thursday, March 22, 2007 Older Editions

Moderator race: Candidates answer questions

1. What are the best ways to ensure that the Town Meeting audience has a chance to hear many different viewpoints on a hot issue? Do you consider pro and con microphones and time limits on speakers to be effective or do you favor other methods?

Kenneth Ozoonian

"The best way is through education! First, voters need to be informed. This can be achieved through a mailing similar to what the state does a election time on ballot questions. Stating what the "hot issue" is, what a yes and no vote would mean, and an "in favor" or "against" argument. Second, once informed, voters will be more interested. Third, once interested, voters get more involved and offer different viewpoints.

I favor pro and con microphones. It gives a visual sense of the issue. Time limits are necessary. The moderator needs to decide in advance the length of debate.

Eric Nadworny

"Town Meeting requires a leader who can promote open debate and civility and be strongest when divisiveness and passions are high. As an HR professional, attorney and negotiator, I have handled many difficult situations while being

fair and inclusive. I favor pro and con microphones to promote presentations, but do not support artificial time limits on speakers. As Moderator I would exercise professional judgment to keep the speakers focused, show them respect, and allow them time to be heard. I would also promote online forums in advance of Town Meeting where issues could be debated and information posted."

Larry Morse

"I would be very sensitive to being sure that all sides are heard. The common sense use of the moderator's discretion is one way to assure all sides are heard. Letting the public know in the Finance Committee Report that organizing debate before Town Meeting to have certain speakers cover various issues raised by the warrant will help.

I think that pro and con microphones have worked well and having Town Meeting set the length of each person's presentation is a good technique. Two thirds of Town Meeting can pass a motion to move the question to end debate."

Sheila Doherty

"Yes, there should be time limits on speakers at Town Meeting, I believe it forces speakers to be concise and make their point. I also think it allows more information to get to the voters. The Pro and Con microphones bring balance to the input of discussion, without them, it is hard to be sure all sides are heard. Often with hot issues, the heart of an issue can be distorted in the course of debate, so I think at the close of discussion, the presenters should be given an opportunity to refute false information if it is presented as fact."

David Samuels

"Since I routinely moderate large meetings, I understand how to bring out all relevant information to the floor in an efficient manner. With each warrant being discussed, it is important that everyone understand what they are voting on, and that complex issues are made easy to understand. Pro and con microphones and time limits are often very good tools and I would use them, however I would be flexible to avoid redundancy and orations, while assuring that every opinion be heard. We need to hear from all interests so that we can make informed decisions at Town Meeting."

2. The Townsman asked the five candidates running for moderator the following questions: The town moderator appoints members to the Finance Committee. How will you select appointees? What qualities will you value the most?

Kenneth Ozoonian

"I'd try to reach out and get a good cross-section of the community and the town at large. I would be open to people across the town to make suggestions ... Obviously, it's a serious responsibility that they have."

"I think you have to have somebody that's honest and intelligent, and open-minded and fair and has good, common-sense ability in relation to the needs of the community."

Eric Nadworny

"You want to have the right mix of people. Independence and independent thought - the Finance Committee has to really be independent of the selectmen and School Committee. [I would seek] people who are able to ask the tough questions and really want the town to move forward. And I'll take them from wherever I can find them.

"There probably is a great talent bank to select people for Finance Committee. If they have diverse interests and viewpoints, all the better."

Larry Morse

"I would announce when an appointment is available so that members of the public would be in the know and could send in resumes. I think in the past it may have been a quiet process and I'd like to open that up."

"I would look to see what skill sets are present and look to see what might compliment (them). All interests in town, to the extent that you can do it, would be represented on the Finance Committee."

Sheila Doherty

"It's so critical that the Finance Committee be balanced. That would be a major focus for me.

"I would look at consulting with a number of people, I would want it to be a public posting in some way... What areas of expertise are already on board the Finance Committee and what areas of expertise do we need? I would consult with the parties to be (on) the areas that we need filled in. I would really want to see these individuals be very knowledgeable in finance and budget.

David Samuels

"I will select them differently than they've been done in the past. Rather than appoint them alone I will work collaboratively with the School Committee and selectmen in identifying the best talent we have in town. Like the moderator, these people have to be impartial, fair, unbiased, and without political agenda. For me, this is the main reason I'm running for moderator, so this new panel, working with the elected boards, can arrive at a single budget that is fair, fiscally responsible, and represents the will of the town. Just by this process, a single budget will have wide-spread support, as opposed to the current budget model, where two budgets are produced and the elected boards spend months trying to close the gap. Our current budget process may have worked well 30 years ago, but the town is different than it used to be and the budget is much more complex."