1 / 17

Boylston Massachusetts

Boylston Massachusetts. Molly Kidder 12/06/06. Location. located in central eastern Mass about 7 miles north of Worcester Approximately 38 miles west of Boston Hugs the Wachusett Reservoir Total area of 19.67 square miles. History of Boylston. First settled in 1705

benjamin
Download Presentation

Boylston Massachusetts

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Boylston Massachusetts Molly Kidder 12/06/06

  2. Location • located in central eastern Mass about 7 miles north of Worcester • Approximately 38 miles west of Boston • Hugs the Wachusett Reservoir • Total area of 19.67 square miles

  3. History of Boylston • First settled in 1705 • Established as a town in 1786 • Board of selectmen and open town meeting form of government • Town administrator hired in 1994 • Home of John B. Gough, a globally-known temperance lecturer

  4. Demographics • Population- 4,008 people • Racial Makeup: -96.71% Caucasian -0.67% African American -0.22% Native American -1.37% Asian -0.57% Hispanic • Age Makeup: -24.3% under 18 years -12.3% over 65 years • 50% male, 50% female

  5. Government • Open town meeting (direct democracy) • 1 annual meeting • Unlimited “special meetings” held to discuss/vote on specific issues • Anyone (registered) can vote • The town selectmen issue the warrant • Annual town meeting typically held in the first half of May

  6. My Thesis • Incorporated in 1786, the town of Boylston, Massachusetts is a tight-knit community of about 4,000 people. The town runs on an “open town meeting” form of government, in which legislative issues are overseen by a Board of Selectmen and by a town administrator. Most importantly, however, is the fact that decisions in this small town are made collectively by the citizens, the demos of Boylston. This highly representative, fair form of government ensures that the town is run based on the principles and opinions of the people, not on the desires of a few powerful leaders. An issue that has been very controversial in Boylston for the past four years- that of whether or not the citizens of the town will pay to fund the renovation of the regional high school- illustrates very clearly the democratic system on which the town runs.

  7. Tahanto Regional High School Renovation Project • Boylston shares its high school with the neighboring town of Berlin • Built in 1960 and has hardly been changed since • Roof is falling down • Inadequate space for increased number of students • Ugly • Poor heating system • Outdated equipment in labs • “”The building shows its age with ‘significant corrosion in the plumbing’ and wiring that is ‘obsolete’ because it was designed before computers increased the demand for electricity, Kidder said.” (Boyd 2002).

  8. would start construction in late 2003 crews would build addition (6,000- 8,000 sq. feet) would put temporary classrooms in addition-renovations would take place in one academic wing at a time; teachers and students in that wing would be displaced to other wings and temporary classrooms in addition-once all three academic wings are done, temporary classrooms would be removed from addition, which would then be converted into a media center would double-glaze windows to make energy-efficient repair roof re-wire building replace plumbing update technology construct balcony in auditorium would be expanded to have a capacity of approx. 527 students from current 400 construction would end in 2005 would cost $16.5 million Tahanto Regional High School Renovation ProjectOriginal Proposal for School Renovation:

  9. Sept. 8 2002- local officials question how realistic is $16.5 million proposal - delayed school committee vote until Sep. 18 so that town officials from Berlin and Boylston could offer input on the matter - if approved by school committee, each town would have 60 days to call town meetings and reject the proposal if they are opposed -if project went through, would mean higher taxes for the town citizens Sept. 22 2002- proposal already approved by committee- to be put before town citizens - two towns would divide up costs based on enrollment - committee agreed upon 84 day- time allotment for towns to reject plan Tahanto Regional High School Renovation Project

  10. Tahanto Regional High School Renovation Project • October 20, 2002- Town meeting dates are set to vote on proposal: *Boylston- Nov.2 @ 2:00 p.m. in Tahanto * Berlin- Nov. 12 @ 7:30 p.m. in Berlin Memorial School - if proposal passes, towns will meet again to vote on whether or not local officials should be given permission to raise property taxes above state levy limit • October 31, 2002- Impact of State Government - State officials considering devoting less money to aid schools in building project costs - School committee decided to stick to plan

  11. Nov. 7, 2002- Boylston voters approved renovation proposals in 189-69 vote Nov. 17, 2002- Berlin voters reject plan by vote of 194-to-112 - project cannot proceed! Nov. 24, 2002- Local officials decide to request $ to cover more detailed architectural plans - believed that Berlin voters rejected plan because they did not feel well-enough informed on renovation plans -citizens may get another chance to vote on proposal in the spring if architectural costs are approved before Feb. 1 Tahanto Regional High School Renovation Project

  12. Feb 2, 2003- Berlin voters rejected requested $400,000 for architectural costs by a vote of 245-234 -at town meeting the day before the citizens approved the request by a vote of 178-101 costs had been cut from $700,000 to $400,000 May 8, 2003- Boylston town meeting rejected Building Committee’s request for $50,000 to cover continued planning and design fees - design fees were already reduced from $400,000 to $80,000 in February after Berlin rejected $400,000 request - “After the meeting, several voters criticized the building committee's 10-minute presentation, saying that it was too short and did not detail how the money would be used.” - school building committee disbanded by the school committee Tahanto Regional High School Renovation Project

  13. Similarities * open town meeting (ekklesia) *Representative Town Council(Boule) Differences *eligible voters (females, males, slaves, children) *population (4,000 vs 40,000) * Selectmen represent town as a whole, whereas Boule members represented each deme Boylston vs. Athens

  14. Similarities: elibibe voters (all citizens 18 years or older) Citizens felt underinformed in major town issue (charter reform) Independent committee came up with plan and put it before the people The people vetoed the plan (2nd time) demographics Differences: - population (4,000 vs 20,000) - mayor-council form of government - representative democracy vs. direct democracy Boylston vs. Saratoga Springs

  15. Conclusion • The open town meeting form of government is very effective for the small town of Boylston. As can be seen through the issue of the high school renovation project, the opinions and desires of the people are very well represented directly by the people in determining town issues.

  16. Works Cited • About Boylston Massachusetts. http://www.mass.info/boylston.ma/about.htm (November, 2006). • City of Saratoga Springs New York Public Portal. <http://www.saratoga-springs.org/docs/bpwebsite.asp> (Deecember, 2006). • Department of Housing and Community Development. Boylston, Worcester County. <http://www.mass.gov/dhcd/iprofile/039.pdf> (November, 2006). • Goodison, Donna. “Towns Want to Share Costs of Schools.” The Boston Globe. 13 January 2005. <http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/01/13/towns_want_to_share_costs_of_schools/> • Galvin, William F. “Citizen’s Guide to Town Meetings.” Citizen Information Service. <http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cistwn/twnidx.htm>(December, 2006). • “Historical Phenomena from the Papers of George L. Wright.” Boylston Historical Society. <http://www.boylstonhistory.org/glw1.htm> (November, 2006).

  17. Works Cited • Viser, Matt and Boyd, Brian. “Town’s Negative Vote Blocks Tahanto Renovation Project.” The Boston Globe. 8 May, 2003. <http://nl.newsbank.com/nlsearch/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=0FAED13B93D22CD5&p_docnum=3&s_dlid=DL0106112004051819350&s_ecproduct=SUB-FREE&s_subterm=Subscription until%3A 12%2F15%2F2015 11%3A59 PM&s_subexpires=12%2F15%2F2015 11%3A59 PM&s_username=bgsub> (November, 2006) • Viser, Matt. “Voters Reject Plan to Fix Tahanto.” The Boston Globe.17 November, 2002. <http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_theme=bg&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=BG&p_text_direct-0=document_id=( 0F76CA421D8279B6 )&&s_dlid=DL0106112004112908586&s_ecproduct=SUB-FREE&s_subterm=Subscription until%3A 12%2F15%2F2015 11%3A59 PM&s_subexpires=12%2F15%2F2015 11%3A59 PM&s_username=bgsub> (November, 2006)

More Related