Five Plus Five

For the past eight months Hillsborough's Charter Study Commission has been evaluating alternative forms of government, as well as our current Township Committee form, to determine whether or not to recommend a different form of government for our town. During the evaluation process, they employed wall charts listing the "pluses and minuses" of the different government forms.

Now that the CSC has made their recommendation, I'd like to turn the tables on them and list the top ten pluses and minuses, or hits and misses, of the Charter Study Commission. What they did right, and what they did wrong.

I'll get things started, but I'll be looking for your suggestions in the comments section of the blog.

Let's start with the pluses:

1. The selection of Chris Jensen as chairman - I don't see how any of the other four could have done as good a job, with the possible exception of George Fenwick, whose health probably precluded him from that position.
   
   
2. The selection of Bill Page to replace Mr. Fenwick - Mr. Page was the third runner up in the election, but was the only one of those three willing to take on the job. He has proven to be thoughtful, studious, and most importantly even-tempered. A great choice.
   
   
3. Public comment at all of the meetings - The commission was not required to have public comment at all of the meetings - only at the ones designated as Public Hearings. Yet they adhered to the long-standing Hillsborough tradition of letting the people have their say.
   
   
4. Frugality - The commission has thus far spent only a fraction of their budget - which means a lot to a skeptical public.
   
   
5. Videotaped meetings - I tried to go to most of the meetings - in fact I think I went to every one up through my election to the Board of Education in April. When I couldn't attend, I was able to catch the meetings on Channel 25, and later on the Township web site.
   
   

That's my first five. Let's try to get five more positives - then tomorrow we'll do the easy ten!