TO: Volunteers for the Steering Committee November 7, 2003

From: Steven Caine and Deborah Herrin, Co-Chairs

Subject: Comprehensive Planning Update and Report

Purpose: Provide those who volunteered for the Comprehensive Planning Steering Committee the latest information on recent and future activities, important contributions all volunteers can provide, and the process used for establishing recommended Steering Committee members.

We also are trying to find someone, actually two people - a primary and alternate - who would be willing to serve as Secretary for the Steering Committee. These individuals can, but do not have to be members of the Steering Committee. Any qualified person, who would volunteer for this role would be making a vital contribution to this effort.

Recent Events and Future Activities:

• September 10 - Town-wide information meeting
• September 22 - Meeting slides and Qs and As placed on the town website
• September 24. - Town Board provided names of all those that volunteered to be on the Steering Committee, and the names recommended to be appointed to the committee
• October 16 - Met with the Town Board in Executive Session to discuss committee composition and agreed to move forward on the recommended package
• October 27 - Attended the public hearing on the 2004 Town Budget and the Agenda Meeting to answer any questions on Comprehensive Planning
• October 30 - Five-person Sub-committee formed to interview potential consultants
• November - Gathering information, experience and references on planning consultants
• November - Working on NYS (GIS) Cooperative Data Sharing Agreement for use with local governments and agencies
• November 10 - Town Board votes on resolution appointing "Primary" and "Alternate" steering Committee Members
• Late November/early December -Sub-committee interviews and selects a planning consultant
• December - Hold gathering of "Primary" and "Alternate" Committee Members to get to know each other, start building important relationships - no actions taken
• January 2004 - First official meeting of the Comprehensive Planning Steering Committee - public invited, hopefully all 52 initial volunteers will attend. All "Primary" and "Alternate" Committee Members should attend. The agenda will include an overview provided by a consultant and specifics on the way ahead.

Important Contributions All Volunteers Can Make: When establishing the desired makeup of the Steering Committee, the Town Board agreed that "the committee needs to be composed of representatives who come from all geographic and demographic elements of the community…that committee members’ most important job is to accurately express the views of the group they represent…and, that we would like to get a "primary" and "alternate" representative for each slot." With this in mind, it was agreed that the committee should be formed with fifteen (15) "Primary" representatives and a suitable number of "Alternates." Obviously, we could not establish a workable steering committee of all 52 volunteers.
Although all those who volunteered are not "Primary" or "Alternates" on the Steering Committee, each and every volunteer, if he or she chooses, can make a vital contribution to this town-wide effort. We would like to keep all who volunteered fully informed on all activities and discussions involved in this effort. All would be invited to every meeting, and, if not told otherwise by the volunteer, everyone who volunteered would receive information, such as meeting-minutes, whether or not they are on the Steering Committee. As you so well know, a project such as this will need volunteers for subcommittees, focus groups, workshops and many other activities. So if you are willing, there is an important job to do.
One of the most important things we all must do is to reach out to friends and neighbors, keep them informed of what is going on and listen and report on their hopes, desires and concerns. If ever a town tackled a project that requires a team effort, this is it. Positive results depend on an overall collective effort where a lot of good people are doing their part and working together for a worthy cause. This cannot be accomplished by a small group of individuals, or just one committee.

The Process of Selecting Recommendations: We feel it is important to take the time to explain why and how volunteers were recommended for the Steering Committee. We know that for this comprehensive planning process to be a success, our townspeople must believe that the process is fair and objective and that their interests will be taken into account. Although the Steering Committee’s role will be primarily facilitation, the makeup of the committee must truly reflect all demographic elements of the town.
We also received many comments concerning the importance of ensuring that those whose livelihood and/or life savings may be impacted the most by this process have representation on the committee commensurate with what could be at stake. We are very sensitive to this point.
One of the first things we did was to make sure every volunteer knew how much their willingness to give so much of their time and energy to help was appreciated. We also wanted to make sure we knew each volunteer’s experiences in the categories that had been established (e.g., farmer, senior, parent, voting district etc.). We had to make a personal phone call to many of you. By doing this we were able to get a composite picture of the depth and breath of perspectives each volunteer likely could bring to the table. Each volunteer’s name was placed under the primary category they most strongly represented, and also into any of the other categories they fit into. Most volunteers touched several categories (e.g., business owner of some type, parent, voting district etc.).

By getting the overall picture of each volunteer’s total experiences (e.g., by not only recognizing their primary category, but all those possessed by a volunteer) we were able to recommend a fair and balanced representation of the collective Charlton community. It also enabled us to be very specific as to why we may have recommended some volunteers as primaries and alternates while others were not.
This approach has been a serious and objective evaluation of what various perspectives and interests individuals possess so that a truly representative Steering committee could be established. "Primary" and "Alternate" members of the Steering Committee will be announced after November 10.

A Primary and Alternate Secretary Needed: It will be critical to record major discussion points, decisions and agreed action items from each comprehensive planning meeting or workshop. Of equal importance, will be to continually keep the community informed of what has happened, is going on or coming up. Our initial thinking is to send a copy of minutes or any other important documents to all 52 people that initially volunteered, not just the Steering Committee. We also plan to post minutes and other information on our town website. Obviously, things could change as we work through this process. We welcome anyone, who has the skills and is willing to commit to an effort like this to step forward. This is a contribution vital to keeping this planning effort an open, transparent and efficiently run process.

For Your information - An Up coming Event: We just received an invitation issued by the a group called Saratoga P.L.A.N. (Preserving Land and Nature) to an open/free presentation they are sponsoring on November 13, 2003 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm in the County Auditorium, Bldg 5, 50 West High Street Ballston Spa. The flyer they sent asks: Concerned about the Future of Saratoga County? Wonder what our county will look like in 10 years? They are going to show the results of a survey on what Americans want for quality of life choices for housing and communities. They are also going to discuss their work to build a sustainable future for land conservation and smart growth in Saratoga County. If your interested in attending, we would recommend you first call 584-5557 to get further details, and to ensure the content of the session is worth the your time. It looks interesting.

Finally, we thank each and every one of you for your willingness to give your personal time and a great deal of energy to help, not only your family, but also your neighbors and our beautiful town!!