I take notes during Town Meeting. They are not official in any way. As I listen to people speak, I type notes. I’m sure that, at times, I mishear or misunderstand the speaker, but my notes represent what I hear at the time. I try to publish the notes every night after the meeting. I do go back and make a few edits as errors are pointed out to me.  Sometimes I relay a quote from a specific speaker. Sometimes I only summarize the discussion. At points I give a purely personal opinion; those are clearly labeled like this: Personal note.

This year I’m the chairman of the Board of Selectmen, and I’m frequently introducing articles, answering questions, and directing traffic.  I’m not able to keep the notes that I usually keep.

Under Article 4, I delivered the State of the Town.  You can read my speech here.

Under Article 10, Animal Control Bylaws, Chief Ryan gave the winning reply of the night.  The question and answer had moved into policing philosophies, and Chief Ryan offered an answer to the question about “what would he have done at that Starbucks in Philadelphia.  His answer was: “I’d buy them a cup of coffee.”