Boylston Massachusetts

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• Outdated equipment in labs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  corrosion in the plumbing and wiring that is
  obsolete because it was designed before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
Tahanto Regional High School Renovation
ProjectOriginal Proposal for School Renovation

• 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

9
Tahanto Regional High School Renovation Project

• 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

10
Tahanto Regional High School Renovation Project

• October 20, 2002- Town meeting dates are set to
  vote on proposal
• Boylston- Nov.2 _at_ 200 p.m. in Tahanto
  
• Berlin- Nov. 12 _at_ 730 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
Tahanto Regional High School Renovation Project

• 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

12
Tahanto Regional High School Renovation Project

• May 8, 2003- Boylston town meeting rejected
  Building Committees 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

• 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

13
Boylston vs. Athens

• 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

14
Boylston vs. Saratoga Springs

• 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

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.
  lthttp//www.saratoga-springs.org/docs/bpwebsite.as
  pgt (Deecember, 2006).
• Department of Housing and Community Development.
  Boylston, Worcester County. lthttp//www.mass.gov/d
  hcd/iprofile/039.pdfgt (November, 2006).
• Goodison, Donna. Towns Want to Share Costs of
  Schools. The Boston Globe. 13 January 2005.
• lthttp//www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/
  01/13/towns_want_to_share_costs_of_schools/gt
• Galvin, William F. Citizens Guide to Town
  Meetings. Citizen Information Service.
  lthttp//www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cistwn/twnidx.htmgt
  (December, 2006).
• Historical Phenomena from the Papers of George
  L. Wright. Boylston Historical Society.
• lthttp//www.boylstonhistory.org/glw1.htmgt
  (November, 2006).

17
Works Cited

• Viser, Matt and Boyd, Brian. Towns Negative
  Vote Blocks Tahanto Renovation Project. The
  Boston Globe. 8 May, 2003. lthttp//nl.newsbank.com
  /nlsearch/we/Archives?p_actiondocp_docid0FAED13
  B93D22CD5p_docnum3s_dlidDL0106112004051819350
  s_ecproductSUB-FREEs_subtermSubscription
  until3A 122F152F2015 113A59
  PMs_subexpires122F152F2015 113A59
  PMs_usernamebgsubgt (November, 2006)
• Viser, Matt. Voters Reject Plan to Fix Tahanto.
  The Boston Globe.17 November, 2002.
  lthttp//nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_ac
  tiondocp_themebgp_topdoc1p_docnum1p_sortY
  MD_dateDp_productBGp_text_direct-0document_id
  ( 0F76CA421D8279B6 )s_dlidDL010611200411290858
  6s_ecproductSUB-FREEs_subtermSubscription
  until3A 122F152F2015 113A59
  PMs_subexpires122F152F2015 113A59
  PMs_usernamebgsubgt (November, 2006)