Shane Curcuru

Long-time Arlington resident; open source volunteer; working on transparency in town government.

2 minute read

In researching how warrants are written for Town Meeting, I noticed how many different committees make reports or comment on warrant articles before the meeting. But it’s not always easy to understand which committee works on what, and while all the agendas and minutes are posted, finding them is a different matter sometimes. More importantly, the Open Meetings Law says you can review materials or attend any of these meetings - once you figure out when and where they are!

What Key Town Committees Are There?

To see, please read my Guide To Town Hall Committees that covers the half-dozen most important groups dealing with warrant articles - like the Select Board and the Finance Committee.

All of the information comes from the town website, but I’ve collected key information about committees so it’s easier to see how and where they meet - often hard to find behind various links.

  • Committee name and basic description
  • Direct links to their agendas, which will also have meeting minutes posted
  • When and where regular committees meet (like the second and fourth Tuesdays)
  • Direct links to ACMi pages where you can view all past recordings of committee meetings

The committees listed here are just a small part of town government, and don’t include any of the operational parts of the town - like the town manager, school department, or any of the other town employees doing daily work. And there’s a much larger list of committees in town government too.

What Are YOU Curious About?

What else is not obvious about various committees in town? Reading through the town website, it’s not always obvious how all the committees fit together, although the Envision Arlington Govenment Primer is a good place to start, with some simple org charts. Another question that’s not always obvious is: which committee members are paid, either as part of their job (if a town employee), just a stipend (Select Board), or are purely volunteer with no compensation (School Board).

The first step to having informed citizens is making it simpler for citizens to find out how town government works, so it’s easy for them to know who to ask for more information on their issues of concern. If you’ve got other ideas of what you’d like to know, let me know!

How To Report Corrections

If you’ve spotted an error or problem, please let me know! Be sure to include source links to the town website or laws if there’s an error in anything that comes from the town - I’m trying to ensure everything presented about government matters has a clear source.

If you’ve got a GitHub account, proposing changes is easy: just click the “Propose change on GitHub” link at the bottom of the page. Otherwise, you can always email me at shane@menotomymatters.com.

Thanks for reading!

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