LWVG RTM Study: Survey Results of Support for Recommendations by RTM Members July 2017

Executive Summary The League of Women Voters of Greenwich (LWVG) Representative Town Meeting (RTM) Study and Recommendations were approved by the League’s membership in June 2016. In September 2016, representatives from the League met with the Moderator of the RTM, Tom Byrne and the Chairman of the RTM Legislative and Rules Committee, Doug Wells. It was determined that Chairman Wells would bring LWVG’s proposals to his committee by end of 2016. Cyndy Anderson, Past President of LWVG and RTM Advocacy Chairman, was invited to present to the Legislative and Rules Committee in March 2017. The Study and Recommendations were generally well received by the Committee. The League was asked to coordinate with Chairman Wells to conduct an anonymous survey of all RTM members to gauge their support of each of the 14 recommendations. LWVG Board member Sheila Mehta conducted the survey. The survey was sent out to all available RTM member email addresses on May 1 and concluded May 15. .

Observations A majority of the RTM respondents supported all but a minority of the League of Women Voters of Greenwich’s fourteen recommendations. The League still believes that all of its recommendations have merit. Access to full RTM study and Recommendations at http://www.lwvg.org/RTMStudy.html

Support for LWVG Study Recommendations by the RTM The RTM to remain a legislative body of the Town, not to exceed 230 members elected for a two-year term without party affiliation. District Chairs begin the search for new candidates to fill vacancies in the Spring preceding the election. Potential RTM candidates and Petition signers should be given a list of responsibilities Only those candidates who are elected on the RTM ballot or as a write-in should be seated. RTM Districts without full representation following the election should not elect any additional members during the term, except to fill a vacancy by reason of death or resignation. The RTM should re-district to equalize representation. If needed, re-districting should be considered every ten years. Transportation Committee should be merged into the Public Works committee, based on the small number of referrals to the former. There should be a ten-year term limit on the uninterrupted service by the Moderator, Moderator Pro Tem, Committee and District Chairs. To preserve continuity, the calculation of the years served should commence from the adoption of the term limit rule. All RTM members should be required to use the Town-provided emails for all communications within the RTM and for constituent contacts. All RTM communications and documents should be electronic. To streamline reporting, all District committee reports to be sent via email priot to meetings. Committee Chairs would concisely report the key issues and votes at the full RTM meeting for the benefit of non-RTM members. The $5,000 threshold for approval of expenditures or grants to be raised to $25,000. Amount to be reviewed every five years. Reasonable but firm time limits for speakers should be established at all RTM meetings. To avoid possible error in voting cards, each member should mark the voting card instead of relying on a hands or thumbs up gestures. All Committee and District Chairs be trained to conduct all meetings. Members must be aware of the roles and responsibilities of the committees prior to assignments. Legislative& Rules Committee to update roles and responsibilities of all the committees. The RTM to keep its website updated to comply with FOI regulations. The RTM to establish an email list of residents who wishing to receive electronic updates on its work, to explain the functions of the RTM and how residents can engage with the RTM. A Standing Community Outreach Committee to be established with representation from each District. Base = 112 Participants

District Participation Rate The LWVG emailed the survey to 195 usable RTM emails. A total of 112 RTM members completed the survey. District District 4/12 9/13 4/9 9/16 13/13 12/21 7/19 17/21 8/19 6/17 11/15 12/20 4/112 9/112 13/112 12/112 7/112 17/112 8/112 6/112 11/112 Variable Base = Number of Surveys Sent to Each District Base = 112 Participants Number of members who elected to complete the survey out of the total in each District who were sent the survey. Number from each District who participated in the survey out of the Total completed surveys.

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Methodology The survey was conducted at the suggestion of Doug Wells, Chairman of the Legislative & Rules Committee, to assess levels of support for the LWVG RTM Study recommendations. The questions of the survey were directly derived from the 14 recommendations made by the League of Women Voters RTM Study tabled in 2016. RTM members were also asked to identify the district they represent. The survey was programmed to be sent via email using Survey Monkey, an online, cloud-based survey platform. RTM member emails were collected in two ways: Five of the 12 District Chairs provided a list of their members. The emails of the remaining seven Districts had to be acquired via a laborious process of copying individual email addresses from each member profile on the RTM website. As a result we had 8 missing and 27 incorrect addresses and these members were unable to take part in the survey. The online survey ran from May 1 to mid-May, 2017. Of the 195 email surveys sent, 123 answered the first question but 112 actually completed the entire survey.

Complete Recommendations of RTM Study by LWVG 1 The Greenwich Representative Town Meeting should remain a legislative body of the Town with a membership not to exceed 230 representatives elected for a two-year term without party affiliation. 2 The RTM should keep its section of the Town website updated to comply with the Freedom of lnformation regulations. 3 All Committee and District Chairs should be trained to conduct all meetings according the proper parliamentary procedure and within the Freedom of Information requirements. Committee members need to be made aware of the roles and responsibilities of the committees before committee assignments are made. The Legislative and Rules Committee should update the roles and responsibilities of all the committees to keep them current. 4 District Chairs should be aware of the impending vacancies in their Districts and begin the search for new candidates in the Spring preceding the election. Each potential RTM candidate should be given a list of responsibilities of RTM members. Petition signers should also be made aware of these responsibilities. 5 Reasonable but firm time limits for speakers should be established at all RTM meetings. 6 The $5,000 threshold for approval of expenditures or grants, in existence since at least 1963, should be raised significantly to $25,000. This amount should be reviewed every five years. 7 To avoid possible error in voting cards, each member should mark the voting card instead of relying on a hands or thumbs up gestures. 8 The work of this legislative body is largely unknown to the residents. The RTM should create an email file of residents wishing to sign up to receive electronic updates on its work. These updates should explain the functions of the RTM and how residents can engage with the board and its members. A Standing Community Outreach Committee should be established with representation from each District. 9 All materials to RTM members should be sent electronically. To streamline reporting, all committee reports should be sent to the District members via email before the District meetings. Recognizing that non-RTM members may be either in attendance or watching on television. Committee Chairs would concisely report the key issues and votes at the full RTM meeting. 10 There are currently eleven ~Standing Committees. The number of referrals to each committee is generally indicative of the amount of work of the committee. Transportation Committee should be merged into the Public Works committee. 11 The RTM should re-district to equalize representation. If needed, re-districting should be considered every ten years. 12 Many in the leadership positions in the RTM have served very long terms. There should be a ten-year term limit on the uninterrupted service by the Moderator, Moderator Pro Tem, Committee and District Chairs. To avoid the sudden loss of leadership experience, the calculation of the years served should commence from the adoption of the term limit rule. 13 All RTM members should be required to use the Town-provided emails for all communications within the RTM and for constituent contacts. 14 The electorate's unfamiliarity with their District RTM members and candidates makes the body potentially less representative. Thus, only those candidates who are elected on the RTM ballot or as a write-in should be seated. RTM Districts without full representation following the election should not elect any additional members during the term, except to fill a vacancy by reason of death or resignation.

Strongest support from RTM members Support for LWVG Study Recommendations by the RTM The RTM to keep its website updated to comply with FOI regulations. The RTM to remain a legislative body of the Town, not to exceed 230 members elected for a two-year term without party affiliation. All Committee and District Chairs be trained to conduct all meetings. Members must be aware of the roles and responsibilities of the committees prior to assignments. Legislative& Rules Committee to update roles and responsibilities of all the committees. District Chairs begin the search for new candidates to fill vacancies in the Spring preceding the election. Potential RTM candidates and Petition signers should be given a list of responsibilities Reasonable but firm time limits for speakers should be established at all RTM meetings. The $5,000 threshold for approval of expenditures or grants to be raised to $25,000. Amount to be reviewed every five years. To avoid possible error in voting cards, each member should mark the voting card instead of relying on a hands or thumbs up gesture. The RTM to establish an email list of residents who wishing to receive electronic updates on its work, to explain the functions of the RTM and how residents can engage with the RTM. A Standing Community Outreach Committee to be established with representation from each District. All RTM communications and documents should be electronic. To streamline reporting, all District committee reports to be sent via email priot to meetings. Committee Chairs would concisely report the key issues and votes at the full RTM meeting for the benefit of non-RTM members. Transportation Committee should be merged into the Public Works committee, based on the small number of referrals to the former. The RTM should re-district to equalize representation. If needed, re-districting should be considered every ten years. There should be a ten-year term limit on the uninterrupted service by the Moderator, Moderator Pro Tem, Committee and District Chairs. To preserve continuity, the calculation of the years served should commence from the adoption of the term limit rule. All RTM members should be required to use the Town-provided emails for all communications within the RTM and for constituent contacts. Only those candidates who are elected on the RTM ballot or as a write-in should be seated. RTM Districts without full representation following the election should not elect any additional members during the term, except to fill a vacancy by reason of death or resignation. Strongest support from RTM members LWVG survey methodology revealed that personal emails are not an adequate way to identify and communicate with RTM members. Base = 112 Participants

District Participation Rate