I attended all three nights of Hopkinton’s Annual Town Meeting from beginning to end. The first two nights ended early and the third night started late because we could not maintain a quorum of 128 people. For months, Town Hall staff and various volunteer board and committee members work to prepare and present important articles for Town Meeting. They give up tons of time away from their families to make Hopkinton a wonderful place for our families. The least we can do is show up and vote.

I encourage the Select Board and Town Hall to survey residents to learn why people are not attending. Instead of major changes to our bylaws, are there small adjustments that would make it easier for more people to attend? Are there ways to streamline the meeting and allow for an appropriate amount of deliberation? How can we ensure we’ll have 128 people at 7 p.m.?

In the meantime, I want to help people understand their importance at Town Meeting and will do whatever I can to encourage my friends and neighbors to attend in 2023. An easy way to get involved or interested in attending Town Meeting is to simply pay attention to the happenings in town. I do this by reading the Hopkinton Independent when it arrives in the mailbox, following @HopkintonMA on Twitter and subscribing to eHop’s weekly newsletter (ehop.org). I hope through conversation, creative thinking and decisive action we can have a successful and well-attended Town Meeting in 2023.

— Janice Barry, Hopkinton

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