Town of Norwood officials ran through procedures and logistics for the town's upcoming May meetings, emphasizing how registered town meeting members should prepare and how the new electronic voting system will work.

The information session opened with Michael Rosen, the town's assistant general manager, and Jerry Slater, the town moderator, reviewing dates and check-in procedures. Slater said members should arrive early to check in and pick up their badge and electronic voting device; only town meeting members may register a vote, though any registered voter may speak during public comment. Town meeting members must state their name and district when recognized.

The session stressed the importance of the warrant: only business listed on the warrant may be introduced at town meeting. Slater explained the difference between an article (the warrant item) and the motion on which members vote: motions contain the specific dollar amounts or legal text that will be decided at the meeting.

Maya Bodenhofer, chair of the finance commission, and Mary Lou in the town clerk's office explained check-in procedures, distribution of the budget book and the town's standard materials. Mary Lou described the sign-in and attendance card process and reiterated that members must return the electronic voting device and badge at the end of each session.

On electronic voting, Slater and town staff demonstrated the credit-card-sized clicker used for votes in the auditorium. Slater said system testing will occur before votes and that the system shows live vote totals on the big screen; the count will also be published on the town meeting site. The device has three options: yes, no and abstain; the last button pressed before voting closes is the vote that counts. Slater said the technology is the same system used by larger legislative bodies and that the town will time votes for roughly 60 seconds with a 10-second warning.

Why it matters: the town is introducing procedures and technology intended to speed votes and produce accurate, auditable counts. Town meeting members are expected to arrive early, review the warrant and budget materials in advance, and register to speak in advance if they want to ensure recognition on a particular article.

Details: the session covered speaker time limits (five minutes for recognized members, with a one-time extension possible; presentations by proponents generally allowed 10 minutes, extendable to 20 minutes for groups), point-of-order and point-of-privilege rules, and the unique Norwood practice of pre-registering to speak by emailing the moderator. Slater said registered speakers are called in the order received by email to ensure fairness.

The presentation closed with staff contact directions for members who want more information about a warrant article before town meeting.