NEWFANE — When I worked in a medical office, I learned how to transcribe the notes the physician dictated after each patient visit, describing symptoms, observations, assessment, and plan. These SOAP notes were a good tool for breaking down a patient's interrelated and complex problems, so I thought I'd apply it to the local and ailing body politic.
Symptoms: In Newfane, we have seen a steady decline in attendance at the Leland & Gray Union High School Annual Meeting, the annual Newbrook Elementary School Meeting, and the annual Town Meeting.
Observations: Last year, 64 Newfane voters cast ballots when the $6.5 million LGUHS budget came to a vote. Forty voters, from Newfane and Brookline combined, attended the meeting where the $1.9 million elementary school budget passed.
About 70 voters showed up at Town Meeting, where an hour-long debate about raising two full-time salaries from $33,600 to $34,608 was followed by passing a $1.2 million town budget with almost no debate whatsoever.
Assessment: The body politic suffers from the malaise of disempowerment, where the heat of the debate is inversely proportional to the amount of money under discussion. The debate is hottest where there is most control about changing the numbers rather than the importance of the issues.
As anyone who has attended any of the school meetings knows, a great deal of our local educational costs are set by state and federal mandates, and the funding mechanisms are so complex that understanding what can and can't be funded is beyond the comprehension of a casual citizen.
When I attend these meetings, I'm overcome with awe and gratitude for the dedication of our volunteer school board members who are well versed in the arcane minutia of the educational bureaucracy and who are willing and able to explain it to the few voters who actually turn out. These volunteers work hard on our behalf, balancing our community's obligation to educate a future generation of taxpaying citizens within the limits of the current generation's ability to pay taxes now.
Similarly, our Selectboard has accrued highly specialized knowledge, particularly in regard to the complexities of FEMA and the ongoing efforts to recover from the ravages of Tropical Storm Irene.
As with the schools, many of the decisions that affect us at the local level of municipal government are either decided or heavily influenced by rules, regulations, and funds from away. Such specialization makes it hard for anyone but the most dedicated citizens to understand the details.
The process of local decision-making becomes mired in a morass of complex and often competing mandates. The result of all this specialization and centralization is a quite understandable feeling of disenfranchisement. It leaves us feeling cornered and apathetic.
When we do gather to deliberate, there's little we can actually change, so we debate how much to underpay our elected officials rather than debate issues that affect the quality of life in our town. It seems as if control of our community life is out of our hands.
This is a malady indeed, but it's curable.
* * *
Plan: Create a grassroots effort to gather a group of citizen journalists to work with The Commons to create a Newfane news section so that residents can learn about what is going on in our town.
The plan is to create this section so those of us who live in Newfane know what's going on in the schools that our tax dollars support, not just how much they cost. So we know what the Selectboard is discussing while the issue is being deliberated. So we can learn about upcoming meetings in more detail than allowed by the cryptic abbreviations that fit on the sandwich boards around town.
We plan to publish the Newfane news section to learn about efforts to change the state Public Service Board rules about local control in siting cell towers. To learn about nascent efforts to start a community-based solar generation cooperative. To verify rumors of the reopening of the Williamsville Store.
* * *
Prescription: Publish a page of Newfane news on the third Wednesday of every month in The Commons. The first full page is scheduled to appear in the Aug. 21 issue, in time for the second annual Rock River Parade. Breaking news will continue to be published weekly, with a dedicated section of Newfane news and feature stories once a month.
To make this happen, we need reporters. We need people with their ears to the ground, people who are curious, people who are willing to ask questions and ready to write down the answers. The Commons is published by Vermont Independent Media, a nonprofit whose mission is to promote media education and media skills, so we will have writing support available for cub reporters. All news from this effort will be professionally edited as a true part of the newspaper's Town & Village section.
We also need advertisers, who should contact The Commons for the special advertising rates. These ads, of course, will be seen by everyone who picks up the paper, not just the 1,726 of us who live in the county seat.
Anyone interested in helping get the Newfane news into print is invited to a meeting at Williamsville Hall on Monday, July 8, at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will start promptly at 5:35 and end at 6:30. Everyone is welcome to bring ideas. Ideally, some people will leave with writing assignments.
Meanwhile, we're ready to start, and anyone with news to report, a news tip, or a press release for a Newfane event should send it by email to n[email protected].