It shouldn't take a court order to get the Brattleboro Selectboard to follow the law and allow citizen referendums on the ballot.
However, this year, the Windham Superior Court has twice had to remind the board that the town charter clearly states that when 5 percent of the voters of Brattleboro sign a petition to put an article on the town meeting warning, the Selectboard does not have the discretion to refuse it.
And, in both instances, it was the same three Selectboard members - Dick DeGray, Jesse Corum and Martha O'Connor - who decided they didn't need to follow the charter.
In January, the Selectboard rejected a nonbinding referendum question submitted by resident Kurt Daims that sought voter opinion on whether “to urge the state legislature to initiate a feasibility study on taking [the Vermont Yankee] plant by eminent domain” on the ballot in March. Daims sued and won, and now the measure will be voted on the town ballot in the Nov. 2 statewide election.
In March, after Town Meeting representatives approved switching the town's trash disposal system to pay-as-you-throw, town residents Moss Kahler and Leo Barile circulated a petition around town called for a public vote on whether the town should change the way it pays for garbage disposal. They gathered nearly 550 signatures, twice as many as needed, in a matter of days.
Again, DeGray, Corum and O'Connor voted in the majority to reject the petition. Kahler and Barille took the town to court, and they too won and eventually got a special election that led to the rejection of pay-as-you-throw.
“The charter is clear and the language in our petition is clear,” Kahler said at the time. “They are in agreement with each other. The sole purpose of the Town Charter's section on referendums is to give the voters a vehicle by which they can reverse a Town Meeting decision.”
And in Daims' case, the Town Charter is equally clear. It states that “the voters of the town shall have the power to petition for inclusion in the warning of an article to reflect public sentiment and to be advisory only.”
This wasn't the first time the Brattleboro Selectboard rebuffed Daims. In January 2009, the Selectboard voted 4-1 to keep off the town meeting warrant a petition article calling for the indictment and trial of former President George W. Bush for war crimes and for violating the U.S. Constitution.
Then-Selectboard member Rich Garant, the only one who voted in favor, said he felt that if enough town residents sign a resolution, it is the board's duty to allow town meeting representatives to vote on it.
“Does this board feel it wants to be a gatekeeper for public sentiment?” he asked.
“We are the gatekeeper, whether we want to be or not,” O'Connor replied.
Taken together, these incidents show a disdain for democracy by the Selectboard and a disdain for the right of the people to bring matters before Town Meeting.
Five people should not be able trump the will of hundreds of people. The town charter is clear on that.
And, if there are a sufficient number of voters who want to change the procedure for getting resolutions on the warrant, then change the town charter.