BRATTLEBORO-I have lived and voted in Brattleboro for 45 years, and I am writing about the upcoming votes on Town Meeting. I will vote to keep the Representative Town Meeting. I think it is a suitable and adaptable way to do business in a town this size.
For many years prior to this, the names on my ballot for Town Meeting representative did not change much from year to year. Over the years I became acquainted with many of these people in the course of daily life in town; I think I understand their viewpoints for the most part and that they are representative of the district overall.
I appreciated their willingness to read the many pages of documents supplied by the town and that they were willing to give up a weekend day in spring to sit in a meeting that often lasted eight hours or more. Most years, there were not enough candidates to fill all the Town Meeting seats, and volunteers were required to fill in.
This past spring was exceptional for the number of people who wanted to participate, and I was surprised and pleased to have to do a fair amount of research to find out which candidates I wanted to vote for. It would be exciting if this number of people wanted to step forward every year. Perhaps we can institute a more reliable way of sharing information about candidates.
I think it is likely this situation resulted from our current very high level of concern for democratic government and the urgency of some of the troubles we face locally as well as nationally. I don't know that this level of interest will continue over time, especially if some of the pressure we feel civically eases.
There is an analogous situation we can look at. Our school district holds a meeting each year for a vote on a budget that has a larger impact on local taxes than the town budget does; 54% of my property tax bill is for education. This is an open meeting, like the one some people are calling for now for Town Meeting.
At the most recent school budget meeting, fewer than 1% of eligible voters attended, many of them school employees. They approved a $66 million budget. This is what happens most years.
I am afraid that an open Annual Town Meeting would similarly lose the interest of residents over time. It would become a place where certain people always turn up to say the same thing again and where others show up in large numbers only when they have a beef.
Many people will never show up at such a meeting - I am one - and we will be deprived altogether of representation.
That cannot be the intent of those pressing for change. I hope other ways can be found to encourage broad and thoughtful participation in this process.
For now, I will vote "no."
Rebecca Bartlett
Brattleboro
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