Ah, the venerable Town Meeting — an event so important it deserves to be capitalized. This New England tradition dates back to the early 1600s with the Puritans although a couple of states in the Midwest use them.
Even in this digital age, they are still relevant. Registered voters will gather in their meeting halls to take care of business for their towns.
Those communities with less than 6,000 have so-called open meetings, which means any registered voter can participate. Communities with more than that number have representational Town Meetings, in which members are elected, or an open meeting. Cities don’t have Town Meeting.
And to keep things on the up and up, Town Meetings have rules. A warrant of articles must be posted ahead of time — seven days for an annual meeting, 14 for a special meeting which are typically called as the need arises — so voters know ahead of time what business will be conducted. Nothing can be snuck in afterward.
Towns determine what constitutes a quorum, that is, the minimum number of voters required so a meeting can be held. An elected moderator is in charge of making sure the articles move forward and for keeping things civil.
And voters can express their views with voiced “yea” or “nay,” a show of hands, by standing, or a paper ballot when a contentious issue is on the table.
At annual meetings, voters decide how to divvy up money to run the town and to pay its school assessments. Then there are bylaws and important decisions such as the one at Heath’s May 11 meeting when residents will be asked to authorize the sale of its closed school to a cannabis business. That will require a two-thirds majority.
At its Annual Town Meeting, Shelburne will consider changing its zoning laws to encourage affordable housing. Across the Deerfield River, Buckland will decide whether to adopt a bylaw governing cannabis cultivation and another to ban single-use plastic.
In Ashfield, residents will vote whether to regulate door-to-door canvassing or solicitation “to protect its citizens from disruption of the peaceful enjoyment of their residences and from the perpetration of fraud and other crimes.”
Typical items on a warrant include whether to purchase highway or fire equipment, invest in the water and sewer systems, and other big ticket items. Some will be dependent on the passage of a Proposition 2½ debt or capital exclusion at an election.
This year, many towns will vote whether the state flag and seal should be changed because of its symbols that many deem racist against Native Americans.
Oftentimes the discussion can be spirited. Other times the articles just breeze through.
Town Meeting is the ultimate in participatory government. For the majority of the United States, those decisions are left to politicians instead of the people. That’s too bad.
But Town Meeting only works when the people show up.
To prepare, the Recorder runs advances of each Town Meeting to prepare voters. Town websites have their warrants posted. Then there are the annual reports.
The Annual Town Meeting is an opportunity to say how your small town will be run for the next year. We say, “Don’t miss it.”