October 19th was another fall Monday in our merry little New England exurb. With one exception. A few hundred of us spent the night in the high school gym, but not to watch the girls volleyball team.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, facing an increasing deficit of its own, had cut state aid since we approved the town budget in the spring. Now we needed to take a few dollars out of the budget. Around here we do these things the old fashioned way: we have a Town Meeting. We discuss the issue. We question the select(wo)men, the town administrator, the warrant (ie, finance) committee. We vote, openly. Usually a voice vote suffices. Sometimes we have to stand and be counted.
Teabaggers have given "town meetings" a bad name. In New England, at least my little town, we know how to do town meeting. Town meetings, to us, epitomize democracy: people coming together in a public place to discuss and vote on the issues of the day, and to govern themselves.
Town Meeting is the bedrock of local government in New England, a tradition and way of life stretching back over 350 years, and was an important driver in the lead up to the Revolution. In Massachusetts our 298 towns we have two kinds of governments. Small to medium towns ahve open town meetings; which are exactly what that: open to any and all registered voters. My town of 14,000 (with roughly 6500 voters) has open town meeting. Bigger towns have representative town meeting, several town meeting members are elected from each precinct. (The 53 cities have city governments with some kind of city council and mayor/city manager; we'll ignore them here.) Other states differ.
So what goes on at Town Meeting?
The basics (based almost solely on my 12 years in my little town, others should chime in):
- The meeting is run by an elected Town Moderator
- Each item for a vote is called an "article", which together make up the "warrant".
- Articles get on the warrant by citizen petition, selectmen vote, town departments/boards, state and/or town law. We usually have 30-35 articles on an annual town meeting warrant. The warrant, with it's financial and budget data, is mailed to everyone in town.
- The town warrant/finance committee prepares the budget, and in my town holds hearings on all other articles as well.
- Annual town meeting's are the town's legislative branch of government, with special town meetings called on occasion to deal with issues as they crop up.
- In Massachusetts the property tax, and hence town revenue, is capped. If the budget exceeds that limit, or a special project (like a new school) requires floating a bond, a special town election is also held to approve the town meeting vote.
Other towns, other states, do it differently.
What do we vote on?
- The town operating budget.
- Capital budget
- Wage and salary plan for town employees
- Town officials' pay
- Town bylaws
- Zoning bylaws
- Town government: make this board do that, stop that board from doing this
- Housekeeping: moving money from one account to another, creating/abolishing accounts, etc.
9 . Sidewalks, pooper scoopers, etc.
The selectmen, warrant committee, and other town officials are in attendance. Got a question about snow plowing? The DPW guy's sitting right there and can answer the question. Library? Schools? Park and Rec? Ditto.
Why I like town meeting
I believe that New England has, to a large degree, avoided the virulent anti-government hysteria found in other regions because of our town meeting tradition. We feel we have more control over our local government than other people do. Take the town budget. We go through it department by department, account by account. Nobody in my town can say they don't know where the money goes, or that they didn't have an opportunity to ask questions. If you think we spend too much/little on something, make a motion, make your speech, and we'll vote on it.
We the people, acting together in town meeting, run the local government. I believe people are better informed and more engaged about town issues and town government.
Openness and transparency. It's all done right there in front of everyone. With a good moderator, every viewpoint - if not every person - gets heard.
Grassroots, grassroots, grassroots.
It isn't always pretty, or friendly for that matter. I can usually think of other things I'd rather do than spend 4 hours talking and voting on town government, especially that pooper scooper law. But that's 4 hours out of my year to help govern my town, and ultimately myself. I consider it a worthwhile investment of my time.
I am writing this diary to spark a discussion about town meeting in general, and whether it is something the rest of the country could benefit from. So fire away!
Enjoy the weekend.