Since I moved to Vermont 38 years ago,
I've attended every town meeting, eight in Shelburne and the rest in
Charlotte, except for one during the year I spent in Germany. I love
Town Meeting for its character and for the close relationship with
local government it provides to citizens. I grew up in Pennsylvania
where such a relationship did not exist. Even in my small town of
Swoyersville people knew the names of their Town Councilmen, but
didn't have much interaction with them. I heard over and over again
that the reason people didn't bother to vote was because their vote
didn't count, which became a self-fulfilling prophecy. My brief
stints in Connecticut and New Jersey offered political experiences
that were very different from Vermont's as well.
The results of this year's
overwhelmingly positive vote on Article 9, creating a two step Town
Meeting process, is encouraging to me because I believe it will
enhance the Town Meeting process. Only three short years ago there
was a move to change the vote on the Town Budget to Australian
ballot, which would surely have meant the death knell for Town
Meeting as we know it. While well-intentioned to give more voters a
say in adopting the budget, there would have been no significant
business to attend to at the meeting itself, and attendance would
have dropped off just as it has for the School Meeting held on the
preceding evening. The concurrence of the legislature with our
Charter proposal is assured with the 1148 to 403 vote. Now we'll
have a chance to satisfy those who want to continue having a say on
the budget from the floor as well as those who can't attend Town
Meeting but still want to be able to register their approval or
disapproval of the budget. We'll have three years to evaluate the
results, and if we're not satisfied, we will automatically revert
back to the current format in four years as a result of the sunset
clause.
More than 200 Charlotters filled out
the Doyle Survey this year. Since I took a few days to visit my two
week-old grandson in Connecticut, I still haven't compiled the
results of the survey. I'll have them for a future article. However,
I did get a few comments in conversations in the hallway. At least
one person was frustrated with the quality of the questions. She
felt that several were virtually meaningless and had predictable
responses. While some of the questions may have been predictable,
others, such as the one regarding legalization of marijuana, should
provide meaningful insight into how much support the issue has in
town. Based on my observations throughout the day I think the
participation in the survey represents a good cross-section of the
community who came out to vote, not only of those who attended the
three-hour meeting.
Along with many other people in town, I
was disappointed that so many elective offices had no candidates. I
can understand that there is a lot of demand on everyone's time,
which makes the commitment to serve a challenge. So I offer my
praise and thanks to those who did step up in spite of that. They
are folks who provide essential and valuable service to all of us in
keeping our town running smoothly.
I also want to thank everyone who
signed my petition to run for re-election this year. I always
welcome your thoughts and can be reached by phone (802-233-5238) or
by email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).
