Town Meeting 2006
Today was Town Meeting day. And as much as we had a record turn out on Election Day (Tuesday) this year's Town Meeting seemed very sparsely attended. Oh, well, you can't force people to get involved…
Probably the reason that many people did not attend is because there really weren't a lot of "hot button" issues this year. I guess the hottest of the buttons was the warrant article about whether we should give the Fire Department $25,000 to refurbish their 27 year old rescue truck. The argument seemed to center around why not just get a new truck but then that would have cost like $130,000. So then someone said why not write a grant application to pay for a new truck. The answer being approval of the grant is not guaranteed and the current truck is unsafe and not up to spec. Anyway, we debated for about like 45 minutes and then voted to let the FD have the $25,000.
And this is how today was for about 4 hours and 9 warrant articles.
I should probably explain a little about how a Town Meeting works for all of you not living in New England. You go in, they look you up on the big list of registered voters (no need to actually show any identification), and then you sit down and wait for the Town Moderator to call Town Meeting to order. Then some of us pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. Then the local reverend says a prayer just like before high school graduation. Then finally we get to the voting.
So first someone has to make a motion to move the warrant article and someone has to second it. Then someone gets up to act as an advocate for the warrant article. For about 15 minutes the advocate tells us why we should pass the article. Then other people get up and either ask questions about it or talk about why they think it is a good or bad idea. Then someone will make a motion to call the article, which someone seconds. Then we all vote, usually by just saying "yea" or "nay", if we want to end debate and actually vote. And then if we all say "yea" we actually move on to voting on the article. Which again happens by everyone saying either "yea" or "nay". Then we do it over and over again until all the articles have been voted on. How exciting (and confusing the first time you experience a Town Meeting). Oh, sometimes though, we get to do a "secret ballot" instead of doing a voice vote. In that case we all get to put a little piece of paper that says either yes or no into a wooden box with a slit on the side.
And that's pretty much how town meeting works. Except also sometimes people get out of hand and insult other people, which the Town Moderator is supposed to control. Actually the Town Moderator is pretty good at presiding over these things. This year I don't think there was any name-calling. And the Dumbest Man in Tiny Town, who always gets up and talks, didn't show this year. Oh, but someone else must have been standing in for him because some man stood up and said that land that is currently open space and protected ought to be sold for a housing development. Please, old man.
Tonight we are going to a Victory Party for the candidate (who is not my mechanic) who won the election for Selectman on Tuesday.
Probably the reason that many people did not attend is because there really weren't a lot of "hot button" issues this year. I guess the hottest of the buttons was the warrant article about whether we should give the Fire Department $25,000 to refurbish their 27 year old rescue truck. The argument seemed to center around why not just get a new truck but then that would have cost like $130,000. So then someone said why not write a grant application to pay for a new truck. The answer being approval of the grant is not guaranteed and the current truck is unsafe and not up to spec. Anyway, we debated for about like 45 minutes and then voted to let the FD have the $25,000.
And this is how today was for about 4 hours and 9 warrant articles.
I should probably explain a little about how a Town Meeting works for all of you not living in New England. You go in, they look you up on the big list of registered voters (no need to actually show any identification), and then you sit down and wait for the Town Moderator to call Town Meeting to order. Then some of us pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. Then the local reverend says a prayer just like before high school graduation. Then finally we get to the voting.
So first someone has to make a motion to move the warrant article and someone has to second it. Then someone gets up to act as an advocate for the warrant article. For about 15 minutes the advocate tells us why we should pass the article. Then other people get up and either ask questions about it or talk about why they think it is a good or bad idea. Then someone will make a motion to call the article, which someone seconds. Then we all vote, usually by just saying "yea" or "nay", if we want to end debate and actually vote. And then if we all say "yea" we actually move on to voting on the article. Which again happens by everyone saying either "yea" or "nay". Then we do it over and over again until all the articles have been voted on. How exciting (and confusing the first time you experience a Town Meeting). Oh, sometimes though, we get to do a "secret ballot" instead of doing a voice vote. In that case we all get to put a little piece of paper that says either yes or no into a wooden box with a slit on the side.
And that's pretty much how town meeting works. Except also sometimes people get out of hand and insult other people, which the Town Moderator is supposed to control. Actually the Town Moderator is pretty good at presiding over these things. This year I don't think there was any name-calling. And the Dumbest Man in Tiny Town, who always gets up and talks, didn't show this year. Oh, but someone else must have been standing in for him because some man stood up and said that land that is currently open space and protected ought to be sold for a housing development. Please, old man.
Tonight we are going to a Victory Party for the candidate (who is not my mechanic) who won the election for Selectman on Tuesday.
posted by NH Neophyte at 3:12 PM
2 Comments:
Yea is my vote, baby. (Kitty here, formerly of the New England states)
Democracy in action. About how many people actually show up to these town meetings?
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