It was the start of our annual exercise in small town democracy.
Tuesday night saw the deliberative session of our little town’s School District Meeting. The members of the School Board and the School Moderator presented the warrant articles, with all but one of the warrant articles dealing with our town’s school budget. Considering there were only six warrant articles presented, the deliberative session didn’t last long. Only one person asked questions about the monies being spent, and then for clarifications. (This was her first time attending the School District Meeting as best I could determine. She did the right thing, asking questions about things she didn’t quite understand.)
In about half an hour it was all done and the session adjourned.
Then on Thursday night our town held its deliberative session of our Town Meeting. The members of the Board of Selectmen, the Town Administrator, and the Town Moderator presented all 26 warrant articles. Most dealt with the town budget, funding of outside agencies, and fiscal items outside the annual budget like capital reserve funds for a number purposes, including the Department of Public Works for highway equipment purchases, the Fire Department for things like fire engines and tankers and related equipment, building repairs for town buildings, maintenance and repair for our town’s public docks on the lake, and so forth. Some of the non-monetary warrant articles dealt with changing a town ordinance and two about selecting an official town flag. (The flag articles garnered the most discussion and even a couple of amendments.)
With the exception of these last three warrant articles, only one person asked any questions about some of the budgetary items, in this case the same women who asked questions during the School District Meeting. A few other attendees spoke, either answering her questions or asking for a clarification of her question(s) or the answers given. Again, she did the right thing by asking questions about articles she didn’t quite understand. I believe her questions helped some of the attendees attain a better understanding of the articles in question.
After about an hour and 20 minutes our Town Meeting adjourned.
Neither of these meetings decided anything but were held to present the school and town warrant articles for discussion, and if needed, amendments.
The real decisions will be made on the second Tuesday of March when the townsfolk will vote to elect town officials and school board members and for or against the school and town warrant articles. The townsfolk will decide how much the town will spend this year and on any changes in town ordinances.
Some folks may not be pleased with the outcome of the second sessions – voting day – but that’s not unexpected. But as I have asked anyone who has gone so far as to complain about what the town or school district is spending or doing, “Did you vote at Town/School District Meeting”? If the answer is ‘No’, I tell them that if they couldn’t be bothered to vote then they forfeited any right to complain.
They usually don’t like hearing that.
