2-21-08

Walpole Hearing on New Town Meeting Format

By Chuck Bingaman, Contributing Writer

          Walpole Selectmen tonight hold a special hearing in Town Hall at 6:00 p.m. to consider restructuring the annual town meeting as proposed in an upcoming warrant item to be voted on March 11.

Prepare to defend the traditional town meeting where interested—and sometimes vociferous—citizens meet, debate and vote on the purchase of new dump trucks, on whether to raise taxes for a recycling center upgrade, or even whether to create a town energy committee or pass a resolution asking politicians to eschew “the Pledge!”

          Or, if you want to try a new approach designed to encourage more citizen participation in town affairs, learn about a new approach that is gaining adherents around the state.

          Placed on the 2008 warrant by petitioners, the so-called “SB2” plan would put all warrant items in future years on a paper ballot rather than subject to voice votes at a traditional New England town meeting as has happened in most New England towns for generations.

          Under “SB2”, the town meeting is divided into two parts.  In the first part, often called the “deliberative meeting”, all proposed warrant items, including the town budget and all special items, are explained by the selectmen and debated by voters that attend.  But it’s just an informational meeting, and nothing is voted on at the time. 

          After the deliberative session, all warrant items are put in final form and printed on written ballots.  Then, a month or so later, the second part of the new style town meeting takes place: a traditional election where voters elect their officers, approve or disapprove the proposed town budget, and vote on all warrant items during a full day of secret balloting. 

          Advocates of the new, or “SB2” approach, argue that voting by all day balloting, where voters can cast their votes in just a few minutes at their convenience, enables many more people to participate in town decisions than by forcing them to sit through lengthy town meetings with actual voting spread throughout the meeting.  They note that voters can more easily arrange child care for a quick voting trip to town hall, and they can even vote by absentee ballot if they are not available on the voting day.

          Proponents of SB2 also say that the deliberative session enables interested voters to learn about all sides of each warrant item and to suggest amendments while also allowing a period in which such educated voters can calmly consider their votes before casting them.

          While agreeing that those attending the traditional town meeting tend to represent a declining percentage of a town’s voters, advocates of the traditional town meeting doubt that many more people would attend the “voteless” deliberative session under SB2.  And, they argue that the supposed increase in actual participants in town decision making would actually amount to gaining less than fully informed voters as compared to the traditional format.

          Advocates for the new approach and the traditional town meeting approach will make their points and raise their questions in tonight’s hearing.  While no decisions will be made, the selectmen hope that it will result in an informed vote on March 11.  In light of the significant change in town affairs that the change might bring, the statute setting up SB2 requires a 60% vote to be approved.

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