Every Town Meeting Day, the Vermont media run a few heart-warming stories that reinforce the Rockwellian ideal of what it means to participate in local, direct democracy — such as this chestnut from WCAX about “Newark’s Tasty Town Meeting Day Tradition.”
(Spoiler alert: it involves “casseroles and salads galore.”)
And then there’s Steven Pappas’ town meeting takedown. In a piece headlined “Has Town Meeting Run Its Course?” (behind the paywall), the editor of the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus calls for ending the cherished tradition and replacing it with voting booths.
The piece begins:
I’m going to make a motion. I know it will eventually get a second, and plenty of discussion.
In the end, I expect it will fail.
My motion is this: “I move that all town and school budgets, as well as election of local officers, across Vermont be decided by Australian ballot, hereby ending the ‘traditional town meeting’ as we know it.”
For real. Once and for all. It’s a relic, and its worn parts are really starting to show.
Damn. At first, I thought Pappas was joking — that this was some ironic set-up or journalistic bait-and-switch that, in the end, would call for fixing town meeting’s broken parts but not scrapping the whole enterprise.
I mean, really. The editor of state capital’s daily newspaper crapping on, of all things, town meeting? That’s got to be satire, right?
Nope. As the piece goes along, it becomes crystal clear the dude’s dead serious.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
” In fact, they often undermine the hard work of town and school officials who have a much better understanding of the facts.”
Coming as it does from a newspaper editor, this comment is pure ass-kissing. Shameless.
Anyone looking at policy prescriptions to change or fix town meetings should read “Real Democracy” by Frank Bryan, and then set up an appointment at UVM to speak with him about it. (The Rockwell illustration above is, coincidentally, the cover of the book). He’s done a great deal of research into them, more than anyone else in the world on this type of democracy. His book makes a very persuasive case for the participatory, democratic value of town meetings with substantive decision-making power at stake.
What the Times-Argus editor seems to be decrying is the creeping devolution of power away from town meeting and to secret ballots or centralized government agencies. Perhaps the solution is to give town meetings more teeth, more authority, and not less.
Also, one other note: “Image via WikiMedia Commons” is incorrect. First, the image is not hosted on Wikimedia Commons. It is hosted on the English Wikipedia, with a fair use rationale. Second, even if it were, crediting Commons (as opposed to the author) is not appropriate.
Let’s not forget that in many towns, school budgets are not discussed at Town Meeting at all. As a school director (sitting school board member) I would beg to remind Mr. Pappas that if the school budget is hijacked by people who do not have children in a school, and therefore believe they have no vested interest in the school at all, it can happen with meetings that are held but unattended, without media coverage (of which his paper may well be warned in advance) by those school boards prior to Town Meeting Day. I should know. Firsthand. Fortunately our budget passed, narrowly, without a reporter from the Times Argus attending a single meeting to extrapolate and disseminate facts for the public’s consumption prior to their casting Australian Ballots on Town Meeting Day.
I can see both sides of the argument, and I know this because the editorial does not appear to be behind a paywall.
Pappas is right. Town metings are a gabfest, and not conducive to rational decisionmaking. The votes should be by Australian ballot so that, for better or worse, at least all citizens can participate. The best thing you can say about town meetings is that they allow citizens to blow off steam. Then they can go home for another year and allow the informed people to make policy. People voting at town meeting on stuff like tar sands and nuclear freezes and Citizens United is stupid and a waste of time.
If the State would simply declare Town Meeting Day an official state holiday, that would go a long way to making it easier for people like me to attend. Massachusetts has a day off called “Patriot’s Day” that serves no real purpose at all.
The only compelling argument he makes is that it may increase turnout beyond the 25% that he claims they are currently seeing. Sadly, here in South Burlington where we use Australian Ballots the turnout was an astounding 28% on Tuesday.
The town meeting ideal exists because it represents what’s best in our communities and the democratic process. I don’t think town meetings are working as they did in the old days, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fixed. Instead, let’s fix them.
Effective outreach is probably the missing link in today’s meeting. Expecting the “community” to know is an idea from the dinosaur days. Like any tradition, those involved know when and where it’s held, how it works and the like, but the rest of us are clueless. Make it easier for everyone.
First, declare town meeting day a statewide holiday. If it’s important, make it so. Close the schools (or keep them open as daycare) and have enough people off of work for quorum. This will allow opportunity to participate.
Second, identify groups and reach out to them. For example, I’d want every parent of our school there to voice their opinion and vote.
Third, reach out to groups early. The school board spends weeks coming up with the budget. If they let parents with kindergarteners at home know when that program and its staffing was being discussed in the early stages, there would be investment. Then, again, get them to town meeting for the vote.
Fourth, use social media to let people know when certain items are coming up for discussion. Not only do you want to keep parents or citizens in the loop as far as the budget process goes on the way to town meeting, but everyone has a pet concern in town. I don’t care about honoring this or that or voting on the speaker, but I do want to hear about the new police station. If I get a text at 3:00 telling me the discussion will start at 4:00, I’m there. Then, I’ll stay for the school budget (or not).
Fifth, serve good coffee. If it’s that important, identify the coffee crowd and have them bring in their French presses and grinders. Reach out for new groups (like those coffee people) and bring a new edge to the meetings.
jf
I disagree. I strongly suggest you read “Real Democracy” for a far more accurate understanding of town meetings and their role in Vermont’s democracy.