STATEWIDE - When the calendar rolls around to March, it’s town meeting season in Maine. It may be one event per town, but in the press it becomes a lot of meetings in a lot of towns.
     The true New England town meeting is often described as the “purest form of democracy.” It’s the only government format and forum where townspeople actually make the decisions on how the town will operate for the next year. The Maine Municipal Association explained the town meeting and selectmen form of government this way:
     “This is the most common in Maine; currently 209 municipalities in Maine have this form of government. The town meeting, serving as the legislative arm of the government, usually meets one day a year, usually in March or April. At that time the meeting passes any needed laws (ordinances) for the orderly governing of the town, approves a budget, and levies the taxes. It also elects various town officers including the board of selectmen, which serve in a part-time capacity as the executive arm of the government, administering, enforcing, and carrying out the decisions made by the town meeting. State laws grant the board some legislative powers as well when it comes to regulating vehicles, public ways, and public property. Many towns who find the part-time nature of the board of selectmen is not enough and a full-time manager is too much, hire an administrative assistant to the selectmen. Currently 52 towns have done so. The difference between the assistant and the manager is not so much the duties they perform but in the source and degree of authority they have.”
     What many people fail to understand about their town government is the level of power they actually have, and when. A town meeting, whether annual or special, is the only time townspeople can vote on issues before the town. In a town council form of government, you have relinquished your right to vote to the councilors who are your representatives. Regardless of the form of government, meetings of the selectmen or council are open to the public, unless an executive session is called at which time you may be asked to leave or the council or selectmen may step into another room. Freedom of Access laws dictate when a board can conduct an executive or “closed door” session.
     The annual town meeting is the time when the selectmen or any administrator they may have hired prepares a budget and puts it in the form of the town warrant with individual articles to appropriate or raise money to operate the town. Many towns submit their budget to a review committee to make recommendations on individual articles and expenditures. The warrant at town meeting will carry Budget Committee recommendations. Every town seems to have its own style for preparing a warrant ranging from 35 to 70-plus articles or more. Some towns officially open their town meetings on the day before the annual town meeting in order to conduct balloting, an election, for town officers. Once the voting is complete, the town meeting is adjourned and reconvened at another time, often the next day. Many towns still elect their officers “from the floor” of the town meeting.
     A town meeting is conducted by a moderator elected or appointed at the beginning of the meeting. All business is conducted through the moderator using parliamentary procedure.
     Decades ago many town meetings took all day to complete, as elections were held, as articles were debated. Changes in election format and more apathy about local government reduced the number of people who attend and the amount of time it takes to complete a typical warrant. In many towns, town meeting decisions are made with the number of people who attend whether 25, 50 or 75 and often as few as a dozen for special town meetings. A controversy in town can easily swell attendance as many selectmen have learned over the years.
     To say “your vote counts” could be an understatement at many town meetings held this year. It could well be a deciding factor on key issues.
     The Maine Municipal Association has a "Citizen's Guide to Town meeting" on its website at: http://www.memun.org/public/local_govt/town_meeting.htm

Comments

Add New Search

Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.