BELLOWS FALLS — A citizen study committee hopes to increase participation in Town Meeting this year.
The working group, which has been meeting quietly for a couple of months, wants to increase participation in Town Meeting, pure and simple, and is not advocating for a specific issue. “We want as much democracy as possible,” said organizer Steve Crofter of Bellows Falls.
Crofter said the seven-member group has been meeting informally, and will be holding an informational session on Saturday, Feb. 24, at the Rockingham Free Public Library. “Introduction to Town Meeting and How to Participate,” will be held from 10:30 a.m. until noon. Information on how to vote will also be available, he said.
The goal is to show people what Town Meeting is like, and to give people a chance to use a microphone, as they would be asked to do during the actual meeting on March 4. Committee member Laurel Green said many women are uncomfortable speaking with a microphone. “The goal is just to get people over their fear,” she said.
Crofter said last March Rockingham voters spoke pretty definitively that they wanted to continue the in-person floor meeting, rather than switch all decision making to Australian balloting. It was a standing-room-only crowd last year, but people were crammed into the Lower Theater in the Town Hall. This year, he said, Town Meeting is moving back upstairs into the Opera House theater, with a new sound system.
Crofter and his wife Laurel are both part of the study group, along with Rockingham residents Stuart Brown, Meg Lucas, Wayne Blanchard, Barbara Ternes and Carolyn Anholt. He said the committee was not appointed by the Select Board and is truly a grassroots group.
Read the full article by Susan Smallheer at the Brattleboro Reformer