After many charter revisions, Sanford still accomplishes its major business through a representative town meeting. On Tuesday, with better than 85 percent attendance, the meeting worked its way through a budget of almost $55 million in less than two hours with little dissent.
That strikes us as good evidence that the system is working. This is a time for tight budgets, and town meeting members must have been convinced that the Town Council, School Committee and Finance Committee had done their homework. The common goal was to avoid an increase in the tax rate, and the process appears to have succeeded.
One of the virtues of an open town meeting is that it allows for presentations, questions and answers. If controversy arises, there is no better way to get to a resolution than through discussion. A well-informed group, following its rules of order, can do a good job of weighing arguments and coming to a decision.
A town meeting is also a good time to review issues and goals. This year Town Council Chairman Joseph Hanslip and School Committee Chairman Marguerite Herlihy touched briefly on important issues: the local economy, the success of the dispatch center as a regional hub, improvements at the millyard and the uncertainty of state plans for a technical high school.
They had the attention of the town’s decisionmakers ”“ the elected town meeting representatives. The meeting was also carried live on cable television, so many people are now up-to-date on Sanford’s big issues.
The pace of life today makes town meetings inconvenient for many. On June 13, Wells voters will attend their last town meeting at the high school auditorium. In the future, budgets will be decided not by a show of voting cards, but by marking ballots in individual voting booths. Town meeting will be nothing more than a referendum.
It’s still democracy, but how well-informed can voters be, without the wisdom that comes from the exchange of opinions on the town meeting floor.
— Questions? Comments? Contact Kristen Schulze Muszynski or Nick Cowenhoven at 282-1535 or at kristenm@journaltribune.com or ncowenhoven@journaltribune.com.
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