BRATTLEBORO-A recent post to a Brattleboro forum asked, “Do I dare vote ‘yes’ on Town Meeting and ‘yes’ on Australian ballot?” The thought behind this was to achieve a “synthesis proposal so that we get both/and rather than either/or.”
The short answer is that voting this way would not get what the writer wants.
There is no hybrid option on the ballot. A “yes” vote for both Australian ballot and open Town Meeting does not create a blended system; it simply indicates support for either structure, with one ultimately prevailing. You cannot combine them.
If you value both meaningful public deliberation and broad voter participation, the Australian ballot is the only option on the March 3 ballot that can permit a true hybrid meeting.
Here’s how it could work:
• The Selectboard prepares a budget and warns a meeting 45 to 60 days before Town Meeting Day.
• This meeting would be open to all voters and moderated by the elected town moderator. The meeting would follow a modified Robert’s Rules of Order.
• At this meeting the Selectboard would present and explain the budget.
• Next, the voters would have the opportunity to ask questions.
• After all of the questions have been asked and answered, any voter present could propose revisions to the budget by means of a motion. After the motion is seconded, there would be discussion, etc. as is currently practiced at Representative Town Meeting (RTM).
• Approved motions in this informational meeting will not be binding, but then, neither are any motions regarding the budget binding now at RTM. These approved motions would be much more informative than the simple dollar amount change RTM offers.
• The Selectboard would then have until the warning deadline (within 30 days before the Town Meeting, per state law) to revise the budget based on the advice of the voters who attended the meeting.
• All town voters would have the opportunity to vote on the revised budget.
This is just one scenario for a hybrid meeting. There are probably others. However, any hybrid form is possible in the short term only if both Article 2 (discontinuing RTM) and Article 3 (adopt Australian ballot) pass and Article 4 (adopt open Town Meeting) fails. This is a “yes, yes, no” vote.
Please, let’s give everybody a chance to vote.
Tom Franks
Brattleboro
This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.
This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion of the writer. In the newspaper and on this website, we strive to ensure that opinions are based on fair expression of established fact. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, The Commons is reviewing and developing more precise policies about editing of opinions and our role and our responsibility and standards in fact-checking our own work and the contributions to the newspaper. In the meantime, we heartily encourage civil and productive responses at voices@commonsnews.org.