BRATTLEBORO-In one of the most highly controversial and anticipated votes in recent town history, voters went to the polls on March 3 and chose to discontinue Representational Town Meeting (RTM) after 65 years.
Unofficial results, which were announced at about 8:40 p.m., showed that the vote to end RTM was close; 1,216 to 1,157.
The vote to move to Australian ballot was 1,362 to 945, and the vote to move to a traditional Town Meeting, open to all registered voters, was 1,457 to 841.
Two citizens' petitions triggered the votes about shifting to Australian ballot or open Town Meeting, while the Selectboard added a third question asking whether to discontinue RTM entirely.
The decision represents the first step in a complex process that must ultimately go to the Vermont Legislature. State lawmakers will need to approve a change to the town charter, a process that town officials have said could take several years.
Brattleboro was the only town in the state to use Representative Town Meeting.
"I would like to thank the voters of Brattleboro for voting to change the governance of our town so that it can support the right of all voters to decide the financial matters before us each year," said Randall "Randy" Blodgett, co-author of one of the petition articles and a losing candidate for a one-year term on the Selectboard this year.
"I think that indicates there's a strong preference for more ways to participate for more people, which would be true in both the Australian ballot and open Town Meeting," said Andy Davis, who has spoken in defense of RTM because "I figured RTM deserved someone to be speaking of its strengths."
"There was clearly a campaign to end the 60 years we've had Representative Town Meeting," Davis said. "Those of us that have been involved in this publicly, I think we've all agreed we'll make the best of the new system. We'll go to open Town Meeting in April, and then we'll be waiting for the state Legislature to untangle this."
Davis is looking forward to "a very interesting Town Meeting this year" - specifically, the turnout.
"It's also interesting that RTM was defeated by only about 60 votes," he said. "The thing the other two options do have is open participation […]." I think the most interesting thing is what will be the turnout for open town meeting."
Potential for massive legislative gridlock
The first petition asked voters to discontinue RTM and, if that were approved, then to conduct certain town business - electing town officers, approving general fund budget, approving major borrowing, and all "public questions" - by Australian ballot.
A second petition requested that, if RTM were discontinued, the town instead conduct its business through open Town Meeting.
Now that both measures - using the Australian ballot to vote on just about everything and conducting votes on just about everything at open Town Meeting - have passed, it's a bit confusing, and passage of both alternatives could cause massive legislative gridlock.
Charter Review Commission Chair Kate O'Connor said Tuesday night the group will try to arrive at a compromise that allows both.
"Well, RTM is no more, so the town will default to an open Town Meeting and, since the other two articles also passed, we'll send two diametrically opposite charter amendments to the Legislature," O'Connor said.
She said that when the two petitions started circulating, "the Charter Review Commission said, 'We'll wait and see what happens in March'" and craft the charter based on the results of the referendum.
"The town voted for both, and we'll meet in May and try to figure out some kind of compromise system that has Australian ballot and open Town Meeting," O'Connor added. "If we don't do it, the Legislature may say, 'We'll do it for you.'"
"I don't think anybody in Brattleboro wants Montpelier picking our government," she said.
Moderator David Gartenstein, who has won another term running unopposed, said he is "gratified that voters have endorsed continuation of Town Meeting, and I look forward to continue to support and encourage the deliberative process at open Town Meeting."
"And I thank everybody who made themselves available to run for town office this election," he added.
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.