‘Town Meeting without the meeting’

January 16, 2021  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Thatcher Brook Primary School’s gymnasium bustles with activity as Waterbury voters check in to cast ballots during the morning meeting on Town Meeting Day. The school will be the site for in-person voting on March 2 but not for a floor meeting to conduct business. File photo by Gordon Miller.

Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, virtually every aspect of daily life has adapted to minimize spreading the virus and Town Meeting Day soon will be added to that list. 

State and local officials across Vermont are already making plans to alter how the annual exercise in local democracy will adjust to avoid holding risky in-person indoor gatherings that could result in spreading sickness that presently is seeing a post-holiday surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. 

Last fall, the Legislature passed a measure to allow local select boards and city councils to decide to shift all of the decision-making to paper ballots (a.k.a. “Australian ballot” in Town Meeting Day parlance). The step would eliminate in-person meetings in school gymnasiums and town halls across the state, a tradition many communities still employ. Many larger communities no longer conduct meetings and already simply hold a local election with everything on the ballot. 

For communities like Waterbury and Duxbury that use both meetings and paper ballots, Town Meeting Day on March 2 will be a different experience this year. Select boards in both communities have already decided to conduct all business by ballot. Elections will be run similarly to the 2020 elections that adapted for COVID-19 public health precautions. 

The shift to eliminate the floor meeting is just for 2021. The regular procedures would return for 2022 unless the Legislature altered rules for next year as well.

The state Legislature this week passed a bill that would further allow for adjustments to typical Town Meeting Day procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The measure would allow municipalities to postpone town meetings to allow for the possibility of in-person gatherings later in the year, potentially outdoors.

Should town meeting be delayed, the bill allows for public officials whose terms end on March 2 to continue serving in their positions until the election can be held. It also allows for municipalities to mail Australian ballots to all registered voters to encourage absentee voting. 

The bill was passed by both House and Senate this week and was sent to Gov. Phil Scott on Friday. Local officials have not met to discuss the latest allowances the Legislature has approved to consider whether to further adjust town meeting plans for Waterbury and Duxbury. Selectboards in both communities still have meetings planned to finalize their town meeting plans before the end of January.   

In addition to Town Meeting Day logistics, selectboards and school boards are working on drafting and finalizing budgets that will be put on the ballot. Local town budgets are usually proposed to voters and then discussed and voted on at the in-person floor meetings in both Waterbury and Duxbury. Having them on the ballot will mean that voters will not get to debate and make any changes before voting. 

Informational meetings will be held online prior to March 2, Town Meeting Day. 

School budgets are always voted on by ballot in the Harwood Union Unified School District along with any separate spending-related articles. At its meeting Wednesday, Jan. 13, the Harwood Union School Board decided it will plan to put its budget articles on the March 2 Australian ballots in member towns. The school board also will finalize details for its annual meeting by the end of January when town and school budgets must be finalized to meet deadlines for printing town reports and election ballots.

In Waterbury, the select board is meeting every Monday this month via Zoom to review sections of the draft budget with the goal of finalizing the proposed budget for the ballot by Jan. 25. In Duxbury the Budget Committee is working on its proposed spending plan to have ready before the end of the month as well.  

Waterbury elections gaining interest 

January 25 is also the deadline for candidates to file to run for local offices that will be on the ballot. 

In Waterbury, three seats on the select board will be on the ballot: two one-year terms and one three-year seat.

Incumbent Nat Fish said he will not seek re-election this year. He holds a one-year term that he was first elected to in 2018. Katie Martin holds the other one-year seat to which she was first elected last year. She has filed with the town clerk’s office to seek re-election. Board Chair Mark Frier is finishing a three-year term but has not yet announced his plans. 

Two new candidates for the select board have recently announced they will seek election: Noah Fishman, co-owner of Zenbarn, and Dani Kehlmann, director of the Waterbury Area Food Shelf, both say they will run for the one-year terms. 

Waterbury Town Clerk Carla Lawrence reminds voters that ballots will be available in early February. “It is the hope that registered voters will request that an absentee ballot be mailed to you. You may then mail it back or drop it in the ballot drop box located at the Municipal Center,” she said in a recent announcement. 

In-person voting will take place on March 2 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Thatcher Brook Primary School, Lawrence said.

Ballots will contain the usual articles considered at the floor meeting as well as elections to fill the following offices: Town Meeting moderator, one year; Board of Listers seat, three years; a five-year term on the Cemetery Commission and a five-year  Library Commission term. 

Lawrence this week said candidates so far were Maroni Minter and John Woodruff for Library and Cemetery Commission spots respectively. She added that she will seek re-election to her positions as town clerk and treasurer. So far no one has filed to run for the lister position, she said.

Marijuana business on the ballot?

At its meeting Jan. 4, the Waterbury Select Board discussed whether it might put on the Town Meeting Day ballot a question regarding whether the town should “opt in” to allow commercial recreational marijuana operations in the near future.  

A new state law passed in 2020 will allow for the establishment of a legalized market for recreational marijuana. Regulations still need to be hammered out and it will involve licensing cultivators, processors and retailers. Medical marijuana dispensaries already operating in the state will be allowed to sell to the general public first. 

The legislation was crafted with a requirement that towns hold a public vote on whether to permit commercial marijuana operations. 

Several members of the public attending the Jan. 4 meeting spoke in favor of putting the question to Waterbury voters and for approving such a measure. The Select Board did not vote on whether to add it to the March 2 ballot yet although most members seemed to favor putting the question to the voters. Board member Chris Viens spoke out against the idea. 

At its meeting Monday, Jan. 18, the board will discuss putting the question to the voters on the Town Meeting Day ballot. 

School board seats attracting candidates  

The Harwood Unified Union School District Board of Directors has seven seats to be decided on Town Meeting Day. Three of them are Waterbury positions: two three-year seats and another seat with one year remaining in an unexpired term. Incumbent Alexandra Thomsen is not planning to seek re-election. 

Board Chair Caitlin Hollister this week told Waterbury Roundabout that she plans to run for the one-year seat rather than a three-year term. 

According to Lawrence, two candidates have filed to run for the two three-year seats: Incumbent Michael Frank, who was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2020, and newcomer Marlena Tucker-Fishman. 

Duxbury residents will have one school board seat to fill as Alec Adams is stepping down after just one year of a three-year term. The election will fill that spot for the remaining two years. 

Other school board seats on the March ballot will be positions representing Moretown, Fayston and Warren. Incumbent Theresa Membrino of Fayston this week told Waterbury Roundabout she plans to seek re-election; Rosemarie White of Waitsfield has said she does not plan to run; Kristen Rodgers of Moretown has not announced a decision.   

Duxbury Town Meeting Day plans 

Duxbury Town Clerk Maureen Harvey referred to this year as “Town Meeting minus the meeting.” She said Duxbury will hold an evening informational meeting, likely online, on Feb. 26 with details to be announced soon. 

Absentee ballots will be available in February and drive-though voting on March 2 will be done at the Duxbury Town Office, Harvey said.

Town offices that will be on the Duxbury ballot include three spots on the Selectboard: two one-year terms now held by Chair Kevin Garcia and Dawn Poitras, and a three-year term now held by Jerry McMahan. 

Other offices to be decided there are: Town Meeting Moderator, one year; a three-year term on the Board of Listers; a three-year auditor position; one five-year term on the Budget Committee and also one year remaining on another committee seat; a three-year Cemetery Commission seat; one-year terms for both Constable and Second Constable; Delinquent Tax Collector for one year; and a one-year term for Agent to Prosecute &     Defend Suits/Grand Juror.

Another adjustment the Legislature approved last fall due to COVID-19 was to waive the requirement for candidates to obtain signatures on petitions in order to get on the Town Meeting Day ballot. Candidates still must file consent forms with their town clerks that can be completed by the candidate alone. Those forms are available online and from town clerks.