On Jan. 13, Duxbury citizens get to have their say

January 5, 2024  |  By Lisa Scagliotti 

At last year’s January meeting, Duxbury Town Clerk Maureen Harvey gestures while answering a question from an audience member. Town Moderator Dan Senning facilitates the discussion from the podium beside Duxbury Selectboard members seated on stage. File photo by Lisa Scagliotti

For the second year, Duxbury voters will gather next weekend for what they have decided to call Citizens Have Your Say Day. 

This pre-Town Meeting Day meeting is a chance for local residents and their elected officials to discuss town government business including the proposed budget, hear from their state legislators, and mingle with their neighbors while sampling slices of pie. 

Held in the Crossett Brook Middle School cafeteria, it will look much like a traditional Duxbury town meeting. But the early date – Saturday, Jan. 13 – and the fact that there is no voting taking place sets it apart from the official meetings that will convene around Vermont on March 5. 

Last year, the first “Citizens Have Your Say Day” convened to give local residents the opportunity to do just that – hear about the important business that needed their votes and then ask questions and offer opinions. 

The decision was made in November 2022 to hold a meeting in January for residents to still conduct an in-person event like the traditional Town Meetings they ran each March up until 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. The more also would allow voters to continue deciding all matters on paper ballots as was done during the pandemic when in-person meetings were called off. Participation in March voting in 2021 and 2022 dwarfed the turnout of the long standing hours long meetings for years before. 

Also during the pandemic, Town Clerk Maureen Harvey and Board of Civil Authority members embraced a new outdoor drive-through format for voting that local residents supported. The combination of paper ballots available all day at a drive-up polling location resulted in more voters taking part in local elections. The desire to continue that trend while still making time for in-person discussion between voters and town officials resulted in Citizens Have Your Say Day. 

Duxbury residents made the change official at a special in-person town meeting in November 2022. They voted to change their March elections to Australian (paper) ballot for all questions and the selectboard agreed to call the actual meeting in early January – important timing before the budget and ballot language are finalized for the Town Meeting Day voting. 

By comparison in Waterbury, this year’s Town Meeting will continue with the format used in 2023 and up until 2020: An in-person morning meeting on Town Meeting Day to discuss and decide all town questions on the warning with daylong Australian ballot voting for all town and school elections and school district questions.

Like Duxbury and many other towns across Vermont, Waterbury also saw increased voter participation in 2021 and 2022 when all business was decided by paper ballots voted between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Voters and town officials began a discussion at Town Meeting in 2023 about whether Waterbury should consider altering its format in the future. Town officials say they hope to continue that conversation at Town Meeting this year.

Format for Duxbury’s Jan. 13 ‘Say Day’

The upcoming Citizens Have Your Say Day gathering on Jan. 13 will follow the same format as last year: 

State Reps. Kari Dolan and Dara Torre address the audience at the 2023 Citizens Have Your Say Day. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti

The meeting opens at 8:30 a.m. with pie and coffee being served by members of the Duxbury Historical Society. Attendees are asked to bring a pie – sweet or savory, homemade or store-bought. The society members will provide coffee and the setup to serve everyone. A donation plate will be available for those who would like to leave a tip for the nonprofit community group. 

At 9 a.m., state Reps. Kari Dolan, D-Waitsfield, and Dara Torre, D-Moretown, who represent Duxbury in the Washington 2 House district, are scheduled to attend to offer remarks as the legislative session has just opened in Montpelier. They will take questions from the audience. 

Selectboard members will have a presentation on the proposed budget for the coming year. The budget draft is posted on the town website and printed copies are available ahead of time in the drop box outside the town clerk’s office. Copies will be available at the meeting as well. A discussion will follow with board members answering questions from audience members. 

“This is your opportunity to suggest changes to the budget that will be voted on in March,” town officials note in their announcement for the event. 

Many pies are a meeting highlight. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti

The list of offices that will be on the March ballot will be read to encourage people to file to run for election. Those who have already decided to run will have a chance to introduce themselves and ask their neighbors to sign their candidate petitions. 

More information about the open offices and instructions on how to file to get on the March ballot is available in the packet posted on the town website and printed out for pickup at the town office. 

Meeting attendees will also have a chance to peruse materials and visit with representatives from a number of community organizations that will have tables set up including the town Cemetery Commission and Energy Committee, the historical society, Waterbury Ambulance Service, the Duxbury Land Trust and the Waterbury Public Library.

Find the detailed information for the meeting at the top of the Duxbury town website.