Quote:
Originally Posted by camp guy
I live in Wolfeboro, and Wolfeboro is an SB-2 town. I lived elswhere for 25plus years in a town meeting vote town, and I lived in Wolfeboro when it was a town meeting vote town, and there are pluses and minuses to the SB-2 form of voting. The opportunity for more people to vote, the day time voting, the absentee voting - all of these are pluses, but the biggest minus is the loss of discussion about an article, and the ability to do someting based on that discussion. I know, I know, there is a deliberative session several days before the vote, and each article can be discussed then, and some changes can be made, but nothing beats a well-moderated discussion right at the time of the vote. You know, in politics it isn't always what is WRITTEN in the Article, sometimes it is WHO is behind the Article. In the town I lived in away from Wolfeboro, the town meeting moderator would require a sponsor of any article to speak to the point of that article as the first speaker, then others could discuss it back and forth. If a sponsor didn't speak, the moderator would rule the article out of order and go on to the next article. At the deliberative sessions there is usually some explanation, but not the good old discussion you need to really find out the WHO behind an article.
So, if you are activly trying to go SB-2, be prepared to give up some of the privileges of discussion you have now.
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Sorry but I don't understand your point about finding out who is behind an article...
Here's my case:
Alton is SB2 and the deliberative session consists of the town's Warrants, the school districts' Warrants (Alton has two school districts), and the petition Warrant articles. The petition Warrants are presented, usually, by the parties who are promoting it. For example, last year we had a petition Warrant article for a social worker/drug and alcohol counselor for the high school. The petition Warrant article was well presented and thoroughly discussed. I can't think of a single Warrant that we didn't have at least some idea who was behind it...
Additionally, there's room for public input at the deliberative session and discussion for each Warrant article. The town's budget committee reviews and recommends the Warrant articles, as does the town's selectmen. They present the Warrant articles to the public at the deliberative session and invite the public to ask questions or discuss the article. I've seen a vote called on a Warrant article or other budget item, for that matter, when members of the public still wanted to bump their gums about it, but mostly it's very fair and I felt that people weren't unjustly cut off.
I guess what I'm saying here is that there's room for input - you just have be ready to play by the new rules to get your point in there at the right time...
p.s.
Please don't take it that I'm being disrespectful to you or your point of view - I'm not. It's just that I see how it works in Alton with the town and the school districts and although it's "different" I do prefer it to the town meeting format and feel that we have more to gain as being SB2 than we did by not going that route - that's all...