TOWN MEETING - The View From the Seats

TOWN MEETING - THE VIEW FROM THE SEATS

As a resident of Easton, I have been attending town meetings for more than thirty years.  Over those years we, the people of Easton, have been witness to a wide range of public dialogue and town meeting "theater"... some of it enlightening - some not so much, some of it humorous, and all of it blended together as the necessary ingredients of an open form of government.

Last night, there was a different feeling in the high school auditorium. First, with a sparse showing of just slightly more than the required quorum, it seemed a rather small gathering to take up the business of an entire town.  

In fact over the course of the next two hours, we citizens appropriated or spent close to $70 million in support of our town, its departments, its schools and programs  -  and our future. 

We committed monies to salaries, supplies, police cruisers, important restoration work for some of our most prized historic buildings, and protections for our conservation lands and our citizens. 

At a number of points, the Town Moderator seemed openly surprised that there was so little dialogue as we speed-read our way through a Warrant chock full of detailed descriptions of budgets and expenses, as well as the usual arcane references to chapters of the laws of the Commonwealth that we will never read nor comprehend.

Thinking back over the years and years of debate and debacle, I can easily guess what the Moderator thought was missing.  And yet, I wasn't surprised - and for one very significant reason.  

We here in Easton are fortunate to have a leadership core and elected bodies who overwhelmingly serve in their posts with the best interests of the town as their primary motivation.  They are open, available, conversant in their areas of expertise, and respectful of the expertise of others.

Whether it's the Town Administrator, the Board of Selectmen, the Finance Committee, the School Committee, the Planning and Zoning Board, the Conservation Commission, the Board of Health, the Public Works or  Public Safety departments ... every board - appointed or elected - each and all deliver themselves with a high degree of professional excellence, personal effort and collaboration. 

Their discussions, research, planning sessions and work products move quite well, crossing departmental and philosophical lines, to arrive at an end point that delivers a sensible and progressive "big picture" - and the granular details to support it.

We elect, appoint and hire these professionals to do this important work and we trust them to get it right.  And they do.  The net result is a Town Meeting such as we saw last evening. 

While the invitation for discussion was extended with every motion for every Article -- and there was definitely spirited discussion on Article 33 addressing needed changes to our public smoking bylaw -- almost every motion was viewed as the necessary and correct actions of a town going about its business to support and serve its citizens. 

We knew throughout the evening, from the respectful recommendations of both the Selectmen, the FinCom and other participating bodies, that thoughtful reviews had already taken place.  We knew we could ask questions or offer additional information any time we felt it was needed. The fact was, due to the work of our public officials, it seldom was.

We trusted that what was before us was what was needed to keep our town on solid ground.

I walked out of that auditorium thinking it was good to live in this town.