Town meeting season is here again.
For the rest of March, intermittently in April and May, then again in June, you can expect to read about town meetings on our front page regularly.
We will bring you the budget hikes, new regulations, and construction projects under consideration in your town.
We encourage you to attend your town meeting.
Once the social event of the spring in rural Maine towns, many of these meetings draw ever-dwindling crowds.
People trust town officials to run their government, perhaps. People don’t have time. Maybe they’re not interested. Or maybe they feel like their opinion doesn’t matter or their vote doesn’t count. The only people this is true of are those who don’t show up.
We say it often and we will say it again: if you don’t go, don’t complain. Not about property taxes, not about the condition of town roads, not about the new ordinance that requires you to obtain a permit to paint your house.
You have an opportunity to impact all of these things at your town meeting. While the majority of items pass unanimously, we see close votes every year – and even a few surprises.
Town meeting is also a good introduction to town government – and government in general – if you think you might like to get involved.
We have seen plenty of folks at the recent protests and we hear both major parties are drawing new interest, but we have yet to see this new interest in government filter down to the local level.
The day-to-day decisions of a board of selectmen might not stir the same passion as some of our national debates, but are crucial to the function of a town.
And participation in local government can impart lessons valuable at any level of government, or even in work and relationships: how to budget, how to compromise, how to debate, how to affect change.
So go to town meeting. It’s one night (or morning or afternoon) a year. Bring the kids – they might learn something. You might too.
