Bradford Town Meeting Faces Breaks in Tradition

A view from just outside the meeting room.

 As with all town meetings, Bradford's, held at 9:00am at the Academy Auditorium, aws one deeply rooted in tradition. However, participants and spectators at the meeting had to deal with modern problems in this new economy.

One of the plaques on the back of the chairs.

The location itself showed some of the dichotomy between the past and present. Once the town's school, the building is wooden, brick, and full of age. The meeting room was furnished with narrow wooden seats paid for by the students of classes passed almost a hundred years ago, while bright fluorescent lights, newly-painted walls, and an elevator confronted the steady stream of people filing in. Unlike years past, citizens who arrived couldn't simply take a seat. Voters had to register in the small area near the doorway in order to vote or speak.

This was far from the first break in tradition. After the initial opening statements, which included a moment of silence of the full room for those lost in the previous year as well as a pledge of allegiance, Article 1 included the elections of the town moderator. Lawrence Coffin, the well-respected town meeting moderator since 1971, was quickly elected but announced that this was his last year in office. He nevertheless called for orderly and courteous conduct, citing that Bradford had been used years ago by a doctor in his book "Honeybee Democracy" as an example of how small towns come to decisions in meetings.

The next order of business was  to go over the Annual Report in Article 2. Certain subjects, such as the collection of delinquent taxes, were brought up by concerned citizens. Article 3 was another point of interest, where new candidates vied for the old for offices of Town Clerk, Treasurer, and Select Board seats. This introduced the new ballot system, breaking nearly two hundred year of tradition in Bradford. Whereas previous years had involved lists of people's names and checking off whether or not they said yes, this required those citizens who wished to vote to go up to the front and have their red card, a sign that they were a registered voter, punched. Several people admitted that this was a much quicker and smoother system than the last, although several issues- such as the fact that there wasn't always a consistent number of voters for each decision- bothered some voters. While there were also some grumbles among the crowd after they had to get up several times in a row, this new system seemed to work very well.

Voters headed to the front. (Photo courtesy of Victoria Loyer.)

The following articles passed with some discussion, especially Article 6, which discussed the payment plan for a badly-needed replacement for the plow truck. It was on this issue and several others, such as the one to motion money to go toward maintaining the town's parks, that modern issues especially came into play. The downturn in the economy means that the town, like many others in New England, had to make some hard choices. Many departments hadn't kept up with inflation and the rising cost of equipment, which made the purchase of equipment- such as the new plow truck- a major issue. After three hours of discussion on Articles 1-10, the board decided to adjourn for lunch.

As the group reconvened, others made pleas for the voter's attention. One group brought up the issue of a Bradford War Memorial, which would be made of wood so names could be changed more easily, while another official spoke and fielded questions about major issues in Vermont as a whole. Health care claimed a large portion of her speaking time as she said that the state's current $3.9 billion bill was projected to rise another two billion in 2012, and the state was planning to implement a three-step program to attempt to ratify this situation.

However, the meeting quickly turned to the matter at hand. Article 11, the sale of Bradford's Municipal forest to the Trust for Public Land, took up almost two hours of meeting time in intense discussion. Concerns over preservation, water rights, lumber, and money were discussed at great depth, and many who had a person stake in the project came forward to speak. This issue with be covered in depth in the next post on this blog, but suffice to say that the issues and Amendments proposed were many. Eventually, however, the sale was voted through.

The remainder of the meeting went without much issue. Despite having to confront a new voting system as well as the harsh realities of the declining economy, all participants, whether they were the many elderly citizens or the young students who ran around with extra microphones, felt proud at having participated in another town meeting. While it's difficult to say where the town will be in another year at this point in time, it's safe to say that the town's strong traditional base and the fresh faces that spoke up with ideas for its future will work together to do their best in the upcoming year.