Town meeting, also known as an open town meeting, is a form of local government in which eligible town residents can directly participate in an assembly which determines the governance of their town. Unlike representative town meeting where only elected representatives can participate in the governing assembly, any town voter may participate in an open town meeting. This form is distinct from town hall meetings held by elected officials to communicate with their constituents, which have no decision-making power.
At a town meeting, attendees determine the ordinances or rules of the town, its boards and commissions, elected and appointed positions, capital investments, expenditures, budgets, and local taxation, as well as the manner and frequency of future town meetings. Because towns self-govern and maintain their autonomy, town meetings vary from state to state, as well as from town to town.
Since town residents directly participate in their own governance and represent themselves without any intermediary, town meeting is an example of direct democracy, and examined as a case study in democratic theory.
History Town meetings have been practiced in the U.S. region of New England since colonial times and in some western states since at least the late 19th century. Town meeting can also refer to meetings of other governmental bodies such as regional water or school districts. While the uses and laws vary by town and state, the general form is for residents of the town to periodically gather and serve as the legislative body, voting on finances, ordinances, and other matters of governance.
Records of early New England governance are sparse, leading to debate about the origin of town meeting. One interpretation is that it was adapted from local vestry meetings held in 17th century England that were responsible for financial decisions of the parish church. Another is that it stemmed from New England colonists aboard the Mayflower who, upon landing in Plymouth, Massachusetts, gathered to adopt their own rules of governance, the Mayflower Compact. In colonial New England there was very little separation between church and town governance, but town meeting continued to play a secular role after the disestablishment of the state churches, forming the core of government for most New England towns today.
Democratic theory Since the turn of the nineteenth century, political scientists have characterized New England's town meetings as notable examples of direct democracy. In 1831, political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville visited several townships in Massachusetts, remarking in the first volume of Democracy in America (1835) that town governments in New England appeared to show greater political independence than French communes or other municipal bodies in Europe. Tocqueville believed that town meetings, with direct power given to attending residents, trained citizens for participation in broader democratic society. Town meetings also influenced American republican thought particularly for Thomas Jefferson, who believed they were "the perfect exercise of self-government and for its preservation".
Town meetings represent some of the only modern institutions, apart from some townships in Minnesota and the cantons of Switzerland, in which everyday citizens can regularly participate in "face-to-face" assemblies that deliberate binding collective action decisions in the form of laws. Proponents of communitarianism and civic republicanism in political thought, notably Frank M. Bryan of the University of Vermont, have advocated town meetings as forms of direct democracy based upon unitary values.
Deliberative democrats, such as James Fishkin, have presented the town meeting as a setting of "empowered participation" in which thoughtful deliberation between all participating individuals can coexist with a sense of engaged citizenship and responsibility for solving local problems. Both camps, however, note the difficulties of maintaining the benefits of town meetings when the format is scaled to larger groups.
Criticism Other political scientists have expressed more skepticism toward town meetings on the basis of their poor attendance and lack of representativeness. Jane Mansbridge and Donald L. Robinson have argued that town meetings in Vermont and Massachusetts feature extremely low turnout in part because they last for a full working day, leading to disproportionate representation of seniors and non-working residents in the meetings. As participation is still voluntary for attendees of the meeting, Mansbridge also notes differences in participation on the basis of education and class when conflicts arise, writing that "the face-to-face assembly lets those who have no trouble speaking defend their interests; it does not give the average citizen comparable protection." Feminist critics have also identified mixed results in town meetings. While women's rates of attendance at town meetings was nearly equal relative to men's, their participation in discussion relative to men declined as the size of the town increased.
In the United States Town meeting is used in portions of the United States, principally in New England, where it has been the primary form of town government since the 17th century.
Connecticut Connecticut town meetings are usually bound to a published agenda; meeting participants can not alter proposed items or add new business. Each town determines the method, frequency, and range of governance for its town meeting and codifies these in its ordinances or town charter.
A moderator is chosen at the start of each meeting, which is typically held in a public venue, either in the town itself or nearby. Votes are taken by voice, and if close by show of hands.
In towns with an open town meeting form, all registered voters of the town are eligible to participate in and vote at town meetings. Representative town meeting is used by some larger towns, where voters elect representatives to participate in town meetings, similar to a town council. Some towns use a financial town meeting form where an open town meeting exists with limited jurisdiction to vote solely on financial affairs while the town's legislative powers have been vested in a town council.
Town meetings may have binding votes for some items in which the meeting participants vote to approve or deny the measure. Some towns require a referendum for items such as annual budgets and changes to the town's ordinances. For those items, the town meeting votes to whether or not to send the issue to a referendum, which is held at a later date pursuant to the schedule laid out in that town's ordinances.
Maine In Maine, the town meeting system originated during the period when the District of Maine was part of Massachusetts. Most cities and towns operate under the town meeting form of government or a modified version of it. Maine annual town meetings traditionally are held in March. Special town meetings also may be called from time to time.
The executive agency of town government is an elected, part-time board, known as the Board of Selectmen, having three, five, or seven members. Between sessions, the board of selectmen interprets the policy set at Town Meeting and is assigned numerous duties including: approving all town non-school expenditures, authorizing highway construction and repair, serving as town purchasing agent for non-school items, issuing licenses, and overseeing the conduct of all town activities. Often the part-time selectmen also serve as town assessors, overseers of the poor, and road commissioners. Generally, there are other elected town officers whose duties are specified by law. These may include clerks, assessors, tax collectors, treasurers, school committee members, constables, and others.
In 1927 the town of Camden adopted a special charter and became the first Maine town to apply the manager concept to the town meeting-selectmen framework. Under this system, the manager is administrative head of town government, responsible to the select board for the administration of all departments under its control. The manager's duties include acting as purchasing agent, seeing that laws and ordinances are enforced, making appointments and removals, and fixing the compensation of appointees. (See also: Council–manager government.)
From 1927 to 1939, eleven other Maine towns adopted special act charters similar to the Camden charter. Today, 135 Maine towns have the town meeting-selectmen-manager system, while 209 use the town meeting-selectmen system.
Massachusetts
History The town meeting "was the original and protean vessel of local authority." The early meetings were informal, with all men in town likely participating. Even when it did not fully exercise it, "the power of the town meeting knew no limit." Town meeting
created principles to regulate taxation and land distribution; it bought land for town use and forbade the use of it forever to those who could not pay their share within a month; it decided the number of pines each family could cut from the swamp and which families could cover their house with clapboard. The men who went to that town meeting hammered out the abstract principles under which they would live and regulated the most minute details of their lives. The decisions they made then affected the lives of their children and grandchildren.
Town meeting often had a reputation for being "active, suspicious, contradictory, and cantankerous", but it was well regarded by others.
In 1692, the Great and General Court declared that final authority on bylaws rested with town meetings and not selectmen. Two years later, in 1694, the General Court took authority to appoint assessors from selectmen and gave it to town meetings. An act of the colonial legislature gave town meeting the right to elect its own moderators in 1715, but this had already been in practice for several years in towns such as Dedham.
A colony law required all voters to be church members until 1647, though it may not have been enforced. The law changed in 1647, requiring voters to be above 24 years of age. The colony added a new requirement that a man must own taxable property with a value of at least 20 pounds in 1658 and increased that sum to 80 pounds in 1670. The 1670 law had a grandfather clause allowing all those who previously were qualified to keep the franchise. In 1691, the property requirement was lowered back to 20 pounds.
In provincial elections, only church members could vote. The number continued to fall from there. While in many respects Massachusetts society resembled England, the franchise was more widespread in the colony than it was in the mother country, as were the powers of local elected officials.
Forms In Massachusetts, towns with fewer than 6,000 residents must adopt the open town meeting form of government. Massachusetts towns with 6,000 or more residents may adopt either open town meeting or the representative town meeting form of government.See amendment LXXXIX of the Massachusetts Constitution.
The select board summons the town meeting into existence by issuing the warrant, which is the list of items—known as articles—to be voted on, with descriptions of each article.
The Moderator presides over the meeting, making sure that the town's chosen rules of parliamentary procedure are followed, judging the results of voice votes or shows of hands and counting votes that are too close to be judged by eye or ear. The Finance Committee, often called the Advisory Committee, makes recommendations on articles dealing with money and often drafts the proposed budget. The Town Clerk serves as the clerk of the meeting by recording its results. Town Counsel may make legal recommendations on any articles of the warrant, to ensure town meeting is acting lawfully.