The next Charter Revision Commission [1] will meet Thursday, July 17, 2025 at 6:15pm in the Selectboard Meeting Room and also on Zoom (the agenda [2] contains the Zoom link) Meetings are also being planned for August.
As you may be aware the Charter Revision Commission is recommending that the Brattleboro form of government be changed from Representative Town Meeting (RTM) to Open Town Meeting (OTM). A survey, the results of which are available online with percentages [3] show a preference for OTM [173 to 84].
At its June 4, 2025 meeting, the Commission voted 6-0 to approve a motion “that the Commission is committed to developing a plan to replace Representative Town Meeting with a system that would include an Open Town Meeting.”
In a June 30 memorandum [4] to the Selectboard, Commission members wrote
In order to meet the timeline for consideration by the legislature in 2026, we are proposing, after consultation with Town Clerk Hilary Francis, a townwide vote on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. There is no election this year, so this would be a special election.
Per the advice of Town Attorney Bob Fisher, two ballot questions will be required:
1. To end representative town meeting.
2. To adopt the charter changes as recommended.
How the votes on these questions might play out was discussed at the July 8th Selectboard meeting Brattleboro Selectboard Mtg 7/8/25[at 30 minutes et seq.]
The Commission is also considering other changes to the Charter. The agenda for the Commission meeting scheduled for July 17 lists plans to discuss, inter alia, how members would be appointed to the Human Services and Finance Committees under the new form of meeting.
There is also a voter initiative for a petition for Australian Ballot as an option.
These issues will be decided by the voters at large. That said, what questions would be helpful to arrive at a decision?
– What is it about the current Representative Town Meeting that is working … or not working (well)?
– Are there ways to address problems with Representative Town Meeting short of moving to Open Town Meeting?
– Would an Open Town Meeting be a better format to address the issues that have been identified?
– Would Australian ballot be a better alternative to both Representative Town Meeting and Open Town Meeting?
Thoughts? Comments?
References:
[1] Charter Revision Commission home page:
https://brattleboro.gov/charter-commission
[2] July 17 Agenda
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IRSBox8QSDXrVPFCKyUwKBKfXF7O4laT/view
[3] Link to survey numbers and percentages
https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-o4ztPoQ7SukrNFi7nZcagw_3D_3D/
[4] June 30 Memorandum
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gM0HbhID0aibQFf01JdiLASznJB-v7hZ/view
[5] July 8 Selectboard Meeting [at about 30 minutes]
[6] Australian Ballot Petition – July 8 Selectboard Meeting [at about 39 minutes]
OK, I'll bite.
What is it about the current Representative Town Meeting that is working … or not working (well)?
To answer this one has to know what was originally intended, which was something roughly based on what we have nationally. All town reps are like people in Congress – they pay attention to Town matters, steer things and keep local democracy going. To do so they must meet with their constituents on a regular basis basis, the way Bernie or Becca or Peter – is known to most everyone, is easy to contact, send out information about important issues, tours their districts, has meetings with their districts, and so on.
One thing I’d say isn’t working well is “representation”. Most RTM members are unknown as reps to most people.
Another thing that doesn’t work well is that our form of RTM was adapted and changed from a Massachusetts version. The MA version gave the Reps more power. In Milton, MA, reps would work with town departments to create a budget. Selectboard would sign off on it. Completely opposite of what Brattleboro does. An RTM budget committee in theory attracts people who know about budgets specifically, and they can serve for longer so there is more financial stability for everyone. As it stands, Brattleboro’s budget is often created by the Town and sometimes as many as 3/5 of the board is seeing a multimillion dollar budget for the very first time.
Are there ways to address these things? Yes, but very few people have been interested in doing so. A handful of people have tried to be more involved with their Districts in the last decade or so, with limited success. When asked about having RTM do budgets, most people scoff.
Would an Open Town Meeting be better? Not completely. It would solve the representation problem to some degree. In theory everyone is invited to speak for themselves under an Open Town Meeting. The reality is not everyone can make it to the meeting, though. It would be more direct than now. I don’t think it would solve the budget problems. I’d guess that for a few years it would introduce new confusion until people settle into the new routine. Some “less desirable” opinions might be heard, but the Town might benefit from hearing from more points of view. More people could come together to govern.
Would an Australian ballot be better than both others? This is the idea that everyone in town gets mailed a ballot (or goes to the poll to fill out a ballot) for everything that would normally come to the town meeting. This has some appeal in that, again in theory, everyone would be participating. It probably would get the highest number of respondents, especially if ballots were mailed.
I see two possible dangers with this. One is that there are often town issues that need some explanation and questions answered before a decision can be rendered. One issue, then, is how to make sure everyone getting a ballot is informed on the issues. The current system is pretty bad at this, too, but there are info meetings and a book of details handed to each rep.
The other potential downside is the lack of face to face meeting with neighbors. That seems to very much be part of the essence of Vermont Town Meeting Day – people get together after the winter, come out of caves, check in with one another, vote on things, then get back to gardening. In both RTM and Open Town Meetings, there is a feeling of comraderie and tension with neighbors that seems to bring good results. If we just vote by ballots, or eventually by screen clicks, is that a “healthy” democracy?
There is probably another version – hybrid- that could be created. How about an Open Town Meeting with the ability for people to attend remotely or vote by ballot if they can’t attend in person?
Nothing’s going to be perfect.
I am impressed and fascinated that Brattleboro is finally allowing these questions to be asked. I’ve noticed that this time around the people suggesting changes are a Charter Revision Commission. The word revision is key. The last group to look at the charter was a Charter Review Commission. What a difference a word can make!
Milton MA Rep Town Meeting
Chris,
I really liked your comment: “In Milton, MA, reps would work with town departments to create a budget. Selectboard would sign off on it.”
I am wondering if you have a citation to that. What I found on the Milton site is not that different from what our Finance Committee does:
“Warrant Committee – Appointed by the Moderator, the by-laws stipulate that it shall make recommendations on the prudent management of the financial affairs of the town. It reviews the budget, makes recommendations on all financial matters, prepares and distributes a printed report of its recommendations and other relevant information, to assist Town Meeting in making final decisions.:
https://www.townofmilton.org/545/Whos-Who-at-Town-Meeting
Thoughts?
yes
It’s been a LONG time since I looked into this history but yeah – the Warrant Committee! At the time I was looking at older versions of their Charter, if I recall correctly, to try to figure out what Gannet knew when he came to Brattleboro. I’d have to fully check old notes.
The Town staff creates a budget in either place. In Milton, in seemed, when I wrote it, that their Warrant Committee did far more than our RTM Finance Committee was doing and had more teeth. I think our Finance Committee has since gotten much stronger and has started doing more of those things.
My paraphrasing might be a bit off – maybe ‘create’ is the wrong word. Strongly influence? : )
Stronger Finance Committee
I seem to recall that a Town Meeting Member told me that in the “old days” (when?) the Finance Committee sat on the dais with the Selectboard when the budget was up for a vote and commented in real time as the budget was being presented.
A few more thoughts
It would be good if one Charter revision was: to be able to revisit this issue at some interval. (Maybe less than 60 years… : ) )
The Town meetings, either type, could add a layer that included ballots for people who couldn’t attend. Sort of an absentee Town Meeting option.
I think if RTM goes away, it probably won’t ever come back. (Imagine trying to convince another town in VT with Open Town Meeting to switch to RTM… “Well, first you have districts, then representatives, then you don’t have Town meeting on Town Meeting day but only elect people to go to your special town meeting… no, really, it’s great. You’ll love it.”)
Glad to see that switching to a mayoral system isn’t a popular option. : )
Comments on your comments
Thanks, Chris.
I find your comments insightful.
Personally, I was agnostic as to RTM and OTM. The downside of OTM is how many people will want to attend and speak. Will frustration result? Will “call the question” be used more frequently?
I think we are in a good place since we have an interest in participation.
As someone who helped getting District meetings together prior to RTM, I admit that it started with one District and has now expanded to all three. Attendance was dependent on the issues being considered.
I think you are correct that the real decision making goes into the scoping of the budget. Harder work; more important work.
Australian ballot may produce greater turnout, but surely less debate.
Kudos for district meetings
It’s certainly hard to say for sure what would be best.
I do appreciate that district meetings have been making a bit of a comeback. They were gone for quite a while. I think RTM works better when the districts and reps are more active.
Not sure if anyone has proposed having three “mini” district open meetings, then sending reps to a RTM. That could be one other way to go, I suppose.
I think one thing to be said is that any of these options is better than what you get in some other places. I’ve lived in bigger cities where most people didn’t know where city hall was, let alone who ran things. Access to government was so distant that it was almost forgotten about by mere mortals. The fact that we have a system that allows ordinary people to get together and discuss how they’d like to run things – we should cherish it, no matter what the outcome.
I’d like to focus on TM taking on the budget one more time – I think Brattleboro could have a really great team of volunteers from the town meeting side of things that could work with town staff to create the budget each year. After a few years of doing this, some of these volunteers would have more experience with budgets than most selectboard members ever have. A budget committee. It would likely attract people who know numbers, money and budgets. It would leave the Selectboard to focus on town operations with the Town Manager and give the long term planning to the Town and town meeting committee.
My long term effort to get RTM reconsidered is underway; I bet I can slowly convince everyone to do budgets differently, too. Might take another 15 years, but… : )
Math
Robert sent out a follow up to this message to a BCC email list and suggested comments be made here.
His message contained the following:
“• the survey results for RTM v Australian ballot are less clear,
https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-o4ztPoQ7SukrNFi7nZcagw_3D_3D/”
The link goes to survey results available from the Charter Revision Commission website. Your security person would advise you click that like, not the one above.
The statement that “results for RTM v Australian ballot are less clear” is not supported by the data. Here are the numbers and the percentages for the three preference questions in the survey (apologies for the loss of formatting. )
# responses Percent
Which would you prefer?
Open Town Meeting 173 67%
RTM 84 33%
Total 257 100%
Which would you prefer?
RTM 80 31%
Australian Ballot 174 69%
Total 254 100%
Which would you prefer?
Open Town Meeting 104 41%
Australian Ballot 149 59%
Total 253 100%
Both in raw numbers and in percentages the preference expressed by the survey respondents for Australian ballot over RTM is a wee bit more clear than the preference expressed for Open Town meeting over RTM.
Bob neglects to mention that the preference for Australian ballot over Open Town Meeting is also clear, not quite sixty-forty. That’s a landslide in current elections.
Check my numbers. I have.
Tom
Thanks for the survey info
Anyone who creates surveys will tell you it matters what questions are asked, how they are worded, and how the answers are presented. (I’m not that person.. : ) )
I’d say though, to me, “which would you prefer?” seems a bit vague in terms of a question. Prefer for what purpose? It could be answered in lots of ways depending what you think is being asked:
– (I prefer as little social interaction as possible so…) Australian ballot
– (I prefer things remain the same so…) RTM
– (I prefer being like other VT towns so…) OTM
– (I prefer going to meetings in person so…) OTM, RTM
– (I prefer sitting at home, looking things up online and participating on my own schedule so…) Australian ballot
– (I prefer anything but RTM so…) OTM, Australian ballot
– (I prefer the best form of local democracy so…). I’m not sure
– (I prefer not having to travel to the meeting location so… ) Australian ballot or virtual OTM or virtual RTM
– (I prefer quantity of participation so…) Australian ballot
– etc.
I do find it humorous that no one prefers writing out ‘Representative Town Meeting.’ It’s almost always abbreviated.
As for the survey results… 270 or so responses seems a bit low to make any conclusive decisions – we should mail a ballot to everyone in town asking them these questions. Or hold a meeting of some sort. : )
re: Thanks for the survey info
Hi Chris,
Come on down to the Coop between 10am and 2pm on Saturday to sign the petition so we can have that vote.
8<)
[I still like emoticons. Good to see one occasionally. ]
Thanks,
Tom