RTM

Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting District 1 & 3 Caucuses

by Not Signed In | Politics

Brattleboro Districts 1 & 3 will caucus just prior to Representative Town Meeting on Saturday, March 24 at Brattleboro Area Middle School beginning at 8:00 AM in the Mulitpurpose Room. Representative Town Meeting begins at 8:30 AM.  District 1 will be accepting nominations to fill and appoint six town meeting member seats for 1 year. District 3 will be accepting nominations to fill and appoint six town meeting member seats for 1 year.

Representative Town Meeting in Brattleboro – Part 2: The Reaction and Repeal

by cgrotke | History

This is Part II of the story of Representative Town Meeting in Brattleboro. You can read Part I: Origins and Adoption here. Representative Town Meeting passed, but not everyone approved of the outcome. One of its critics was Edgar Lawton. Although we don’t hear much about Edgar Lawton today, his name is ever-present in the minutes and agendas of Selectboard and Town Meeting reports throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Representative Town Meeting in Brattleboro – Part 1: Its Origins and Adoption

by cgrotke | History

Why does Brattleboro have Representative Town Meeting? Why not a regular, open Town Meeting like the rest of Vermont? These questions led me on a search through old newspapers and town records to look at Brattleboro’s town meetings in the 1950’s to see if there was some obvious answer. It turns out, there was no single reason that led to the “representative form of government” in Brattleboro. There were many factors, personalities, and coincidences unique to Brattleboro that contributed to its adoption.

Arguments made in favor of representative town meeting were sometimes specific to Brattleboro, such as outgrowing the public meeting hall. Other times they were more lofty, arguing that representative government would be more fair and better able to deal with complex issues, while giving voters a greater say in how the town operates.