CRAFTSBURY – Sometime in 2022 Craftbury’s Bruce Urie met Susan Clark, the author of “Slow Democracy” and “All Those In Favor,” a book about Vermont Town Meetings. He thought the town might benefit from her expertise, said Susie Houston and Wendy Turnbull who have been on the Freedom & Unity Task Force (F&U) since its inception in 2023.
Clark offered Urie a workshop and presentation for the town, along with Peacham, which was covered by a Vermont Community Foundation grant. The November 2022 workshop led to a March 2023 Town Meeting discussion and creation of a temporary working group to explore options that became F&U, said Turnbull and Houston.
“You have to be creative to keep our small towns vital,” said Houston.
F&U engaged the community and explored as many options as they could imagine. They asked themselves and other residents questions, some easy, some harder. For example, “What’s the hardest thing about going to town meeting?” and “What are three things that would make it better?” or “If you could reinvent town meeting for the 21st century, what would you change?”
Meetings to gather input were held in October and November 2023 during the evening and with refreshments, making it easy for those attending to join after work.
As the Freedom and Unity Task Force approached Town Meeting Day at its February 13, 2024, meeting, members of each working group prepared for their roles and a vote to move the election of officials to an Australian Ballot.
The general idea of offering up the Australian Ballot article for a vote was to provide the largest possible number of voters to elect those who do the town’s business, while maintaining the person-to-person aspect of traditional Town Meeting Day, said Turnbull and Houston.
In talking about the decision to retain a traditional town meeting, Turnbull said, without town meeting, “Where’s the on-ramp to serve and recruit?”
The Civics Education group planned a February 22 mock town meeting at Craftsbury Academy with third and fifth grades. One member was preparing a primer on Robert’s Rules of Order to simplify language for students.
A Reimagining Leadership group hadn’t met since January, but a new member expressed interest in joining it.
A group focused on Craftsbury Community Month planned a meeting to fine-tune plans for the first Craftsbury University skill sharing event and Craftsbury storytelling with the historical society.
A group looking to create a Town Operator’s Manual reviewed manuals from other towns to help come up with a format for Craftsbury and planned ways to get input and ideas from the community.
In making preparations for Town Meeting Day, the group planned Front Porch Forum postings to highlight articles being voted on, town offices up for election, plus aspects of Robert’s Rules and why we use them.
Plans for childcare were made with reservations required.
Refreshments were arranged by the Craftsbury Academy Junior Class as a fundraiser for a class trip to Montreal.
Technical and set-up plans were made and transportation arrangements were put in place for those needing assistance, particularly from the Craftsbury Community Care Center (CCCC).
A final meeting was scheduled for late February to tie up loose ends.
Houston and Turnbull said the work and planning involved people across the Craftsbury community, including children and the elderly at CCCC, to make it as inclusive as possible and begin educating young people about the democratic process.
At Craftsbury Town Meeting that year, the town voted to elect officers by Australian Ballot. An in-person town meeting continues for financial and other Town Meeting Day matters.
Craftsbury now schedules its school and town meetings on the same day and alternates which meeting happens first on Town Meeting Day.
The F&U is now an official town committee and the town clerk comes to all its meetings.
F&U members suggest having a look at Jericho’s town meeting FAQs in a section titled, “Town Meeting Reimagined.” Simply, there’s a three-step process there: First, there’s a Fall Kick-Off Meeting. A January Budget Review Meeting is the second step. The third and final step is an Australian Ballot vote on Town Meeting Day.
The Craftsbury F&U Committee doesn’t see its work as done. They continue to host the Craftsbury University skill-sharing week, mock town meetings at the school, and hosted a community forum last October, “Practical Ways to Grow Municipal Capacity at Town Hall.”
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
