Small Town Politics

The governing body for my town meets every other Tuesday evening for 90 minutes. In this town of 2,700 there may be a half dozen or so people in attendance at each meeting of the select board.

I went to last night's meeting because I heard that the issue of Comcast's contract with the town might be on the agenda. The residents on my road have been trying for a year to get cable pulled down our road.

Ken and I arrived ten minutes before the meeting started. The parking lot was full. The meeting room was full, with more people arriving every minute. We pulled chairs in from another room and sat on the side of the room in the front. There were at least 60 people in the room and dozens more in the hallway because there was no space for them inside.

We looked over the agenda. There was no mention of Comcast. There also wasn't anything on the agenda that seemed to call for the number of people in attendance, few of whom we recognized.

It didn't take us long to figure out what was going on.

In February there was a special election to fill one of the three seats on the select board. The office of the state's attorney general is now investigating that election. According to an article in the local newspaper, a complaint has been filed that makes accusations of impropriety on the part of staff in the town office.

That's what the people there last night wanted to talk about, but they were told in no uncertain terms that the topic would not be discussed until the investigation has been completed. The agenda was moved quickly and the meeting lasted all of 25 minutes.

Ken and I had no idea of what was afoot, but I'm glad we were there to support the beleaguered town manager. Everyone I know says she has done a lot of good for this town.

No one I know knows the details of the current brouhaha.

There is a group of malcontents in town who hold clandestine meetings and keep their cards very close to the vest. I know a few names but I don't know any of them personally. I do know they were behind the secretive write-in campaign to defeat me last June when I ran unopposed for a seat on the select board.

That's all I want to know.

I have been told that this is how small town politics work. I don't think it has to be that way.

There is a small group of us who have started meeting to share ideas about what we want for our town. We keep minutes of the meetings and are putting together an email list. Our goal is to find out what matters to people and to invite people to get involved.

The group I belong to talks about how to build community.

That's what small town politics should be about.