Ask any of the pandemic-weary residents of Athens, population 380, how much they’ve wanted to resume their in-person March Town Meeting after last year’s Covid-19 cancellation and they’ll point to one particular example of proof.
They held a special in-person Town Meeting last December to decide the very issue.
Historians aren’t sure whether this Windham County map speck was named for the Greek crucible of democracy. But some 50 residents who gathered at their red clapboard school Tuesday more than lived up to the example of their ancient counterparts as they joined fellow Vermonters in annual sugaring-season voting on local leaders and spending.
While the threat of the coronavirus spurred almost 75% of the state’s 246 municipalities to replace shoulder-to-shoulder decision-making with mailable ballots, Athens was one of about 40 small towns to return to in-person meetings — in part by requiring masks or relocating to such airier spaces as a road crew garage (Mendon and Winhall) or fire station bay (Jay and Whiting).
Although Town Meetings most often take place on the first Tuesday in March, several Vermont communities got a jump-start this year.
Braintree, for example, met Saturday to decide everything from who will serve as a cemetery commissioner for five years to whether to post future municipal notices at the town hall, town office and town school.
“Nothing big,” Town Clerk Jessica Brassard said of the agenda before noting, “No lunch though!”
The pandemic also canceled the usual meeting potluck in Goshen while serving up a smorgasbord of shorter gatherings elsewhere.
Addison and Pownal were two towns that met Monday night to formally receive annual reports from local leaders, then adjourned to vote everything else by ballot Tuesday.
Kirby gaveled in its meeting Tuesday morning, elected Ethan Allen Institute founder John McClaughry as moderator for the 56th time (a yet-to-be-disproven state record) and adjourned until locals can figuratively and literally air things out in May.
“We had two, three … eight or nine of us here,” said Kirby Town Clerk Wanda Grant, recounting the attendance in her head.
Granby, whose population of 81 is the state’s second smallest after neighboring Victory’s 70, was set to debate its entire agenda — in part because only a dozen of its 50 registered voters usually show up.
“We have a small population and a big building, so we can easily go along with tradition,” Granby Town Clerk Sheryl Brown said.
Before the pandemic, about 75% of Vermont municipalities held some sort of floor vote during Town Meeting season. This year, that same percentage is limiting themselves to ballots, with another 30 communities postponing proceedings until it’s warm enough to open windows or move outdoors.
“While that statistic is shocking — and concerning to some Town Meeting Day purists — we shouldn’t look past the most important part of Town Meeting Day: what we are voting for or against,” Ted Brady, executive director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, wrote in a recent report.
In that vein, the floor towns of Derby, Eden, Mount Holly, Norton, Poultney and Stratton were among more than 40 Vermont municipalities scheduled to decide whether to join 33 others that allow the local sale of marijuana.
Arlington was set to vote on a proposal to create a $50,000 climate mitigation fund to offset the town’s fossil-fuel emissions “with the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2027,” according to the article.
Danby is discussing whether it should adopt an ordinance regulating all-terrain vehicles on town roadways.
And Mount Tabor is deciding whether to join 31 other Vermont municipalities that have adopted a Declaration of Inclusion.
Many towns, however, met not because they had cause for debate, but because they didn’t.
“The meeting is straightforward and much like past years,” Irasburg Town Clerk Danielle Ingalls said.
“There is nothing distinctive about this meeting,” Orange Town Clerk Angela Eastman added.
Then again, after two long pandemic years, just meeting was noteworthy.
“We’re doing it the same we always used to,” Stamford Town Clerk Lori Shepard said.
“It’s going to be a regular good old town meeting — finally,” Readsboro Town Clerk Amber Holland added.
