Board sticks to ‘closed’ warrant

By Wayne E. Rivet Staff Writer

If you open it, they will come.

Bob McHatton remembers annual town meetings when the Town Hall was filled and debate pushed the ending to 10:30 p.m. Sometimes, a second night was needed to conclude business. In recent years, town meeting has lasted under an hour with most time being spent by the moderator reading warrant articles.

And, participation has continuously dwindled.

Why? McHatton believes using a “closed” warrant has thwarted discussion and ultimately public interest in being part of the process.

So, McHatton suggested Tuesday night to return to the town meeting’s roots and bring back the open format. Each year, the Select Board decides which format to follow.

An “open” warrant allows voters to increase or decrease the article’s appropriation number. A “closed” warrant allows voters to only decrease the figure or approve the recommended amount.

“The rate we’re going, if we continue to cap, we should change the format from Select Board to a Town Council and eliminate town meeting,” McHatton said. “If we want to continue having no one show up, cap it; if we want to get townspeople involved, open it.”

Select Board member Paul Tworog felt it is a “big leap in faith” believing capped articles has caused town meeting attendance to dwindle. Low turnout has been seen across Maine. Tworog noted that the reason towns use a closed warrant is to prevent small groups with special interests raising more funding than recommended by town officials.

One way to draw a bigger crowd, Board Chair Carmen Lone said, was to pull a page from the late SAD 61 Superintendent Jan ter Weele’s playbook.

“He proposed canceling football and everybody showed up.”

The Board rejected the motion for an open warrant, 3-2 (McHatton, Carrye