To the Editor;
Much debate and awareness has now occurred regarding the 3 vs 5 select board vote taken at a recent town meeting where the 297 voters in attendance discussed this issue. The resulting “simple majority” spoke for the 5,970 voters in town. Here are some thoughts to ponder. A few years ago, Mr. George Pierce Randall upset a long-term incumbent to win a seat on the select board. His win ousted a long term, popular incumbent. His bid showed that if the message and timing are right, long-term incumbents certainly can be voted out.
Diversity has many faces, and that particular select board proved to be one of the most diverse, having both the oldest (age 80) plus the youngest members in the state of Massachusetts. This certainly made for some robust discussions. Upon losing his re-election bid Mr. Randll did not seek to change the form of governmental structure – just to have a seat at the table. He continued to work for his town. He attended all town meetings in their entirety, and educated people on the history of his town.
People come to, and remain for generations, in small towns for many diverse and meaningful reasons. Many changes within small towns are out of our local control Not this issue however.
Let’s keep our government small to minimize costs and complexity. Why does one of the smallest towns in the state need one of the biggest select boards? If petitions are signed, as in the original effort to bring this before the town, and another town meeting is held, or better yet a special town election, I hope that more of my small-town neighbors will have the opportunity to voice their opinion to enable this to be a more complete picture of the will of the people in this special town.
Respectfully,
Cheryl A. Randall-Mach, Mattapoisett
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