To the Editor:
Protect What Works – Vote YES on October 4.
On Saturday, October 4 at 1 pm in the ORR High School Gym, Mattapoisett residents will have a chance to redeem a decision pushed through Beacon Hill – one that was passed at the May Town Meeting by a slim margin, with fewer than 110 total YES votes. That narrow vote supported expanding our Select Board from three to five members, a major structural change advanced without broad community consensus.
In response, more than 335 Mattapoisett citizens signed a petition calling for this Special Town Meeting – a clear signal that the community seeks to be heard. While this meeting cannot legally override the earlier act, it is the next appropriate step in delivering the will of the people and affirming our commitment to sound, local self-government.
Opponents now claim this petition is “non-binding” and “unnecessary.” Quite a statement – considering it was their unprecedented haste to rush expansion through the Legislature that ignored community sentiment and caused this situation. The people of Mattapoisett are simply demanding a voice in their own governance – something that should have been respected from the start.
And let’s not forget: this is the same Legislature that refuses to be audited, despite 72% of Massachusetts voters supporting an audit in the last statewide election. The same body that exempts itself from public records laws – while allowing no FOIA transparency from citizens – even as the author of the expansion petition has filed 13 public records requests against our own town government. The double standard is striking: Beacon Hill demands transparency from towns yet denies it to the people. Should we be surprised they ignored a certified citizen petition and my formal filings to legislative committees asking for a delay? Sadly, no. This process reflects arrogance, not accountability — and a clear deafness to the will of the people.
Under our three-member Select Board, Mattapoisett has:
-Earned a AAA bond rating for exceptional fiscal management
-Maintained one of the lowest rates of tax increases in the region
-Submitted only one small tax override in the last 10 years – approved byvoters to meet a critical infrastructure need, an enviable record.
Massachusetts communities:
-Passed every independent financial audit
-Governed with professionalism, transparency, and balance
This is a record of competence and results – not dysfunction.
Some argue that expansion is needed to increase “diversity.” But adding seats does not guarantee diversity of background or ideas – elections are unpredictable and may simply reproduce the same viewpoints. True diversity comes from voter choice and civic participation, not from enlarging government.
Moreover, respected studies from the Harvard Kennedy School, the National
School Boards Association, and the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory confirm that larger boards often become less efficient, more divided, and less accountable. Growth in size rarely brings improvement – only complexity.
Our three-member board has consistently demonstrated unity, fiscal discipline, and good judgment. Expanding it would risk replacing competence with conflict.
This Special Town Meeting is our chance to speak with one voice – to redeem a hasty decision and affirm the common-sense leadership that works.
Show up. Speak up. Vote yes on Saturday, October 4 to keep our Select Board at three members and uphold the will of the people.
Let’s show everyone that arrogance has no home in Mattapoisett.
As we said in the ’60s — Power to the People. Right on.
Paul Criscuolo, Mattapoisett
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