ROCKINGHAM, Vt. – The Town of Rockingham held a special town meeting at the Bellows Falls Middle School on Saturday, June 22, at 2 p.m. The purpose of the special meeting was to give voters an opportunity to discuss and vote on whether to continue to hold the annual Town Meeting on Monday nights, or to move it to Saturday.
The selectboard did its due diligence leading up to the vote, sending out a survey to all registered voters to gather their opinions on how to increase attendance at the yearly meeting. A main reason people cited for not attending was that the day and time were inconvenient for them.
Bellows Falls Village President Paul Obuchowski moderated Saturday’s meeting, and reminded the 50 residents in attendance that Robert’s Rules would be the code of conduct. Rick Cowan, Peter Golec, and Bonnie North from the Rockingham Selectboard were present.
North read the motion to “hereafter hold the annual Rockingham Town Meeting on the Saturday immediately preceding the first Tuesday in March.” North then presented a short slideshow presentation which reviewed the results of the survey that had been distributed in January.
Approximately 10% of voters who received the survey responded, and a majority voiced their preference to hold the meeting on Saturday afternoon, rather than Monday night. Many older residents said they did not attend the evening meetings because they were not comfortable driving after dark.
Cowan reiterated a point he’d made in past board meetings, that his mind “is far clearer at 2 p.m. than at 9 or 10 o’clock at night.”
Voters debated the various issues surrounding the change, and some suggested adding a community lunch to the Saturday agenda, as a fundraiser, and to encourage voter engagement.
Some people felt the Town Meeting should be informational only, with all articles to be voted on by Australian ballot.
Resident Ellen Howard remarked, “We’re all getting older, and Australian ballot offers the opportunity to vote by absentee ballot.”
Bellows Falls resident Doug MacPhee quoted some numbers that illustrated the low voter turnout. “There were 50 [people] at Village Meeting, and over 2,000 [residents] in the village. 187 out of 2,000 voted via Australian Ballot.”
Another resident agreed, “We’re having a problem where people aren’t voting, whether it’s by Australian [ballot] or coming to the meeting.”
Gary Fox, development director for Bellows Falls, said, “We could do more to get people out and vote. Saturdays can be easier to free up than a Monday evening, for most people.” He added, “These are complicated issues with a lot of nuances, and discussion at Town Meeting is really important to understand what we’re voting on.”
Everyone seemed to agree that more involvement from “younger voters, older voters, all voters” was imperative, and a collective effort should be made to encourage increased participation.
The vote was taken by paper ballot. With 45 “Yes” votes and 7 “No” votes, it was decided Town Meeting will be held on Saturday, beginning in 2025.