Town meeting facts for kids
A town meeting is a special way for people in a community to make decisions together. It's a type of direct democracy, which means that most or all adult members of a town can come together to vote on local laws and how the town's money (budget) will be spent. This is different from a town hall meeting, where politicians just answer questions and don't make decisions.
Town meetings have been used in parts of the United States, especially in New England, since the 1600s.
Contents
- How Town Meetings Work in the United States
- Town Meetings in Spain
- Town Meetings in Switzerland
- See also
How Town Meetings Work in the United States
Town meetings are a type of local government used in the New England area of the U.S. since colonial times. Some western states also use them. These meetings usually happen once a year. Residents of a town or school district gather to act like a law-making group. They vote on budgets, local laws, and other important matters for the community for the next year.
In 1854, writer Henry David Thoreau said that these meetings, where farmers gather to discuss important issues, are the "true Congress." The famous painting Freedom of Speech shows a scene from a town meeting.
The term "town meeting" can be confusing because it refers to both the event itself (like "Freetown had its town meeting last Tuesday") and the group of people making decisions (like "Town Meeting decided to repave Howland Road").
Sometimes, political groups use "town meeting" to describe a moderated discussion with a large audience. To avoid confusion, these are often called "town hall meetings."
Where Did Town Meetings Begin?
It's hard to know exactly how town meetings started because old records are rare. Many believe they came from local "vestry" meetings in 17th-century England. These vestry meetings handled money matters for the church. English settlers created town governments based on these meetings. In early New England, church and town rules were very connected. Even after they separated, town meetings remained important for local government.
Town Meetings in Connecticut
In Connecticut, town meetings follow a set plan called an agenda. People at the meeting can talk about items on the agenda but can't change them or add new ones. If a budget is rejected, a new meeting must be called to vote on a new budget. If a budget isn't approved in time, the town's leaders (Board of Selectmen) can use the previous year's budget for a while.
Connecticut town meetings don't have as much power as those in Massachusetts. For example, in Massachusetts, town meetings can create zoning rules (about how land can be used). In Connecticut, the town meeting might decide to have zoning, but a special elected board creates the actual rules.
A "moderator" leads each meeting. Meetings are often held in school auditoriums. If many people attend, they can even move the meeting to another town to find a bigger space. Votes are usually taken by voice or by a show of hands. For big or controversial topics, the meeting might decide to have a secret ballot vote later, using voting machines.
In some Connecticut towns, all registered voters and people who own at least $1,000 of taxable property can vote at town meetings. However, some larger towns have "Representative Town Meetings," where people elect members to represent them and vote for them. Some towns also have "Financial Town Meetings," where the meeting only votes on money matters, and a Town Council handles other laws.
Town Meetings in Maine
Maine's town meeting system started when Maine was part of Massachusetts. Most towns in Maine still use the town meeting system or a similar version. Annual town meetings in Maine usually happen in March. Special meetings can also be called when needed.
The main leaders of the town government are an elected board called the Board of Selectmen. They usually have three, five, or seven members and work part-time. Between town meetings, the selectmen carry out the decisions made at the meeting. They also approve town spending (except for schools), manage road work, buy things for the town, issue licenses, and oversee town activities. Often, these part-time selectmen also act as tax assessors, help the poor, and manage roads. Other elected officials might include clerks, tax collectors, treasurers, school committee members, and constables.
In 1927, the town of Camden started using a "town manager" system. Under this system, a manager handles the day-to-day running of the town government. The manager works for the select board and is in charge of all departments. Their duties include buying things, making sure laws are followed, hiring and firing staff, and setting their pay. Today, many towns in Maine use this town meeting-selectmen-manager system, while others use just the town meeting-selectmen system.
Town Meetings in Massachusetts
History of Town Meetings
The town meeting was the first and most important way for local areas to govern themselves. Early meetings were informal, and all men in town likely participated. The power of the town meeting was huge.
Town meetings created rules for taxes and land. They bought land for the town and even decided how many trees each family could cut. The people at these meetings made big decisions that affected their children and grandchildren.
Town meetings were sometimes seen as "active, suspicious, contradictory, and cantankerous" (meaning argumentative), but many people respected them.
In 1692, the Great and General Court (a colonial legislature) said that town meetings, not selectmen, had the final say on local laws. Two years later, in 1694, the General Court gave town meetings the power to choose tax assessors. In 1715, a colonial law gave town meetings the right to elect their own moderators, who lead the meetings.
At first, a colony law required all voters to be church members until 1647, but this might not have been strictly followed. The law changed in 1647, requiring voters to be over 24. Later, a man had to own taxable property worth a certain amount to vote. In 1691, this property requirement was lowered.
Two Types of Town Meeting Government
Open Town Meeting
An open town meeting is where all registered voters in a town can vote. They act together as the town's law-making body. This meeting usually happens once a year in the spring, sometimes over several evenings. Special meetings can also be called. Open town meeting is a form of direct democracy, where people vote directly on issues.
This type of government is common in smaller towns in New England. In Massachusetts, towns with fewer than 6,000 people must use the open town meeting system. Larger towns (6,000 or more residents) can choose between open town meeting or a "representative town meeting."
The Board of Selectmen calls the town meeting by creating a "warrant." This warrant is a list of all the items (called articles) that will be voted on, with descriptions for each.
The Moderator leads the meeting. They make sure the rules are followed, judge votes by voice or hand, and count close votes. The Finance Committee (sometimes called the Advisory Committee) gives advice on money matters and often helps create the proposed budget. The Town Clerk records the results of the meeting. The Town Counsel (town lawyer) might give legal advice to make sure the meeting acts lawfully.
Representative Town Meeting
Massachusetts towns with at least 6,000 residents can choose a Representative Town Meeting system. This works much like an open town meeting, but not all registered voters can vote. Instead, the townspeople elect "Town Meeting Members" from different areas to represent them and vote on issues. For example, before it became a city, Framingham had 216 representatives in its Town Meeting.
Annual Town Meeting
The annual town meeting is held in the spring and is also known as the annual budget meeting. Towns used to have to hold these meetings between February 1 and May 31, but now they can hold them until June 30. (The town's fiscal year starts on July 1.) At this meeting, the town approves its budget for the new year and takes care of any leftover items from the current year. It can also vote on other things, like the town's general and zoning laws.
An item can be put on the warrant by the Selectmen (sometimes at the request of town departments) or by a petition signed by at least ten registered voters.
Special Town Meetings
Special town meetings are held when needed, usually for money or other important issues that come up between annual meetings. They work the same way as annual meetings, but a petition to call one needs 100 signatures. While the Selectmen usually call these meetings, voters can also call one with a petition signed by 200 voters or 20% of registered voters (whichever is lower). The selectmen must hold the meeting within 45 days of getting such a petition.
Joint or Regional Town Meetings
Joint town meetings happen when two or more towns share a budget for a district activity, like a regional school district. The district's leaders will tell each town how much money it needs to contribute. Each town then includes this amount in its own budget.
If one town approves its share, but another town votes for a smaller amount, there's a problem. If they can't agree, the regional district's leaders can call a meeting of all registered voters from all the towns in the district. This is a joint town meeting. Whatever is decided at this joint meeting is binding for all communities in the district. If three or more towns are involved, it's often called a regional town meeting.
Cities Calling Themselves Towns
The Massachusetts Constitution makes a difference between a "city form of government" and a "town form of government." Recently, some communities have chosen to be governed like a city but still call themselves "Town of X." They might call their law-making bodies "Town Council."
A Town Meeting is a required part of being a town under state law. Cities in Massachusetts don't have town meetings because their laws are made by an elected city council. However, a community's official name is set in its charter, so there's no rule against cities calling themselves "town" or vice versa. This means not all places called "Town of _____" actually have a Town Meeting. (Only communities with at least 12,000 people can choose a city form of government.)
People usually say "a town meeting" (with "a") when talking about any gathering, even if it's not for town business. But they say "Town Meeting" (without "a") when referring to the official law-making body of a town.
Town Meetings in New Hampshire
In New Hampshire, towns, village districts (which handle things like water supplies), and school districts can choose between two types of annual meetings: traditional meetings or ballot-vote meetings (informally called "SB 2").
Traditional Town Meetings
A traditional town meeting is held every year on the second Tuesday of March. People choose town officers, approve the town budget, and agree on large contracts. Town selectmen can call special town meetings if needed, but these must be approved by a judge if they affect the budget. State law says town meetings cannot be held on the election day in November.
The town moderator can pause a long meeting and restart it later to finish the town's business.
Any town meeting must announce its time and place at least three days beforehand. The "warrant" (list of issues to be decided) must also be published. The town meeting can change the wording of the warrant articles before voting. They can also discuss other issues, but they can't make binding votes on them without proper notice.
Sometimes, people would re-vote on an issue after many opponents had left. In 1991, a law was passed allowing town meeting members to prevent a vote from being reconsidered. If a town meeting does decide to reconsider a vote, it can only happen at a later session, at least one week away.
Official Ballot Referenda (SB 2)
The SB 2 format means that town voters make final decisions by secret ballot during the municipal election, not at the town meeting itself. To switch to or from SB 2, three-fifths of voters must approve it on the municipal ballot. This format was created in 1995 because modern life made it hard for people to attend traditional town meetings. However, in 2019, the law changed so that the three-fifths majority must happen at the town meeting itself.
Under SB 2, a "Deliberative Session" is held about a month before the election. This session is like a traditional town meeting, but no final votes are taken. People can discuss and change the wording or money amounts of proposed ballot measures, but they don't vote on whether to approve them.
Fewer people attend deliberative sessions than traditional town meetings because the decisions aren't final. However, the final secret ballot vote attracts more voters because it takes less time, and people can vote even if they are absent.
Sometimes, deliberative sessions have been accused of "sabotaging" a ballot question. For example, changing an article like "To see if the Town will raise and appropriate (amount) for (purpose)" to just "To see." A 2011 law stopped deliberative sessions from removing the main topic of an article.
The second session, on election day, is when people vote on the town's budget and other items (warrant articles). When towns adopt SB 2, they can hold elections in March, April, or May.
In 2002, about one-third of New Hampshire's population lived in towns with traditional town meetings, and only 22% were in school districts with traditional meetings.
Official Ballot Town Council
This is a different type of Town Council where certain items are put on the ballot for registered voters to decide. It's similar to the SB 2 process, but the Town Council decides what items go on the ballot.
Budgetary Town Meeting
This is a type of Open Meeting where voters can only vote on the annual town operating budget presented by the town's leaders. If a town uses this, its charter must also explain how money can be moved between different departments and accounts during the year.
Representative Town Meeting
New Hampshire law allows for a representative town meeting, where voters elect a small group of residents to act as the law-making body. This is similar to a town council. Representative town meetings follow the same rules as traditional town meetings, but they cannot decide matters that state law requires to be on the official town ballot. This form of government is chosen through a town charter, which might also require other matters to go on the town ballot.
As of 2006, no town or school district in New Hampshire uses this form of government.
Moderator
Moderators are elected for two-year terms in towns. The moderator leads town meetings, manages discussions, sets rules, decides on questions of order, and announces the results of each vote. Town meeting voters can overrule the moderator's decisions on how the meeting is run.
The moderator can also postpone a town meeting (or deliberative session) to another date, place, and time if there's bad weather and they believe the roads are unsafe.
In 2017, a large snowstorm happened before a municipal election. The Secretary of State clarified that moderators could not postpone elections, but some did anyway. In 2019, a new law was passed that allows for postponing elections in case of a winter storm, blizzard, or ice storm warning. It also lets people vote absentee if they are worried about their safety during such a warning.
Town Meetings in New York
Town meetings were common in New York from colonial times until the 1900s. They were usually held between February and May each year, mainly to elect town officials. They also had the power to set "rules for fences and for impounding animals," support the poor, raise taxes, and decide "any other question lawfully submitted to them." In the late 1890s, the state government changed these meetings (which by then were mostly just elections) to happen every two years, to match federal, state, and city elections. They also allowed, and later required, town meetings to be held in November. This change was completed by the 1920s. Laws in 1932 started calling these "Biennial town elections," saying they were a "substitute for a town meeting." School districts in New York (which are separate units with taxing powers) voted on budgets and building projects in a town-meeting style until the late 1950s.
Town Meetings in Rhode Island
Because of a change in its state constitution, Rhode Island towns have more "home rule" (power to govern themselves) than other New England states. Like Connecticut, a few towns use a "Financial Town Meeting." In these towns, an Open Town Meeting only votes on money matters, and a Town Council handles the town's other laws. Direct democracy is not as common in Rhode Island now.
Town Meetings in Vermont
Towns in Vermont usually have an annual town meeting on the Monday before the first Tuesday in March, starting at 7:30 p.m. The selectmen choose the location. The date of the annual town meeting can be changed by a vote of the citizens at another town meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to elect town officials, approve annual budgets, and handle other business. All cities and some towns in Vermont operate under special charters instead of general laws. These cities and chartered towns, except for South Burlington, must hold an annual town meeting on Town Meeting Day. Many towns vote on important matters (like budgets and elected officials) by secret ballot. However, there's no state law requiring secret ballots, so some towns still do all business "from the floor" (by voice or hand vote).
Cities and towns are governed by a city council or a select board. These groups have the power to act on most issues and are usually considered the town's law-making body. But all town budgets (and those of other independent taxing groups) must be approved by a plebiscite (a direct vote by all eligible voters). Explaining the local government's budget request to the voters is the main job of the Town Meeting. Voters at Town Meeting can also vote on non-binding resolutions (suggestions that aren't laws) and can put items on the ballot for the next year's meeting.
There's no general rule that chartered towns must have a town meeting or put their budgets to a direct vote. When the Town of South Burlington became the City of South Burlington in 1971, its new charter said that city elections would be in April and only budget increases of 10% or more needed to be voted on by citizens. No other town has been given such a charter, and there's strong opposition to making more exceptions.
According to the Vermont Secretary of State, state employees get the day off on town meeting day. Vermont law also allows private employees to take unpaid time off to attend their annual town meeting, as long as it doesn't stop the business from running. Employees must tell their employer at least seven days beforehand. Students over 18 also have the right to attend town meeting and won't be marked absent.
Moderator
Moderators are elected for one-year terms. Their jobs include reviewing the warrant (the published agenda) for the town meeting, leading the meeting, deciding on questions of order, publicly announcing the results of each vote, and setting the rules for the meeting.
Town Meetings in Other States
Towns in some western states and counties also have town meetings, but usually with less power. Michigan was the first western state to use the town meeting system, but it was very limited at first.
Minnesota has had town meetings as the policy-setting bodies for its townships. They were required once a township's voting population reached 25 people. Townships in Minnesota still hold town meetings.
Town Meetings in Spain
Some small municipalities of Spain use a town meeting system called a Concejo abierto ("open council"). This system dates back to the Middle Ages. The Spanish constitution allows municipalities with fewer than 100 people, as well as those that have traditionally used the system, to operate under an open council.
Basque Country
A well-known example of the Spanish town meeting system was in the Basque Country of northern Spain during the Middle Ages. This was called the anteiglesia (meaning "in front of the church"). All residents of a town would meet outside the largest church and vote on local issues. They would also elect a sindico to represent them in the regional assembly. The town was divided into cofradías, which handled daily tasks in each of the town's church areas.
This system was brought back in the town of Iurreta, Biscay in 1990.
Town Meetings in Switzerland
Town meetings are the usual way for smaller municipalities of Switzerland to make laws. This applies to about 90% of all Swiss municipalities. The meetings are usually held twice a year. At the canton (state) level, some regions also have Landsgemeinde, which are annual meetings where people vote on laws. In the 1600s, this was common across the region, but today, these meetings only exist in the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus.
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See also
In Spanish: Gobierno asambleario para niños
