I have been doing plenty of soul-searching on the transition and here's some
thought that has come through my mind:
*If the Charter is what the voters voted for, then Town Meeting, and even City
Council may not attempt to replace the Charter before 5 years have passed. Any
attempts would not only be improper, but also illegal.
Whether we go CITY or stay TOWN, the following apply:
*We do not cut off services in a nilly-willy way.
*We do not be jerks and play politics in order to make it a mess for the next
sets of folks who go to replace us.
*We, in Town Meeting, make decisions solely on the merits of the individual
articles.
*In short, we continue to go about doing business as usual.
*If in doubt on legality, we can rise to ask, thru the moderator, for legal
advice from the Town Counsel.
Assuming we go City, the City Council could very well end up being a subset of
Town Meeting and the Mayor could very well end up being one of the current
Selectmen. After that, the Mayor can make appointments and City Council weigh
in on those appointments.
There is a question on who think and act like us... Here's some answer on whom
I cannot relate with:
I cannot relate with someone who is extremely evasive in answering a YES or NO
question. (I can understand the evasiveness if I am not entitled to the answer
to a particular question I'm asking.)
I also cannot relate with a person who feel that the recount is not only a
waste of money, but also should not be done 'out of principle' as the excuse
may be.
I cannot relate with someone who disparage our constituency. For that matter, I
cannot relate with someone who goes out of their ways to disenfranchise others
because of their race, creed, heritage, gender, sexual orientation/identity,
etc.
Especially, I cannot relate with a professional who should know better than to
do these things which I enumerated in this post.
I cannot relate with someone who makes promises with no intention of delivering
and making such promises to try to 'buy' me off.
I cannot relate with those who feel that they're 'owed' the position in the new
CITY government.
If you can relate with those I find difficult with relating with, go and put
them in office, but be warned, you'll be disappointed, to say the least.
I rather have statesmen representing this community than to have politicians
representing this community.
We have choices for our new City Government. Let's choose wisely.
Nomination papers available on May 1. You're all invited to participate in the
process.
William LaBarge
Town Meeting Member, Precinct 16