Towns in southern New Hampshire continue to grow.
Some are now as large as many of the state’s cities.
But their town meeting style of government has remained the same for centuries.
And this year some residents and selectmen in a couple of those towns are thinking about change.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Rebecca Kaufman has more.
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Mike Ryan is an attorney in Goffstown.
He’s lived there for over forty years.
During that time, the town’s population has more than quadrupled.
But Mike Ryan says the growth hasn’t lead to increased participation in town government.
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2:40 when we were growing up in Goffstown it was maybe 3,000, 4,000 people and when you had a town meeting 4 or 5 hundred people came out to give their say and now if you go out to a deliberative session, if there were more than 40 people, including the budget committee you’d be lucky
On voting day, Ryan says turnout is high.
But at the town’s deliberation sessions-when voters have the opportunity to debate what goes on the ballot-Ryan says the same 30 or 40 people show up each year.
The result is that a very small percentage of the town’s voting population is essentially governing the town.
That’s why Mike Ryan lead a group of Goffstown residents to put an article on this year’s warrant asking voters if they think it’s time for a change.
If the article passes, voters would then elect a commission to study alternatives forms of government.
Former Goffstown police chief Steve Monier was also part of the effort.
He says the city has grown too large to be governed by annual town meetings and five selectmen.
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:55 we use the analogy that our community has had a master plan for years and periodically we go to it and update that,.but similary there has been no comprehensive look at our form of government and we need to do that because there are new issues, the budgets are getting bigger and the participation has continually diminished, that sends a signal
Neither Steve Monier nor Mike Ryan has any particular form of government in mind as a replacement.
But they’re not the only city experiencing growing pains.
Further south, the town of Merrimack will also ask voters whether the town should look at other forms of government.
There, the population is pushing 27,000, making it the third largest town in the state.
Merrimack Selectmen Norm Carr says the town simply needs more flexibility than the yearly town meeting allows for.
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:25 I’ve lived here over here 30 and there seems to be cycles of growth that you catch up to and then you are playing catch up again, we have significantly outgrown our library, we had outgrown our school system and those are big ticket items that have to be addressed on a short term basis and the opportunity is before us to perhaps change the form of government so we can plan better for those things than we do now
Carr uses the example of purchasing land.
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:40 if we were negotiating at this particular time for a piece of land, for example, which has happened, now it is too late to put that forward onto the warrant…you can’t close the deal before town meetings so it’s another year before that issue can come up
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3:00 the big thing everyone likes to bang on is “we can’t buy land”, “we can’t buy land”, I’ve been involved and each and every time we’ve been able to deal with pending a vote from the people, I don’t think it’s a hindrance at all
Dave McCray is the lone Merrimack Selectmen opposing the warrant article.
He says the town meeting system continues to be the most democratic.
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1:52 the selectmen govern the town but expenditures, the budget, that’s the people, the body and I don’t think they want to give that up, because of it we have a representative government, everybody has a voice, everyone is accessible…
Even those critical of town meetings admit that the prospect of doing away with them entirely is a hard pill to swallow.
Susan Slack is with the New Hampshire Municipal Association.
1:43 the real issue is are we going to continue to have direct democracy where everyone has a right to go vote on that budget issue or that policy issue or are we going to have a representative democracy where we elect town council members where they make all the decisions, local control and direct participation in New Hampshire is hard to give up
Slack says if these warrant articles pass, and commissions are formed to study other forms of government, there are several options to choose from.
One is to become a city.
But Slack says a more likely option is to remain a town and simply transfer governing power from the people to elected town councilors.
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:44 very few small towns go from being a town to a city…for the most it’s town council , do you only have a town council or do you retain what’s called a budgetary committee where the town comes together to vote on the budget once a year but all the other decisions are made day to day by the council during the year
Bedford adopted the system of town councilors and budgetary town meetings back in 1992.
Former town councilor and long time Bedford resident Dick Stonner says the town is once again considering a change.
But Stonner believes all and all, it’s been a good compromise.
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:10 I miss the town meeting, I never went a year without going to the town meeting and was very vocal, on the other hand there are some people who say hey, 11th largest community in the state, why don’t you just form a new charter and become a city and elect a mayor and alderman and everything is ahhhhh! No you can’t do that we’re not a city, we’re a town, we’re rural! So it’s probably the best of both worlds put together politically
Even if voters in Goffstown or Merrimack choose to form a charter commission, it’s likely that no change in government would be made until 2006.
For NHPR news, I’m RK
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