TOWNSHEND — I owe my town an apology.
At a recent Selectboard meeting, I became just one more in a long list of local officials and private citizens to temporarily deter the members of the board from discharging their duties by injecting boisterous challenges to their reasoning and assumptions.
After the meeting, an agitated Selectboard member accused me of being “my own worst enemy.” But I don't see myself as a man with enemies; I see myself as a man with allies with whom I can disagree.
We opinionated townspeople prod, cajole, and criticize, not because we dislike our town or its government, but because we love this town and we know we can do better.
Some people take offense to our actions, calling them disruptive or disrespectful. These people are entitled to their opinions. Letters can go unanswered and phone calls can go unreturned, but it is far harder to ignore the people in an open forum.
I do not attend public meetings for any other reason than I believe it to be my right and duty to do so. Often I sit alone in the gallery, sole observer of democracy in action.
Other times, I am nestled among those waiting to present grievances. For the most part, I speak only when called upon.
However, I recentIy made the mistake of becoming the very type of hypocrite I try to call out in local government.
Not an hour after I publicly chastised our town leaders for the way they create a hostile environment for town volunteers by failing to encourage and support training and professional education, I unleashed a browbeating at those who have volunteered to serve as heads of our town, our Selectboard.
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Vermont is fortunate to have the type of open access to local government that many in this country might consider amazing.
Well, it is amazing. We have direct access to our local government because they are our friends and neighbors. There are a multitude of volunteers, like myself, who are willing to run for or fill unoccupied seats on committees, boards and councils just to ensure our local government is properly staffed and able to function effectively.
In my brief years as a Townshend resident, I have served or continue to serve in whatever way I can, including as a selectman, planning commissioner, and auditor.
As Vermonters, we have a long and colorful history as a people who volunteer, participate, assist - as a people who care. This is the most important value of the past for us to hold on to.
Townshend, like many towns in Vermont, struggles to balance the new with the old. My outbursts, inappropriate as they may have been, were to serve a purpose.
As a town, we need to engage in a dialogue about education: the education of us, both our townsfolk and leaders. There are those who still believe that we, as citizens and as a town, can operate the ways we did 15, 20, or even 30 years ago.
This is simply not the case.
It is no longer acceptable to not even know what you don't know because you can't be bothered to find out. We need to strive harder to identify the things that we need to understand in order to guide a town.
It is appalling to attend meetings of various governing bodies and hear members proudly proclaim that they have discharged the duties of such and such an office for years without consulting applicable bylaws, legislation, or regulation and feel no need to start now.
Occasionally, we see our local officials, elected or appointed, joke about not knowing how to use email or check voice mail messages, or about not knowing their own phone number or email address.
This is one more type of not knowing that is not funny. Town officials have responsibilities and duties that require a minimum degree of knowledge and responsiveness. Not knowing is not the same as not being responsible.
It is our civic duty to educate ourselves so that we can learn the lessons of the past, the rules of the present, and to facilitate a brighter future.