BRATTLEBORO — Since August, most town meeting members, like myself, started re-familiarizing ourselves with the town articles that still needed to be voted on.
Due to COVID-19, Annual Representative Town Meeting was, for the most part, put on hold last March. When it was rescheduled on Sept. 12, its venue was on Zoom - a whole new frontier for many, a true labor of love, and a team effort.
I want to thank and praise my fellow Town Meeting members who managed to keep the quorum for over 13{1/2} hours - including a three-hour test run on Sept. 5 - and vote on all articles.
A special thank you to Starr Latronica, Matt Wojcik, and the staff at Brooks Memorial Library for providing updated software and technical support for both sessions for those (like myself) who were in need of it.
Praise to Moderator Lauren Crispe for his stamina, patience, and professionalism.
The Brattleboro town employees deserve special acknowledgment, especially Town Manager Peter Elwell and particularly Patrick Moreland, assistant town manager, who spent many very tedious hours mastering this new technology.
A special shout out, I think, goes to Town Secretary Pamela Anderson and Town Clerk Hilary Francis, who for months behind the scenes have both done a lot of the heavy lifting!
Thank you, Brattleboro, for pulling this off and, consequently, bringing hope to many of us for the future.