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Editorial - January 10, 2008

The Meredith News

Think long and hard on SB2

It's good to see that Meredith will be considering Senate Bill 2 this year; unlike several neighboring towns, it will be a first for Meredith voters. This does not mean, however, that the town should rush into adopting the practice, which eliminates the traditional town meeting in favor of a deliberative session followed several weeks later by Election Day. The deliberative session is as close to town meeting as SB2 gets, and though voters cannot vote on warrant articles, they can make amendments that, if passed by the majority in attendance, will ultimately be put on the ballot for Election Day.

Both Moultonboro and Sanborton have been debating the merits and downfalls of SB2 for years, and neither town has seen it to pass - yet. Undoubtedly it will continue to be a topic of conversation for many years to come. Gilford, on the other hand, has been an SB2 town since it was adopted in 2004, and at this point it seems to be working out just fine, with no serious attempts to change back to a town meeting format.

What this appears to mean is that some towns are ready for the change and some are not. It's not necessarily an inevitable change, either, despite the fact that as of 2006, 57 towns in the state (roughly 32 percent) had adopted SB2. Sixty towns in total have adopted the bill at some point, but three have rescinded it.

So what does this newfound interest in SB2 mean for Meredith? What it should mean is a good opportunity for discussion. Passing the bill the first year it is introduced is probably not the best idea, as it seems to take a while for people to truly research and understand the bill's effects. It is fairly complicated, and even a lengthy discussion or debate at town meeting won't be enough to truly inform voters. This year's vote should be the first step in a process that involves educating the public of both the positives and negatives of SB2 so that voters will be able to make an informed decision.

With only two months to go before the 2008 Town Meeting, it just doesn't make sense that enough people would be comfortable with SB2 to vote it in, and that's a good thing. There's a reason it's been a hot-button issue in other towns, and Meredith, which is a traditional New Hampshire town in so many ways seems an unlikely candidate to abandon town meeting as soon as 2009. Still, as we said, it is definately worth the discussion and getting a petitioned article on the warrant is the best way to get that conversation
going.

The Meredith News, January 10, 2008




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