In 2009, town meeting day became recognized as a Holiday. Working Vermonters are now allowed to take an unpaid leave from work to attend town meeting day and students 18 years of age may miss school to attend. Here at Lyndon State College, of course, our News7 team works puts in extra hours, fanning out over our coverage area, and bringing back the results of democracy in action.
Town meeting day is a Vermont tradition that started 238 years ago and it continues to thrive in to this day. The first town meeting was held in Bennington in 1762. During these times men 21 years of age or older would gather on a weekly and sometimes monthly basis to discuss town issues and business. At this time, they didn't have elected officials as we do now, but as time passed, the towns people elected certain people to take leadership roles. These men would address issues raised by the townspeople and were called Selectmen.These elected officials would take concerns raised by residents and bring them to the table to discuss as a whole. These meetings soon became an annual tradition, called town meeting day. In the late 1700's town meetings decided such things as whether or not to let pigs run free, whether smallpox vaccinations should be allowed within towns, or what goods or labor would be used as payments for taxes. Today town meeting day ballots have come a long way with articles relating to education, roads, construction of buildings. Town meeting has always been a day to socialize with friends and family within your community and also introduce yourself to new families. This strengthens your community, making town decisions in the future that much easier--or at least based on common knowledge. In Vermont, this consensus-building process is always very apparent.
