As a selectboard member in and resident of Addison County, I wanted to thank Marin Howell for her timely article in the Jan 30 issue of the Addy Indy on boosting community participation in Town Meeting Day. This is an issue that is on the minds of many. It extends to all facets of community engagement, not just on Town Meeting Day but local town governance. Community engagement includes participation in town conversations, decision-making, finances, life, and governance.

In our town of Lincoln, it’s been tough to even get people to run for open offices. Considering the number of uncontested selectboard and other town office candidates across Addison County for the coming Town Meeting Day, we don’t seem to be alone in struggling to attract citizens to public service.

Are the challenges with engagement being felt in Vermont and other states due, primarily, to what’s been happening at the national level for years? Or is it unique to small state/town politics? Typically, as Marin pointed out, many people only tend to engage when there are “hot button” issues impacting them personally. Rarely, when things are going well, do people feel the need to participate with their local governing bodies. With some recent national surveys pointing to a citizen favorability rating of almost 63% with local government, encouraging broader community engagement should be a top priority for all selectboards in the state.

Those citizens who do engage, tend to do so because of a sense of civic duty that outweighs the challenges that come with participation. Especially for younger members of the community who may be parents of small or highly involved families, work great distances from home, travel for work, or have competing commitments. Engagement takes time and intent. With the demands of life competing with the very short window of time available to participate with local government, towns need to consider engagement as something that happens year-round, vs. a few times a month or one time per year.

On behalf of our selectboard, I hope to work with other members of our town governance, town staff, citizens, local schools, and state-wide experts to find more ways to improve not only our Town Meeting Day attendance, but overall participation in the current and future needs of the town. Many of the ideas presented in Marin’s article are worth exploring in our town and I look forward to exploring how they impact our local community engagement.

Ken Stockman

Lincoln