The upcoming January 23rd Draft Budget Discussion is step 2 in this year's town meeting process. You can attend in person at the high school or by Zoom. The Join In Jericho page (https://jerichovt.org/jericho-town-meeting-2-0) has tons of information about the meeting and how to sign up for the advance spaghetti dinner (at 5pm) and the meeting itself.

In designing this approach, the Town Meeting Reimagined Taskforce was guided by the discussion and action at Jericho's 2024 Town Meeting, as reported by VTDigger in this article.

In its research, the taskforce learned about other towns in Vermont that have been trying out different approaches to the balance between what the Digger article calls tradition and equity. The taskforce referred to this as a balance between quantity and quality, or meaningful participation and access. A "traditional" fully in-person day-time Town Meeting ranks high on opportunity for meaningful participation, but low on access because many can't get there. An Australian ballot vote ranks high on access, but provides no opportunity to propose and vote on modifications, which, to some, makes it feel less meaningful.

The January 23 meeting represents a chance to discuss and propose modifications to the draft budget before it is presented for an official vote on March 4. Participants will be able to propose and vote on changes to the draft budget. And there's improved access because more people can participate on January 23 by joining the meeting remotely, and on March 4 by voting at the polls, open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Susan Clark, the long-time moderator of the Middlesex Town Meeting and co-author with Frank Bryan of "All Those in Favor, Rediscovering the Secrets of Town Meeting and Community," was generous in offering the taskforce lessons from Middlesex and other towns working on this power/access balance. She has also offered advice to legislative committees considering how to enable remote access to municipal governance procedures statewide, including Town Meeting.

Susan was excited to hear that the Jericho Town Meeting Taskforce has been working on both quantity and quality from the outset. She has found that towns often start the redesign of their Town Meeting by seeking to increase participation and make decision-making more accessible, but they soon recognize they need to figure out a way to make voter participation meaningful; otherwise the result doesn't accomplish what they intended.

At the Join in Jericho website you'll find information on how to join the meeting and sign up for dinner, as well as a Q & A. Please join your Jericho neighbors on January 23 for this new approach to the balance between access and meaningful participation in our town governance process!

Event Info

Jan 26, 2025, 11 AM to 1 PM

Jan 27, 2025, 6:30 to 8 PM

Jan 29, 2025, 9 AM to 4 PM