Let’s back this buy

Thursday, February 11, 2010

We understand Milford Selectman Gary Daniels’ concern about the economy and people’s ability to pay increased taxes, but we think voters should agree in March to spend $850,000 to buy land adjacent to the current fire station for a combined fire department/ambulance facility. Four selectmen voted to support this warrant article; Daniels was opposed.

He’s right that the economy still isn’t what we’d like it to be, but Milford needs this facility and if it isn’t built soon, the cost is only going to increase. Can we be sure that improvements in the economy will outpace the increase costs of waiting to build? No.

The fact is, the fire station and the ambulance bay are just too small. Drop by the latter – under Town Hall – and see for yourself. And firefighters, we’re sure, will be happy to show you their station and explain what they need and why they need it.

It took several years for Milford voters to approve a much-needed police station but finally it is in place and no one seems to be the worse for it.

We shouldn’t allow this much-needed fire/ambulance facility to wait as long, if for no other reason than we should want to say to our firefighters and EMTs, “We appreciate and value your service and want you to have decent and reasonable places to work.” They are available to us 24 hours a day, seven days a week and they shouldn’t have to deal with cramped quarters as they prepare to deal with emergencies that sometimes mean life or death.

Vote “yes” on this warrant article when you go to the polls in March.

Speaking of polls …

Mont Vernon is going to have a major decision to make at its School District Meeting on March 9: whether or not to adopt the ballot voting provision of Senate Bill 2.

Currently, the town votes at school district and town meetings, while towns including Milford and Amherst make all of their final decisions at the polls, even on such things as their school district budgets.

Those who favor adopting Senate Bill 2 generally argue that it allows more people to participate in making town decisions. They argue that not everyone can afford the time that is taken at district and town meetings, generally several hours, sometimes on a weeknight.

That, they say, leaves decisions in the hands of just a few people, some of them with agendas (it is popular to blame town employees for having those agendas and accuse them of packing town or school meetings to push them through, but we don’t know if that is what Mont Vernon residents are thinking. We hope not).

Well, those who support SB2 have a valid point. In Milford, more people vote on the town and school budgets, for instance, at the polls than ever did so at town or district meetings. That’s good.

But far too few of them attend either budget hearings or the deliberative sessions that precede ballot voting and, the argument goes, often pull the voting lever without really understanding the issue.

But if “understanding the issue” was a requirement for voting, a lot of people would be left out.

Democracy, you see, is messy and even people who have no idea what they’re voting for or against have the right to vote. Those who favor SB2 say, in essence, “give more of them the ability to exercise that right.” It’s a valid point.

What Mont Vernon has to decide is what kind of town it wants to be. Towns that continue with town and school meetings are those that don’t just revere tradition but believe that those meetings have a point. And that point is to help those who attend understand what they’re voting on through discussion and, yes, even argument.

Now SB2 supporters can rightfully argue that voters would have that same opportunity by attending the deliberative sessions where they have the right to amend warrant articles. But here’s a test Mont Vernon voters can take: Attend a Milford or Amherst deliberative session and see how many residents bother to show up. Generally, it is a smaller number than ever attended a town or school meeting.

The deliberative session is no argument for SB2. If anything, it is counter argument.

Still, more and more towns are going in that direction and it is likely that Mont Vernon will, too. Eventually. The question is, should that time be now? Why?