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Select Board agrees to post petitioned advisory question on April 18 after extended public debate
Summary
After roughly an hour of public comment and discussion, the Rangeley Select Board voted to post a petitioned advisory question about using secret ballot for some warrant articles on the April 18 ballot and will attach a brief explanatory statement to the warrant.
The Rangeley Select Board voted to post a petitioned advisory question on the April 18 warrant after an extended public discussion about whether some budget articles should be decided in open town meeting or by secret ballot.
Supporters of the petition, who collected signatures urging the board to seek public input about the town meeting format, urged the board to present the question as a separate, clearly worded advisory question on the April warrant. Several residents said secret-ballot votes reduce social pressure when voters decide donation and budget articles. Opponents said existing votes and a recent poll already show public preference and warned that a repeat question may be redundant.
The board agreed the petition would be posted and that town staff would add a short explanatory statement about projected fund-balance figures adjacent to the question on the warrant. The manager said the posted explanatory text will summarize the projected FY25 fund balance (discussed in the meeting at about $6,000,000) and a brief note about fund-balance policy.
Speakers during the discussion included petition organizers and multiple residents who said they had signed petitions (speakers referenced signature totals of "300," "500," and later an 88–90 total with a stated threshold of 70 needed to qualify). Several select board members and the town manager debated timing, whether the question should be advisory, and whether it should appear in April or be left for June's ballot schedule. A motion to post the petitioned article for the April 18 warrant passed with the board in favor.
Board members and members of the public proposed additional steps the board could take before a final decision on format, including rewording the advisory question for clarity, holding a focused educational session or straw poll, or hosting the public discussion at a larger venue (school gym or firehouse) to encourage attendance.
The board directed staff to post the petitioned article for April 18 with the manager's explanatory language and to continue discussing how the question should be worded and presented for June if further action is desired.
