Moderator René Lafayette gave a plain-language overview of how town meetings work in the Town of Hubbardston during a Citizens Academy session.

“The annual town meeting is just that, here in Hubbardston. It is held in the spring. And that is when the town budget is approved and it usually precedes the town election by about a week,” Lafayette said, summarizing the meeting’s central purpose.

Lafayette told attendees that the warrant functions as the meeting agenda: articles are first approved by the Select Board and then considered by voters at town meeting. He described a 2024 example in which a motion to table an article was initially defeated, then brought back under reconsideration and passed, illustrating how procedural motions can change outcomes.

He outlined the roles of key town offices: the Select Board serves as the town’s executive body and appoints the town administrator; the finance committee reviews articles with financial impact and issues recommendations; and the town clerk, an appointed position in Hubbardston, keeps the official record and minutes. Lafayette defined town counsel as the attorney and law firm that provide legal advice to the town.

On voting procedures, Lafayette said checkers verify that voters are registered at check-in, while counters—appointed by the moderator—physically count votes when a show-of-cards is inconclusive. He described that process as a two-step deliberative method: an initial show of hands or cards followed by a standing count if needed.

Providing statewide context, Lafayette said Massachusetts has 351 municipalities (59 cities and 292 towns), with roughly 260 towns holding open town meetings and 32 using representative town meetings; he added that a population of about 6,000 is required for the representative form of government.

He summarized the legal foundation for town meetings as Massachusetts General Laws, the town’s bylaws, the parliamentary authority cited in those bylaws (the book Town Meeting Time), and the motions made at individual meetings. Lafayette framed town meeting as a distinct New England form of municipal government and described it as “direct democracy.”

Lafayette closed the session with brief housekeeping notes—he typically begins by leading the Pledge of Allegiance—and a short biography: he was first elected Hubbardston moderator in June 2019 and reelected in June 2022, has worked as a parliamentarian since 1978, served four terms in the Rhode Island House of Representatives and a decade as High Sheriff of Providence County, and teaches social studies and law at Leominster High School.