Five Devens residents, including this reporter, attended Harvard’s Annual Town Meeting last Saturday. Last year, 18 Devens residents attended Town Meeting. One reason for the lower Devens turnout this year might be that Devens residents were not included in the townwide mailing of the Annual Town Meeting warrant, an oversight for which Town Administrator Tim Bragan takes full responsibility. Earlier this week Bragan said, “My apologies to all of the residents of Harvard that live in Devens.”
Two of us were Harvard residents long before Fort Devens was decommissioned, and are veterans of many a town meeting. Nancy Reifenstein lived on Houghton Lane for 36 years, while this writer spent only half that amount of time on Littleton Road, never getting beyond newcomer status. Reifenstein, who is still active in the Harvard Historical Society, League of Women Voters, Council on Aging, Fruitlands, and the Woman’s Club, never missed a town meeting without good reason, she said, and wants to stay involved and exercise her right to vote, although, she volunteered, “it didn’t feel right” voting on money issues since her tax dollars no longer go to Harvard.
Dave Winters, an elected member of the Devens Citizens Advisory Committee, attended to represent his constituency, he told the Press, and in case anything came up about Devens that he could affect or clarify. “I have a right to participate in the Harvard Town Meeting even though I’m not directly affected,” he continued. Winters, a former Midwesterner, also liked observing and getting a better understanding of the town meeting process, he said.
Maud Ayson, executive director of Fruitlands Museum and a former Groton resident, said she was “very impressed” by the meeting and enjoyed the “diversity of voices, the energy, and the festive” atmosphere outside the gymnasium where the meeting was held. She thought the meeting “moved well.” Even though she knew ahead of time that Article 20, Protective Bylaw Amendment RE: Museums, would be passed over, she said, she was glad she attended.
Marcia Malmfeldt, a real estate agent who moved to Devens from Wayland in 2005 with her husband, said last year she was unable to attend the meeting, so this year she made a point of finding out when it would be held. She attended “with the idea of seeing what kind of town Harvard is” and to compare it to Wayland’s town meetings, she said. Her impression was that Harvard is a “friendly town” and that voters are respectful of one another, although, she continued, she didn’t feel comfortable voting on all warrant articles.
