Welcome to this year’s Annual Town Meeting edition of the Press, our yearly contribution to the volunteer-driven, direct democracy that powers our small town. We think Town Meeting is so important that we’re sending a copy of our largest issue ever to every household in Harvard and Devens, hoping it will spark interest in what’s at stake and encourage more of Harvard’s registered voters to head for Cronin Auditorium at noon on Saturday, May 3.
Our coverage includes a thorough analysis of two consequential articles on the warrant, plus a guide to the meeting itself and the “Glossary of Municipal Lingo.” For those in a hurry—which is most of us—we offer our signature “Warrant in Plain English,” a distillation of the facts you need to know before you vote on each of the 44 warrant articles that attendees will be asked to approve.
Of particular interest is Article 12, next year’s omnibus budget, which town committees and administrators struggled to trim before conceding the need for a tax override. And Article 43 proposes a new form-based zoning bylaw that could change the face of north Harvard. Both are examined in deeply reported front-page stories.
What the Press can’t provide is the give-and-take of a live Town Meeting, the passionately argued pros and cons, the friendly and unfriendly amendments, the probing questions of your neighbors, and the reasoned (or spun) answers of town officials—the sounds, in short, of a direct democracy at work. For that, your presence is required.
Town Meeting is Harvard’s legislature and every participant a legislator. Those who show up are the deciders, the de facto but unelected representatives of those who don’t—or can’t.
Of the 4,720 registered voters in the town of Harvard as of April 4, 2024, 392 attended last year’s meeting, a turnout of 8%, double the turnout of 2023. But we can do better. Winning our version of self-government was hard-fought, as Patriots’ Day reminds us each year. Keeping it is the hard work of citizenship.
See you at Town Meeting May 3 and Town Election May 6.
