ANNUAL TOWN MEETING - MAY 7th at 7:00 PM
The ANNUAL TOWN MEETING has been scheduled for THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015 at 7:00 PM in the Pomfret Community School Cafeteria. There are a number of items on the Call of the Meeting that will be discussed and voted on by Pomfret citizens. Proposed budgets for fiscal year 2015/2016 will also be voted on at this meeting. The Boards of Selectmen, Education, and Finance have all reviewed and approved the budgets as proposed.
VIEW THE CALL OF THE MEETING HERE
View Board of Education proposal here View General Government proposal here
Plan to attend and be a part of this historic New England tradition!
Read more about New England Town Meetings -
The New England Town Meetings first began close to 400 years ago, approximately 1620 in the New England colonies. When the Puritans traveled to America in order to have religious freedom, they developed a type of town meeting to discuss particular issues. The meetings were held in colonial meeting houses which needed to meet at least two criteria. First, "It was built at tax payer expense (except in Rhode Island), and it was used for both religious worship and town business." Town meetings occur in Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and few other New England states.
The New England Town Meetings are open forums that promote democracy. Local officials hear the community view on public issues. The town meetings are open and involve community members mainly in the New England states. During the deliberation process, community members vote on laws and budgets. "Proponents of the town assembly emphasize that it is the purest form of democracy that ensures that all policy decisions are in the public interest since no intermediaries are placed between the voters and the public decisions." "It's the closest to the people, it involves the largest number of people, its the most open."
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The Boards of Selectmen, Education, and Finance have held many meetings, workshops, and hearings regarding the proposed budgets. For a list of the meetings that were held, click the link below. Minutes of these meetings can be accessed by following the links from the toolbar above.