Three cheers for the Town of Antrim, New Hampshire, practicing democracy even during a time when it is so difficult for most to do so. And guess what: no one is claiming the decisions made at the Town Meeting were rigged or false! Yes, it's a rare day in America when Americans get to practice being Americans and there is faithfulness to process and honesty among the voters.
Now, all that said, I must once again raise my hand over one decision in particular. I should be straight forward however to note that it is not the decision but what they have decided to label what the town has agreed to. The decision: create a body of community-elected folks who will organize to look out for the town citizens and inform more fully those who are elected to make decisions for the town. Imagine again, the citizens have decided to have citizens look out for them. Hmm, we typically over quite a number of years only see half of the body that has this duty, standing-up and trying to do what is best for the citizenry.
BUT this new body is being called, for short, the Community Board. But it will be acting more as a Council and it has no fiduciary responsibilities. It is not really a "board". While it's advice and study will hopefully be taken seriously, it is not a board and it has no authority to enforce what it recommends.
From the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, here's a description of the newly launched Antrim Community Board:
Antrim became the first town in the state to establish a community board after voters overwhelmingly approved the measure at Town Meeting Thursday night. The board is tasked with enhancing public health, prosperity, quality of life, safety, and general welfare of all town residents. Residents passed all articles on the warrant, and all five zoning ordinance amendments passed during ballot voting on Tuesday.
It’s been legal since 2008 for a town to establish a community services and care planning board, as one might establish a conservation commission, yet no town had gone through the process until Thursday night.
The Community Board will deliver annual reports, ...., and, unlike a nonprofit’s board of directors, board members will be elected by residents on a rolling (I might quibble with this statement, there are boards that do engage residents for a vote to select a portion of members) basis starting next year, and all meeting proceedings are available to the public. That means accountability, transparency, and long-term stability, she said.
Like land use planning boards, certain goals identified by the Community Board will eventually work their way into the town’s Master Plan, Allen said. Unlike land use planning, community board initiatives will come with detailed action steps, as per state guidance. “We aren’t going to approve a project unless it brings with it enough volunteers and resources to make it happen,” Allen said.
The Board’s work will center on a community asset database, Allen said, a project that’s already collected input from almost 100 residents. The information allows Board members to group people by interests and skills to tackle projects that improve quality of life, such as a suicide prevention-focused group, he said, as well as more innocuous endeavors, like connecting people in town who want to know more about woodworking.
So there you have it - not a Community Board but definitely a Community Council. My counsel: don't use the word "board" when what is really intended is some other structure and/or function.