Debate
Editorial

Ashburnham selectmen may not have acted the most professional at their meeting Tuesday night as they argued about whether to put an article on the Town Meeting warrant for the Ashburnham Westminster Regional School Committee to request money for capital items at the school buildings.

The School Committee is still trying to determine which items they will ask for, and will meet again with the boards of selectmen and advisory boards from Westminster and Ashburnham on Tuesday for a final discussion.

But at this week's meeting, Ashburnham selectmen argued about whether to include the articles on the warrant at all. The three selectmen had very different opinions - Jonathan Dennehy said no; Mark Carlisle said it should depend on the amount of money being requested; and Chris Gagnon said voters have to have the right to decide.

The discussion got to the point where the selectmen were yelling over each other trying to be heard, which was not the most professional of behaviors. But they did express their true opinions on the subject matter, for which they should be congratulated.

Too often it seems like town officials have already come to agreements about how to handle the politics of an issue before they reach the public meeting. The polite, short discussions often don't seem to get to the root of the matter, answer questions that residents have, or give residents the chance to see how their elected officials actually stand on an issue.

We seem to have reached a point where the real politics of town are taking place behind closed doors so public meetings follow a polite and predetermined pattern. It seems like the political discussions aren't taking place at the table any more but in blogs, in private offices or somewhere else.

Let us hope that the selectmen can take their discussions to a slight lower voice volume but continue to have the high level of debate they did Tuesday night. Voters need to know where their representatives stand and why they feel that way.