Monday night was Winchendon’s Spring town meeting. For those of you not familiar with town meeting…”A New England Town Meeting is an example of direct democracy. It’s a form of local government where residents directly participate in making decisions about their town’s affairs, such as local laws and budgets, without elected representatives. ” Ai Overview

This was the town meeting where the town had to appropriate the money for the town budget which would increase property taxes significantly or not appropriate the funds which would close the library, the senior center and the parks and rec department by June 30th.

It was a long meeting, four hours, and well attended.

In the end after a lot of discussion we passed the budget to a mixed reaction, but it passed. I have set a meeting with the heads of the Senior Center, the Parks and rec. department and the library to see how the church may become a more effective resource for the town.