Enthusiasm for change is high, Bow SB-2 petition drive meets goal in record time. Additional signatures are welcome.
Bow Budget Committee Members Cindy Martin and Rick Hiland have decided that we can no longer continue the status quo if we want to lower our taxes and have decided to be Co-Lead Petitioners for SB-2 for both town and school.
It is clear that the town meeting form of government is not serving the town of Bow well. Bow taxes continue to climb dramatically and fewer and fewer Bow residents are involved in the decision making process because of the exclusive nature of the archaic town meeting process. SB-2 is as simple as voting for president – you either vote for or against an article. SB-2 minimizes the chicanery and the abuse that is becoming more and more common in recent Bow town and school meetings where voters try to disenfranchise Bow voters by calling for a “revote” after many voters have gone home. SB-2 challenges town and school officials to keep budgets low because SB-2 evens the playing field by allowing the complete town to vote on every issue minimizing the power of special interest.
BCC welcomes the SB-2 debate and is more then ready to debunk the myths of those who are addicted to O.P.M (other people’s money). We ask Bow voters to come this website often to learn more about SB-2 and read learn how the opposition is trying to mislead you.
Please take the time to download both the town and school petitions and get your friends and neighbors sign them.
Rick Hiland reports that it took only 3 hours to get well more then the needed signatures to get SB-2 on the Ballot. Rick reports that the petitions have been turned in and the signatures have been validated which means that SB-2 will be on the ballot for both town and school in May.
What exactly is the SB-2 Town Tally Form?
What is this all about? Please explain?
Where can I sign the petitions for SB-2?
It is about time SB-2 came back for a vote. Thank you Cindy and Rick.
Thanks Rick and Cindy!
Can you tell me the process from here? Is this something we hope to get on the next ballot? Or can it be adopted at the deliberative session? Is it too late to apply to this year?
ProtectingMyInvestment,
Because of Cindy & Rick’s efforts, SB-2 will be on the Ballot when we vote for school & town officals in May. If passed it would be in effect for next year.
Please tell your friends and neighbors about SB-2. It is quite simple but the opposition hates it so much because it evens the playing field that they will say just about anything to stop it.
Thanks for the info taxed2death. I will be looking forward to that vote and will certainly be telling anyone who will listen – and even some who will not. This long overdue.
Information on SB-2:
It took approximately 3 hours to get 35 signatures on the school and town SB-2 petitions. They have been turned in and have been validated. They will be voted on in the May ballot elections (in the privacy of the voting booth so no intimidation factor) at the same time you will vote for town officials running for elected positions on both the town and school side. I will be putting together some information on SB-2 and submitting it to the folks that operate this BCC web site in the very near future. Stay tuned.
Information on the Tally Warrant Article petition:
This has nothing to do with SB-2 for starters. The folks at this web site have confused the issues with their postings on their home page.
The “Tally Warrant Article” pertains to the common appearance at the bottom of all Town and School Warrant Articles that have money amounts in them where you would see the words, “APPROVED OR NOT APPROVED BY THE BUDGET COMMITTEE” or “APPROVED OR NOT APPROVED BY THE SCHOOL BOARD” or “APPROVED OR NOT APPROVED BY THE SELECTMEN” or in most cases in recent years “APPROVED OR NOT APPROVED BY THE XXXXXX BY 4-3 VOTE” on the Town side. The School Board has refused in the past to include the “TALLY” vote in thier Warrant Articles for whatever their reasons. Ask them why?
There has been much discussion regarding this practice in the past and to whether this was legal under NH RSA. The legislature passed legislation this past session that still made it very vague as to what you can or cannot do, but also requires a vote a Town and School District meeting in order to validate this proceedure into the future for certain.
We have seen in the last few years many people relying on this at these meetings and when the School Board refuses to post this information, many have asked at these meetings what the Budget Committee or School Board or the Selectmen vote actually was on the various issues to help them understand if they were slam dunk issues or controversial postions taken or disagreements pertaining to these money issues to help them be informed voters at these meetings. From what I observed was that people would ask more questions about the various issues regarding spending.
These “Tally Warrant Articles” for both ther School and Town meetings if passed by the voters at these meetings this year will guarrantee that the language and the actual vote of the Budget Committee, School Board, and Selectmen will be on all public postings and documents for all voters to see and be informed plain and simple.
The wording of these Warrant Artciles are as follows:
Petition To The Bow School Board & Selectmen
To Insert Warrant Article
Pursuant to NH RSA 32:5, V-a, the undersigned legal voters of Bow NH request you to insert into the Warrant for 2009 Annual School District Meeting (and Town Meeting)for a ballot vote the following question:
“Do you favor the final votes taken by the Bow Budget Committee and the Bow School Board (or Selectmen)relative to all budget items and warrant articles be recorded votes and the numerical tally of any such vote be printed in the School District Warrant (and Town Warrant)next to the affected Warrant Article and included in the official Annual Bow Town/School District Report and any similar electronic or printed material reflecting those votes distributed to the public?â€
This “TALLY” if passed by the voters will guarrantee the continuation of this practice until the voters vote it out.
I hope this expalins the issue. If anyone has any other questions regarding this Warrant Article, please ask as I will try to check into this web site as time for me permits.
They were written separately to each the School and Town side as required by NH RSA. I combined them above for simplicity only.
Each of these Warrant Article petitions had 38 signatures on them and collected in less than 3 hours. Nobody I approached on these showed any objection to signing except one gentleman was upset that we did not do this five years ago.
Thank you to the people who operate this BCC web site for the forum to get information out to residents and voters in Bow that they might not get elsewhere.
Please remember that increased spending…………increases taxes………and that is not fuzzy math…………..believe it or not…………..
Why SB-2 ?
By going to an SB-2 form of Town and School District Meeting government, the Town Meeting or School District Meeting philosophy does not go away as the naysayers want you to believe. People will still go to a School District meeting and a Town Meeting which are the same Deliberative Sessions in place currently – issues will be discussed the same as currently done in the School District and Town Meeting. Warrant Articles and changes to the Warrant Articles will be debated the same way as they are now in a School District or Town Meeting. Petitioned Warrant Articles will be argued the same as in the current School District or Town Meeting…nothing changes except when you vote which will be two (2) weeks later in the privacy of a voting both…how much simpler can that be?
The ONLY difference with SB-2 is that the voting occurs not during the School District or Town Meeting as is currently the case, where your fellow citizens will either hear your vote (by voice vote) or see your vote when you stand or raise your hand. Many voters are intimidated by this. Who wants to be seen and known as being “one of those” that did not agree in raising their daughter’s teacher’s salary? Or approving the new Police cruiser? Or voting for the latest BEA teacher’s contract? Instead, the actual “up or down” voting is done in the privacy of the voting booth during an all day event at a time of a voter’s own choosing in just a few minutes.
Unhindered, un-intimidated, in privacy, and at your convenience – and this is supposed to be bad for a town? This is supposed to be un-democratic?
Do the arguments that you keep hearing from the Bow School Board and the Bow Select Board members really make any sense except the fact that they will loose their grip on controlling your votes through the intimidation factor at School District or Town Meetings.
What are some of the local arguments in Bow (from real people) against it, and do they really hold up to scrutiny when you compare the real pros and cons of SB-2 ? I think not…
SB-2 allows for one person, one vote…in the privacy of the voting booth which is the American way. It takes away the ability of the School Board or the Selectmen to control the outcome of the School District Meeting or the Town Meeting by controlling the emotions.
You will to vote from 7AM to 7PM on all the Warrant Articles that were discussed and possibly amended at the School District meeting or the Town Meeting. If you cannot be in Bow for the voting day, it will also allow you to vote by absentee ballot. Everyone who wishes gets to vote on what directly affects their property tax bill. Absentee ballots help our students, military personnel, business people who will be out of town,
The School Board and Selectmen will tell you that if you did not attend the School District meeting or the Town Meeting that you are not going to be an informed voter on voting day. Surprisingly enough they do not tell you that the right to vote has no conditions attached to it either.
Get your American freedom to vote back… every person in Bow has a right to vote… by supporting SB-2 in Bow NH.
I hope I have now fixed the problem by separating the SB2 petitions from the Tally petitions.
Don’t shoot me — I’m just the webmaster.
How about putting a link on the front/home page to the SB-2 discussions to make it easier for folks to find it?
Also a link for the “TALLY” information?
It seems a bit confusing when you are trying to locate information or discussion on these subjects.
Thank you to the webmaster in advance.
There is already a link to all sections of this blog on the left side of each of the hard-coded pages and on the right side of the blog.
If you get lost, simply hit the title in the orange bar at the top.
Thanks Rick. I would add to your list of valid argumens that SB2 is not connected to attending the town or deliberative sessions. The Selectmen argument you reference above makes no sense. Its not like being informed is a prerequisite for the deliberative session either or that SB2 would further discourage attendance at those evens, which is already quite minimal. Nontheless, I had been concerned what the arguments against SB2 might be and was struggling to come up with anything logical.
A letter from a BCC supporter. Her voice must be heard
Dear Bow Citizens Coalition,
Thanks for what you are doing. I will certainly support you as best I can. Having lost my beloved husband of forty-eight years in July , I am now in a real struggle to get his life insurance to pay off. His hospital bills have to be paid, etc.
Then, on top of that, after the new tax bill arrived and I am overwhelmed all over again! It is terrible that the older people in this town, that made it so attractive to the newcomers, are being driven out. SB2 should certainly be passed and something has to be done to stop giving monstrous amounts of money to a school system that doesn’t teach the young generation that they have to work for some of the things they want.
Please keep me in mind if I can help. Will surely try.
Name given but excluded for privacy purposes