Sign at town hall at Killington.

Sign at town hall at Killington.

History was made last night in Killington. It is up to the residents of the town to use the results responsibly. Only time will tell.

The legal reason for last nights meeting was to revote on the budget that was voted down at the Town Meeting held in March. With little discussion, the residents in attendance voted approval for the budget by voice vote from the floor. A couple of brief housekeeping issues followed, before the controversial issues on the meetings agenda broke the meeting wide open.

The first series of articles discussed were on Australian Ballot voting. Diane Rosenblum and myself co-sponsored the original petition to place this issue before the town meeting. My partner, Mary, gave the introductory remarks to those assembled to begin the discussion.

Having studied history as a hobby, it never ceases to amaze me how people who perceive they are in power attempt to limit the rights of other people to vote. Words were spoken about the history of the town, about the honor of the process, and about maintaining town traditions. While they were all worthy arguments deserving respect, the turning point occurred when a person against the initiatives spoke about uneducated bartenders and waitresses and housekeepers and ski instructors being allowed to vote in town elections. Since I employ all of the above, I understand that this group is a lot of things, but uneducated is not one of them. Since most of the restaurants and bars in Killington were closed, and since skiing has ended at Killington for the year, there were many bartenders, waiters/waitresses, housekeepers and ski instructors at the meeting. The crowd, realizing the faux pas, went silent.

By far, the proudest moment of the night for Mary and I occurred at this point when our assistant (bartender, waitress, innsitter...she does everything for us) Merisa got up and addressed the crowd. She eloquently told people that she was "a bartender, a waitress, a ski instructor. That she could read. That she was educated. That she worked for a living, and that she was demanding her constitutional right to vote!" It was the turning point of the debate. The audience cheered. It was literally history being made at Killington.

After Merisa's statement, all three Australian Ballot questions passed by comfortable margins. The first article, to adopt future Killington town budgets by Australian Ballot passed 163 to 128. The second article, to vote on all public questions by Australian Ballot passed by 168 to 111. And the third to vote for all Killington elected officers by Australian Ballot passed by 161 to 125.

The last set of articles on the special town meeting agenda were related to changing the number of sitting members of the towns select board from 3 to 5 people. Co-author of these articles, Eileen Godfrey, was invited by the moderator to begin the discussion by presenting the articles and why she sought to place them before this town meeting.

As has been said, "politics ain't bean bag". Supporters of the current 3 member board structure launched a series of speeches designed to sway the crowd, followed by personal attacks on supporters of the article, myself included. Several members of the community got up to the microphone and decried the personal attacks. I am very proud that supporters of the change to the 5 member board did not respond to the personal attacks in like kind. There is no place for that in a small town where we all need to live and work together.

Unfortunately, at last nights meeting, the move to expand the towns select board was voted no by the majority of those in attendance. There were 133 yes votes to 150 no votes to defeat the article.... So it goes..

Later in the evening after the proceedings ended, it was clear while I was out having a beer that the younger generation of Killington voters had been positively energized after participating in the meeting. As an aging baby boomer, I know that the energy and passion displayed later in the evening needs to translate into future action. If it does, then history was truly made in Killington last night. And that will keep Killington being a great town to call home and to visit for many years to come.