Getting 100 people to show up at Ware town meetings is never a sure thing, but without that number there is no quorum and government business grinds to a halt.
WARE — Getting 100 people to show up at Ware town meetings is never a sure thing, but without that number, there is no quorum and government business grinds to a halt.
Numerous attempts to lower the quorum have failed.
This year there is a plan to address the problem: reduce the quorum to zero.
The article appears on the warrant and registered voters will decide the issue at the May 13 annual town meeting – provided there are at least 100 present.
Selectman John Carroll says he expects an amendment to the article to create a quorum somewhere greater than zero but less than 100.
“We can’t do this. That means five people can go in there and make decisions,” former Ware selectman Catherine Buelow-Cascio said in a telephone interview.
“It’s a pain and it’s a problem but we have to educate more,” she said. “We can’t give away our standards and give the town away. I know that sounds like the easy way, but ... .”
Selectman and Town Clerk Nancy Talbot favors the quorum change. She said reducing the quorum will not only allow Ware to conducts its business, but that other clerks she has talked with say a zero quorum actually increases attendance at town meetings.
“We’ve had many town meetings where we’ve had to delay or postpone deliberations because of lack of a quorum,” Talbot said. Proposals to reduce the quorum requirement of 100 have “come up several times but it has never passed.”
Article 26 states: “To see if the Town will vote to amend the Town Charter, to read, ‘The quorum at all Town Meetings shall be 0 registered voters.’”
The town meeting is May 13.