Submitted by Paul Curtis, Greenwich
The Representative Town Meeting, Greenwich’s 230 member legislative body, is up for election this November 7th.
The RTM is a non-partisan body created to represent the constituents of Greenwich, not a particular party or partisan ideology.
There are four very critical responsibilities that directly affect the residents of Greenwich, and must be considered when voting for your RTM members.
First, the RTM holds the authority to reduce or remove items from the annual Town budget. This includes everything from teacher’s salaries to the number of Parks employee maintaining Greenwich’s parks and public places to ensuring our public safety has adequate personnel and equipment to keep Greenwich safe.
While Greenwich enjoys lower property taxes than most all surrounding communities, that does come with the cost of having lower maintenance of aging public facilities, for example. There can be a balance, and the RTM budget votes can keep that balance.
Second, the RTM approves or denies the appointment of citizens to many Town boards and commissions that directly have an impact on the quality of living in Greenwich. The RTM approves appointments to the many boards and commissions that decide what and how our community will be improved.
Planning and Zoning (and the Zoning Board of Appeals) decide how the community will be developed or the Board of Parks and Recreation decides what projects will be undertaken. These boards, as examples, have enormous impact on Greenwich citizen’s daily lives.
Third, the RTM decides to grant or deny municipal improvements to public property and facilities. Municipal improvements include any significant change or addition to the many town owned public properties: schools, parks, and even streets. All of these facilities are used by the citizens every day. Upgrades and updates to many public facilities are
currently being considered. How will the RTM members you vote for affect these public facilities?
And fourth, the RTM can vote to change its own rules. While this may seem to be arcane, how the RTM conducts the business of the Town can determine what items are actually debated and discussed. The citizens of Greenwich must be able to speak to their elected representatives directly and those representatives need to have the freedom to vote to represent their constituents. Do not discount how simple meeting rule changes can change who, how, and what gets discussed and voted on.
Do the candidates you are voting for represent the concerns of the constituents of their districts, or are they candidates that will vote based on their party or ideology? A number of letters and opinions have been published indicating that many of the RTM candidates are running solely to pursue a majority of ideology or party.
Vote for those RTM candidates you know will represent you and your neighbors. Having Greenwich remain a growing, diverse, and livable community depend on it.