Truro’s Select Board voted on Dec 5 to seek special legislation through a “Governor’s Bill” to permit Truro to hold Town meetings in other Towns, citing “emergency” needs for this authority.  This was approved just one week after an overwhelming number of voters counted inside the school facility expressly defeated a motion to hold STM (and thus ATM 2024) outside Truro.

Shortly thereafter, Truro residents initiated a petition opposing this action for several reasons, including the lack of emergencies, the recent Town vote opposing this, and inexpensive technical solutions that could solve the problem within Truro, among other reasons.  In just a few days nearly 315 folks had signed on.  This group submitted the petition and related materials to the Governor’s office on December 20, (and sent to us by a signer.)  It asked the Governor to set this request aside and not act on it.

As of this post, no action appeared to have been taken by Truro, State elected officials, or the Governor’s office to take the matter up.

The Town Fire Chief indicated that Truro’s public meeting spaces could together hold more than 1,200 citizens.  In fact, the Truro Community Center and Central School can hold more than 1,000 persons in combination.  Town IT staff indicated that it was possible with current audio and video technology to ensure that Truro voters could be heard (and seen) in real time and at the same time, an election requirement in state law.  He cited Brewster as an example where this is done already.  The Town Manager disagrees.

We will keep you posted as this evolves.