This is the first in a series of articles the Hingham Anchor will be running over the next several months. The series is written by a team of contributors, all residents of Hingham. The “This Is Home” series will focus on a variety of topics about our lives as Hingham residents and engaged citizens. Our hope is that you gain encouragement, and perhaps inspiration, as we all work to maintain Hingham as a vibrant community.
April 9, 2025 by Eileen McIntyre
APRIL 28th — OPEN TOWN MEETING —
HINGHAM’S CITIZEN LEGISLATURE, SINCE 1635
Did you know that as a registered voter in Hingham, you are automatically part of the town’s legislative body that meets once each year to make important decisions that have a direct impact on our daily lives? I was wowed by this when I moved here after spending the first decades of my life in communities with a mayor/town council, representative form of government. And, unlike legislatures at the state and federal level, Hingham’s Open Town Meeting citizen-legislature is a non-partisan affair. We leave any party affiliation at the door and simply enter the meeting as a citizen. How refreshing, especially at a time of such deep partisan divisions in our country.
Yes, Open Town Meeting participation requires a once-a-year commitment of a Monday evening (and sometimes a Tuesday evening to complete business*.) But this is relatively easy to anticipate and plan around. It is scheduled for the same time and place each year**– always the fourth
Monday in April, at 7 PM, at Hingham High School. So, you can easily post it on your calendar for April 28th this year, and maybe on your digital calendar for the years ahead. When needed (not too often), Special Town Meetings are scheduled (generally in the Fall) to focus on specific items.
[*Meetings going beyond two nights happen but are infrequent. **With the notable exceptions of last year, when the Meeting shifted a week to accommodate Passover, and during the pandemic years, when we met outdoors, 6-feet-apart, on a Saturday afternoon.]
Real Democracy—and a Coming Together as a Community
As Town Moderator Michael Puzo puts it: “Playing your part as a voter – and as a local legislator — in charting Hingham’s future is both a privilege and a responsibility and should not be taken for granted. In fact, as we look forward to April 28, 2025, let us remain mindful that we will begin our work some 250 years after our forebears began their quest for independence in April of 1775. That we have the freedom to govern ourselves, and that we undertake to do so, lies at the heart of what makes Hingham the engaged and enduring community that it is, a community that we are proud to call home.”
Hingham is not alone in maintaining this form of self-government. The latest data available* show that of the 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth, 292 had a Town Meeting form of government, and the majority of these—260—were, like Hingham’s, an Open Town Meeting. (The balance had a Representative form of Town Meeting.) [*Source: Massachusetts Municipal Association, as of Sept. 2023.]
In addition to its important legislative function, and making financial decisions, our Open Town Meeting also gives participants a larger sense of the community we are part of, as we listen, learn and vote on issues that can affect our quality of life. Last year Mel Hernandez, 46, of Manatee Road, joined the discussion on an article for zoning to allow brew pubs in some parts of Hingham. Based on his experience as a parent of three, Mel shared that brew pubs often offer a family-friendly environment. “I wasn’t planning to speak,” Mel told me, “but felt it was necessary to get my opinion on the table about how we shape our community.”
Important Issues—and the Opportunity to Ask Questions
Each year, the voters at our Open Town Meeting have the opportunity to ask specific questions about line items in the operating and capital budgets, and about all warrant articles. All appropriate officials from Town Hall and our boards and committees are in the house – and are well prepared to respond to questions live. While a question may come from just one voter, everyone present generally learns something from the responses.
At the 2024 Town Meeting, Jason Majane, 38, of Maryknoll Drive, was one of many who asked a question on the second night. As he explained to me, “Questions from some voters suggested confusion about the intent of the proposed zoning change for EV charging stations. When my question seeking clarification on the article was answered, I could see new understanding on faces around me. I was glad that asking a question helped others get clarity on the issue.”
The complete warrant is sent to all Hingham residents ahead of the meeting—and is online as well. Each of the warrant articles is accompanied by commentary that helps voters understand the article and its intent; and a recommendation (either an Affirmative Motion or No Action) from the Town’s Advisory Committee and Select Board. Voters bring the warrant to the meeting for reference. As the articles come up at Town Meeting, most are voted on with little or no discussion, reflecting the important preparatory work done – over several months ahead of the meeting — by Town Departments, Boards and Committees as well as the Advisory Committee and Select Board. But some articles involve considerable discussion before a vote. Time limits are imposed to allow for many voices to be heard.
Some topics on which a large number of citizens spoke at recent Town Meetings included:
- the MBTA Communities Multifamily Housing Zoning article (2024).
- the Brew Pub/Winery/Distillery Zoning article (also in 2024);
- articles about construction of a new Foster School, and a Public Safety Building (at a special Town Meeting in the fall of 2022);
- the Acquisition of the Water Company article (2019); and
- the Off-Leash Dog-walking at Bare Cove Park article (2017.)
Voters at Town Meeting can propose amendments to the recommended action, as is the case in legislative bodies at the state and federal level. For example, at the 2023 Town Meeting, an amendment proposed to an article about “Accessory Dwelling Units”, after discussion and a vote of our citizen legislature, gained approval, removing a restriction on who might reside in a resident’s ADU.
Several years ago, the League of Women Voters of Hingham published a Guide to Open Town Meeting—available here that may be helpful if you are participating for the first time. Our Town Moderator Michael Puzo also does a great job of explaining the rules to be followed in the warrant document, and again from the podium as the meeting begins. He also provides process reminders as needed during the meeting.
Topics for our April 28, 2025 Town Meeting
Your 2025 Town Meeting Warrant should arrive in the mail around April 14th, and is available online here.
Both the budget items and warrant articles are the result of a deliberative process begun each fall, involving Town departments, committees and boards, and providing opportunities for citizen input. Many committees and boards are made up entirely of appointed or elected town residents who share their time and expertise on a volunteer basis. At Town Meeting, you will hear from some of these citizen-volunteers as they get called on to introduce specific warrant articles, and to answer your questions.
We the People–Just Show Up!
There are so many local issues in Hingham, as elsewhere, about which citizens have strong feelings—whether you are a parent with school age children; a senior citizen seeking to age in place; someone looking for improved roads, sidewalks, or wireless connectivity; or maybe someone new to town who simply wants to understand how our tax dollars are spent. Yet the percentage of registered voters in Hingham who participate in our Open Town Meeting in recent years has been shrinking.
Excluding the pandemic period of Spring 2020-Spring 2022, participation declined from 11% of registered voters in 2019, to 7% for the Special Town Meeting in Fall of 2022 (when we returned to indoor meetings.) For 2023 participation was again 7% but we saw another decline in 2024, when participation was just 3.7%. That means that last April only 720 — of Hingham’s 19,578 registered voters at the time — were present for at least the first night of our Open Town Meeting. * In spite of the numbers, the level of discussion on several 2024 warrant articles demonstrated that the decisions we were making mattered a great deal to Hingham residents.
[*Stats are based on Night 1, generally the greatest turnout in years when meetings go beyond 1 night.]
Remember it is we, the citizens of Hingham, who make the decisions for our Town—and “We the People” need to show up! Hingham Town Clerk Carol Falvey told me: “We receive frequent calls in the lead-up to Town Meeting asking if we need to appear in person to vote at Town Meeting and the answer is YES, you need to attend! Since we are acting as a legislative body, voters need to be present to listen to the discussion and to consider alternative motions made on the floor. You’d be surprised at how you can be moved to vote one way or another based on the eloquence and passion of your neighbors!”
Busy working parent Mel Hernandez told me, “I try to make as many Town Meetings as I can, especially for critical decisions that will have long term consequences.” Jason Majane thinks about it this way: “Town Meeting is an easy way to be part of decisions that are consequential for all of us—how the Town operates and spends our money. It’s only a few hours of commitment, and I simply read the warrant and show up. And Town Meeting is a great way — especially if you are new here — to learn about what is going on in town.”
Liza O’Reilly, Steering Committee Chair, League of Women Voters of Hingham, underscores the importance of participating as citizen legislators: “We encourage registered voters to attend Town Meeting. As the LWV often reminds us all, democracy is not a spectator sport. Hingham government requires active participation of citizens to be effective and benefit the community.”
It is time to once again for us to come together, as a Town, and as a community. This historic tradition of Open Town Meeting is real democracy, circa 2025, here in Hingham: Monday, April 28th, 7 PM, at Hingham High School. See you then!
***
Eileen McIntyre, a member of the League of Women Voters of Hingham, is a retired corporate communications executive and serves on non-profit boards in Hingham. As the Greenbush “little dig” through downtown Hingham began in 2004, Eileen served the town as a member of the Hingham Development and Industrial Committee.
