Adoption of Representative Town Meeting

Billerica changed from an open town meeting, at which every voter could vote, to a representative town meeting of elected members by Chapter 6 of the Acts of 1955, "An Act establishing in the Town of Billerica representative town government by limited town meetings." The voters accepted the act on March 5, 1955, the first Town Meeting members were elected on March 3, 1956, and the new body met for the first time at the annual town meeting of March 10, 1956. It has been the town's legislature ever since, and the later charters kept it.

The change came as the town grew past what one meeting of all the voters could handle. The annual town meeting of 1947 voted under Article 61 "to investigate the matter of Representative Town Meeting," and the moderator named a committee of Frederic H. Brown, Ellis E. Cram, John Harvey, William McNulty and James B. Monahan. The warrant for the annual meeting of 1954 asked, in Article 22, whether the town would "petition the General Court for a special act to authorize the establishment of a representative town government by limited town meetings." The Select Board backed it in their report: "Under this form of meeting, each section or precinct would be represented at the meeting by persons elected to do so. It is a progressive form of town government where you would choose men most qualified to present your needs for actions. It also fixes responsibility for town meeting attendance." The town clerk counted 144 articles in the annual warrant of 1954, and the annual meeting of 1955, with 122 articles, ran for three Saturdays and a Monday evening.

The selectmen credited the town's legislators, John Brox and Charles Ferguson, with having "passed on our bill for Representative Town Meeting," which the board thought "favorable for a much more balanced operation of our local government in the future. You will elect the most qualified and interested men or women in your respective precincts to handle your interests." The act took effect only on acceptance by the voters. At the annual election of Saturday, March 5, 1955 the ballot asked: "Shall an act passed by the General Court in the year Nineteen Hundred and fifty-five, entitled 'An Act establishing in the Town of Billerica, representative town government by limited town meetings' be accepted by the Town?" It carried in all five precincts, 1,950 to 1,378, with 566 blanks among 3,894 ballots. Town Clerk Mildred A. Westhaver wrote that "Town Meeting Members will be elected for the first time at the next annual town election and the new type of town meeting will be in operation on March 10, 1956." The selectmen reported that the new system obliged them to enlarge Precinct 5 by moving part of Precinct 1 into it.

The warrant for the election of March 3, 1956 called for 55 town meeting members from Precinct 1, 56 from Precinct 2, 49 from Precinct 3, 25 from Precinct 4 and 17 from Precinct 5, 202 in all. With the 20 members at large, 222 representatives had the vote at the annual meeting of March 10, 1956 at Billerica Memorial High School, held under Moderator Marion D. Gould, and at the other meetings of that year. The clerk noted a cost: "Any registered voter of the town could attend the town meeting and speak but not vote and it was noticed that not many registered voters attended the meeting. Whether it was a lack of interest due to the fact that they could not vote or that they felt that their franchise to vote was taken from them by this new form of government." In March 1957 the town elected 102 members for three-year terms: 28 in Precinct 1, 25 in Precinct 2, 24 in Precinct 3, 14 in Precinct 4 and 11 in Precinct 5. The act governed the meeting's own business as well; in 1960, with the moderator ill, the clerk opened the annual meeting by electing a moderator pro tem under Chapter 6 of the Acts of 1955.

The representative meeting outlasted every later change in the town's government. The precincts were redrawn as the town grew, to six by the 1960s and thirteen by 1978. The charter commissions of 1971 and 1978 left it in place, and the Home Rule Charter of 1979 stated that "the representative town meeting" would "remain as they are, and as they have been." The commentary printed with the revised charter in 2008 called it the body "which has served as the legislative body in Billerica since 1955." The by-laws of 1993 set its quorum at 121 town meeting representatives, and the charter allows a vote of the meeting to be taken to a referendum of all the voters. In 1994 the meeting honored Marion Potter, Mary Pasho, Elizabeth McCarthy, Maurice Houlne, Gilbert W. Griggs, Thomas H. Conway Jr. and Gordon C. Brainerd for "the thirty-eight (38) years that Representative Town Meeting Government has been used in Billerica," and Kenneth L. Buffum for thirty-six years of continuous attendance. At the spring meeting of 2006 Moderator Scott W. Winchell marked the fiftieth anniversary, and State Representative William G. Greene Jr. and Selectmen's chairman Ellen Day Rawlings presented citations to Mary A. Pasho and, posthumously, to Gilbert W. Griggs, two representatives first elected in 1956 who had served ever since.

People

• Frederic H. Brown: Member of the 1947 committee appointed to investigate representative town meeting; selectman when the act was adopted.
• Ellis E. Cram: Member of the 1947 committee appointed to investigate representative town meeting.
• Mildred A. Meldon Westhaver: Town clerk who ran the 1955 acceptance vote and the first election of town meeting members in 1956.
• Marion D. Gould: Moderator who presided over the first representative town meetings from 1956.
• Gilbert W. Griggs: Town meeting member first elected in 1956, honored in 1994 and posthumously in 2006.
• Thomas H. Conway Jr.: Honored in 1994 for 38 years as a town meeting member.
• Gordon C. Brainerd: Honored in 1994 for 38 years as a town meeting member.
• Kenneth L. Buffum: Honored in 1994 for 36 years of continuous town meeting attendance.
• Scott W. Winchell: Moderator who marked the fiftieth anniversary of representative town meeting in 2006.
• William G. Greene Jr.: State representative who presented the 2006 anniversary citations.
• Ellen D. Rawlings: Selectmen chairman who presented the 2006 anniversary citations.

References

1. Billerica town report 1947 (1945-1949 vol.): committee appointed by the Moderator under Article 61 to investigate Representative Town Meeting.
2. Billerica town report 1953 (1950-1954 vol.), warrant for the 1954 annual meeting, Article 22: petition the General Court for representative town government by limited town meetings.
3. Billerica town report 1953, Board of Selectmen: an article for the limited or representative town meeting system, 'a progressive form of town government.'
4. Billerica town report 1954, Board of Selectmen: legislators John Brox and Charles Ferguson passed the bill for Representative Town Meeting.
5. Billerica town report 1954 warrant (1955-1959 vol.): ballot question of March 5, 1955 on accepting the 1955 act for representative town government.
6. Billerica town report 1955, election of March 5, 1955 by precincts: Question, Yes 1,950, No 1,378, Blanks 566.
7. Billerica town report 1955, Town Clerk: town voted for representative town government by limited town meetings; first members at next election; in operation March 10, 1956.
8. Billerica town report 1955, warrant for the election of March 3, 1956: 55, 56, 49, 25 and 17 town meeting members for Precincts I to V.
9. Billerica town report 1956, Town Clerk: March 10, 1956 first meeting under the new form; 202 elected plus 20 at large; few non-members attended.
10. Billerica town report 1956, warrant for the election of March 1957: three-year town meeting members by precinct (28, 25, 24, 14 and 11).
11. Billerica town report 1960 (1960-1964 vol.): Moderator pro tem elected under Chapter 6 of the Acts of 1955, the representative town meeting act.
12. Billerica town report 2008, revised charter text: the representative town meeting has served as the legislative body in Billerica since 1955.
13. Billerica town report 1993, General By-Laws Article 1 as amended: quorum of 121 town meeting representatives.
14. Billerica town report 1994, town meeting: tribute to members for 38 years of Representative Town Meeting and to Kenneth L. Buffum for 36 years' attendance.
15. Billerica town report 2006, spring town meeting: fiftieth anniversary of Representative Town Meeting; citations to Mary A. Pasho and Gilbert W. Griggs.