As the chairperson from the town of Pownal’s Select Board, I am beholden to columnist Jim Fossel and his recent contribution on the state of Maine’s attacks on local control (“Maine must resist attacks on local control,” March 24). As Fossel writes, there is indeed a simple elegance to the town-meeting form of government.

Town meetings are the civics lessons most people slept through in high school. As one of the purest forms of democracy, the town meeting allows residents the opportunity to speak to and vote on every dollar spent. Town meetings, as well as every other committee, board and commission in Pownal – which are all staffed by volunteers – are open to the public and allow public discussion, debate and disagreement.

There has never been a time in my 16 years in office when that discussion has become uncivil or disrespectful. Likewise, there has never been a time when people have been too bashful to disagree.

For the state to insinuate itself into the town of Pownal’s affairs; to compromise a comprehensive plan that took hundreds of volunteer hours to construct; to overturn land use ordinances that have been the beacon of transparency and fairness; and to disassemble the vision for the future that represents so many meetings through the passage of L.D. 2003, the affordable housing legislation, amounts to nothing less than regulatory treachery. For some reason, state legislators feel that they know better when it comes to managing Maine’s municipalities.

Let’s examine that premise.

Every town in Maine that has a town-meeting form of government has a balanced budget. Even towns with borrowing account for the debt in their mill rate. Every project or development in a town like Pownal is open to public scrutiny and discussion, involves site walks and planning boards. In fact, the only way towns like Pownal function is by and with an informed electorate, which is fundamental to a working democracy (see: the U.S. Constitution).

By contrast, Maine’s Legislature remains a partisan miasma of feints and counters, reworking broken political algorithms. For the state to insert its meaningless concept legislation concerning affordable housing, rendering Pownal’s ordinances illegal, relegates Pownal’s 150-plus years of self-governing to the compost pile. To then accuse towns like Pownal of elitism insults those hard-working citizens who donated their time and enthusiasm to create a town that works for all.

The dollar decides where housing projects exist. Regulatory overstep creates an imbalance to market forces and municipal ordinances. The arrogance of this type of legislation fosters the perception that local control is somehow undemocratic by not kowtowing to the affordable housing proposition. This “one view” form of coercion is contradictory to the form of democracy that exists in Pownal. The town-meeting form of government and local control of land use ordinances ensure housing opportunities through a collective community covenant designed to promote the pursuit of happiness while protecting public welfare.

Thanks again, Mr. Fossel. Thanks for supporting local control and representing common sense.

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