Sunderland ballot: 3 open seats, 0 candidates

This article by Tiffany Tan originally appeared Jan. 30 in the Bennington Banner.

SUNDERLAND — For the first time in at least 28 years, Sunderland has no select board candidates in the upcoming elections. And three of the board seats will then be vacant.

The Select Board can’t meet with only two of five members, meaning the town won’t be able to fulfill important functions like pay vendors, apply for grants from the state or federal government and resolve issues brought by residents, town officials said.

“The town basically comes to a halt,” said Rose Keough, Sunderland’s town clerk and treasurer. It’s the first time since she became town clerk in 1991 that nobody is running for a Select Board seat, Keough said.

Mark Hyde, the current select board chairman, said he hoped some candidates would come forward after the town put up announcements online and sent feelers to residents.

Read full article at the Bennington Banner.

(Fair use with written permission from the New England Newspapers Inc.)

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Public domain

2 thoughts on “Sunderland ballot: 3 open seats, 0 candidates

  1. Perhaps at some point in time the Socialist’s idea of government taking care of us all will have infected enough of the disinterested that the concept of self government goes out the window.

    A select board has no more authority than that granted to it by the citizens of the town who elected it. Among those powers is managing the town’s taxes/finances, which directly relates to the pocket books of the citizens. Where’s the recourse when you have no one to scream at but a town administrator EMPLOYEE accountable to no approachable entity???.

    A people unwilling to govern themselves deserve to be slaves.

  2. At some point Socialism catches up, maybe we are at a point where Selectmen are no longer needed to make decisions, perhaps their authority is no longer required!

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