Plainfield: Voters Turn Back SB2 Effort
Plainfield — It was a tough day for Maria Guzman.
After campaigning on a budget-cutting platform, she lost bids to join both the School Board and Selectboard. A petition to change the way the town votes on school issues, which Guzman spearheaded, was rejected.
Judy Belyea, who has served on the Selectboard since 1985, bested Guzman, 254-84, for a new three-year term. And Guzman garnered 97 votes for School Board, well behind the two winning candidates, Christie Danen (204 votes) and Brian Garfield (277 votes).
For the third time in five years, voters rejected scrapping the annual school meeting in favor of deciding issues via day-long ballot voting. Voters rejected proposals in 2008 and 2009 to make the switch to the so-called SB2 system, but a group led by Guzman petitioned to place it on the article again this year. It needed 60 percent to pass, but failed to win even a majority, with 156 voting in favor and 190 opposed.
Voters in town still have more democracy to do: Plainfield Town Meeting will be held Saturday, at 10 a.m., in the Plainfield Elementary School gym, where voters will decide on a proposed $1.97 million operating budget, up less than 2 percent from the current year.
