by Bill Gouveia for the Sun Chronicle
When I got up Sunday morning and looked into my bathroom mirror, my face (a scary sight at any time, but particularly in the morning) looked just a little different. Maybe a tad more relaxed, though also a bit sad.
For the first time since 1974, the guy looking back was not an elected or appointed Norton town official. And honestly, it feels a bit strange.
Saturday evening my time as Norton Town Moderator ended. I chose not to seek reelection, opting to move on after four terms. That caps more than four decades as a town official in one capacity or another, from the town’s highest elected office to many other boards or committees less recognizable.
It’s been an interesting journey.
As an 18 year-old Norton High senior, I became the youngest town official in Norton history when Moderator Joseph Yelle appointed me to the finance committee. I served 15 years there over a couple of different shifts. At 23, I was elected to the board of selectmen, and would be elected twice more over the next two decades.
In 2008, I won a sticker campaign against an incumbent to become moderator, where I would stay for 12 years.
In between I served on the local cable advisory committee, the extended school year study committee, a few town manager search committees, a bylaw review committee, a couple of charter review boards, and some others that I and everyone else have forgotten.
With the exception of a few years in the 80’s when selectmen made $50 a month, it’s all been as an unpaid volunteer.
To serve in those type of capacities in one municipality for that long is unusual for several reasons.
People don’t stay in one town as much as they did “back in the day.” Volunteering in town government is a difficult pastime. Maintaining the necessary intensity and desire is not easy — and I can attest that losing an election is not a pleasant experience either.
I’d like people to know it is worth the effort. Whether it makes you popular or not, making a difference at the local level matters.
But public service has sort of been my thing. I can’t hammer a nail, coin and stamp collecting bore me, and my mom threw out my baseball cards years ago. So local politics and working to make my hometown better has been my hobby for a long time. Along with being a Patriots season ticket holder for 49 years, of course.
And writing. I’ve been a newspaper columnist for more than 20 years. In fact, this particular piece you are reading is coincidentally the 1,000th column I have written for this fine newspaper. I guess if nothing else, I’m consistent.
I’m not going anywhere. I’ll still be active in local affairs, and hope to keep filling this space for quite a while. But you’ll forgive an old guy if he just takes a moment to reflect on not officially being part of his town’s government for the first time in 46 years.
And now there are no sports to watch on TV. In life, as in politics — timing is everything.
Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and (now former) longtime local official. He can be emailed at billsinsidelook@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @Billinsidelook.
No comments:
Post a Comment