Trenton, ME, passes local food and self-governance ordinance

The fifth Maine town to vote on the Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance, Trenton, passed it at their town meeting Saturday morning. The vote was close, at 29-25 (Trenton has only about 1000 year-round residents, and there was a fire alarm early in the meeting which cleared the hall and thinned the crowd a little).

AfD vice co-chair Bonnie Preston, who has been working to help spread the word about these ordinances, writes that pro-ordinance people plan to do some follow-up with the town and select board to try to make sure they better understand this issue. They learned a lot from this town meeting about how important the ground-work is, and how important it is to understand the circumstances in each town, something that can really only be done by that community.

They are still anticipating a re-vote in Brooksville this summer; this was the one town where the ordinance was defeated, although a town board may have improperly recommended that it not be passed. Right now Local Food and Community Self-Governance ordinances are 4-1; they will work to make it 5-0.