Once again, I ask for your support in my bid for re-election as Concord’s moderator for my tenth, and I expect final, term of office.
As the 250th anniversary of the historic battles of Lexington and Concord approaches, I am mindful of the important role that town meeting played in our country’s early history. Concord Town Meeting passed votes to create the first Continental Congress and to establish the Constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Town Meeting was the mechanism through which the townspeople made their voices heard and exercised their will.
Dating in Concord from at least 1667 and now into its fourth century, the core of Town Meeting has remained the same: a gathering of community members to deliberate upon and exercise self-determination over our expenditures and local laws in the purest form of direct democracy that we know of. I am honored that Concord voters have entrusted me with presiding over this venerable institution for nine terms.
Concord looks a lot different as a community today than it did four centuries ago, as does the world at large. Town Meeting processes have been modernized over time, and our hard-working Town Meeting Study Committee currently is formulating recommendations for further adaptations. If reelected as moderator, I will work with energy and focus, in collaboration with town officials and staff, to implement the TMSC’s recommendations. I will also continue to appoint Finance Committee members who will bring to Town Meeting thoughtful and balanced advice, born of diverse perspectives.
I respectfully ask for your vote in Concord’s annual town election on April 8, 2025.
Carmin C. Reiss
Devens Street
