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Sherman Votes ‘No’ On Consolidation

A few weeks ago, residents in the village of Sherman (by two votes) voted to continue both their village and town government.

Actually, it was a vote to abolish the Village and merge those governmental functions into the Township of Sherman which failed … but, in any case, the result is that it will continue to require two layers of government (town and village) to govern the 730 people who live in that community.

There is a good side to this vote in that it is a reaffirmation of our democratic system where, in most cases, the majority prevails in an election. However, it is also a reminder that in a democratic system, people generally don’t like change. Given the uncertainty that somehow their lives would be in upheaval, Village voters in Sherman decided to keep their “village.”

I am sure that in the debate in Sherman over consolidating governments, proponents tried to make a case for cost savings and governmental efficiency. They probably used examples like that of Frewsburg which for years has been a small urban center in the Town of Carroll, very similar to a village, but without the cost of an extra layer of government. Perhaps they made the historical case that municipalities, in general, should be open to change. The fact that we still have 27 townships in Chautauqua County seems itself like a lot of government, when you consider that these town boundaries were established during the “horse and buggy” days when it took more time to traverse distances.

However, the proponents of consolidation were up against more than issues. Your feeling toward your own local government is as much driven by the heart as by the head. The presumptive, default position of the electorate generally is that they like their local governments the way they are. The same outcome occurred in Lakewood in 2010 when residents there voted to keep their Village rather than fold government into the Town of Busti. Lakewood would still have been called “Lakewood,” and it would have continued to be its own community with its own zip code. But change seemed scary and a step into the unknown so … let’s not change.

In some situations when municipalities are in deep financial difficulty and taxes are out-of-control, people will vote to change … the vote to dissolve the Village of Forestville comes to mind. However, in America, though we often talk about change being good, changing the structure of government is next to impossible.  So we march along in the same direction until some calamity arises which finally demands change.  There has been positive news recently of perhaps combining the Panama and Clymer School Districts, yet (as of now) we still have 18 separate school districts in Chautauqua County. Why change when the state is paying 70% of the cost of education? Despite declining enrollments, let’s just plod along until “plodding” doesn’t work anymore.

Since change in government happens so seldom, you might ask, why write about it?  The only answer I can suggest is that an informed and engaged citizenry is better than the alternative.  And, let’s give Sherman some credit. At least they struggled and had an extended conversation on the issue of over-lapping government.  Maybe they will find a better solution, or perhaps someday consolidation will happen.  At least the process got started.

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