Voting records used to justify
rejection of citizens' concerns

(2/26) In critiquing the growing number of residents who have begun to raise concerns over the finances of the Town government, Burgess Heaths Barnes made a startling statement, citing the voting records of those residents, and based upon the results, appeared to question the legitimacy of their concerns.

Barnes’ revelation came at the end of the contentious Town meeting, which one resident described as a "dressing down of the assembled residents."

Barnes started off the meeting by questioning the accuracy of this paper’s reporting of last month’s meeting, specifically its recounting of his decision to implement a "new policy," as Barnes described, to limit people to 3 minutes of uninterrupted public comment.

This policy shift was a result of the December Town meeting, where Barnes repeatedly interrupted and chastised residents who were raising concerns during their public comments.

At the January meeting, Barnes apologized for his outbursts at the December meeting and stated that he would be "implementing a new policy" where residents would be limited to 3 minutes and no questions could be asked of the Council, and he would not provide answers.

At the February Town Council meeting, Barnes sat silently as residents walked to the podium to revisit issues that had been raised in the December and January meetings, for which no feedback had been received, nor discussion of resolutions made.

Following the comments, Barnes questioned why people were bringing up issues that had been covered in prior meetings. "We do have the voting records of everybody that has voted in Town, it’s public record, and some of the ones who are coming and bringing the harshest things [questions and/or concerns], one in particular, haven’t voted in a local election since 2011."

Barnes’ comment met with stunned silence as residents in the audience looked at each other questioning if Barnes really had said what he just said, and in saying so, had Barnes, one resident mused, "gone back and looked at individual resident voting records on people who were speaking up during the public comment period as a basis for rejecting, not only their concerns, but their right to raise those concerns?"

But Barnes quickly put any question on that subject to rest when he re-iterated that "some of those bringing the largest concerns had not voted since 2011."

Following Barnes’ rebuttal of residents’ concerns, the meeting was quickly adjourned, leaving many who had come in stunned silence. Several shook their heads in disbelief in how they had just been treated, with one describing the event as a "dressing down" of residents by Barnes and an outright dismissal of their concerns.

Editor’s note: An e-mail to Barnes, asking how he accessed resident voting records, has gone unanswered. When asked to provide a list of residents who had voted in recent Town elections, the Town Manager pointed to the County Board of Elections, stating that she did not have any lists showing who voted or won.

While the County Board of Elections was able to provide the News-Journal a list of residents who have voted in recent Town elections, they where unable to provide a list for the 2023 Town election as the Town failed to return the list of voters for that election. Without the list of voters who participated in the 2023 election, Barnes’ claim that his loudest opponents had not voted since 2011 is factually questionable.