Elizabeth Colahan
Students vote during their mock town meeting.
On March 26, 2025, the Town of Norwood hosted its annual Town Government Day at the Town Hall. Students worked with town officials to get a behind-the-scenes look at their local government and were given a $3,000 budget to debate and decide where to invest the money during their mock town meeting.
“I like seeing you guys here, it’s like a different energy in the building,” said Lisa O’Leary, the Executive Assistant to the general manager at the town hall.
To start their day, students separated into their assigned groups to get a detailed look at the roles that their government officials play in the town government. Students had already signed up for their groups prior to Town Government Day.
Three students headed to the Norwood Police Station and met with Deputy Chief John M. Cody of Norwood Fire, who gave the students a tour of their workspace and shared why he loves his job.
“I don’t care about the buildings, I care about the people,” said Cody.
The Financial Committee, mentored by Anne Haley, finance commissioner, and Myev Badenhofer, the chair of the finance commission, led students on discussions of budgeting. Their conversation included the decision of who would play the head of the Finance Committee in the town meeting, as well as important tips to maintain efficiency in the court.
“It’s a lot of work, getting everyone to volunteer, but we love it”, said Anne Haley.
Students were also given the opportunity to have a tour of the Town Hall’s bell tower, given personally by head bell ringer Lee Leach. Leach has been volunteering in the position since 1996 and was ecstatic to share a great part of his life with students.
When asked how he feels about the experience, Leach responded, “I love it… I wish we can do this as much as you guys want to come.”
After meeting with their groups, all students and town officials came together again to participate in a town meeting, where students were given $3000 and got to decide where the money goes. Many heated debates arose, including a debate about whether to give $250 to Norwood High School’s “DECA” (Distributive Education Clubs of America).
“We are very smart with our money, as I said, and make plenty of money, which shows we’re not gonna use this inefficiently. We don’t have enough money, though we have some money, we don’t have enough. DECA doesn’t get funding from any other place besides us,” said Leart Bogdani.
Era Begg, who opposed giving any money to DECA, explained, “I know a lot of people who have been managing to sell the chocolate bars for $5 when really you guys get them for $1.25”.
When moderator Anika Mabano brought the issue to a vote, the student body decided not to give any money to DECA due to the fact that they already have sources of income outside of the town government.
One debate that lasted the entire town meeting was about an “emotional support dog” for the Town Building Inspector in Norwood.
“So it would have been a rescue dog that the building inspector would’ve trained to be a resource dog,” said Sam Sullivan, who had advocated for the dog from the beginning of the town meeting to its end. Despite the fact that the students ultimately decided not to put money towards an emotional support dog, Sullivan is still proud that she put up a good fight.
“I think people don’t understand how important the building inspector is and how angry people can get about their houses and money,” explained Sullivan.
Many other potential areas of spending were proposed, including free lunches for seniors, a town employee cookout, playground equipment, money for the Bernie Cooper scholarship, funding for the July 4th parade, (ten) flu shots, flowers for the town, dog beds, and a warmth fund for Norwood families.
The initially planned budget was constantly debated, with many votes and motions taking
place abruptly. The heated debate was out of the ordinary compared to past years, with mentions of providing stress balls for town employees and funding for Norwood High’s DECA club being a particular point of contention amongst the students.
Once the event of the town meeting reached its conclusion, students made their way to the Old Colonial Cafe for a buffet lunch. Spirits were high, though some were still a little bothered that they didn’t get exactly what they wanted out of the town meeting.
Student Caeden O’Brien was still passionate about his desire for town-stamped stress balls, which student town officials rejected multiple times during the previous meeting, and was eventually deemed ‘not in the scope of the article’ by the meeting’s official moderator.
“I was pretty upset. They were pulling some strings to not have that happen,” said O’Brien.
Jennifer Orlinski, Social Studies department chair and the official organiser for the event, was proud of the final outcome of this year’s happenings.
“It was stressful, but successful,” said Orlinski.