made her way down the stairs and followed the sound of voices to the kitchen at the rear.
Seth and Rachel looked up when she entered the room. “Seth’s been filling me in on what happened! How awful. Not just a body but someone you knew. If you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll understand, believe me.”
Meg sat down at the table with them. “No, it’s fine. I mean, it’s not, but I don’t have any trouble talking about it. Chandler and I parted ways a while ago—we just weren’t a good fit. And I still have trouble visualizing him around here. Country was definitely not his thing. He must have thought there was money to be made.”
Rachel poured Meg a mug of coffee and set a plate of home-baked cookies on the table. “Seth’s been keeping me up-to-date about the development project, but you might know more from the banking side. What’ll happen now?”
“I don’t know the details so I’m just guessing, but I assume the bank will have people ready to step into Chandler’s shoes. If it’s a financially viable project—and Chandler didn’t get involved with shaky deals—then they’ll want to go ahead.”
Through a mouthful of cookie, Seth mumbled, “So if anyone killed him to stop the project, they’re out of luck?”
“Most likely, although whoever it was might not have known that. But yes, you’re probably right. Is that good or bad?”
“For Detective Marcus, it doesn’t help. For Granford, it’s not clear. The project hasn’t come to a vote yet, and won’t until the Town Meeting. You know about that?”
“Chandler mentioned something about it, but I’m a little unclear about the details,” Meg said.
Seth looked at her with mock horror. “You don’t know what a Town Meeting is? Good heavens, woman.”
“No. And before you ask, I’ve never been particularly interested in local politics. Local finance, maybe. I lived in Boston for most of my adult life, and I don’t remember running into anything about town meetings. So go ahead: educate me.”
“With pleasure.” Seth took another cookie and settled back in his chair. “I’ll give you the short form, but I expect you to do your homework. The history of the Massachusetts Town Meeting goes back over 350 years. Regrettably most people— like you—don’t pay much attention to them. Which means, in effect, that a very small percentage of residents gets to make the decisions for everyone in a town. Town officers are elected at Town Meetings, and the budget is approved. I told you I’m a selectman for Granford.”
He looked at her to make sure she was paying attention before going on. “Every town has to have an annual Town Meeting, and there are also Special Town Meetings, which the selectmen may call, or if enough voters want one, they can request one themselves. That’s where the vote on the project comes in. It’s a Special Town Meeting, with only one article on the warrant: approval of the Granford Grange project.”
Meg took another cookie and tried to look alert. “Can we cut to the chase? What’s going to happen at this Special Town Meeting?”
Seth sighed. “The article is basically a request for approval of the seizure of certain properties by the town through eminent domain to permit the construction of the project. And believe me, a lot of people are interested in that. It should be quite a meeting.”
“Hold on—the town is planning to seize the land? I’ve seen eminent domain applied only when the state wanted to take land for a new highway or some other municipal project.”
“You haven’t run into this before?”
“You mean when I was working at the bank? Actually, no, or at least, not directly. I dealt mainly with bond structuring, debt issues, that kind of thing. We were usually brought in to handle the financing once the deal was in place. Although I do recall reading something about a Supreme Court ruling about implementing eminent domain for commercial purposes. That was a couple of
Seth and Rachel looked up when she entered the room. “Seth’s been filling me in on what happened! How awful. Not just a body but someone you knew. If you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll understand, believe me.”
Meg sat down at the table with them. “No, it’s fine. I mean, it’s not, but I don’t have any trouble talking about it. Chandler and I parted ways a while ago—we just weren’t a good fit. And I still have trouble visualizing him around here. Country was definitely not his thing. He must have thought there was money to be made.”
Rachel poured Meg a mug of coffee and set a plate of home-baked cookies on the table. “Seth’s been keeping me up-to-date about the development project, but you might know more from the banking side. What’ll happen now?”
“I don’t know the details so I’m just guessing, but I assume the bank will have people ready to step into Chandler’s shoes. If it’s a financially viable project—and Chandler didn’t get involved with shaky deals—then they’ll want to go ahead.”
Through a mouthful of cookie, Seth mumbled, “So if anyone killed him to stop the project, they’re out of luck?”
“Most likely, although whoever it was might not have known that. But yes, you’re probably right. Is that good or bad?”
“For Detective Marcus, it doesn’t help. For Granford, it’s not clear. The project hasn’t come to a vote yet, and won’t until the Town Meeting. You know about that?”
“Chandler mentioned something about it, but I’m a little unclear about the details,” Meg said.
Seth looked at her with mock horror. “You don’t know what a Town Meeting is? Good heavens, woman.”
“No. And before you ask, I’ve never been particularly interested in local politics. Local finance, maybe. I lived in Boston for most of my adult life, and I don’t remember running into anything about town meetings. So go ahead: educate me.”
“With pleasure.” Seth took another cookie and settled back in his chair. “I’ll give you the short form, but I expect you to do your homework. The history of the Massachusetts Town Meeting goes back over 350 years. Regrettably most people— like you—don’t pay much attention to them. Which means, in effect, that a very small percentage of residents gets to make the decisions for everyone in a town. Town officers are elected at Town Meetings, and the budget is approved. I told you I’m a selectman for Granford.”
He looked at her to make sure she was paying attention before going on. “Every town has to have an annual Town Meeting, and there are also Special Town Meetings, which the selectmen may call, or if enough voters want one, they can request one themselves. That’s where the vote on the project comes in. It’s a Special Town Meeting, with only one article on the warrant: approval of the Granford Grange project.”
Meg took another cookie and tried to look alert. “Can we cut to the chase? What’s going to happen at this Special Town Meeting?”
Seth sighed. “The article is basically a request for approval of the seizure of certain properties by the town through eminent domain to permit the construction of the project. And believe me, a lot of people are interested in that. It should be quite a meeting.”
“Hold on—the town is planning to seize the land? I’ve seen eminent domain applied only when the state wanted to take land for a new highway or some other municipal project.”
“You haven’t run into this before?”
“You mean when I was working at the bank? Actually, no, or at least, not directly. I dealt mainly with bond structuring, debt issues, that kind of thing. We were usually brought in to handle the financing once the deal was in place. Although I do recall reading something about a Supreme Court ruling about implementing eminent domain for commercial purposes. That was a couple of
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