The Town of Barkhamsted has a town-meeting form of government.   This may seem unusual to you, with good reason - only a handful of town-meeting municipalities remain in the United States.   A town meeting is the purest form of democracy; it's unfortunate that so few are left. The taxpayers and citizens of Barkhamsted are the the official governing body; they must approve budgets and ordinances. There is a Board of Selectman (roughly equivalent to a town council or board of alderman), with a First Selectman who handles day-to-day administration of town government, but ultimately, the people govern. Town meetings are a throwback to early colonial New England. At that time there were no true town governments.   Instead, decisions were made by consensus during church assemblies. (To this day, you will find a Congregational church in each New England town).   As the early colonies grew, more formal town governments were established, but they were based on this "congregational" concept.   As many towns became industrialized, in the late 19th and 20th centuries, their populations swelled, and town meetings became unwieldy -- so this form of government was abandoned in favor of a strong town-council or mayoral format. Barkhamsted is also a throwback in another way -- until very recently, municipal elections were held in May, rather than in November.   This comes down from colonial days, when leaders were chosen by church assemblies held on May Day. Anyone who lives in Barkhamsted, or who pays taxes to the town, can participate in a town meeting.   Agenda items are discussed by anyone and everyone, and all decisions are made by a floor vote -- democracy in it's purest form! It's rather unfortunate that the town-meeting form of government is vanishing; it gives the people a feeling of power and a sense of involvement, in an age when most of government has been given over to sound bytes, polling data, and clever marketing strategies.