Honey? Did you fill out the Town Survey for me?

The thrill that is a Town Planning Commission meeting is hard to convey. I mean, how does one bring to life the excitement of a debate regarding the definition of "cluster" versus "hamlet"?

There are, of course, easier things to convey to followers of the Town Planning process ... like the question of what questions to ask on the upcoming Town Survey (release date, September 2009). What the Commission agrees on is that the Survey should be a mix of questions: some basic and informational, some deeper and more specific, and a few open-ended essay questions to allow people to contribute to their heart's content. All together, the intent is to gauge the Town's attitudes and opinions about a variety of matters, big and small.

One of the biggest questions, however, isn't about the questions at all. It's about who should receive the survey. What seems like an incredibly simple question is actually a considerable debate.

Essentially, there are two options for sending out the survey: send it to each household, or send it to each individual.

If you send it to each household ... you save money, you save time, and you save your saliva glands from having to lick an extra thousand stamps. Did I mention the money part? The part that's paid for by taxpayers like you?

But if you send it to each individual ... you increase the possible number of total responses, and you give members of a household an individual opportunity to express their vision of Waitsfield's future. You allow husbands and wives to participate, and you allow roommates with different opinions to be heard.

In either case, we will be using for the first time an online option for the Town Survey. Paper-free and postage-free, the online survey will be a key component of whichever path we take.