Let’s talk about representation and the proposed merger between the Town of Essex and the Village of Essex Junction. Something that I’ve heard pretty frequently is that, “TOV residents had no one exclusively representing us at the merger table, so the merger is inherently unfair.”
This argument is predicated on several assumptions:
(1) The TOV is a municipality just like the TIV and therefore should have a governing body that “exclusively” represents it.
(2) A fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the Village Trustees and the role of the Selectboard.
(3) That there was a “merger table” where distinct and opposing interests came together to fight for whose interest would dominate.
(4) Residents living in one area cannot represent the interests of individuals living in another area (for example, a Selectboard member living in the TOV cannot represent the interests of individuals living in the TIV).
That’s a lot of assumptions to pack into one small sentence, so let’s unpack it together.
Part 1 – TOV and the TIV
So many of us use the terms TIV (Town Inside the Village) and TOV (Town Outside the Village) as a convenient short-hand to discuss two geographic areas within the Town of Essex. Unfortunately, using the short-hand of TOV and TIV has created the false impression that there are two separate municipalities called the TIV and the TOV. The language is convenient, especially when abbreviated, but it’s also technically incorrect. Here are a few reasons why:
(1) There is no municipality called the TOV (Town Outside the Village). The municipality is the Town of Essex, which includes the Village of Essex Junction.
(2) The Town of Essex does NOT mean TOV (Town Outside the Village), but it’s very frequently interpreted that way.
(3) The Town of Essex is comprised of the entire town, which includes both the TIV and the TOV.
Part 2 – Representation
The Selectboard is a five-member governing body with board members that are elected by every eligible voter residing in the Town. That means that everyone within 
the 05452 zip code gets to vote on each and every candidate for the Selectboard, and that each and every Selectboard member, if elected, is to represent every single resident living in the 05452. The Selectboard represents every individual in the TOV and in the TIV.
When thinking of representation we also have to think about the Village Trustees. Similar to the Selectboard, the Village Trustees are a five-member governing body. The Village Trustees are different from the Selectboard in that they solely represent residents living within the boundary of the Village of Essex Junction, and only have jurisdiction over matters that occur within the boundaries of the Village. This is because the Village of Essex Junction is a municipality, in the same way that the Town of Essex is a municipality. This means that all Village residents are citizens of two governments, the Essex Junction government and the Essex Town government. How confusing is that?
It’s for this reason that some people – understandably – get confused and think that if there is a governing body that represents only the Village of Essex Junction that there should be a governing body that only represents the residents of the Town of Essex living outside of the Village. Only then will representation be “fair”.
However, as previously mentioned, the Village Trustees only represent Village residents on Village-only matters. And here is the really key part: Village Trustees do not represent Village residents on Town-wide matters. Only the Selectboard represents residents on Town-wide matters.
Part 3 – Merger Table
Some still find all of this very confusing because the Village Trustees and the Selectboard worked together to form a plan for merger. They assume from this that the Village Trustees represented the interests of the Village, and therefore the Selectboard should “balance things out” by only representing the interests of the residents 
living outside of the Village.
This idea has been carefully cultivated by a few of the older, long time TOV residents in order to play on people’s emotions. They don’t want any of us to think rationally about how silly this argument is. Many residents are picturing the Village Trustees and the Selectboard members sitting at some backroom table smoking cigars and fighting it out for whose interest “wins” on each and every line item. While that has a certain theatrical appeal, it’s also downright silly outside of the movie theater of our imaginations.
Remember, Village Trustees do not and cannot represent the interests of Village residents in Town-wide matters. Only the Selectboard can do that. In reality, the two governing bodies – and many volunteers from all areas of the Town – worked together to formulate a plan that benefitted everyone in the Town. This makes sense when we stop to realize that all of us, including Village Trustees, all live together in the Town of Essex.
Part 4 – The Merger Proposal is Unfair
The last assumption to examine is whether an individual on the Selectboard can represent either the TOV or the TIV fairly if they don’t also live in that area. This 
assumption is based purely on emotion instead of logic. We all have a visceral response to things that are unfair, so this assumption feels as though it could be true if you haven’t looked too closely at it.
However, when you look at it from a more logical perspective it starts to break down. For example, let’s look at the borders of the Village of Essex Junction. The folks living over on Susie Wilson Road (sometimes referred to as Essex West) are part of the TOV, NOT the Village. The folks living in Essex West certainly have different needs than those in Rural Essex.
Another example: the Countryside neighborhood is within the borders of the Village, but Lang Farm neighborhood is not. They are literally one street over from each other, yet a person living in Lang Farm couldn’t understand the problems of people living in Countryside? That doesn’t make sense.
I think what many of the proponents of this line of reasoning are assuming is that TOV actually means Rural Essex, but that is not the case. The TOV is comprised of city-like areas like Essex West, suburban areas like Lang Farm, and more rural areas like those out by Chapin Orchard. With this much diversity in the Town outside of the Village, it is an antiquated idea to argue that someone who lives in one area is unable to relate to the needs of people living in a different area.
In Summary
Let’s recap the main points of what we’ve discovered here:
(1) The TOV is not a separate municipality from the Town of Essex, which is why it does not have a separate governing body analogous to the Village Trustees.
(2) The Village Trustees CANNOT represent Village residents on Town-wide matters. Only the Selectboard can do that.
(3) There was NO “merger table” where distinct and opposing interests came together to fight over whose interests would dominate. There were a lot of people that worked together to figure out how to make a complicated process work for everyone, BECAUSE WE ALL LIVE IN THE SAME TOWN.
(4) The interests of the TOV are not synonymous with the interests of Rural Essex. The TOV is comprised of urban areas like Essex West, suburban areas like Lang Farm, and rural areas like those by Chapin Orchard. We can see that it is absolutely possible for an individual living in one area of the town to understand and advocate for the interests of individuals living in a different area of the same town.
It seems on closer inspection that the idea that the proposed merger charter is inherently flawed because there is no government body specific to residents living outside of the Village is false. There has been equal representation for all members of the Town of Essex during the long process that culminated in the proposed merger charter. This is because the Town Selectboard represents all members of the town, and the Village Trustees only represent Village residents on Village-only matters. The fact that the Village Trustees worked together with the Selectboard in good faith, along with many members of the community in both the TIV and TOV, shouldn’t be confused with a form of representation. Together the various stakeholders came up with a plan that will financially benefit both the residents of the Village of Essex Junction as well as the residents of the Town that live outside of the Village.
It seems as though this trope belongs firmly in the “misinformation” category.