To the original poster: First, welcome to town. Second, let me apologize for all of the political BS that you have witnessed. By and large the people here are good and really care about the place. Most are hard working, family oriented folks that are good neighbors. Third, no, you don’t have to have lived here forever to contribute. On the contrary. Fresh, constructive points of view are not only valuable but welcome. It sounds like you are already engaged in the town’s activities and have taken the initiative to familiarize yourself with the local issues so good for you – I hope our paths cross one day if they haven’t already. Finally, don’t be put off by or tolerate being compared to people like Ms. Harwin who have moved to town expecting to be installed onto the Council with no qualifications. Ms. Harwin has never sat through a full Council meeting. She has yet to participate in any town activities that were not related to her personal campaign. She is not familiar with most of the issues that we face. She has circulated lies about our Mayor and Councilman Sedon who are two of the hard working neighbors that I talk about above. Unlike you, Ms. Harwin is in the process of learning the hard way about what it takes to be a good neighbor in a new town.