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Comment by dugmartin | Hacker News Reader

I don’t think the article mentioned an elected position a lot of small towns have around here in rural New England, the fence viewer:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fence_viewer

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I live in a Vermont town of about 600 people, and according to the 2022 town report, we have three Fence Viewers, along with a Weigher of Coal/Measurer of Wood.

For the record, I have no idea what the weigher of coal would do if I showed up to his place and asked him to weigh a load of coal for me.

And I thought “supervisor of the checklist” was the silliest elected office name I was likely to encounter.

My favorite is the Measurer of Wood and Bark. We elect one every year still as a lark, but it used to be important as wood was the central way people generated energy in their homes so standardizing wood lots was of central importance in New England.

https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/brookline-tab/2014/07/17/w...

Everything you see that's made of plastic used to be made of wood.

I'd elect the next one to be a dog

Can you give examples of towns that still elect fence viewers?

Are the elections contested? Are they partisan?

You will be lucky in most small towns around here to get one person to run for any post.

For instance I'm running for Fire District Commissioner next month, for a seat that has been vacant for years, and maybe 10 people will come vote.

BTW, here are some other fun elected positions in my town:

    - Constable
    - Tree Warden

I was left with the distinct impression at town meeting that our town moderator got the role because he bought the previous town moderator's house.

Good luck with your campaign, and thanks for helping make your town run!

what kind of ego blow would that be to have those 10 votes go for someone else?

We have a select person who won a write-in campaign he didn't know he was running. What you're proposing is shockingly plausible.

Williamstown Massachusetts entrusts our select board to appoint our fence viewer. They are listed on our website describing our town’s government.

https://williamstownma.gov/boards-committees/#officials

Party affiliation for the Fence Viewer is not listed on our town's report. At least here, it's an appointed position. I have no idea if this is true everywhere though.

I haven't lived here long enough to know if the Fence Viewer being called upon to resolve some dispute.

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