Voters inside the proposed Bristol incorporation area will decide Tuesday the fate of the town’s quest to create a village out of part of the town.
Only residents of the proposed village area — roughly the northwest third of the town — will be able to vote for or against incorporation.
If the vote approves the move, the new village will be incorporated. For an interim period, the current Town Board will preside over both entities. Eventually, a special election will be held to elect a village president and six trustees to govern the new village.
Three members of the current town board — Chairman Rich Gossling, Supervisor Carolyn Owens and Supervisor Ruth Atwood — live in the proposed village area. The other two — Supervisors John McCabe and Colleen Fisch — live in what is called the remnant town.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Town officials have been driving an effort to incorporate part of the town as a village. Under state statutes, a village government has more control over its own destiny. For example, a village can annex territory from adjacent towns, but cannot be annexed involuntarily by other municipalities. Villages also have access to economic development tools that towns do not.
Here is a frequently asked questions sheet distributed by the town.
Here is a map showing the area that will first become a village.