Kanaga Running For Town Moderator

ORLEANS – Come the fall, a new pair of hands could take the reins of town meeting.

John Kanaga has taken out nomination papers to run for the role of town moderator in the upcoming May 20 annual town election.

Kanaga, a local attorney who also sits on the board of health, has occasionally subbed in as moderator in recent years on articles from which current Moderator David Lyttle needed to recuse himself. He said his decision to run came after learning that Lyttle does not intend to seek reelection to another three-year term.

“I wouldn’t run against David,” Kanaga said in a phone interview last week. Calls and emails made to Lyttle for comment were not returned.

The town moderator oversees the annual town meeting in May and the special town meeting in October. It’s a job that requires not only a strong working knowledge of town meeting rules and procedures but also an ability to guide the meeting along amidst questions and input from hundreds of registered voters. No easy feat, but Kanaga said it’s an opportunity he’s looking forward to if elected.

“It’s not like being on the select board, but it’s an important position that’s maybe a difficult couple of hours a year,” he said. “I’m OK with that.”

Moderators also have a hand in shaping the tone of the spring and fall sessions. In the occasions he’s stepped in as moderator, his humor and wit have brought a welcome sense of levity to the proceedings.

“I know I have somewhat of a reputation for not taking life too seriously or I’ll never get out alive,” he said. “But we’re a small town, and it’s OK to enjoy getting together and getting things done.”

If elected, Kanaga said he would focus on ways to help make the town meetings run more efficiently. Recent meetings have run near the four- and five-hour marks, which has led to some concerns from some voters and town officials. Kanaga agrees and he said a more efficient meeting will hopefully inspire more voters to engage in the town meeting process.

“Efficiency while guarding people’s right to speak, I think that’s the goal,” he said.

Part of running an efficient meeting, he said, is ensuring that voters are as educated as they can be on the articles before them. With that, he said more should be done to encourage people to participate in weekly board meetings held around town in the weeks and months leading up to the spring and fall sessions.

Most everyone in town is in favor of finding efficiencies in the town meeting process. But Kanaga admits that some of his other ideas for the meetings might be a harder sell for some. One of them? Bringing town meeting back to Nauset Beach.

“I always bring it up and I’m always shut down, because I guess it was difficult,” he said. “But it was daytime, it was in a fun spot. There were a lot of people with kids down there. It just seemed to encourage more [participation].”

Town meeting is a form of government unique to New England, and Kanaga said he’s excited about the prospect of leading the process in his hometown.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “It’s an amazing process. It’s the most democratic process I know of. We’re hand-voting in town. Where else can you do that?”

Residents can take out papers to run for moderator, select board, constable, board of health, Orleans Elementary School committee, Nauset regional school committee, Orleans Housing Authority and the Snow Library board of trustees until March 28. Papers with the signatures of at least 40 registered Orleans voters must be returned to the town clerk’s office by April 1.