Middleboro finished in fewer than 2 hours, moving through 17 articles.  Lakeville went to 12:45 a.m. on its first night; but completed all its business including decisions on regionalizing a school and rejecting a hotly contested plan to bring a major business to town.

Wareham, meanwhile, took seven nights to move through 91 articles  - 40 of which included proposals that sought to change the structure of town government.  It was the largest number of articles on a Town Meeting warrant in Moderator Claire Smith's memory, at least dating back to the 1960s, she said.  And this was a Fall Town Meeting - typically held only to correct budget articles or to address things missed at the annual Town Meeting in the spring.

Is something wrong?

"Democracy requires a little patience, understanding, and it's not efficient," said Stoughton Town Moderator Howard Hansen.  But Wareham, he said, didn't seem out of the ordinary.

Hansen should know, he has presided over Stoughton's Town Meeting for 19 years and has become an unofficial historian of sorts for the Massachusetts Moderators Association, a statewide organization for town moderators to network, and discuss issues.

The longest Town Meeting that he moderated lasted ten days.  And Stoughton has a representative town meeting, where Town Meeting attendees are elected (and thus well understand the rules, procedures, etc., of Town Meeting which helps it move faster).  Wareham's Open Town Meeting allows any registered voter to attend and participate.

Moderator Association President Deborah Medders was also unsurprised at the length of Wareham's Town Meeting - particularly since many of the articles to be discussed included changes to the Town Charter.

Plus, she said that comparing any towns' meetings is extremely difficult.

"Some towns enjoy coming together," she said.  "Just as those have styles that can get through a 50 or 60 articles meeting in a night."

Her town of West Tisbury rarely sees petition articles, for instance, she said.  Amherst "really engages."

Hansen said that Framingham has gone 15 nights. But despite having the largest town meeting in the state, Brookline usually completes its business in a single evening.

So is there any common practice among towns that move things along?

The best indicator of the efficiency of a Town Meeting, Hanson said, is how much information is available to voters before the meeting begins.

Claire Smith, Wareham Town Moderator, said she would like to get the warrant for the meeting out sooner and with more clear language so that it is more informative to voters.

"There's always room for improvement." she said.

But Town Meeting attendees ultimately can have the biggest impact on the length of a meeting.  For them, Hansen offered some sage advice when speaking.

"For the best things you can sell, you can do it in two minutes," he said.  Three minutes, you start to raise doubts.  Four minutes, you start to lose everybody."