GLOVER — Town Meeting opened here Tuesday morning with a debate about how it should open.

Article 1 on Glover’s warning was to see if the voters would recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of this and all future town meetings.

Noting that, when he saw it on the warning, the issue “made me feel a little uncomfortable,” Nash Basom called for a paper ballot vote.

Some people might refuse to attend Town Meeting or come late, he said, because they view the pledge as a violation of their free speech rights, or the constitutional separation between church and state.

“We have an issue which divides us,” Mr. Basom said.  However, he added, “we have divisions in this community, and we live with them and value each other.”

“This should not be a contentious issue,” said Mike Ladd, who moved that the pledge be adopted.  “We’ve got young men and women fighting out there, giving their lives for this country.”

If people can call the pledge controversial, Mr. Ladd said, “honestly I don’t know where you live.”

“I feel like this is requiring a loyalty oath,” said Elka Schumann.  “We’re here because we all want to be part of this country and what it stands for, but we don’t have to prove it to anybody.”

“It is a pledge to a symbol, nothing more,” said Ross Clark, pointing to the Stars and Stripes beside the moderator’s dais.  “As a veteran, the pledge merely means I honor the symbol of our democracy, of our way of life.”

After their votes were counted — 68 for the pledge and 40 opposed — the voters rose to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and went on with the town’s business.

Every town officer was restored to office, all but one of them without opposition.

The exception was Selectman Jason Choquette, who prevailed in a contest with April Bodette.

Ms. Bodette said she was recruited to run by people who understood that Mr. Choquette did not want another term.  The vote was 71 for Mr. Choquette and 38 for Ms. Bodette.

The only other interruption in a swift election process came when Charles Barrows was nominated for another term as lister, and received a standing ovation.  This year’s town report was dedicated to Mr. Barrows, honoring his 12 years as a selectman and, so far, ten years as lister.

The third, and final, paper ballot of the day came on a proposed amendment to the selectmen’s budget.

Noting, with concern, that a $10,000 contract with the county sheriff’s department had been included in the budget, rather than listed among proposed appropriations as in other years, Howard Cantor moved to reduce the amount to zero.

“It’s for coverage in the town,” Selectman Bucky Shelton said of the $10,000.  “We thought we’d put it in the budget, hoping there would be discussion on it.  It’s a minimal amount, and it will be for a minimal amount of time — about five hours a week.

“We as a board thought it would be a place to start,” Mr. Shelton continued, “somebody to call other than the State Police.”

Phil Brooks, a town resident and chief deputy of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department, said his force is only required to provide police services in towns that contract for such patrols.

Deputies usually leave major crimes like murder to the State Police, Mr. Brooks said.  “Quality-of-life kind of complaints are what we would deal with.”

Asked why the contract was budgeted, Mr. Choquette replied that, “we got a lot of complaints of speeding around the lakes.  The State Police don’t usually respond unless somebody’s getting shot.”

The debate ran into the lunch hour, and Moderator Nick Ecker-Racz tried to stop proceedings in deference to the cooks who had a wide selection of casseroles waiting in the church basement.

But he was overruled on a motion by Ted Young to call the question.  Mr. Cantor’s amendment failed, 39 to 61, and when Town Meeting resumed in the afternoon the town budget was passed as proposed.

Later, however, under “nonbinding business,” the voters passed a resolution moved by Stephan Cantor.  The resolution directed the selectmen to request a public investigation of the conduct of the sheriff’s department, and specific complaints against a specific employee.

That was an apparent reference to Deputy Daniel Locke, whose raid on the Barton apartment of a man not named in the search warrant he had obtained is the subject of a civil rights lawsuit in federal court.

The voters passed all the appropriations requested by civic and helpful organizations.  There was, however, extended debate on a new request for $5,000 to support the Shadow Lake Association’s boat wash program, aimed at keeping Eurasian milfoil out of the lake.

A state grant that supported the program has declined from $8,000 in 2005 to $3,000 last year, said association member Sara Gluckman.

There was an amendment offered to eliminate the $5,000 entirely.  But the lake association had its supporters.

“I’d just like to point out the huge sums the lake people contribute, and the very little they ask for,” said former state representative John Rodgers.  “It’s a small price to conserve the lake.”

Carmella Young of West Glover agreed, in the name of good stewardship of what Glover has to offer.  The amendment failed on a voice vote, and appropriations totaling $22,489 for 21 organizations passed without further debate.

At the annual school district meeting after dinner, the elementary school budget of $1,451,781 passed on a voice vote.  There was applause for the students’ high accomplishments on standardized tests, and for school Principal Dale Burnash for once again foregoing the salary increase he was entitled to.

Richard Epinette was elected to replace school board member Gary Miller, who did not seek another term.

And Darlene Young was elected to serve the final two years of her three-year term on the Lake Region Union High School Board, which she chairs.  At last year’s annual school meeting an election to fill Ms. Young’s seat was left off the warning by mistake.  She was quickly appointed to the Lake Region board by the Glover School Board.

Vicki Strong, one of the district’s two freshman legislators, told the meeting that “John and John are sorely missed” in Montpelier.  That was a reference to John Morley of Orleans, who did not seek another term in the Legislature, and to Mr. Rodgers, who lost his re-election bid by a single vote to Ms. Strong and Sam Young.

As if to prove the point, Mr. Rodgers asked the new legislators how they are protecting the area’s interests, now that Orleans County has no representatives on the important House “money committees.”

“I’ve been playing poker with the Appropriations Committee,” said Mr. Young, who serves on the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development.

Ms. Strong serves on the Health Care Committee.  She was challenged by Noel Ford on her support for a bill that would strip the Legislature of its power to order the closing of Vermont Yankee, leaving the issue up to the three-member Public Service Board.

“I have a lot more faith in a diverse group of legislators than in three political appointees,” Mr. Ford said.

“I feel that I would like to have the decision made by people who are more informed than I feel I am as a legislator,” Ms. Strong replied.