Usually 250 votes in Wilmington is often enough to win, and 300 votes is almost always enough to win. Although it wasn’t quite enough this time, earning 300 votes in Wilmington is an accomplishment, and it took a team effort.

Election Day in Wilmington yielded a split decision. Possibly no one was thrilled with the result.

In the days after that split decision, my friends and I fielded questions about my future plans. The most straightforward answer is: I don’t know.

In 2025, I may file for reelection to the town board; I may opt for the serenity of private life; and I may again throw my hat into the ring for town supervisor.

If I do run for office again, we can be confident that I will be a strong, patient, focused and determined candidate.

And we can be confident that my candidacy will be opposed by a noisy brigade with a strategy rooted in relentless mendacity.

Ahead of a Wilmington candidates’ forum in October, the local newspapers asked the public to suggest questions for the candidates. After the event, the papers’ editors compiled those questions and emailed them to the candidates. One question that caught my eye read, “To Tim Follos: We have heard about a discussion to try and put a cap on what homeowners can sell their homes for, should they wish to sell. Although a capitalist would disapprove of such a cap, can you please enlighten us as to the nature of the origin of the aforementioned discussion to enact such a cap?”

That was the second time I’ve heard that rumor. I appreciate the question, because the “price cap” in the question is light years away from my actual beliefs and proposals.

This was one of several bizarre rumors circulating around town in the months before Election Day.

As far as I know, the latest fable is that I am a proponent of something called “Agenda 21.”

After being labeled a proponent of “Agenda 21” on social media, I watched a former town board member hand out pamphlets warning of “Agenda 21” before a recent town board meeting. I gather that the alleged supporters of “Agenda 21” are accused of a desire to promote dense housing developments.

Those who know me personally and those who have followed my time in the public eye know that promoting dense housing developments in Wilmington is not my agenda.

I’d now like to put to rest a few other tall tales.

I don’t want to ban campfires, cancel the fall festival, or prohibit town employees from working for community events.

To quote a Wilmington citizen: “He’s not going to do away with short-term rentals. That’s all propaganda that has been spread since the start of his political career here in Wilmington.”

While some of that propaganda comes to us from the land of Looney Tunes, successful propaganda is often a shaky structure tacked together atop a sliver of truth.

A truth that a few people have grasped on to and distorted is the fact that I support changes to Wilmington’s spending practices and the town’s fee structures. These changes are necessary if our town board hopes to avoid continuing its pattern of annual tax hikes. (At our November meeting the town board voted to override the property tax cap and adopt a 2024 budget with a 4.7% property tax increase.) As I said at the candidates’ forum: “The money is there. It’s a question of priorities. And our priorities have been askew.”

As for vacation rentals: For more than two years I have publicly supported a logical approach to regulating short-term vacation rentals.

This does not mean I want to outlaw STRs. Supporting a better law is not the same as supporting a ban.

And no matter how some seek to construe it, appreciation for the current character of a community — or disapproval of the scale, impact, density or location of a particular subdivision or commercial enterprise — is not synonymous with unwavering hostility to “growth.”

I don’t blame the people who innocently believe and repeat things they hear. That’s something we all do.

I blame the people who lie.

I know who they are, and I know why they do it.

In fact, we all know why they do it. They do it because my actual beliefs are popular with Wilmington’s voters and taxpayers.

That addresses the lies about my public beliefs.

As for the disrespectful conduct: Those who witnessed the heckling at the candidates’ forum caught a glimpse of routine behavior.

Everyone interested in Wilmington’s present and its future should know that some of those who most loudly and persistently bemoan “division in the community” have incited and applauded a sustained series of vulgar insults and foolish outbursts.

It is now a new year, and we have a new town board. But we can expect many things to remain much the same.

We can feel confident that a few community members will spend 2024 in the mists of a political fantasyland.

Others will continue to refuse opportunities to move toward the political center, and then will complain about division in the community.

Still others will continue to dispense grotesque invective. And I will continue to represent the beliefs, interests and priorities of more than 300 Wilmington residents at public town board meetings, held twice a month.

(Tim Follos is a member of the Wilmington Town Council.)