SELECTBOARD MEETING HELD ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2022


KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Roger Arnold (Chair of the Selectboard) announced he plans to step back / down from his duties as Chair due to personal reasons. The SB members will discuss next steps.

  • The SB finally acknowledged the public’s requests for a Q&A session and will discuss the format / timing. They seem to be leaning towards a “listening” session instead of providing answers, but we will continue to monitor this.

  • The Town’s VP of Finance is leaving for another job. Last day October 5th. The Town manager will start searching for a replacement and in the short term the town will rely on an outsourced accounting firm.



Meeting Summary


Public Comments

  • Stuart Richards and Demo Sofronas asked the SB to hold a Q&A session regarding the policing issues.


Town Taxes

  • VP Finance explained how the tax payment workflow works in town.The finance office stopped paying refunds as had been done in the past because the auditor said it would cause some financial reporting challenges and this isn’t the town’s money to refund. It’s unclear whether this is a management comment (suggestion) by the auditor or where else this conclusion was drawn from.

  • The SB discussed proposing a later date for tax payments (from August to September) on the warrant during this coming budget season so that notices can go out after the town receives the income sensitivity numbers from the state and can adjust the information sent to the mortgage companies.


Town Manager’s Report


  • Police: background checks still ongoing for the police chief candidate. [note: still no information has been shared with the public about who participated in the selection process and what criteria was used to identify candidates].

  • Hiring: continues to blame the tight employment market for his inability to attract staff [note: no mention at all of the core issue – who would want to work for a town management that has a reputation for mistreating employees?].

  • Winter: towns in the Upper Valley are discussing mutual aid agreements to help each other during the winter. [note: was this always the plan, to consolidate services with other towns?].

  • Route 132: the town has a capital plan and knows which roads are most important to be maintained. Made a commitment to replace Rt 132 in the near future given general conditions. Part of the process is to look at what’s under the pavement, including draining. Working on a large culvert (bridge on 132). Identified another culvert that needs to be replaced. Worked on a grant program from VTrans pass through of federal money, 80/20 split (20% town) estimated to be $115k and would do the work next summer. Town has a $635,000 reserve fund available.


Executive Session: no action following executive session.


Future Agenda Items


  • Roger Arnold (Chair) announced he can no longer handle the workload requirements of the position. First he stated he needed to share the duties with other SB members, however when others offered ideas to split the role, Roger stated he needed to step back from the role. It seems he has begun the process to step down from the Chair role. Unclear how they will manage workload among themselves – October meetings will continue this discussion.

  • Addressing Citizens’ Concerns: For the first time, SB members acknowledged the public’s concerns and anxieties about the collapse of our public safety and other services. The SB ‘feels’ the public has lost trust in the SB. Arnold said the public needs to share in ‘some of the blame’ for the current situation. Arnold also said "I'm not sure we share the same set of provisional realities."

  • SB acknowledged the need to have meetings in person with a hybrid option for citizens who prefer to participate from home, which substantially increases participation.

  • Other items: bridges, website updates, better communication, need for staff to handle PRA requests.