Norwich Selectboard Meeting Notes November 22, 2022


What you Need to Know


  • Stand Up For Norwich is hosting a Meet & Greet Holiday Party on December 8th from 7-10pm at the Norwich Inn. All Norwich residents and town staff are invited.


  • Our new Police Chief, Wade Cochran, presented a budget that brings police services back in line with the plan we had before Chief Frank took over, adjusted for current market conditions. There is still disagreement among the board about the scope of the Police Department, despite the public safety crisis the town has been exposed to in the last 9 months. The board will continue looking at the budget in future meetings. Chief Cochrane asked the board to support him in rebuilding the force. Selectoard members Roger Arnold and Aaron Lamperti, who are looking at the 2021 budget as a basis, pushed back on increasing expenses to restore our department. The Chief explained the market has changed since then and in fact has not been fully staffed since before Chief Frank, who was working overtime every week. Proper resources are needed to attract and retain qualified staff, and restore the safety and services that town residents voted for.


  • We were shocked to hear that Aaron DeNamur, the town’s Zoning Administrator, resigned, blaming his decision on "abusive and outspoken" residents. We were disappointed to hear that Aaron had such negative interactions with town residents, especially when SUFN, since our inception, has been the biggest supporter of town staff and their wellbeing.

    • SUFN has investigated the matter, reviewing Aaron’s participation in Planning Commission meetings and interaction with town residents. It has become apparent that the Planning Commission is struggling with their meeting process, with members openly interrupting and attacking each other. This clearly is not a conducive environment for a new employee to step into and represent the town as Zoning Administrator. We were hopeful that Aaron would succeed in town.

    • For those who are not able to regularly attend Planning Commission meetings, recordings of these sessions are available online: Planning Commission Meeting October 11, 2022

    • As a result of Aaron’s resignation, we no longer have a town officer who can approve building permits. The Planning Commission is working on nominating a new Zoning Administrator.


  • Former Town Manager Rod Francis left with a long list of tasks that were not properly managed or simply neglected. It’s unclear when any of these will be tackled, since most need to be worked on by a Town Manager, per Vermont Statute.


  • The reappraisal review committee will review the town wide reappraisal proposals (currently one proposal) with a goal of making a recommendation to the Selectboard and getting approval to contract with a firm by the state’s deadline of December 9th.


  • There’s still a real risk that Tracey Hall heating system will malfunction and risk shutting down the offices, making the hall not usable, and breaking the sprinkler system. There are potential solutions that don’t involve replacing the boiler but nothing is being pursued yet.


  • The Selectboard is looking for volunteers to take notes and we’d like to find folks who are willing to manage the Zoom so the board can focus on the meeting.


Meeting Notes


Chair’s comments

  • Noted green power report in packet

  • End of November for Tracy Hall report

  • In the future we will group the agenda items and have public participation by topic


Public participation

  • Manu T. - SUFN meet & greet holiday party Nov 8th 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm at the Norwich Inn. All Norwich residents and town staff are invited.

  • Chris V. - Needs zoning DRB work and with Aaron resigning nothing is happening. Question about interim zoning administrator. Marcia: planning commission must nominate a candidate

  • Linda C. - Question about the Moore Lane bridge, when will it be discussed? Can it be a separate meeting - Marcia: will be part of the DPW budget conversation.

  • Cheryl L. - Has concerns about the accuracy of the financial reports in the packet.

  • Arline R. - Chair of DRB, sorry to see Aaron go. DRB cannot function without staff. We can appoint an acting zoning administrator.

  • Jaci A. - Chair of PC, sorting through their responsibilities given Aaron’s departure. Meeting again on 11.28

  • Susan B.- Another valuable employee has left. She supports the SB.

  • Stuart R. - Look at Stringer and Laaspere letters


Agenda approved


Consent agenda

  • Draft minutes - no comments or changes

  • AP warrant - no comments or changes

  • Correspondence - pulled Peter Orner and Jaan Laaspere letters on Moore Lane bridge to give to DPW head Kaufman, and Peter Gregory’s TRORC for the IREC budget

  • Approved unanimous


Legal services and Rosenbloom v. Norwich

  • Go into Exec section at 6:55 with town attorney

  • Back from Exec at 7:18


Town manager list of priorities

  • Aaron met with Rod 3 times for 2 hrs each time

  • Went through a narrative on TM job and town business daily, weekly, monthly, yearly

  • For example, Annual town meeting, tax rate by 1.11, Audit into report, warrant by 1.18, taxes on 2.10, report by 2.9 to printer, etc. around the year


List of active items:

  • Wastewater feasibility study not going forward - loan and state money cancelled, no staff to pursue Beaver Meadow sidewalk study not pursued, no staff time

  • Opioid money coming

  • ADA trail being built on Milt Frey area, agreement with school, needs inspection for insurance - who can inspect?

  • Road work grants - TRORC, Kaufman should know

  • Reserve fund for ARPA money, need warrant for town meeting

  • Collective bargaining

  • Annual staff reviews - list created and Miranda has it
    COLA

  • Moore Lane bridge

  • Warrant article to change the date for spring tax payment

  • Huntley meadow field renovation - approved to do RFP

  • Reappraisal - panel and have a plan in early Dec.

  • Ongoing resident funded effort to create pedestrian brook behind legion hall to Huntley, need flood design question resolved. Passed conditional review of DRB, moving forward

  • Tracy Hall boiler and emergency plan

  • Computer - getting it back soon, don’t have another meeting planned
    Staff is getting Rod’s time to answer questions


Budgets

Joyce Hasbruck, interim finance director, is doing a great job. Determining what balances are in each department’s budget.


Police

Chief Cochran presented

Cruiser policy - 10 years is a long time, average is 3.5 yr and 100k miles - this is unrealistic and will need to be revisited at some point

Researching EV options, limited packages available

One cruiser on order - Explorer, no delivery date, could be June ‘23

2013 Ford Taurus 124k miles going to auction soon, $13793 over 3 years in maintenance


Fleet

RAV4 new - 1000 miles

2017 Explorer - 90k miles

2013 Ford Taurus - 90k mi

2020 Ford Hybrid - 20k

Desire is to have 4 and one unmarked


Police budget - Highlighting changes

Marcia: Chief needs to build a force and we need him to say what he needs


Salaries & compensation - Chief’s proposed changes based on statewide research. We are below most other agencies. He wants to hire experienced people. $22 - 24/hr is too low, needs to be higher to attract. He wants retention and a good fit for Norwich.


What positions are proposed?


Community safety officer - is this new? Voted and approved, according to the Chief

2018 approved a Sergeant position, has been vacant for a while


Chief is proposing Chief, Sergeant, 3 officers, CSO, and Admin


Roger: expected personnel of 3 officers, including CSO or Sergeant, plus Chief and Admin and 2 crossing guards

Chief: CSO should be separate, not FT, not certified

Aaron: agrees no change is the plan, this is a change. In recent years we had 4 total officers and Admin, agrees with increasing wages

Mary: Not a year to make changes, longer term discussion about changing role and the importance of CSO position, could be creative. 3 officers plus chief. Concerned about big bump.

Rob: Finding staff candidates not certified in VT and need training. Could you start someone as CSO and move them in.

Increase in salaries proposed is $161,350 not including Admin, who also needs a bump


Dispatch will go up by $20k to Hartford, not in our discretion based on our call volume relative to other towns

Training up $2200


Marcia: we need to invest in the department

Roger: get the budget with 4 officers for comparison

Designated funds not corrected yet


Chief: “I need you guys to stand behind me”

3 candidates in the background check process

Need to be a fit for the town


Manu - Glad that the chief is sharing a professional assessment of what the town and the market needs. Budget increases in this completely different environment of expected income. We should acknowledge the budgeting reality. SUFN input from hundreds of residents says to rebuild the core safety for residents with police and highway crew. Let department heads put together budgets based on the experts. Then let the town voters make the decision. Feedback to SUFN shows that town voters have a different opinion than the 3 members of the board.


Charlotte - advocating for police


Chief announced open house at the PD on Nov 29 5:00 - 7:00


Police budget will need another session


Fire

Chief Northern and Matt Swett

No big changes in budget

Increase in fuel as would be expected

Equipment items - SCBA packs and cylinders are old > 15 yr life, PPE $3k/set, extrication tool “Jaws of life”


Fire district hydrant use fee may be increased by ~$100k - somehow the voters need to vote on this. It’s not in the budget currently. Roger and Aaron said there is no reason we should pay for it, since there is no benefit for people outside of the fire district. Wait for notice from Fire District.


TRORC IREC

Do we want to continue this for $36k?

Are we getting value for this? Yes, Geoff was helpful according to Aaron

Mary: keep it

Rob: Agree, filling a hole

Roger: Agree

Will stay in the budget


Assistant TM / HR / IT Manager

To give bench strength, succession, continuity

New FTE - what do people think?

Mary: ongoing need for HR and communication

Aaron: continuity would be good, make it a line item

Rob: Rod advised it, agreed with doing it as a line item

Add it budget as separate line item


Reappraisal Review Committee

Pam Smith query - does this need to be a binding recommendation? 6 members makes that a pain, need 4 for decision

SB - Rob

BCA - Bonnie

Public - Neil O’Dell, Arline

Amend the composition to include a member of school board and member of public

Voted to appoint Neil and Arline

SB agenda 12.6 to discuss the recommendation, 24hr before for the packet

Cheryl to pull the team together


Break


Interim and FT Town Manager

Executive session at 9:32 to discuss candidates for interim TM

Motion: proceed with interviewing for interim TM, approved

Need job description - scope of services for hiring firm

Hanover has experience with Tellus

Compare with what VLCT could do

Montshire has recent experience with nationwide search

Mary Gorman works in exec search - she can provide firm names

Roger will send background to Marcia


OML alleged violations

Katucki complained about 24th executive session for TM contract

Motion to deny the notice of violation on 10.24 - Unanimous


Katucki complained about Nov 7th executive session

Agenda indicated for appointment of interim TM

Minutes say immediately advertise

Motion to deny the notice of violation on 11.7 - Unanimous


Board minutes & remuneration

Miranda doesn’t want to do minutes anymore

Recommend advertising offering $25/hr, depending on experience and qualifications

Unanimous


Affordable Housing Subcommittee grant

Asked for support and 10% ($60k total) funding, $6k for town

Town owned land - does it require a vote?

Jeff Lubell, Chair affordable housing subcommittee

Grant to look at site constraint, water, septic, slopes

Application due in Feb, need a pre-application on Dec 18th

Where is the capped landfill? Is there one to the north?

TRORC can support

Neil Fulton - They found trash when they dug the road to the DPW

Withdraw the request based on landfill info

Jeff requested any other site ideas for affordable housing


Tracy Hall

Bonnie - Tracy Hall freezing would cause sprinklers to go off in the vault, harming critical records.

Charlotte - seconding the need for Tracy Hall heat


Septic issue recently

Emergency siting ideas for staff discussed

Public safety building as possible temporary site


Aaron - we can keep the building warm with big heaters. Would make sense to have an emergency plan for people. Think about renting office space and moving certain functions there now to have diversity of spaces available for flexibility.

Investigate methods for emergency heating of Tracy Hall. In house or outside firm?

Aaron will investigate options and report back.

Neil F. - dry sprinkle

r system except in boiler room so the danger of leakage is minimal.


Future agenda items


Dec 6th agenda plan

  • Budget presentations for DPW, Rec and Listers

  • Town manager search

  • Elected officials and town staff collaboration - Mary presentation

  • ARPA funds

  • Hydrant rental with fire district

  • AVA trail at Milt Frey