Selectboard Special Meeting Notes for January 4, 6:30pm

What You Need to Know

• The Selectboard continued reviewing the budget with a goal of finalizing it. Given the open questions, they will need to take another turn on Wednesday, January 11, when they need to approve the budget in time for review before being published on the ballot. With no headcount additions other than the Selectboard’s requested assistant position in the Town Manager’s office, the budget stands at roughly 11% increase of last year while the board was targeting 8%.

  • The total town budget accounts for ~20% of taxes (the other 80% is for education).

  • Chief Cochran’s police budget request amounts to ~3% of the total tax collection.

  • The funds the SB does not want to approve for 20 hrs / 7 day police protection, amount to ~0.2% of total tax collection.

• Roger Arnold asked the Selectboard to look for $200,000 in cuts to get down to 8%, despite mandatory cost increases that are greater than 8% and regardless of market trends (eg. energy is up 19% while other goods and services are up 6%). After coming up short on cuts, the board again asked to see a budget that just increases everything by 8% from last year. Some suggested items on the chopping block include:

  • Gile Mountain improvements, Tennis courts, and Contracted services.

  • Limit scope of search for a permanent town manager.

  • Reduce the town clerk’s wage and eliminate the clerk assistant position. This may not be possible since this position was established by voters and is not advisable given the scope of work and anticipated transition.

  • Defund the Listers assistant position, even though the Listers have stated repeatedly that a town-wide reappraisal cannot happen without that position.

• There were contentious discussions as elected officials and the police chief restated that their budget requests, based on their expertise and anticipated needs, were being ignored.

  • The Selectboard continued going after other elected officials including the Town Clerk and the Listers by proposing cuts to their budgets and not soliciting input.

  • Overcome with frustration, Bonnie Munday (Town Clerk) said: “not one of you has any idea of what’s going on in my office!”

  • Watching the SB members randomly flip through budget lines looking for “things to cut,” attempting to understand on the fly why these lines are there in the first place, highlights the fact that none of them has any material professional experience with budgeting or management.

  • Some Selectboard members continue to gaslight the public by claiming they support the police chief while preventing him from hiring officers at market wages. Roger Arnold again repeated falsely that they cannot adjust wages until the union negotiations are finalized.

• Omer Trajman, on behalf of SUFN, asked the Selectboard to let the voters decide if they’re willing to fund Chief Cochran’s budget request. He asked that they formulate an appropriately sized and worded warrant article that asks the voters if they want to allocate additional funding in the amount equal to the difference between what a majority of the Selectboard is willing to fund, and the total that the Chief has requested.

  • Note that even if the voters approve additional funding, the actual use of funds is up to the full discretion of the Selectboard and town manager. They can choose to ignore the voters’ wishes on how to use our tax dollars, as they have done to date.

• Marcia Calloway, Selectboard Chair, managed a difficult meeting, largely due to the challenges of creating a budget without a completed audit or current accounting of finances.

  • The Selectboard continues to focus solely on reducing expenses. While cost control is important, the Selectboard seems to be missing sight of the need to restore critical town services which residents have paid for and not received.

  • The meeting was long (though shorter than December 28th) in large part because instead of shutting down discussion as the previous chair Roger Arnold used to do, Marcia listened and gave members of the public opportunities to share their concerns and opinions.

  • Thank you Madame Chair for doing an excellent job running these meetings.

Other Notes

• A majority of the Selectboard voted to not include the Interim Town Manager in the ongoing union negotiations.

• The Interim Town Manager appears to have been hired to rubber stamp administrative matters.

• Robert Gere stated that, as a retiree on a fixed income, he was very concerned about taxes going up. But he also stated that the Selectboard may just have to present this budget to the voters and see if they’re willing to fund those services.

• The Selectboard wants to promote Miranda Bergmeier to an Assistant Town Manager. It is unclear whether the Interim Town Manager was consulted, or if there was a job spec and proper search for candidates who may be qualified for that role. The Selectboard hasn’t been clear on why they believe Norwich needs an assistant town manager but not an assistant Clerk or assistant to the Listers.