Selectboard Meeting Notes January 23, 2023


What you need to know:


Police Funding:

  1. The Selectboard rejected the police petition that SUFN submitted, which was signed by over a quarter of Norwich voters, to allocate $80k towards fully staffing the police department. Town counsel advised that the language of the article was a mix of binding and non-binding statements, even though it was identical to articles presented to Norwich voters in past elections.

  2. Roger Arnold made it clear that he is not interested in hearing what the voters have to say. His position is that the Selectboard should not let referendums determine how they conduct business. Mary Layton stated she wants to acknowledge voters' concerns and proposed an advisory article (i.e. purely non-binding) to put the question to the voters, but not the money to fund it. That advisory article was approved by a 3-2 vote. Marcia, Mary and Rob voted yes to let voters state their opinion; Roger and Aaron voted no.

  3. Norwich residents have already paid for public safety services they did not receive in 2022. Our money is sitting in a bank account unspent, and the Selectboard needs to account for it. Those funds can be used now to fund Chief Cochran’s hiring needs. The Selectboard can also use American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) monies received from the Federal Government which are allowed to be spent on staffing. When asked what surplus was available, Roger said we won't know until the audit is complete.


Consolidation of Selectboard Power:

  1. Bonnie Munday, Town Clerk, suggested that the Selectboard ask the voters to change the Town Clerk position from an elected office to a Selectboard-appointed role. There’s also a petition to allow the Selectboard to appoint Listers instead of voters electing them.

  2. These articles would expand the number of unfilled permanent roles under the Selectboard, including Town Manager, Finance Director, and Planning Director.

  3. Norwich will need to start making decisions about how much we want to centralize power in the Selectboard, or whether we want to elect citizens who are willing to step into elected positions and listen to the will of the voters.

  4. Note that all three Lister positions and the Clerk do have citizens running for office, so none of these positions will be vacant.


Miscellaneous

  1. Mary refuted Doug Wilberding’s accusations that she was involved in circulating a petition to make the Listers an appointed position, or that she met with other Selectboard members in violation of OML. Marcia notes that it may not be wise for SB members to sign a petition where there may be a perceived conflict of interest, even if it doesn’t actually violate the policy.

  2. The Selectboard needs to appoint a Town Moderator and will be putting out a call, as they have for other appointed positions. There are two people who have already expressed interest.

  3. The Selectboard approved funds to the Land Management Council for the forestry plan and re-appointed the two members whose terms expired last year.

  4. The School district requires the first tax payment, which is collected by the town, to be made by the last week of August. Roger argued that the town should wait until the adjusted tax bill comes in, and only then consider the needs of the School. Bonnie pointed out that this hasn’t been an issue until the last two years. The motion passed 4-1 to move the tax date to August 30th with only Marcia voting against.


The Selectboard's next regularly scheduled meeting is this Wednesday, January 25th at 6:30pm in the community room at the public safety building.