Selectboard Meeting Notes February 8, 2023

What you need to know:

• The School Board is supportive of the long overdue septic pretreament infrastructure (Article 7) and replacement to the playground (Article 8). The School Board is also concerned with the Selectboard's initiative to move the tax collection date to the end of August (Article 39) due to cash flow issues with payroll for teachers and staff. The reason the Selectboard is asking to move the date is because we don't get income sensitivity discounts until after our tax bills go out, which results in some people overpaying on their first tax bill.

• The Selectboard approved minutes from the past seven meetings, which have been accumulating and required corrections.

• The Selectboard made a few appointments: Matthew Hall to Tree Warden, Peter Orner to Town Moderator for Town Meeting on March 6 at 7pm, and a contract with TRORC for an acting Zoning Administrator to unclog the backlog of permits.

• The full audit is unlikely to be completed in advance of Town Meeting as required by statute. The Town Manager is asking the auditors to provide the minimum required information to comply with the law.

• The town is not allowed to have a reserve fund for the American Recovery Plan Act grant (Article 10). The Selectboard is asking the voters to vote NO since this Article, which the Selectboard placed on the warrant themselves on the advice of our former Town Manager, violates Federal law.

• The Selectboard is asking the Town Manager to create an RFP to hire an HR consultant. The Selectboard also debated other RFPs they need to issue, including for a search firm to hire a permanent Town Manager and for help updating various town policies.

• The Selectboard discussed ways to know what town committees are working on. Committees do not submit updates and there is no regular communication with the Selectboard, even though committees are formed to provide advice to the Selectboard on a wide range of issues.