SUFN Education Group - Nov 2, 2022
Attendees:
Hayley DeLugach
Katie Crouch
Sara LeBlanc
Demo Sofronas
Omer Trajman
Menu Tesone
Meeting Summary:
There’s a baseline level of knowledge that we want to make easily and readily accessible to all citizen of Norwich. Omer to draft, Katie to edit.
As questions come up, we want a place folks can reference (FAQ) and ask (email list) from those who have been in town for a while.
We should have links to resources and a simple “how to get involved” page to get people started.
Where can we share information to keep people informed (PTO? Who’s Wise Words?)
Future items - how do we tackle the seemingly impossible task of hiring a Town Manager who reports to a board of 5 and has to follow the structures of OML?
Meeting Notes:
TM has day to day operations
SB sets policy
Create and control budget
SB get support from VLCT - 1967 founded
SB members are town residents
Meet 2nd and 4th Wed of each month
May be a month not to meet but general criteria
Multi purpose room of Tracy Hall
Special meeting can been scheduled
All meeting must be warned
Chair and Vice Chair are appointed by the board
Chair runs the meeting
TM gives their report
Policies are set to conduct the town business
Based on TM report and busessin SB has for the day
Norwich SB trello board is used by chair and TM to set long term agendas
Vision statement
Several way spublic can interact with SB
Send an email to tM office requesting to be added to the town email list
Get an email notice of all meetings, agendas, town notices
Get a meeting notice, agenda, SB packet, which contains lot sof documents pertinent to the business of the day
If you have a concern write a letter to board or TM
As of 10/12/2011, must also include a copy to TM assistant to include it in the packet
That’s by policy
Can also attend a meeting, in public (Recently zoom) and offer a public comment
This is done during public comment section
If the topic is an agenda item, the board may ask you to wait until the item comes up
Will let you speak. May or may not answer you.
More apt to answer question if it’s an agenda item
Basic steps to be a part of the process
Open Meeting Law
Can you access that on the website?
https://sos.vermont.gov/municipal-division/open-meetings
The people who show up at the meeting end up directing the opinion of the SB
If there’s a meeting that no one comes to, the SB has the opportunity to do their business
They’ve had open forums, allowed public to speak
SB has had a valid concern - where have people been, why haven’t they come to a meeting, why aren’t they involved
Why does the SB not take questions or discuss topics that aren’t on the agenda
How does exec session play into this?
Statues allow the SB to meet in private when it’s disadvantageous to the town to discuss in public.
Hayley
What does it mean to not have a Mayor
What’s town meeting day?
What’s the concept of a select board
How does it apply to our daily lives
Opportunity for a lot more government by the people
The need for involvement is different
Sara
Norwich expects people to know all these things
Didn’t know things are run by SB
Takes time to understand how it all runs
Benefit of a bootcamp
The documents already exist
People don’t even know they need to do the research
Parents at school don’t even know where to begin
What about a monthly/quarterly/6 month webinar/meeting?
User friendly page SUFN like MoveOn.org aimed at people who don’t know how to get involved.
Super simple how to get involved.
Hayley
FAQ and place to submit questions
I went to SB meeting, I heard this referred to, what is that?
What’s going on with the septic at MCS? It’s the jurisdiction of three different orgs.
Email that goes to a few different folks and someone needs to answer it?
If we get to an info Session, Hayley, is happy to teach
Omer to draft and Katie to edit summary of how it works
Town Manager is an administrator
Important for folks who have school age children to advertising that these meetings are happening
People look at the listserv
More knowledge about when the meetings are going to happen and what we were going to cover
Fellow classmates and families
What can go into who’s wise words?
Shawn is tight with what goes in there, more than middle school principle
PTO used to send out a newsletter.
What do all the Elected jobs do?
https://sos.vermont.gov/elections/election-info-resources/candidates/local-office-descriptions/
Who supervises the Town Manager
Structures to support the SB in supervision
Annual review process
Mentor and coaching system for people in new roles
Board chair is direct supervisor, other people the TM could access for specific issues
Being in the community and what needed to be addressed
Additional board members who related to provide support that directly supervisory
Supervision of the Town Manager
Day to day, check in between board Chair and TM
Manu
Need to change - there’s a risk of chair colluding with TM to follow certain actions for which there is no mandate and keeping the rest of the board out of the loop - what happened recently
Writing into board guidelines that the Chair has to report back to the board on any conversations with the TM. What did the chair get involved in and participate in.
Some additional controls that need to be put in place.
How do you find a TM who can report to a board of 5, has the skills, gets the coaching, and create the right interface with the board and the public?