Fraser Family Is 2013 Norwich Citizen of the Year

The Norwich Women's Club recently announced that the Fraser Family of Dan & Whit's is the 2013 Norwich Citizen of the Year for Community Service.  The Fraser Family will be honored at the Norwich Women's Club Spring Gala on March 15th, where they will receive the Ledyard Grant of $500 for a charity of their choice.

In a listserv post, Spring Gala Chair Sue Pitiger congratulated "our favorite Frasers, Dan, George, Sheri, Jack, and Matt." Praising the family, Ms. Pitiger said: "We all know what Dan and Whit's does for our town.  Without the conscious effort of everyone there to put customer service front and center, we'd have just another general store.  But the Frasers are who they are, thankfully, and we're all the better for it. We will be telling you many wonderful things about this family at the Spring Gala on March 15 and we hope you'll all want to be there to have fun and congratulate them."

There were thirteen nominees for the award.  The winner was selected by a committee headed by Cheryl Herrmann, that also included Arline Rotman, Deb Kaplan, Jay Van Arman, Phil Dechert, Peter French, and Gail Broughton. The names of the other nominees will be released by the Norwich Women's Club at a later date

Gala tickets go on sale in February. The Gala is sponsored by the Norwich Women's Club and Ledyard National Bank.


LINK:
http://www.norwichwomensclub.org/

Weekly Roundup - Norwich News, for week ending January 26, 2013

From the Valley News:

Norwich Church Hosts World Music Teacher 

Friday, January 25, 2013
A hymn writer who has collected congregational music from around the world will lead a session on “Singing With the Global Church” on Wednesday, Jan. 30, at the Norwich Congregational Church. John L. Bell of Glasgow, Scotland, will lead the session on global music, which begins at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to “come prepared to sing, listen and …

Tower Petition Succeeds

from the listserv
Thanks to all who signed our VTel/bond article petition

Our final count is 526 -- two hundred more than necessary to compel the bond 

vote. 

Thanks to all of you who took a moment this past week to help us get this 
question before the voters. If we had known how many signature gatherers 
were out there we might have saved a couple hundred of you the trouble. 

As you all know, this simply places the bond article on the Town Meeting 
ballot, allowing voters a clear choice between the current VTel proposal and 
building/owning the tower ourselves. More importantly, this creates an 
opportunity for public meetings and debate to learn about the ramifications 
of each option so we can decide for ourselves in an informed and open manner. 

Stay tuned... 

LINK:

http://lists.valley.net/lists/arc/norwich/2013-01/msg00428.html

Weekly Roundup - Norwich News, for week ending January 19, 2013

from the Wall Street Journal

Kearney returns with a win

Olympic champion Hannah Kearney made a successful return to the moguls World Cup circuit Thursday with a win in the ASANA Freestyle Cup at Whiteface Mountain.

Kearney missed the first two World Cup races this season after fracturing two ribs during a training crash in Switzerland in October.

"I expected myself to pick up where I left off, and I think I did," Kearney said. "I think that's what I'm the most proud of, both with the results and my skiing."

Kearney, of Norwich, Vt., has won the moguls event at Whiteface Mountain four straight years. Last season, she was the overall World Cup leader and set the record for most consecutive World Cup victories in moguls with 16, dating back to the previous season.

from the Valley News:


Kearney A Winner In Return: Norwich Native Takes First Race Since Injury
Friday, January 18, 2013

Wilmington, n.y. — Three months ago, Hannah Kearney was lying in a basket dangling from a helicopter high above a glacier in Switzerland. And she wasn’t sightseeing. The Olympic moguls champion fell hard after landing a jump while training in Zermatt in early October. Her head and knees were OK. But it felt like someone had kicked her in the …

Norwich Board OKs Budget
Thursday, January 17, 2013

Norwich — The Selectboard knocked down proposed salary increases for three department heads, but the planning, finance and recreation directors will still receive pay increases of 13, 18 and 26 percent, respectively. Town Manager Neil Fulton’s proposed budget included large salary increases for several department heads based on a compensation analysis that was done by Condrey & Associates, which was hired by the …

School Budgets Shape Up
Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Hanover — Norwich and Hanover school boards are in the home stretch of finalizing their budgets, which they plan to adopt by the end of the month. Along with the budgets, residents will also be asked to approve teacher contracts for all three districts, which in some cases could increase taxes. The Hanover School District is proposing a $11.6 million budget, which is …

LINKS

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP505b4cba9dec4564b32cf9eb962f24b1.html

http://www.vnews.com/news/townbytown/norwich/

TTMNBN: Petition Up!

from the listserv:

By another 3-2 vote, a majority of the Selectboard again refused to warn a tower warrant article.  We have begun collecting the 300+ signatures necessary to put this bond article on the ballot anyway.  Here's the bond article language:

"Shall general obligation bonds or notes of the Town of Norwich in an amount not to exceed Two Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($275,000), subject to reduction from available state and federal grants-in-aid and other financial assistance, be issued for the purpose of financing the construction of a radio communications system including a communications tower on terms acceptable to the Selectboard?" 

This is the exact same language and bond amount those same three Selectboard members approved last August to put before voters just as VTel appeared on the scene.  We are working on more FAQs to help explain the confusing path this has taken and why we've chosen to repeat their language now.

In the meantime, you can download and print your own copy of the petitioned article and collect signatures yourselves here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23180697/Petition%20of%20Norwich%20Voters%20-%20January%2014%202013%20copy.pdf

Please email me directly if you have signed petition pages to turn in.  We need approximately 320 by Wednesday, January 23rd.

Thanks,

Watt Alexander

LINK
http://lists.valley.net/lists/arc/norwich/2013-01/msg00322.html

Obituary: Donald Boardman Poulson

Donald Boardman Poulson, 72, of Norwich passed away on Monday, January 14, 2013 at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. He was born to Donald F. and Margaret (Boardman) Poulson in New Haven, CT on September 11, 1940. He grew up in Hamden, CT and attended Brown University for undergraduate studies and Indiana University for his master's degree.

He worked for Yale University Press, David Godine Publishers in Boston, MA, and went on to Cambridge University Press in NYC in 1979. He retired from publishing in 1986.

Donald moved to Norwich in 1988 where he became very involved in the community. He was a member of the Norwich Congregational Church, on various boards and committees for the town, and enjoyed attending various breakfast and dinner clubs. He loved to read and continued his education through ILEAD at Dartmouth. He was a member of the Lions Club, and was a Justice of the Peace for a term. He was also very active as a volunteer at DHMC.

Donald is predeceased by his father in 1989 and mother in 1993. He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer (Poulson) and Remoun Amin of Bethlehem, PA; his ex-wife, Mary (Moss) Poulson of White River Junction, VT; his brother Christian Poulson and longtime partner, Michelle Massie of San Diego, CA; and two nephews, Chris Poulson of Pocatello, ID and Erik Poulson of San Diego, CA.

A service will be held at Norwich Congregational Church on Saturday, January 19, 2013 at 3:00pm to celebrate his life. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Norwich Lions Club or DHMC.

from the Rand - Wilson Funeral Home website

LINK 

http://rand-wilson.com/obituaries/obit_view.php?id=84

Vermont, the 'Green Mountain State,' was largely settled by Connecticut pioneers, including Ethan Allen and his brothers.

Did you know...

Most of the settlers in Norwich, VT, came from Mansfield, CT. By 1790, more than 1,000 people in Norwich, VT, had a Mansfield, CT pedigree — the vast majority of the town's population. Pioneers from Mansfield also constituted a large percentage of Hanover, NH, right across the river. 

For more about  Connecticut residents playing a large role in settling Vermont, see This Week In Connecticut History, a column by Philip R. Devlin, who writes for the Patch.  The story ran in the Canton Patch on January 17, 2012 as Do You Know Where 'New Connecticut' Is? 

LINK

http://canton-ct.patch.com/articles/do-you-know-where-new-connecticut-is 

Salary Study By Condrey & Associates

from the listserv:
 Mon, 14 Jan 2013

Condrey & Associates Report 

Preparing a budget and reviewing it are tough jobs.  Nevertheless, I share concerns expressed by others about the Condrey & Associates Report being the basis for salary increases for department heads.  For those who want to read the Report, it begins at page 54 of the FY14 Budget Information packet available on the Town's website under Selectboard.  

The biggest problem I have is that Condrey & Associates surveyed only 7 municipalities for data. See Table I at page 3 of the Report.  Those 7 municipalities form the "relevant labor market" for the Report and are viewed as "similar municipal organizations".  Three of those municipalities -- Hartford, Hanover and Lebanon -- are nothing like Norwich.  One Town, Charlotte, is in Chittenden County.  Another, Dorset, is located in Bennington County.   How and why these municipalities were selected is not evident in the report.  

While pay for hourly municipal workers in Hartford, Hanover and Lebanon might be relevant for Norwich hourly employees, I doubt we compete for hourly workers with the Towns of Charlotte and Dorset.  For department heads, I don't think Hartford, Hanover and Lebanon are direct correlations. The smallest of these three municipalities has more than two and one-half times the population of Norwich.  Bigger towns have bigger budgets and bigger problems.  Department heads have different responsibilities and require different skill sets. The Report, without any analysis, presents three options.  The apparent recommendation is Plan C, characterized as "approximately 94% of the relevant labor market."  Report at page 10.  How and why 94% is a good number is not stated in the Report.  It is simply a naked number.  I  would have expected much more to justify a pay raise of 18 - 31%. 

Finally, the use of the salary scale seems selective.  The budget proposes a salary of $59,704 for our for Finance, Planning and Recreation Directors.  According to the salary chart, that is a Grade 21 Job, at Step A.  See Table C  Plus  2% at page 15.   The Town Manager position is Grade 25.  According to the salary scale, the salary for Grade 25, Step A is $88,631.07.  However, based on Saturday’s Valley News article, the Town Manager says he is underpaid, at $95,000.  Plus, according to the Condrey & Associates pay scale at Step A, the Fire Chief is underpaid but two other department heads are overpaid under the proposed budget.  How and when will those pay levels be addressed?

Thanks for reading.

Chris Katucki 

Norwich School Board - Final Budget Meeting - January 17

from the listserv:
The next Norwich School Board meeting will be this Thursday at 7 pm in the Marion Cross multipurpose room. This will the final budget meeting - the Public Hearing and budget adoption. Included in the discussion will be a proposed bond article to cover building maintenance items. Minutes from previous budget meetings can be found here: http://www.sau70.org/this_month/board_mtgs.htm

The proposed budget can be found here: http://www.sau70.org/this_month/budget_info.htm


Neil Odell
Chair, Norwich School Board

LINK;

http://lists.valley.net/lists/arc/norwich/2013-01/msg00297.html

Agenda - Special Selectboard Meeting - January 16, 2013

Agenda for the Special Selectboard Meeting of Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 6:30 PM

(Times Are Approximate)

1)    Possible Bond Article for Tower and Communications System Improvements for Town Meeting Warning (Discussion/Possible Action Item) 20 minutes

2)    FY14 Budget (Discussion/Action Item) 45 minutes

3)    Selectboard

a)    Review of Next Agenda (Discussion/Possible Action Item) 5 minutes

b)    Personnel (Executive Session May be Required)