Public Hearings On Town Plan

The Norwich Planning Commission will hold hearings on its proposed Town Plan on January 9, 2020, at 6:30 PM and on January 13, 2020, at 6:30PM in the Multipurpose Room of Tracy Hall. Copies of Public Hearing Draft are available here.

Norwich 'Working Group' Fails In Transparency

A Working Group of public officials, formed in November by the Norwich Selectboard, is apparently not giving public notice of its meetings or posting meeting minutes. This failure seemingly violates Vermont's Open Meeting Law.
The group, known as the the Town Facilities Working Group, is to make recommendations to the Selectboard later this month regarding $4 million in improvements to Town buildings to reduce their carbon footprint. The ambitious goal is to have an Article on the ballot at Town Meeting in March. 

At $4 million, the project is likely the largest public works project ever undertaken by the Town. In comparison, the contract to construct the Public Safety Building had a price of nearly $1.3 million.

The Open Meeting Law applies to any "public body." The statute gives that term a broad definition at 1 V.S.A § 310(4):

"Public body" means any board, council, or commission of the State or one or more of its political subdivisions, any board, council, or commission of any agency, authority, or instrumentality of the State or one or more of its political subdivisions, or any committee of any of the foregoing boards, councils, or commissions, except that "public body" does not include councils or similar groups established by the Governor for the sole purpose of advising the Governor with respect to policy.

The Town Facilities Working Group was created by the Selectboard at its November 20th meeting and includes two Selectboard members, three Energy Committee members, two Finance Committee members, and the Town Manager, all elected or appointed public officials.  

How is this not a public body?  Even if arguably not a public body, the better practice, to me at least, is to err in favor of transparency. Openness is fundamentals to good government.

I doubt there's any nefarious motive involved. However, it is important that small town government not get indifferent or careless in its approach to public notice.
==================

UPDATE. The meeting "notes" for two meetings of the Town Facilities Working Group are now posted on the Norwich website under the Town Manager’s Office section. http://norwich.vt.us/town-managers-office/

HereCast is shutting down

HereCast, the website dedicated to content 'by locals for locals', is going on hiatus at year-end. No return date is set and the website will go dark. This blog posted 427 times on HereCast over a two year period.

In an email to casters (bloggers) on November 29, 2019, the White River Junction, VT startup said:

We started HereCast 6 years ago to help fill a void we saw in our local communities. Your efforts have far exceeded our expectations; however, we’ve fallen short of other goals, so we are shutting down the site while we reassess our future. 

This is big loss for residents of and visitors to the Upper Valley specifically and for hyperlocal coverage in rural communities in general. HereCast's content came from locals who were paid from a pool funded from advertising revenue. The site was popular in the region, "reaching more than half of Upper Valley residents month-in, month-out," said the HereCast website. "HereCast showed that — given the opportunity — people from all walks of life will step up to inform and engage their communities."

Growth was a problem.The company "overestimated how quickly we could expand our readership beyond the Upper Valley. We’re growing, but not quickly enough to support the cost of continuing to develop and maintain our platform."

"Second, we underestimated the hostility of traditional media." As reported elsewhere, the regional newspaper Valley News, based in Lebanon,NH viewed HereCast as a competitor and refused to let company advertise in its paper. In the six year history of the local startup, the only news story that I recall Valley News writing about HereCast was to report its shutdown.

As the Valley News and other newspapers fight to survive in the internet era, it was "naive to think they could risk exploring a different future with us under those circumstances," said HereCast.

See also, Site dedicated to content 'by locals for locals' announces shutdown in the Eagle Times on December 3, 2019.

Comment: Two important items missing from the Selectboard packet

I am going to whine. Two important items are missing from the Selectboard packet for the meeting on Wednesday evening, December 4th.

1. Proposed budget for FYE 2021. Budget discussions kick off on Wednesday, with a presentation by the DPW, followed by "Board Discussion/Possible Action".  No budget numbers are in the Selectboard packet or on the Town's website. The Selectboard had the budget proposal two weeks ago, but the public does not.
2. Town Manager's written report for November. I thought a written report of the Town Manager's activities for the prior month was "expected" at the first Selectboard meeting of the following month. The last report I located was for August, 2019, buried in the Selectboard packet for September 11.  My modest review indicates that since March, written reports were also not in the Selectboard packets for March 13, June 12 or July 10. (My count is six months of nine.) The last Town Manager report on the Town's website is for July 2016. Not a typo ... over three years ago. The public should not be in the dark.

I am disappointed, even though the omissions are very likely oversights due to the press of other business. Yes, the website and packet materials are primarily the responsibility of the the Town Manager. But the Selectboard is the boss. If the website is out of date, if materials do not make it to the packet, or if reports are not being written, that's a shortcoming of the Selectboard as well.
==================
Posted on HereCast on: 12.04.2019.

Agenda item #7c: Resolution for municipal authority to regulate retail pot sales

On tap for the Selectboard meeting on Wednesday is a resolution sponsored by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT) regarding municipal authority over retail cannabis sales. The Selectboard agenda and packet were released Monday afternoon because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Coming to Vermont?

I'm not sure this is a end-of-the-meeting, rubber stamp type resolution. My quick turn through the internet says the resolution has stirred Board debate at least at Selectboard meetings in Barre, Chester, and Springfield, the occurred before Thanksgiving. The website Vermontijuana labels the VLCT as an anti-cannabis lobbying group.

The retail sale of pot presents a unique situation for Norwich as it is adjacent to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where cannabis is not legal. In addition, the Village Business area includes the Marion Cross School, grades pre-K to 6th.

Legislation to permit the retail sale of marijuana is expected to be proposed in Montpelier in January. The anticipated bill would allow "local municipalities to ban sales by a vote of those present at an annual or special meeting but not by an ordinance," according to the story in the Chester Telegraph. "The bill allows for local cannabis control commissions to handle permitting and local regulations and a 2 percent local option tax collected on sales."

In contrast, the VLCT resolution allows towns to "opt-in" and calls for a 5 percent local tax, with 70% of revenues being retained by the host community of the retail establishment. Towns would also apparently need to opt-in for farmers to grow marijuana ("cultivate, process, manufacture, or sell cannabis"). The remaining 30% goes to other municipalities, "hosting growing or manufacturing marijuana businesses," says the Time Argus report of the VLCT presentation to the Barre Board, although the proportions of the split are not stated. The implications is that is if a town is not a host, it gets nothing.

The Selectboard in Springfield modified the resolution. According to the Eagle Times report:

The Springfield Selectboard objected, however, to two parts of the VLCT provision. In the board’s amended version, the resolution changes the “opt-in” for municipalities to an “opt-out” and removes the language which would distribute 30% of the collected tax revenues to municipalities that don’t host commercial cannabis.

==================
Originally posted on HereCast on:12.02.2019.

From the Archives: What’s an "Undesignated Fund Balance"?

With the budget season upon us, I thought I would re-post this explanation of the Undesignated Fund Balance. Originally posted on HereCast on September 10, 2018.

The Undesignated Fund Balance (UFB) is an important measure of the financial health of a municipality. 

In Norwich, the UFB is or will be underfunded by the end of the fiscal year, according to Selectboard Financial Policy #2.  That introduces an element of financial risk for the Town, though there is no immediate crisis. In a later post, I plan to ask why this happened without public discussion. First, as a warmup, I thought I would provide my layman's (not an accountant's) understanding of the purposes of the UFB.

The Undesignated Fund Balance is an amount the Selectboard holds in reserve to cover cash flow needs and emergency expenses. An earlier blog post of mine referred to the UFB as a 'rainy day fund' but that term understates its purpose. 

The  Selectboard Financial Policy #2, Undesignated Fund Balance describes its purposes as follows*:

1.1.1    To fund operations by providing sufficient working capital for adequate cash flow, tax rate stabilization and as protection against uncollected taxes, economic downturns, or shortfalls of revenues, imposition of additional costs by other governmental agencies including courts, errors in financial forecasting, natural disasters and cutbacks in distributions from the state government.
1.1.2     To reduce the cost of long-term borrowing by maintaining an appropriate level of undesignated general fund balance, which is reviewed as part of the evaluation of a municipality's creditworthiness by bond-rating agencies.

Tax rate stabilization in the quote above was a new concept to me. When the Undesignated Fund Balance is used to make a 'tax stabilization payment', the Selectboard takes money from the UFB, instead of raising it through property taxes.  Not uncommon in Norwich. This year the Selectboard specifically earmarked $264,290 in setting the property tax rate at its meeting on July 11. The $264,290 reduced the property tax rate by over three cents.

 

How much money should the Undesignated Fund Balance hold?  The recommended level of reserves is often expressed as a percentage of the annual budget, rather than a dollar amount. For example, the Government Finance Officers Association thinks that at a minimum, general-purpose governments should keep in reserve  two months of expenses. That equates to 16.67% of the annual budget. At the July 11 Selectboard meeting, the Town Manager expressed a preference for an UFB of 17%. 

Selectboard Financial Policy #2 at section 4.2 says the UFB should be "between 10 and 20 percent" of the annual budget. The Town’s budget for this fiscal year is $4,502,386, making 10% equal to $450,238. However, by using $264,290 as a tax stabilization payment, the UFB is closer to 9% than 10%. 

 

Going below the minimum was not discussed by the Selectboard. The lack of transparency regarding that situation is troubling and will be the subject of  a later blog post. 

================

*  All Selectboard policies are not currently online. I located what appears to be a copy of Selectboard Financial Policy #2, Undesignated Fund Balance in the Selectboard packet of October 11, 2017

POSTED: 09.10.2018 

CORRECTION: In Norwich, the UFB is or will be underfunded by the end of the fiscal year .... 

Without Inquiry, Selectboard Approves Use Of 'Designated' Funds For Non-designated Purpose

When can designated funds be used for non-designated purposes? To my consternation, no public official gave the question much thought, at least publicly at the [Norwich, VT] Selectboard meeting on November 20, as seen on CATV.  I was hoping for somewhat better oversight of taxpayer money.

Police Chief Frank at Norwich Selectboard meeting on November 20. Source: CATV screen shot.

At the meeting, Police Chief Jennifer Frank made a compelling case for the Police Department to purchase new computers for the station and for the four police cruisers, without waiting for the next budget cycle.

The expense is not the issue, but rather the funding source. The Police Chief sought, and the Selectboard okayed, funding for the purchase from the remaining balance in the "Communication Study Designated Fund", about $16,000. Not a peep from any Selectboard member, Treasurer, or Town Manager about whether this was an appropriate use of that Designated Fund.
Residents may recall that the Communication Study Designated Fund was established to study options for building the emergency communication tower. After the tower was built, a balance of over $28,000 remained in Communication Study Fund.  At Town Meeting in 2018, voters approved using the balance in that fund to pay down bond debt regarding the tower.

Excerpt from Minutes of the Annual Meeting, March 5, 2018 Town of Norwich, Vermont, 2018 Norwich Town Report at I-6.

I wish a town official had asked these three questions at the November 20 Selectboard meeting, even if just to keep the public informed.

1. Isn't voter approval required to use 'designated' funds for non-designated purposes? The Selectboard thought so in 2018. Then, the Board asked voters for approval to use the Communication Study Designated Fund to pay bond debt. See Article 10 above. Three Selectboard members as well as the current Town Manager held office at the time the Article was placed on the ballot. Prior practice in Norwich is to the same effect. Voter approval was sought at Town Meeting in 2009 to move money from the Fire Training Facility Designated Fund to the Tracy Hall Designated Fund. See 2009 Town Report at I-5 (Minutes of Annual Meeting). I don't know the answer to this question but past practice indicates voter approval is the preferred course. I also don't know if the Selectboard even considered the issue before approving the Police Chief's request.
2. Why not use money in designated funds earmarked for the police department? The Town has at least three designated funds set aside for police department expenditures. According to information in the Selectboard packet for that meeting, they are (and the balances in each): Police Cruiser ($80,754), Police Special Equipment ($12,385), and Police Station ($10,630). No Selectboard member asked why those designated funds were not being used to fund these police department purchases.
3. Isn't the money in the Communication Study Fund already spoken for? As noted in Article 10, voters approved the speeding of "any remaining" funds in the Communication Study Designated Fund to "reduce" Communication Tower Bond debt. Apparently, that debt has not yet been retired. A preliminary iteration of next year's proposed budget has $30,738 allocated for "DEBT SERVICE ON TOWER BOND". If the debt is outstanding, it would seem the voter mandate is not satisfied.

Questions 1 and 3 go to the legitimacy of the Selectboard approval. Perhaps the Board will address the topics at its next meeting, before releasing the funds.

======================
Originally posted on HereCast on November 24, 2019.

Cyber Scam Questions: Why didn't anyone tell the Town Manager?

Norwich Town Manager Herb Durfee at recent Selectboard meeting. Source: CATV screen shot. 

One of a series of posts raising questions that occurred to me in reading the Burgess Report, the Selectboard commissioned report investigating the business email compromise (BEC) scam that saw $250,000 stolen from the Town. CAVEAT: Hindsight is 20/20.
----------------------------------------------------
First, a brief recap. In response to urgent emails purporting to be from the Town Manager, Finance Director Donna Flies, two months on the job, made ACH (electronic) payments on the following dates and in the amounts indicated: August 6 for $35,820; August 12 for $38,740; August 19 for $88,680; and August 23, 2019 for $86,480. The recipient was Donald S. Jefford, Jr.  The payments were all fraudulent, part of a cyber scam.
The Finance Director knew each transfer violated a Selectboard policy requiring Board approval for the payments but said she took her orders from the Town Manager.
Even though several Town officials had concerns, Town Manager Herb Durfee was not informed about any problematic payments until the Selectboard met in executive session on August 28.

Why didn't the Finance Director ask the Town Manager about the payment requests?

Town Manager Durfee was away on vacation at the time of the first email but was back in the office on August 12.  Yet, the Finance Director never talked with him about the transfers. "[W]hen Flies made the last three payments to Jefford, she never discussed, nor mentioned anything to Durfee about the payments, the lack of invoices, the lack of purchase orders, or lack of Board approval," states the Burgess Report, observing that "regular personal interactions occurred between them daily."

An evil Town Manager could have embezzled a million dollars, seemingly without a peep from this Finance Director.  Was the Finance Director in on the scam? The Burgess Report says that she "believed that the emails were actually from her boss."

What about other Town officials?

By August 18, the day before the third transfer, five town officials, in addition to the Finance Director, knew that one ACH payment had been made in direct violation of Selectboard policy, according to the Burgess Report. These officials were the Town Treasurer, three Selectboard members including the Chair and Vice-Chair, and the Finance Committee Chair.

At that point, the Finance Director was on record as saying she would ignore Selectboard financial policies if the Town Manager told her to make a payment.

In addition, Jefford was not a familiar vendor. Neither the Selectboard Vice-Chair nor Treasurer "knew who Jefford was," says the Burgess Report. On August 16, while on the phone together, "both did a Google search, with no results."

The Treasurer was worried about embezzlement. Although concerned about the violation in policy, the Selectboard Chair, who was away on vacation and had talked with the Treasurer by phone, was "not concerned about embezzlement," says the Burgess Report. A cyber scam was not on anyone's mind. It was decided that the matter could wait until the Selectboard meeting on August 28.

Apparently, the Treasurer was reluctant to talk to the Town Manager by herself. The Burgess Report says the two do not have a good relationship.

Had someone talked to the Town Manager anytime before August 19, over $173,000 in financial loss could have been avoided. By August 23, about $86,000.

The Burgess Report's finding is that it "appears" that Town officials responded appropriately "based on the facts of what people knew, at the time they knew it."

At the Selectboard meeting on the 28th, the Town Manager learned of the embezzlement concerns and about Comerica Bank flagging as suspicious two payments from the Town.

However, the cyber scam implications only became clear after three officials met with the Finance Director the next morning. "[W]hen they first looked at the emails they knew it was a scam," says the Burgess Report. Later that day, the Finance Director received another email from the fraudster asking for two more payments be sent to Jefford that day. She did not reply.

==================

Originally posted on HereCast on 11.02.19.  Contact me at: norwichobserver@gmail.com

Draft Future Land Use Map Impacts Route 5 South

The Future Land Use map under discussion by the Planning Commission may impact the development of Route 5 South in Norwich. The map, see below, will be one of the topics addressed at the Planning Commission workshop scheduled for November 7.

The draft map designates the Easterly side of Route 5 South as Mixed Use. That designation is consistent with the draft regional plan proposed by the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission.  At present, the area is zoned Commercial/Industrial.

Part of the westerly side of Route 5 South is designated as Residential. The area is currently zoned Rural Residential.  Over 95 percent of Norwich is zoned Rural Residential. The Future Land Use map classifies areas of land along major roads within a mile or so of the Village, as Residential, with the remainder labeled as Rural. The mapped distinction between Residential and Rural could result in zoning regulations setting a different minimum lot size for each area.

 

The minimum lot size in Rural Residential is 2 acres, although the minimum size increases the further the property is from Tracy Hall. In contrast, the minimum lot size for land in the Village Business and Village Residential I Districts is about one-half acre.

Mixed Use is defined in the amended draft of the 2019 Regional Plan as follows:

==================

Current zoning districts in Norwich. http://norwich.vt.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/1-Zoning_Districts-Rev-txt-2019-8_26.pdf

This post originally appeared on HereCast on November 5, 2019.

UVLT Takes Hypertherm To The (Norwich) Woodshed

The Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT) recently took Hypertherm North America to the the woodshed, not for punishment but for good works, as the trip was to the Norwich Woodshed. 

About a week before the annual Norwich wood bee, "UVLT took a group of Hypertherm volunteers to the Norwich Woodshed where we bucked and split 10 cords of wood together," said Alison Marchione, UVLT Programs Director in an email. "Most of those 10 cords were logs donated from the Robert Areson Conservation Area near Butron Woods/Bragg Hill roads."

Winter logging at the Robert Areson Conservation Area in Norwich. Source: UVLT.org

The Robert Areson Conservation Area is owned and managed by UVLT. Some logging was done there last winter (see picture above).


The ten cords of wood are now part of Norwich Wood Fuel Assistance Program. The program provides firewood to needy residents of Norwich and other communities in the Upper Valley to heat their homes.


UVLT Outreach and Donor Programs Coordinator Paul Balzevich said on Facebook:

WOW, what a special group. Thank you for coming out to volunteer again ... . There will be many families kept warm this winter because of the work that you all did on Friday. Your impact will be felt throughout the entire winter. TEN CORDS! IN HALF A DAY! The Firewood Assistance Program managers could not believe it, and neither could we. Just remember, Hypertherm CST workdays make a world of difference on our conserved properties and to the members of our Upper Valley community. Especially when working on projects like this.

Check out the 22 second time lapse video of the Hypertherm volunteers at work on the Facebook page of the UVLT.

The Norwich Woodshed project was part of the Corporate Volunteer Program run by UVLT. Volunteer opportunities are available for groups large and small. The UVLT website says:

UVLT staff are always looking to foster new partnerships with Upper Valley businesses. Workdays can be scheduled at any point for all seasons of the year, featuring indoor and outdoor projects, and a large variety of group sizes can be accommodated. UVLT is also exploring options to create a multifaceted experience by including team building activities, mindfulness, and environmental education in the volunteer workday.

==================
 Originally posted on HereCast on 10.30.19

Cyber Scam Report: Finance Director Made Payments Knowing They Violated Policy

Source: CSO Australia

The Burgess Investigation Report, relating to the the business email compromise (BEC) scam that saw $250,000 stolen from the Town, says that Finance Director Donna Flies knew she was violating Town policy but believed she was acting on orders from her boss, Town Manager Herb Durfee.
The report prepared by Burgess Loss Prevention Associate in Lebanon, NH was made public today, after the Selectboard unanimously voted at its regular meeting last night to release the complete report.

In August, Finance Director Donna Flies made four electronic payments to the account of Donald Jefford, Jr. at two different banks. "She made the transfers in response to a request from 4 emails sent from a non-town email account that had the town manager's name as the alleged sender of the emails," stated the report. The email address used was ca@city1mail.com.

The report does not explicitly state whether Donald Jefford, Jr. is an existing vendor of the Town, although it indicates that neither Selectboard Vice Chair Claudette Brochu nor Treasurer Cheryl Lindberg recognized the name as they become suspicious.

Ms Flies, two months into the job, knew Selectboard approval was required before making the payments. However, "Flies believed that the emails were actually from her boss" and believed that she "was just following her boss's orders."  On August 15,  Treasurer Lindberg recalled Ms. Flies saying: "Well, when my boss tells me to do something, I have to do it ....," quotes the Burgess report.
Town Manager Durfee was away on vacation for the first transfer. "However when Flies made the last three payments to Jefford, she never discussed, nor mentioned anything to Durfee about the payments, the lack of invoices, the lack of purchase orders, or lack of Board approval." The report notes that the Town Manager and Finance Director both work in Tracy Hall and interact daily.

To quote baseball Hall of Fame pitcher and Red Sox broadcaster Dennis Eckersley: "Yuck."

Dates and amounts of transfers. Source: Burgess Report.

The report does not address whether the Town had adequate safeguards in place.  During the tenure of Ms. Flies over 20 electronic transfers were made without Selectboard approval, most for legitimate bills. The Town did not require two "signatures" on such transfers as a control. Mascoma Bank apparently offers such a product and periodically reminds existing customers of the service.
==================

Norwich, VT Declares Climate Emergency

Source: https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/blog/nyc-declares-climate-emergency

The Town of Norwich, Vermont declared a climate emergency at the Selectboard meeting on October 9. In addition, the resolution adopted (see below) commits the Town to working towards a Just Transition. The Selectboard action was unanimous, as seen on CATV.

Norwich is the second municipality in Vermont to declare a climate emergency according to data at the The Climate Mobilization website. Burlington was the first, passing a resolution in late September reports VTDigger.  As of October 14, no municipality in New Hampshire is listed by Climate Mobilization as having declared a climate emergency. The site counts 44 local governments in the United States as so acting.

Page 17 of Selectboard packet. http://norwich.vt.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/SelectboardPacket9Oct2019.pdf

==================
Originally posted on HereCast on: 10.14.2019. 

ADUs: Good For Housing Diversity But Not Affordable Housing

Accessory Dwelling Units, fondly referred to as ADUs, are good for housing diversity, but increasing their number will not increase Norwich's stock of affordable housing. That is the conclusion of the report* prepared by Dartmouth students and presented to the Planning Commission at its last meeting.

Fonzie's ADU

What’s an ADU? Think of a garage apartment, in-law suite, backyard cottage, basement apartment, granny flat, or carriage house.** In essence, an ADU is a is a secondary housing unit on a single-family residential lot. 

Garage apartments are called "Fonzie Flats" in Australia (H/T  Norwich Director of Planning Rod Francis), because "The Fonz" from television series Happy Days lived in one. Quiz question: what 60s television series features a newspaper reporter and anthropologist living together in a garage apartment in California? Answer below. (Thanks again to Rod Francis.)

The Norwich rules regarding ADUs are in section 4.14 of the zoning regulations. Among other requirements, the floor area cannot exceed 50% of the "floor area of the principal dwelling, or 1,600 square feet, whichever is less." One of the units needs to be owner occupied, although a one-year waiver is possible.  Septic capacity is another big consideration in adding an ADU. 

Expansion of the number of ADUs in Norwich has been talked about as a way to modestly increase affordable housing in Norwich. The Dartmouth students' report says no, observing that most "ADUs will rent at market rate …, keeping them out of reach of  low-income residents in need of affordable housing." In addition, owners of ADUs in Norwich might use them for short-term rentals, listing them for example with Airbnb.

Nonetheless,  promoting ADUs is a way to increase the types of housing in Norwich. "If you look at housing affordability this way -- as a continuum -- then I would say ADUs contribute to the goal because they increase the number of housing units available for rent in Norwich and because the monthly housing costs of accessing this housing are likely to be lower than that of most newly available single-family homes," said Planning Commission member Jeff Lubell expressing his personal views in an email.

Expect to hear more about ADUs as the Planning Commission develops the Town Plan.

==================

*   Accessory Dwelling Units In Norwich, Vermont, Investigating ADUs as an Affordable Housing Solution was written by Dartmouth College undergraduate students Emily Schneider, Paulomi Rao, Justin Kramer, and Michael Morck II, under the direction of professors in the Rockefeller Center.

**  One website lists over two dozen names for ADUs: The many and confusing synonyms for ADUs.

Quiz answer:  My Favorite Martian. According to Wikipedia, Uncle Martin is "a 150 year old anthropologist from Mars" and Tim O'Hara is "a young newspaper reporter." 

Originally posted on HereCast on: 06.05.2019

Selectboard Candidates Questionnaire: John Langhus

John Langhus and Doug Wilberding are running for the two-year seat on the Selectboard. Below are John's responses to all five questions in the Norwich Observer Questionnaire. Doug's responses are here. The video of the Q & A from the Candidates Forum is available for viewing at this link.
Communications. Are you satisfied with how Town government communicates with Norwich residents? Why or why not? By how much would you be willing to INCREASE the Town Budget in order to to improve communications? 
I think we struggle to effectively communicate right now. Part of this is technology- the Norwich website is very outmoded and not searchable. Plus no committees or boards can access it to upload info. We should have a modernized site with each group having custody of its page within the site for posting their announcements, meeting minutes etc.  The other challenge is time. Town staff simply struggle to have enough time to effectively communicate. I proposed adding a new position that would coordinate all Town communications as part of this year’s budget discussion, but that proposal was defeated. I will continue to push for that.  

Development. The Planning Commission is working on a new Town Plan, which may be sent to the Selectboard for public hearings and approval within the next 12 months. It seems inevitable that the topic will arise regarding the creation of a mixed use zoning district in the Route 5 South area. What are your views regarding the possible establishment of a new mixed use zoning district in the Route 5 South area? 

I am hopeful that these discussions can be more fruitful this year by taking place in a broader context of what we want Norwich to be generally. I am part of a group of residents who have worked to get three ballot questions on the Town ballot this year. One of them calls for making a coordinated response to the challenge of global warming a central guiding principle of the new Town Plan. I think this would help us to have more effectively the specific discussions regarding affordable housing, economic development, land use and transportation. 

Affordable Housing. Nearly everybody is in favor of more affordable housing in Norwich. What do you think Norwich’s local government should be doing to promote or create affordable housing in Norwich? 

If you work in Norwich, you should be able to live in Norwich if you’d like to. Housing cannot be affordable as single family homes on 2-acre spacing. Nearer to the village we should encourage denser spacing and multi-family housing with the infrastructure to support that.  

Goals. What are the several issues that you think the Town or Selectboard should or must address in the next 12 to 18 months?  Why? Do you have any specifics on how to address?

 

Global warming. We must begin to take concrete steps because we lose options every year we delay. Solutions also become more expensive each year we delay because we have less time to implement them. We must transform much of how we live within 10-20 years ago. Zero emissions in electricity. Zero emissions in transportation. Zero emissions in heating, agriculture and manufacturing. That is not long. Our three ballot questions we are pushing for Town Meeting all relate to the crisis of global warming and how we might choose to begin to address it.  

Budget. The Selectboard sent to the voters a FYE 2020 Town budget of $4,271,793. Although the amount of the budget declined by about 5%, the property tax rate [without the separate monetary Articles for various nonprofit organizations] is projected to increase by 1.51%. For John and Linda: How did you vote on that budget and why? For Doug and Roger: How would you have voted on that budget and why?

I voted for the budget. We worked hard on the budget this year. We really dig deep into the various categories of spending to understand how our spending was matching up with our priorities. We found that we had over-saved for several things over the last several years so that we could responsibly find the emergency costs from the July 1 storm without cutting short any key priority and also without raising the budget from last year

Originally published on HereCast on March 3, 2019

Selectboard Candidates Questionnaire: Roger Arnold

Roger Arnold and Linda Cook are running for the three-year seat on the Selectboard. Below are Roger's responses to all five questions in the Norwich Observer Questionnaire. Linda's responses are here. The video of the Q & A from the Candidates Forum is available for viewing at this link.  
Communications. Are you satisfied with how Town government communicates with Norwich residents? Why or why not? By how much would you be willing to INCREASE the Town Budget in order to to improve communications? 
I care deeply about effective communication and have worked on community engagement initiatives for my work in museums, design firms, and libraries. From attending Selectboard meetings over the last two years, I believe that communication with Norwich residents can be improved in two key ways: by running meetings more effectively and by focusing external communications on community engagement. 
Our community benefits when thoughtful research drives Selectboard deliberations. Members should be prepared to support their contributions to meetings with information from a range of citizen perspectives and research. We should accommodate different communication modes, learning styles, and perspectives for all our Selectboard meetings. Additionally, members should work tirelessly to recruit diverse voices—from longtime residents and newcomers alike—and should address the hurdles that may limit attendance at especially important meetings, such as childcare. Members should also respectfully challenge each other to frame issues more broadly so that all meeting attendees can easily understand the discussion, no matter how frequently they attend. 
External Selectboard communication with residents should not just focus on keeping our community informed, but empowered and connected. In addition to distributing communications online as they already do, the Selectboard could consider civic engagement tools, like Meeting-in-a-Box or other kinds of facilitated discussion primers, for use by our community groups to gather and share their ideas around questions relating to town services and community values. 
This work will require little to no increase to the municipal budget, just hard work! 
Development. The Planning Commission is working on a new Town Plan, which may be sent to the Selectboard for public hearings and approval within the next 12 months. It seems inevitable that the topic will arise regarding the creation of a mixed use zoning district in the Route 5 South area. What are your views regarding the possible establishment of a new mixed use zoning district in the Route 5 South area? 
I think zoning decisions must be considered and thoughtful. Community leaders must be actively engaged in listening to town-wide concerns and work hard to see the present in the future. I believe that by making the Selectboard more engaging and accessible, as I outlined above, we’ll be in a better position to enable participation.
A rezoning of Route 5 South to mixed use brings up complex issues around regional housing problems, infrastructure capacity, and land-use values. Like most of our community, I need more information. Here is what I think right now:

1. There may or may not be a tendency for business leaders and community influencers to think of Norwich and the Upper Valley as Burlington and Chittenden County. I do not believe it honors our collective small-town histories to be matched to the needs of our state’s largest metropolitan area, and our community should not be expected to be receptive to any explicit or implicit comparison.  
2. I believe that smart rezoning can be an opportunity to encourage and develop small, locally-owned business and generate tax revenue, while also keeping out big box retailers, as has been done in Brattleboro and elsewhere.
3. We should give ourselves space to imagine what kind of vitality a purposefully planned housing community with school-aged children could contribute to Norwich, including lowering the per-pupil spending rate, which in turn contributes to lower property taxes and may create a cycle of making Norwich more affordable for all residents. 
4. We must also acknowledge that our municipal services, including a lack of our own wastewater treatment, are not currently established to provide long-term care for the people who would live on Route 5 South.

Finally, whether we are talking about a parcel on Route 5 or not, citizens and Selectboard members should always respectfully ask each other questions that deepen our understanding of our individual relationships to land. It is tempting to divide our community based on who wants land use to support agriculture and open space, and who wants the land to be altered for housing development, but the reality may be that nearly every citizen wants the same thing: to make Norwich affordable and accessible, without altering our town’s unique qualities. 

Affordable Housing. Nearly everybody is in favor of more affordable housing in Norwich. What do you think Norwich’s local government should be doing to promote or create affordable housing in Norwich? 

Our Town Plan was rejected by the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission for its failure to address multi-family or affordable housing. Our access to certain state grants will continue to be restricted until a Town Plan is approved, so it is important to support our committees in their work. 

The Selectboard must identify affordable housing as an important, routine agenda item. Through thoughtful research and conversations, the Selectboard can vet the best data for discussing regional housing needs and insist that these numbers be used across town committees. The Selectboard should also more purposefully define the role of experts in housing strategies, and hear stories from renters with special needs, young families relocating from urban locations, and people who are at risk of being displaced because of high taxes or financial insecurity. I believe it is important for leadership to embrace the complexity of affordable housing topics and to demonstrate to our community that all ideas can be discussed, as long as equity and inclusion are central to our thinking.

I think that Accessory Dwelling Units—also known as in-law apartments—deserve more attention in Norwich. ADUs can increase housing supply without further land development, and facilitate the efficient use of existing housing stock. ADUs can also accommodate multigenerational living and house caregivers for the population who wishes to age in place. However, like all housing solutions, ADUs have their own particular cost burdens and unique septic considerations. To aid citizens in creating ADUs, the Selectboard, in dialogue with the Planning Commission, should consider using recently allocated affordable-housing designated funds to help residents offset costs after an achievable design plan has been secured. 

Goals. What are the several issues that you think the Town or Selectboard should or must address in the next 12 to 18 months?  Why? Do you have any specifics on how to address?  

There are a couple of things that come to mind:

1. Storm damage from 2011 and 2017 was extensive, and climate change scientists suggest that extreme weather trends will become more frequent in coming years. We should work with our Town Manager and Director of Public Works to assess vulnerable infrastructure and to better understand the unique challenges of our narrow valleys and their relationship to water velocity. Being prepared for these storms can help mitigate future costs.
2. We need to more meaningfully prepare for climate change and the impact it will have on our lives, particularly to those who are already on or soon will be on fixed-incomes. Low- and middle-income Vermonters typically are spending much higher percentage of their incomes on transportation energy than high-income Vermonters, to say nothing of the substantial burden of heating and electric energy expenses that we all face. When we work with our Energy Committees to support community solar projects and weatherization projects, we are improving the community’s well-being. We should also continue an appropriately paced transition of our town’s heating towards full renewables. 
3. We should consider using basic project management strategies that allow us to index town resources, like salt and sand in the winter, to weather conditions, so that we can begin to make more educated inferences about what kind of expenditures to budget. We should, of course, work in dialogue with our Town Manager on this. 

Budget. The Selectboard sent to the voters a FYE 2020 Town budget of $4,271,793. Although the amount of the budget declined by about 5%, the property tax rate [without the separate monetary Articles for various nonprofit organizations] is projected to increase by 1.51%. For John and Linda: How did you vote on that budget and why? For Doug and Roger: How would you have voted on that budget and why?

I think greater clarification and communication needs to happen around our budgeting process. For example, I believe many taxpayers will be confused about why their tax rate is projected to increase despite the budget decrease. By way of explanation: due in part to continual costs from storm damage that took place on July 1, 2017, and faced with certain unknowns relating to FEMA reimbursement, the Selectboard made the decision to largely level-fund the designated fund balances. 

I am concerned that altering the appropriations to these funds without making major cuts to the operating budget will just push this problem to the next budget season, though I, too, understand the need to balance our town services with being fiscally responsible. 

There were several instances in this year’s budget where a department’s line item was insufficiently explained. It is important that next year’s budget demonstrates to the taxpayer that every line item has a committed purpose and that funding dollars are valued. Often, a budgeted expense was proposed based on an assumption about our community’s desire for a certain level of service. Next year, the Selectboard should work more closely with our Town Manager to make sure our department heads have early and reliable citizen feedback for their budget preparation, to ensure that there is no budgetary waste on unwanted services.

Originally published on HereCast on March 2, 2019

UPDATE: Emergency Power Generators Are Cause For Concern

The Selectboard received good news and bad news regarding the status of the Town's three emergency generators.  See State Of Emergency Power Generators Is Cause For Concern. Town Manager Herb Durfee Town Manager provided a brief update at the last Selectboard meeting, as seen on CATV. 

The good news is with respect to public safety building generator.  Upon further review, that generator is of sufficient size to power the entire building. Electrical work needs to be so that the generator is connected to the police station. 

The bad news pertains to the Tracy Hall and DPW emergency power generators. Both have reached the end of their useful life. "Just repairing for the next breakdown," is how Town Manager Durfee described their status. He, along with DPW Director Wiggins, are collecting information to replace both units this year.

Town Manager Herb Durfee briefs Selectboard. Source: CATV

=============

Originally posted on HereCast on 02.22.2019

Thank You, Norwich Selectboard

Norwich Selectboard meeting 1/23/19. Source: CATV screen shot.

If you see a Norwich Selectboard member, shake her or his hand and thank the Selectboard member for the hard work on the budget.  Even if you disagree with the final product.  †

This was no ordinary budget year. The Selectboard rolled up its sleeves, donned a green eyeshade, sharpened its pencils, and got down to work

It wasn't all peaches and cream. To quote John Pepper's blog, there were "moments of tension and WTF-ness." That is to be expected. 

I don't agree with every decision made.  That is to be expected too. 

Board members came to the meetings prepared and with thoughtful points of view. Discussions were not driven by the Town Manager or one or two members of the Selectboard. That was my impression, from watching the various meetings on CATV.  

I appreciate the diligent effort. Thank you, Norwich Selectboard.

=============

†  If you want to contribute as a Selectboard member, there is still time to run for one of the two Selectboard seats up for election this year. Deadline is Monday. See Information for Candidates for Local Office.

Published on HereCast on 01.26.19