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
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