Select Board fills many openings on town committees, commissions
April 29, 2023 | By Lisa ScagliottiThe Waterbury Select Board filled more than a dozen positions on the town’s volunteer commissions and committees recently, appointing veteran volunteers and multiple newcomers to town advisory and regulatory boards.
As is typical this time of year, the board put out a call several weeks ago for volunteers willing to fill vacancies on a number of local boards including the Planning Commission, the Conservation Commission, the Recreation Committee and the Tree Committee.
Approximately 20 individuals expressed interest in the openings with some spots more popular than others. For example, five people expressed interest in the single opening on the Planning Commission and seven were interested in four Recreation Committee spots.
“It’s a nice problem to have,” remarked board member Mike Bard during the appointment discussions.
Candidates were invited to the April 17 meeting where the board spoke with all of the applicants who attended. A common refrain soon emerged as they asked the potential appointees if they had a second choice for an assignment.
Some said yes and ultimately landed on a board other than their first choice. Eventually, the board matched up candidates with all but one vacancy on the list. A one-year opening remains on the Conservation Commission. The Select Board was unanimous in all of the appointment votes with one exception being the vote to fill the Planning Commission vacancy. Dani Kehlmann and Alyssa Johnson abstained. The board voted to appoint Billy Vigdor to that seat. Vigdor has been serving on the Conservation Commission as chair.
“I’m torn to take someone from a really effective position when we have qualified candidates to fill the other position,” Kehlmann said about Vigdor switching assignments.
The other three board members were in agreement, however, pointing to Vigdor’s background as a lawyer and his interest in working on the Planning Commission’s ongoing work to rewrite the town’s zoning bylaw this year.
The appointments
Development Review Board - Reappointed David Frothingham, Bud Wilson and David Rogers each to three-year terms.
Planning Commission - Billy Vigdor was appointed to a three-year seat.
Recreation Committee - Reappointed Frank Spaulding to a three-year term. Appointed Beth Gilpin to a three-year term. Appointed Belle McDougall to an unexpired two-year term and Jonathan Smith to an unexpired one-year seat. Jake Ferreira and Scott Culver were added as alternates.
Tree Commission - Marge Guylas was appointed to a three-year seat.
Conservation Commission - Amy Marshall-Carney and Stacey Lambert were appointed to four-year seats. Zinn Wolfe was named to an unexpired two-year seat. A seat with one year unexpired remains open.
In addition, the board will need to appoint a new representative to the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission currently held by former Planning and Zoning Director Steve Lotspeich who is willing to serve in that role through June.
Downtown Interim Zoning gets one more year
The board had a number of other items on its agenda that night. Prior to delving into the appointments, the board considered and unanimously approved extending Interim Zoning regulations for a section of the downtown business district for one more year. The measures were put in place in 2021 for two years to address shortcomings in the current zoning regulations for that section of downtown.
The move came after the town faced a legal appeal of a permit denial for a commercial development project that contained a brewery. A key part of the denial was the lack of detail in the zoning regulations to address such a use for the location on Stowe Street where it was proposed. It later was resolved and approved under the interim measures.
The regulations are temporary with the intention that they will be replaced by an entirely updated zoning bylaw covering the entire municipality within the next year. The Planning Commission has been working for the past five years on updating the town zoning bylaw. The process has been tedious, slowed down during the pandemic and due to the turnover the volunteer commission typically sees. Earlier this year, the town was awarded a $25,000 state bylaw modernization grant to assist with this process. The grant would pay for hiring a consultant to work with the Planning Commission, particularly with public outreach to collect input from the community in crafting the updated regulations. The aim of the state grants is to support updating local development guidelines in order to encourage development of more housing throughout Vermont.
Although warned for a public hearing, there were no public comments on the topic and the board unanimously approved the item.
Charter discussion
The board continued its discussion with Municipal Manager Tom Leitz about exploring whether to create a town charter. Leitz shared a memo with the board outlining some of the benefits of having one and the process involved to adopt a charter.
“The Charter itself can cover an array of topics, or be very simple, depending on your overall desire to reform town government. In its most basic form, a Town charter could address a single issue only, leaving all other Town business subject to general municipal law,” Leitz explained in his memo.
Approximately 50 Vermont cities and towns have charters, Leitz noted, with many variations in the topics they address. The discussion focused on having a charter call for local option taxes to generate revenue in addition to property taxes. New taxes could be proposed on retail sales, alcohol, rooms and meals. Leitz estimated that a 1% tax on all of those options could generate about $600,000 annually. Towns keep 70% of revenue from local option taxes, with the remainder put into a state fund that contributes to communities with state property -- including Waterbury.
Leitz also noted that a charter could address issues around elected officials such as conflicts of interest, filling vacancies and recall, as well as clarifying the powers and responsibilities of some hired officials such as the town manager. Implementing a charter would require a town vote either at a special town meeting or the annual March Town Meeting and approval by the state Legislature.
The board asked Leitz to compile more information on charter specifics from municipalities similar in size to Waterbury.
The board also reviewed town finances for the first quarter with Leitz reviewing revenue and spending by department so far this year. The discussion was detailed and concluded that matters are generally on track with the budget.
Board member Alyssa Johnson gave the board an update on the recently formed Housing Task Force. The group has had one meeting in January. It now has a spot on the town website under Boards and Meetings with a document posted there listing various information resources on current housing issues in Vermont. The group has not begun regular meetings yet, Johnson said.
Select Board members suggested that the task force spent time investigating the issue of short-term rentals and their impact on Waterbury’s housing market.
The board also approved two entertainment permit requests that it had postponed previously to get more information. The questions were answered and the board unanimously approved permits for Circus Smirkus for July 4-6 at Farr’s Field and the 100 on 100 relay footrace scheduled for Aug. 12.
Last on the agenda was an executive session which Leitz said was no longer needed. It was intended for a personnel discussion of a potential candidate to fill the town Planning and Zoning Director position open since Lotspeich retired at the end of March. The Planning Commission is required to recommend candidates for that position to the Select Board which hires for that role. The commission had screened candidates and chosen one to recommend, however, the candidate withdrew their application, Leitz said. The position will be advertised again.
The Select Board meets next on Monday, May 1. Meetings are recorded and available to view online at orcamedia.net.