Select Board reorganizes, names Roger Clapp as chair

March 25, 2023  |  By Lisa Scagliotti 

In its first meeting after the March 7 election, the Waterbury Select Board reorganized last week and chose a new leader. 

Roger Clapp, who was elected on Town Meeting Day to his second one-year term on the board, was named chair. Mike Bard, who served as chair for the past year nominated Clapp. The group chose Dani Kehlmann as vice chair for the second year. 

Clapp thanked Bard for serving as chair for the past year. “I think we got a lot of work done over the past year. I really enjoyed your leadership,” Clapp said.

“It’s been a pleasure and even moreso an honor to serve as chair over the last year,” Bard said. They both acknowledged Kehlmann for leading the board when needed as well.

Recently elected to a three-year seat, Alyssa Johnson was chosen as recording secretary. That role of taking meeting minutes would come into play when Town Clerk Karen Petrovic is not in attendance as the town clerk typically takes board minutes. 

All of the votes were unanimous.

The group also welcomed new member Kane Sweeney who was elected for the first time earlier this month to a one-year term.

During public comment, resident Anne Imhoff asked three questions of the board regarding the March 7 Town Meeting: why the Pledge of Allegiance was omitted, why the Community Band did not play, and why there was no Wallace Community Service Award presentation. 

Board members and Petrovic answered with apologies on all counts. The pledge was an oversight, they said. Petrovic said she had not heard from the band as she prepared for her first Town Meeting as town clerk. 

The lack of the award was another oversight as well. Waterbury Roundabout inquired about an award presentation prior to Town Meeting, and both Bard and Skip Flanders of the Edward Farrar Utility District said that discussions for the award just didn’t occur in time for the meeting. 

Given that it was the first in-person Town Meeting since 2020, Bard acknowledged that the omissions were due to a combination of town officials being rusty about the routine and others being new to it. Board members offered apologies and Clapp said he has made notes to remember the pledge next year along with the other customs. 

Public hearing 

An action item on the agenda involved a public hearing on an application for a $500,000 grant for the affordable housing project planned for 51 South Main Street by Downstreet Housing and Community Development. The Central Vermont nonprofit housing agency is purchasing the property – formerly the site of the Waterbury municipal offices until Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 – from the Edward Farrar Utility District. It plans to construct a three-story building with 26 apartments and is in the process now of lining up the needed financing and getting designs ready for permit applications. 

Downstreet Director of Real Estate Development Nicola Anderson told the board the project estimated cost is currently $14.2 million. The state is administering grants of federal funds through the Vermont Community Development Program that will award funds to municipalities to pass on to specific projects. 

“These are the most competitive funds in the state. It’s going to be really challenging to get them,” Anderson said. 

Municipal Manager Tom Leitz said the process would require minimal administrative time for town staff. 

Anderson said she believes the Main Street project is a good candidate for funding given that the location is in a designated downtown and Downstreet already has a presence in the community running three other apartment buildings – Stimson and Graves senior housing, apartments at the former Ladd Hall building on the edge of the State Office Complex, and the Seminary Housing in Waterbury Center.

If Downstreet can line up the needed financing, Anderson said, it could close on the property by the end of the year and construction could be on the horizon in 2024.  

No members of the public were in attendance to offer any comments about the grant. The board unanimously approved a resolution supporting the grant application. 

The project will also receive $100,000 from Waterbury’s $1.54 million allocation of federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. That sum is included in this year’s budget that was approved on Town Meeting Day. 

Annual housekeeping items

The organizational meeting covered routine items such as the role of board members in signing warrants regularly to approve payments for town business. The board reviewed its Conflict of Interest policy and Rules of Procedure. They noted that both apply to all town boards and commissions and agreed to post them in the meeting room for easy reference. 

The board needed to name a newspaper of record for town legal notices for the next year. It voted unanimously to designate the Times Argus to meet a state requirement to have a printed paper and it directed staff to also send notices to be posted online on the Waterbury Roundabout news website.

Other items included discussion of board orientation with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns and diversity and inclusion training for both board members and town employees as a routine exercise.  

The board also reviewed plans for how the town would borrow funds needed for operations in anticipation of property tax payments. Rather than looking for bank financing, Leitz recommended that the town government borrow from the utility district if necessary at a rate of 3.5% and vice versa. The board agreed with a unanimous vote.  

The meeting ended with an executive session for the purpose of discussing pending litigation. The board did not disclose the nature of the case and it did not take any action. 

The board meets next on April 3 when Leitz said he hoped to have a proposed road paving plan for this summer to share with the board as well as a first quarter financial report as the town operates on a calendar year fiscal year. 

Several actions will be included on that agenda related to the retirement of town Planning and Zoning Director Steve Lotspeich at the end of this month such as appointing an interim director. Leitz said there are applicants for the position that he is reviewing. The board also will review a list of special events happening in the community this year that will need approval and coordination for public safety.