Much work ahead: Select Board reconvenes Monday with packed agenda
March 19, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
A summertime crowd enjoys the Waterbury Farmers Market and a Rotary Concert in the Park at Rusty Parker Memorial Park. Merging the Edward Farrar Utility District with town government would shift the park and several other properties to town ownership. Photo by Gordon Miller
The Waterbury Select Board meets for the first time since the Town Meeting Day election with a packed agenda that reads like a blueprint for the work it will take on for much of the rest of the year.
While the board members meet in person in the Steele Room at the municipal offices, meetings are still conducted in a hybrid fashion where the public can attend via Zoom to both watch and participate. Connection details are on the meeting agenda posted on the town website, waterburyvt.com.
The meeting will begin with Town Clerk Carla Lawrence presiding as the board reorganizes to select its chair, vice chair and secretary for the next year. Former Chair Mark Frier has left the board having not run for re-election. New members joining the board at this meeting are Alyssa Johnson who has been chair of the Planning Commission, and Roger Clapp, both of whom were elected on March 1. They join returning members Michael Bard, Chris Viens and Dani Kehlmann.
The meeting will include a joint session with the commissioners of the Edward Farrar Utility District to discuss a number of issues both boards will work on together in the coming months including the search process to find a successor to municipal manager Bill Shepeluk who plans to retire at the end of 2022.
The two boards also will discuss steps involved in potentially combining the utility district into town government instead of it being its own municipality as it was structured when the village government was dissolved several years ago. That process will involve creating a new charter for the town and transferring to the town property owned by the utility district such as Rusty Parker Park, the property where the Ice Center is located, and the lot at 51 Main Street where the town offices were located before Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
The select board also will hear a report on town road conditions given current mud season conditions that have highway crews busy keeping roads open.
A discussion of the town’s inclusion banner created last fall is also on the agenda. The banner was hung near the municipal offices from December until earlier this month as directed by the select board last October when it created the banner bearing the message “Waterbury, Vermont, condemns racism and welcomes all.” The board will consider whether to re-hang the banner.
The topic of expanding broadband internet service is also on the agenda with Linda Gravell listed to address the board with an update based on her representation of the town to the CVFiber communications district. One step underway looks to towns to potentially commit some of the federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act towards expansion of internet service in communities. Waterbury is set to receive just over $1.5 million in ARPA funds with about half already committed to be spent.
The board meeting begins at 7 p.m.
Recent business
The town has applied for a state grant to help fund new sidewalks along Randall Street and the block of Park Row between Randall and Main streets. File photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Just prior to the March 1 election, the Waterbury Select Board held a joint meeting with the Planning Commission where the two boards took action on two key items.
The Planning Commission recommended and the Select Board unanimously approved a hiring choice for the position of Assistant Planning and Zoning Administrator. The town has sought to fill the position since last fall with several candidates chosen who later changed their minds about taking the job.
The new staff member is Neal Leitner who comes to Waterbury having been the town planner for the town of Woodstock. Leitner is expected to start the first week of April.
The two boards also signed off on a grant application to the state of Vermont for $200,000 that would be matched with $40,000 in town funds. The grant would pay for replacing sidewalks on Randall Street and the section of Park Row between Randall and Main streets. It also would replace lights at Rusty Parker Memorial Park with fixtures that match new lighting along Main Street. The funding is from the state’s Downtown Transportation Fund and if approved, the work would be scheduled to happen this year.