More pies than ‘ayes’
Duxbury gathering has town meeting feel
January 16, 2023 | By Lisa ScagliottiTown Clerk Maureen Harvey gestures while answering a question from an audience member. Town Moderator Dan Senning facilitates the discussion from the podium beside Duxbury Selectboard members seated on stage. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
On a recent Saturday morning, Duxbury voters proved that they could have their Town Meeting pies, presentations and discussions – and their Australian ballot voting in March, too.
More than 100 people gathered in the Crossett Brook Middle School cafeteria on Jan. 7 for a community event with many of the trappings of a traditional Town Meeting except the voting.
At least of the official kind. There were two straw polls: one asked attendees whether they prefer on future election days to continue using the drive-through format the town has used during the COVID-19 pandemic or if they would like to return to indoor voting at the middle school. The other asked for names for a new dump truck the Highway Department will be taking delivery on soon.
Savory and sweet - a call for people to bring a pie to share fills a table in the Crossett Brook Middle School cafeteria. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Like at traditional March Town Meeting, there were tables with information from community organizations such as Green Up, Duxbury Land Trust and Waterbury Ambulance Service along with town committees such as the Cemetery Commission. There were forms to register to vote and a box of free rapid COVID-19 tests for people to take home.
Everyone was asked to bring a pie – either homemade or store-bought – and the contributions were displayed on a long table supervised by Duxbury Historical Society members who poured coffee and chatted with neighbors filling their plates. People left cash tips to support the group while others added to a nearby collection of non-perishable food items for the Duxbury Elf Food Shelf.
State Reps. Kari Dolan, D-Waitsfield, and Dara Torre, D-Moretown, address the gathering. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
As the crowd filed in, state Reps. Kari Dolan and Dara Torre, the two Democrats who represent Duxbury in the Vermont House, mingled. Once all were seated, they addressed the gathering briefly, telling folks how to get in touch during the legislative session that just convened.
Up on the stage, the Duxbury Selectboard took their seats at a table facing the room with town Moderator Dan Senning standing at a podium beside them.
The event looked, sounded and felt much like the traditional in-person Town Meetings that Duxbury held annually until the COVID-19 pandemic suspended large gatherings. The last regular Town Meeting was in 2020, just before the virus took hold. Duxbury residents for years have been accustomed to conducting all town business in person at those meetings -- from voting on the budget to filling town offices (the latter sometimes requiring cajoling attendees to step up).
In November, town officials held a special meeting looking ahead to how Town Meeting Day 2023 and after would be run now that pandemic restrictions have been lifted. Town Clerk Maureen Harvey pointed out that voter participation in all elections in 2021 and 2022 grew threefold when people received ballots in the mail and were able to drop them off in the drive-through loops at either the middle school or the town offices.
After some debate, those who showed up for the November discussion voted overwhelmingly to switch to voting by paper ballots starting this March. That means the town budget, any other questions, and all elections for town offices would be printed on ballots for people to vote in a daylong election. There would be no discussions at an in-person meeting where the budget could be amended; no nominations from the floor to fill offices.
The Duxbury Selectboard agreed to hold the early January gathering to satisfy the desire by many who said they valued the information that comes from the annual face-to-face discussions. It meant the board would prepare the draft town budget early for townspeople to review. Voters could attend and ask questions – and even suggest revisions – with the knowledge that what they see on the ballot in March will get only a yes or no vote.
Clarifications, no big changes
The recent Saturday morning budget discussion was mostly questions asking for clarifications on various line items. Selectboard member Richard Charland encouraged the audience to review a printed handout carefully. “If there are things you would like to see changed in this budget, now is the time to do it,” he said from the stage.
Duxbury resident Crystal Sherman listens and knits. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
The budget draft calls for a general fund of $1,041,436 which is down 9% from the budget voters approved last year. A $256,000 surplus from fiscal year 2022 is helping offset some costs in the draft. The estimated tax rate for fiscal year 2024 which begins July 1 is 71 cents per $100 of assessed property value. That’s down 6 cents from the current rate. Selectboard Vice Chair Jerry McMahan cautioned that the figure is their best estimate since the tax rate will be set in the summertime. Town officials also said a property reappraisal is on the horizon within the next year or so.
Attendees asked questions to clarify figures such as spending on chloride for roads (the cost is going up), equipment rentals (anything from a jackhammer to a mower in an emergency), and staffing for road crew (the proposed figure reflects a vacancy filled).
Carol Johnson asked a question that brought a clarification from Harvey on a line item regarding the Waterbury Public Library: Duxbury reimburses local residents $25 for library charges to the town. That surprised moderator Senning who remarked, “I didn’t know that and I use [the library] all the time.”
Selectboard members also offered updates on two municipal projects that have been in the works for several years: work to replace the town garage roof is now complete and plans to construct a salt shed have been downsized with construction expected this year.
Budget Committee member Lars Dickson asked Harvey what would happen if voters reject the budget on the March ballot. She explained that another Australian ballot vote would need to be scheduled and that would take at least 45 days once the selectboard decided what it would request.
In the end, no significant changes were requested. The Selectboard will finalize the draft before the end of the month for it to be printed in the town report and questions finalized for the March 7 Town Meeting warning and ballots.
Rebuilding Duxbury’s roads
Like every Duxbury town meeting, the Saturday gathering devoted a fair amount of time to discussion of the town’s gravel roads, culverts, etc. With just 3.5 miles of paved town roads and some 31.5 miles of gravel roads, costs associated with maintaining roads are the lion’s share of the town budget.
Road conditions during the 2022 mud season were some of the worst town residents and officials can remember. Some stretches were impassable to personal vehicles and even school buses last March. That has prompted the selectboard to make road work a top short- and long-term priority.
Duxbury road crew members and their poll. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
“For too long, we’ve been reactive and not proactive,” Charland said in introducing the topic. “We want to cut back on the problems every year with mud season. … We’re looking to reduce the cost of vehicle repairs and maintenance to people’s cars. We hope in the long run, it will be beneficial to the town.”
The board shared work to date that member Jamison Ervin has compiled working with the road crew to catalog every road’s condition and needs. The goal is to create a five-to-seven-year plan to improve conditions, starting with the spots in greatest need of work.
“Not maintenance,” Charland emphasized to the audience during this part of the meeting. “We’re talking about rebuilding the roads.”
Town officials were careful to explain that the plan is still in the draft phase. They asked residents to weigh in with feedback on what stretches of road need attention first. “It’s a question of triage,” Ervin said.
Printed handouts were circulated at the meeting and Duxbury Town Highway Improvement Plan also can be found online here. In its introduction, the plan shares that rough estimates point to costs of $1.5 million to $3 million to rebuild 15 miles of road.
Town officials noted that Duxbury has received money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, referred to as ARPA in short. Approximately $240,000 of that is not yet allocated and could be “a significant downpayment” to jumpstart road repairs, Ervin suggested.
For now, the proposed town general fund and capital budgets do not reflect any major investment in this effort yet. “This is the consultation phase,” Ervin explained. “It will be expensive.”
Town officials acknowledged that the notion of rebuilding many roads in the coming years may be daunting, but they reminded taxpayers that they already are paying the price. Ervin said a survey of residents in North Duxbury in the Camel’s Hump neighborhood found spending of about $1,000 per household for mud season repairs to personal vehicles. That would amount to at least $250,000 to $400,000 a year across all households in the community, she noted.
Upcoming elections
Selectboard member Mike Marotto (speaking) thanks residents for their support and says he will not run for re-election this year. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Another portion of the Saturday meeting gave the audience a chance to hear from town officials on whether they will run for office in March and for members of the audience to let their neighbors know they plan to run.
Selectboard Chair Mari Pratt shared a letter saying she will step aside after serving five years in the hope that someone new joins the board. Her colleague Mike Marotto said he would not run again this year either. Ervin, however, said she would like to continue on the board and as her one-year term nears an end, she will register to be on the ballot for the three-year seat that Marotto holds. In all, three selectboard seats will be on the March ballot.
Town Clerk Maureen Harvey explained the rules for anyone seeking office this year: the deadline to file forms with her office is Monday, January 30. Candidates need signatures of 15 registered Duxbury voters (get a few extra just in case, she advises).
Others stepped up to explain their roles in elected offices such as Cemetery Commissioners and Budget Committee members. They and newcomers announced their interest in various positions, in fact Cemetery Commission seats were among the most popular.
Local residents were also reminded that there are volunteer positions open that need people to fill them such as the town’s Emergency Management Coordinator.
As for the straw polls people were asked about when they walked into the meeting, Harvey last week said 33 people said they prefer drive-through voting; 16 said they would like it to return indoors; four said they had no preference. And the truck name? Those results have yet to be announced.