Manager’s corner: A new quarterly column from Waterbury’s municipal manager
April 28, 2023 | By Tom Leitz
Tom Leitz is Waterbury’s Municipal Manager, courtesy photo
After some discussion with Select Board and EFUD board members, I have decided to write quarterly community updates to keep town residents informed about their local government operations. I’ll try to hit the highlights about some of the more impactful issues facing the town. Anyone who is interested in more detail can always call me or stop in at Town Hall.
Capital Projects
First, for all voting members of the Edward Farrar Utility District, an important decision will be made at the annual meeting on May 10. There is a proposal to replace a water main at a cost of $750,000. This main runs from the water storage reservoir on Blush Hill down towards the Best Western in the vicinity of Kennedy Drive and Ashford Lane. The water main is over 60 years old and it is prudent to replace it before we suffer a major break and have to spend thousands on emergency repairs.
Kennedy Drive and Ashford Lane are, in my judgment, the worst roads in town. Because this project involves digging under substantial portions of these roads the town has intentionally delayed repaving – it makes no sense to pave a road that is slated to be excavated. Once the water main is replaced, we will begin rebuilding the road immediately, leaving an improved surface for the upcoming winter, and add the final coat of blacktop in 2024.
There are several compelling reasons to vote in favor of this project. As I write this update, we have had only one notable water main break since I began my tenure here in November. Many cities and towns in Vermont are not as fortunate, and breaks are a normal occurrence because necessary investments – exactly like this one – did not occur. Not only are breaks disruptive to those in the immediate vicinity, and sometimes to a large group of customers, they undermine our ability to provide fire protection. A large break can quickly drain our storage reservoir and impact the entire water system. Before the break can be repaired the affected main must be depressurized, which renders nearby fire hydrants temporarily useless. There is also a major impact on our staff. For our recent break near the intersection of Route 100 and Howard Avenue, we had four staff who worked for nearly 24 hours straight. We can’t expect to retain staff who have to regularly respond to these types of emergencies.
In addition to the water main work, the town recently adopted its summer paving plan based on our budget of $405,000. The plan includes repaving Howard Avenue, along with sections of Guptil Road and Little River Road. We also plan to add speed bumps on Little River Road. Towards the fall, we will undertake some significant projects on sections of our gravel roads with a focus on sections of Perry Hill Road and Sweet Road. These will be multi-year projects where we hope to rebuild a few thousand feet each year, targeting the worst areas. I’ll provide an update on those projects in the coming months.
The budget also contained $435,000 in funds to repair bridges on Guptil Road and Armory Drive, and that work is slated for the end of the summer.
Housing
Last year, as I was applying for this position, I watched from the sidelines as EFUD voters approved the affordable housing project at 51 South Main Street. Since that vote, the town has awarded Downstreet Housing $100,000 for the project which continues to be advanced by their development team. Initially there was some conversation about construction beginning in late 2023; that timeline was always reliant on the project receiving grant awards and tax credits. Unfortunately, we recently learned that one of these funding applications was not approved. This is not a great surprise as there are always a plethora of affordable housing projects competing for a limited pool of public funds. The project continues to be a high priority for Downstreet and the town, and we remain hopeful the project can be fully funded and construction can occur in 2024.
On a more positive note, with a great deal of assistance from our state representatives, there is a possibility the state will sell the former Stanley-Wasson Hall site to the town. A bill in the legislature currently would give the town an option to purchase the property for $400,000, with the condition the site be utilized for housing. The Select Board has passed a resolution endorsing the bill, which passed the House and now rests with the Senate. In rough dimensions, the site is 2.5 acres which could allow for up to 75 housing units spanning three buildings.
As we are experiencing with the current proposed development on Shutesville Hill, we are normally reactive to proposed development and rely heavily on our Development Review Board to vet projects and ensure our rules are followed. If we own the Stanley-Wasson site, we can flip the script and have a community conversation about our options, then engage with developers to achieve our desired outcome. This could entail the town requiring certain design elements be incorporated into the buildings and the surrounding land. There is also a question about what type of housing is most needed and desired. Since this bill was proposed, I have had numerous conversations about our options – everything from another partnership with Downstreet to pure market-rate housing, to senior housing. Finally, I would expect a robust conversation about the overall scale of the development – a 75-unit development may not be the right size for the community.
Town Charter
We recently had a Select Board conversation about developing a town charter, which would ultimately require voter approval at a town meeting. Over 50 cities and towns in Vermont currently have charters, and they range from expansive to extremely brief. In short, a town charter does not need to address every aspect of town operations. Rather, charter language can be specific, and in towns with adopted charters their language effectively supersedes state law. One simple example I provided to the Select Board is the process for adopting an ordinance. The current process as dictated by state statute allows for the Select Board to adopt an ordinance during their normal course of action at a public meeting. Once adopted there is a 60-day appeal period.
Some towns with charters have modified that process to require a series of public hearings prior to the adoption of an ordinance. Involving the public at the start of the process strikes me as a logical improvement that better empowers citizens.
Most of the charter conversation focused on the possibility of a local option tax, which is effectively a 1% retail sales tax. Using publicly available data, I estimate this tax could generate roughly $600,000 in annual revenue for the town. Although this is only at the conversation stage, I believe the tax is worth serious consideration. A local option tax is the only significant tool we have to generate revenue from a source other than property taxes. Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to estimate how much of the tax would be paid by non-residents, but my suspicion is it would be substantially tourist driven.
The logical follow-up question now is “How would the funds be spent?” We have yet to delve into this conversation, but I suggest an annual revenue stream of $600,000 is enough to impact the property tax rate and make some substantial investments in infrastructure, including affordable housing.
Town Employees & Operations
Steve Lotspeich, our former Director of Planning & Development, retired last month after decades of service to the town. In concert with the Planning Commission and Select Board I had hoped to fill the position, or at least be able to announce his replacement, at the time of this writing, but we continue to face the same headwinds in the employment market as everyone else. We are also interested in hiring some additional staff to help maintain our parks, which will free up some of our experienced public works employees to focus on road maintenance. This is an excellent opportunity and could be a springboard towards full-time employment. I encourage people who are interested to contact Public Works Director Bill Woodruff.
Our recreation programs are running at full steam, and we are poised to operate the summer camps and open the pool with a full staff. Last year Wyatt O’Brien was hired as our Recreation Coordinator, and soon found himself as our only full-time staff person when the director found other employment. Since then, Wyatt has been asked to do a lot of work, often without a playbook, and always on a tight budget. He has thus far been up to the task, and I want to commend him for his work ethic and enthusiasm.
I also want to give a special thanks to Bill Woodruff, our longtime Director of Public Works who oversees the water, sewer, and street departments. Shortly before I began here, we lost both of our employees in the Water Department. Bill cut his teeth in that department, and over the years he retained his licenses to operate the plant, which proved to be prescient. Bill ran double duty as a department head and water plant operator for several months, but we were eventually able to fill the positions and now have the backbone of a very capable team. I give him a great deal of credit for his dedication and the positive attitude he brings to his work.
Looking ahead, I will provide regular updates on town business on a regular basis. I suspect the frequency will vary a bit depending on my workload and other responsibilities, but I will generally try to adhere to quarterly updates. I thank the community for the overwhelming support I have received in my first several months in the manager’s office.
Tom Leitz is Waterbury’s Municipal Manager. Reach him at 802-244-4300 or tleitz@waterburyvt.com.