After interviewing three candidates to fill a position on the board, the Waitsfield Select Board deliberated in executive session, but did not appoint anyone.
The board will continue to deliberate over the next few days, according to town administrator Annie Decker-Dell’Isola. At its March 25 meeting the board interviewed Larissa Ursprung, Stephan Gastovo and Erica Stroem.
The vacancy on the board is due to Jordan Gonda resigning from her board seat which expires at Town Meeting 2025.
During this week’s interviews board member Fred Messer asked each candidate what they thought was the most interesting part of this year’s Town Report.
Ursprung said she was interested by how the budget transitioned from one administrator to the next and that fact that the select board kept the increase in the budget below the cost of inflation.
Gavasto echoed that admiration for an unbelievably tight budget and said he also noticed that the population is relatively flat. Population growth, he said is a driver for economic activity.
Stroem said she found the fact that health care costs had come down and wondered how that had been achieved.
Board members asked the candidates what they felt was the most pressing issue facing the town. Ursprung said housing which Gavasto echoed, pointing out the need for municipal wastewater. All three candidates mentioned the role that municipal wastewater and updated zoning ordinances play in the housing issue in Waitsfield and beyond.
Ursprung chaired the town’s study committee for the General Wait House and was instrumental in writing the report for the select board.
“I think this an exciting time to be involved in the community. My background is varied and I’m very good at learning on the fly. I’m excited about the June 11 wastewater vote,” Ursprung said, noting that her background includes choreography, dance, medical school, the service industry and the food industry.
Gavosto owns The Valley Professional Center and is converting some of the commercial units into housing as well as adding some self-storage units to the property. He’d like to add more, but has run up against the need for more wastewater capacity. The property is across the street from the Munn field where the town’s wastewater treatment facility will be located.
“I’ve been here 15 years and will be here for the next 50. I’m all about Waitsfield. But the day Mehuron’s closes -- that’s the day I pack it in,” he said.
Stroem told the board that she’d like to be part of the voice of the future of The Valley.
“As a service worker, I provide a different perspective. I have access to some people who work as hourly employees at Mehuron’s and the ski areas and the restaurants we have left,” she said.
Having lived in Park City, Utah, from the time it had 3,000 people and no street lights to 13 years later when it has 13,000 people and 11 stoplights, she said she’d like to see Waitsfield grow in a balanced way that accommodates growth but also protects the town’s authenticity.
At the end of the candidate interviews, Messer said “The correct answer to what you find most interesting in the Town Report is the select board report.”
