By Lisa Loomis
It was a long overdue discussion and it was thorough and timely – finally, at Town Meeting, Waitsfield voters and taxpayers had the opportunity to sit together in a room and hear why town officials feel a new town office is needed, hear where a search committee is looking and question officials as well as one another about the process.
The Town Meeting agenda asked town voters to allocate $35,000 to a town office search reserve fund. The town budget asked for another $10,000 to explore sites beyond those inWaitsfieldVillageincluding Irasville.
Select board member Bill Parker amended the article calling for $35,000 to establish a reserve fund for the expansion or relocation of the town offices so that the “protection” of the current town offices was included. He said that it was possible to armor the building with a bladder that would protect it from future floods should flooding occur before the offices are moved. That motion passed and town resident Laura Caffrey added another amendment asking that $10,000 be added to the $35,000 to cover the cost of protecting the building. After much discussion another $5,000 was added to her amendment so that funds for protection equaled $15,000 and would cover protecting the building and two windows.
After backing out procedurally from the amendment to the amendment, moderator Brian Shupe called the question and voters approved $50,000 for that article, rather than $35,000. Prior to the amending, however, voters engaged in a lively and productive discussion about whether the town could lease existing empty real estate in the Village Square Shopping Center or whether the town should consider building new town offices in Irasville rather than Waitsfield Village where the committee has been focusing.
Earlier in the morning outgoing select board chair Kate Williams was recognized by her fellow board member Paul Hartshorn who praised her efforts in guiding the town through the legal technicalities that have beset its municipal water project.
“Kate had one of the hardest terms as chair that anyone could have. She took the bull by the horns and she wrestled it to the ground. If Kate hadn’t done it, the job wouldn’t have gotten done. And I was a bit critical at the time when she was made chair and I’m happy to say I was wrong,” Hartshorn said as those present rose to give her a standing ovation.
The assembled voters spent some time discussing Article 7 which asked for up to $400,000 for a line of credit to cover costs associated with spring flooding and Irene flooding. Town administrator Valerie Capels said that the spring flooding caused $235,000 in damages to town roads and Irene caused another $197,000 in road damage. The town has received FEMA reimbursement of $127,000 for the spring flooding and expects another $100,000 for Irene. Currently the town’s line of credit balance is $304,472. Board member Paul Hartshorn called for amending that request from $400,000 to $300,000, which was approved by a voice vote, as was Article 7.
Voters okayed spending up to $200,000 to repair the covered bridge. Article 11, which provided $10,000 for the cemetery commission to maintain the town cemeteries, was the subject of some discussion. Residents asked why the commission needed the money and were told by cemetery commissioner Paul Hartshorn that the investments the commission relied on had lost significant value.
“If you want a mediocre cemetery, that’s fine. Don’t fund this,” he said. The article passed.
Voters were asked to waive the property taxes for the Masonic Lodge for 10 years and that led some to question whether it was necessary to do so for five years. Town resident Joshua Schwartz (who is also the director of the Mad River Valley Planning District) whipped out his iPhone and read the relevant state statute to the group about abating property taxes.
To those who would curtail the tax abatement for the Masonic Lodge, which has served as Mad River Long Term Flood Recovery Headquarters since two days after Irene swept through The Valley, town resident Ann VanZyl argued that it absolutely deserved the abatement.
“That building is a cornerstone of Waitsfield and the community, and I always wondered why it was so empty, but then by god, did it really come alive in the wake of Irene,” she said.
That article passed as well.
Voters passed the rest of their articles as well as their town and school budgets, joining many other towns inVermontin affirming that corporations are not people.
By Australian ballot voters also elected a new member of the select board with Logan Cooke defeating his opponent Darryl Forrest by a vote of 243 to 198. Both were running for a two-year term on the board. Paul Hartshorn was re-elected to a three-year term on the board. By a separate ballot vote, voters approved a $250,000 revolving loan fund for community wastewater systems by a vote of 333 to 152.
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