Page 11 - 2021 Annual Reportprint

or not. The Selectboard calculates that if Cross Street is going to be dug up for the
water main replacement, now is the time to replace the very old stormwater line as
well. And if the downtown is being dug up for those two projects, now is the best
time to upgrade sidewalks and make the other improvements to the downtown.
Although these projects are going to be costly, there is no better time for getting
funding from the state and federal governments to pay for most of the costs, and
there is no time to waste.

But staff is a problem. Each of these three projects require an engineer to get the
project started. Money has to be obtained through a long grant application to hire
an engineer through competitive bidding. Each hired engineer can’t start work until
a contract is agreed upon for their work. Each engineering contract needs to be
reviewed by an attorney. Once completed the engineering study has to be approved
by the granting agency. When that happens, now we can start thinking about hiring
a contractor. We have to go through the same process with a contractor. Once the
engineers and contractors start submitting bills, the town has to pay and track the
invoices and submit requests for reimbursement to the grant source. With three
engineers and three projects and numerous different funding sources, this requires a
lot of attention.

These three big projects are not the only issues the town faces. The Covid virus
has thrown a wrench into lots of normal municipal activities. All the many property
transfers with people paying higher prices have resulted in the state likely giving
us an order to reappraise. That’s another contract. Our hired property assessor is
leaving this year and we have no Listers currently although there is a candidate on
the ballot. The Grand List needs work. Computers and internet issues have become
so complicated that local staff cannot manage them anymore if the towns’ systems
are to be adequately protected from all the scammers out there.

Need for a Town Manager
Given the scope of work ahead, more managerial help is needed. The Selectboard
has therefore decided to ask the voters to approve the Town Manager form of
government. They have placed the required article on the Warning for the floor
meeting Monday night in the gym.

The Town currently employees a Town Administrator who is a semi-retired part-
time employee and has his hands full with only the Downtown Project and his other
duties. The Administrator is not technically the Town Manager, as that is a form of
government described in statute that has to be voted in by the public at a duly warned
meeting. A Town Manager is responsible for the entire day-to-day operations of a
town in a way that administrators are not. A Manager assumes most of the duties of
the Selectboard, and speaks with an authority that Administrators cannot because no
statute authorizes Town Administrators.

2021 Annual Report 11