Middlebury's annual town meeting

Author: Kelly Janis

On March 3, Middlebury residents convened in the Municipal Gymnasium on Main St. for the annual Town Meeting, an over-200-year-old tradition which gathers registered voters together in communities statewide to discuss civically relevant issues, approve the subsequent year's budget and elect local officials.

Select Board members John Tenny and Dean George opened this year's meeting - moderated by Governor Jim Douglas '72, a Middlebury resident - with a dedication of the town report to the police and fire departments for their efforts in the wake of the Oct. 22 freight train derailment in downtown Middlebury.

"We often wonder at the expense and the work and the organization of having such complete police and fire services in our community," Tenny said. "But here we saw firsthand - and quite emphatically - the need and the benefit of having this great team."

"It's my pleasure to support both Chief [of Police Thomas] Hanley and [Fire] Chief [Rick] Cole for the outstanding work that they did in controlling a situation that clearly could have been devastating to this community," George said.

Following the board members' remarks, Hanley and Cole received a standing ovation on behalf of their departments.

Next, Director of Parks and Recreation Tom Anderson presented the Bob Collins Award for Outstanding Service in Recreation to John Myer for his work with the youth soccer program.

"Whenever we've run into the natural little glitches and problems, he's always maintained a terrific sense of humor," Anderson said. "He's been a real pleasure to work with."

The meeting then progressed to discussion of the articles placed before voters in a "warning" notice distributed in advance of the meeting. The first order of business was to determine whether "to act upon the reports of the Town Officers as submitted by the Authors" - that is, to approve the 89-page document released by the Town detailing the operations of the Select Board, town departments, social service agencies and regional organizations in the course of the past year.

The resolution passed quickly, permitting the meeting's focus to turn to the town's proposed budget of $6,776,857 for the 2009 fiscal year, $5,423,004 of which is to be raised by taxes. Each member of the Select Board presented a particular facet of the budget.

Victor Nuovo explained the administrative segment, seeking to rationalize the $68,666 increase contained within it.

"Most of these increases are a result of an increase in compensation and benefits for town employees," Nuovo said. "As someone who has been on the Select Board for two years, I think we are indeed very well-served by those in the administrative offices, and these are certainly modest increases."

"It is a bittersweet moment for me," Selectman Bill Perkins said as he rose to address the meeting on the subject of Ilsley Public Library's budget, "because I did lose [my wife] Virginia last year, and she was a big part of the library. I'm sad in that regard, but I'm happy to speak for the library."

Perkins went on to detail Ilsley's highly active year, loaning over 100,000 books, 37,000 DVDs and 12,600 audio books. In addition, more than 400 groups met at the library, with over 4,500 individuals in attendance. There are currently over 8,000 library card holders, Perkins said, a quarter of whom live outside of Middlebury and pay membership fees.

Don Keeler followed with a presentation of the police and fire budgets, which he said the board "supports wholeheartedly."

"It's hard to criticize the fire department when they did such a beautiful job of saving our town," Keeler said when no one raised objections to the station's proposed budget.

Keeler also praised the efforts of public works employees.

"When it's snowing tonight, there are people out there salting and sanding," he said.

Craig Bingham announced the allocation of funds to Hospice Volunteer Services and WomenSafe, remarking that support of such endeavors "is a testament to the goodwill of the voters of the Town of Middlebury."

Janelle Ashley presented the recreation budget, Joe Colangelo spoke on health insurance and George detailed impending capital improvement projects - including technology upgrades at Ilsley Public Library and paving projects on various town roads - while Tenny concluded with issues of revenue.

Tenny spoke in particular of "the difficulty the Town faces year after year … as we see state and federal funding on which the town has traditionally been able to rely for basic levels of support" fail to increase in step with inflation.

"I can't help but think if the federal government weren't spending billions of dollars on a useless war in Iraq, it might have a little more money for towns like Middlebury," quipped resident Greg Dennis, implicitly hearkening back to last year's meeting, during which voters passed a symbolic resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and the impeachment of President George W. Bush.

Voters approved the budget by a wide majority, and proceeded to authorize the Board of Selectmen to finance the purchase of town vehicles and equipment - including a police cruiser, motor grader, compactor, mowing attachment and shoulder machine - by borrowing $378,000 in funds over the course of the next five years.

After officials moved swiftly to decide to "collect taxes on real and personal property," according to the meeting agenda, the segment of the meeting devoted to "transact[ing] other business proper to be done" arrived, granting meeting attendees the opportunity to raise topics they regarded worthy of consideration.

Rich Hennessy expressed lingering concerns about railroad safety, Executive Director of the Town Hall Theater Doug Anderson thanked the town for its support of the theater's restoration efforts and Elizabeth Ottinger questioned Tenny about his affiliation with the construction company involved in the proposal to bring a Staples storefront to Middlebury.

Finally, resident Scott Burns expressed concern for the first-year College student who has been missing since Feb. 5.

"What can we do to help find Nicholas Garza?" he asked.

Hanley assured residents that investigators are working diligently toward the matter's resolution.

"It's certainly something we're all concerned about," he said. "We've been putting in yeoman's hours in the past three weeks, running our staff down. Right now, the investigation is ongoing. It's continuing."

Hanley reiterated the importance of furnishing police with any information which may constitute a potential lead.

"We solicit any and all information," he said. "We follow up any and all leads. Keep your eyes and ears open, and if you see or hear anything, let us know."

With this, the official meeting adjourned. Immediately thereafter, a public hearing commenced with respect to Articles 6 through 8 on the warning, which concern the issue of general obligation bonds totaling $16,000,000 for application to the Cross Street Bridge project, amendment of the Town Charter to permit the leverage of a local tax on sales, rooms, meals and alcoholic beverages and the election of town officials.

The latter three Articles were voted on by Australian Ballot on March 4. Results of the vote were not available at the time of press.