At its first meeting of the year on January 8, the Norwich Selectboard will consider the recommendation of the Town Facilities Working Group that voters be asked to approve a bond of up to $2,054,569.38, in order to reduce by 15% the town government’s use of fossil fuels. The work, improvements to Tracy Hall, Public Safety Building and DPW Garage, would not be put out for competitive bid.
The Town Facilities Working Group has been meeting without the public notice required by the Vermont Open Meeting Law.
The three page memorandum is at page 113-115 of the January 8, 2020 Selectboard packet. The proposal has the specific endorsement of Selectboard members John Langhus and Mary Layton, as they wrote the memorandum. Selectboard member Roger Arnold has spoken generally in favor of the project at past Selectboard meetings. It seems likely that voters will see the measure on the ballot at Town Meeting in March.
Having just read the memorandum, my head is spinning with questions. I will start with two: 1. Why the rush to put this on the ballot? 2. Why is this a no-bid contract? I will provide some thoughts on those issues in a subsequent blog post.
The improvements recommended by the Working Group are set forth in the below excerpt from the memorandum. EEI refers to Energy Efficient Investments, located in Merrimack, NH. That firm was retained by the Town to conduct an energy audit of three buildings. EEI would also receive the over $2 million contract to perform the work.
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