By my count, Norwich has had five permanent Town Managers since the first Town Manager was hired in 2002. None lasted five years. According to a recent Valley News article by Tim Camerato, “Norwich has a contentious history with past town managers.”
Is it time for Norwich to look in the mirror?
The five Town Managers in chronological order are: Dennis Pavlicek (resigned) Stephen J. Soares (?resigned to be police chief in Windsor?), Peter Webster (contract not renewed), Neil Fulton (resigned), Herb Durfee (contract not renewed). As best as I can piece things together, Durfee, Fulton and Soares made it to the four-year mark. Nobody survived five years.
The relationship between the Town Manager and the Selectboard is a two-way street. Is this type of turnover typical for a Town Manager in a small town in Vermont? Is it good for the community? If not typical and/or good, isn’t it time for the Selectboard to ask what is going on?
20 years ago — when we convened a town committee to consider moving to a Town Manager form of government — we interviewed a number of towns to learn from their experience. All of them reported struggles to reconcile the administrative role of the TM with the essentially political role of a Selectboard.
We expect this arrangement to work smoothly, but why?
There is nothing about democratic government which presupposes good or even reasonable governance. Throughout our history we’ve seen that voters are largely reactive, politicians are naturally deflective, but the buck has to stop somewhere.
Moreover, the types of people who gravitate towards town management careers appear to have a strong bureaucratic bent, favoring formal structures and rules — where political accountability is often about narratives and outcomes.
Sometimes, a town (Hanover?) finds a town manager who maintains a constructive working relationship with their Selectboard over a long period, but this is clearly the exception.
Our Selectboard might want to interview Hanover’s town manager and select folk to hear how they’ve managed the inevitable differences before we settle on our next town manager ourselves?
And maybe it’s time to recognize the town manager/selectboard relationship is fundamentally fraught and so must be handled — by all parties — as something inherently difficult instead of a relationship that is simply supposed to work.
Watt,
I would add that the gentleman from VLCT that is assisting in the search for a new TM was the Town Manager in Williston VT for 22 years. Therefore, we have someone who is helping in the search who can answer many of the questions residents may have on the issue of retention.
Well stated Watt. Thank you for sharing.
The question that pops into my head as I read these comments about the town manager selection process is: why did our select board not renew Mr. Durfee’s contract? How did he fail their expectations? Isn’t that the place to begin our discussion of what Norwich wants/needs in the new town manager? Perhaps this information has already been made available to town residents, and I just missed it?
Excellent point, Peggy. So far, the Selectboard has not discussed the matter in public. It simply voted to not renew at a public meeting, without any discussion.
We can’t be happy with a town manager because the town manager system is inherently undemocratic. It is bureaucratic and intransigent, and guided by the state and the town manager’s proclivities. It is utterly unsuitable for small towns, particularly small Vermont towns.
I hear you Ernie. But that leaves our SB right? We’d be sleep deprived with them at the helm without a counterbalance. There’s a few common items in Chris’ summary. 1. Male. 2. White. 3. Boomer ? Perhaps it’s time for a new pronoun? You know how the kids are so amped to list their pronouns? Maybe a new pronoun for the new TM. Hanover’s TM is….