Who’s running for School Board and Selectboard?
Both School Board and both Selectboard incumbents up for election are asking voters to return them to office at Town Meeting in March. Three will face no formal opposition.
Here is the line up as provided to me by Town Clerk Bonnie Munday. For Norwich School Board, Garrett Palm is running unopposed for a second term for a two-year seat. Lily Trajman is also running unopposed for the three-year seat that the School Board appointed her to in November 2021.
For the Selectboard, Claudette Brochu is running unopposed for reelection to a two-year seat. She is seeking her third term. Selectboard Chair Roger Arnold is running for a second term for a three-year seat. However, Pam Smith, who currently serves as a Norwich Lister, is running against him.
Town Manager search
The Selectboard is inching its way to signing a new Town Manager. On January 14, it voted 4-1 to extend an offer of employment to Candidate #31, subject to contract negotiations. Nearly two weeks later, on January 26, the Board decided to “send a draft contract to candidate #31 for review,” say the draft meeting minutes. It is not clear from the minutes whether there have been any negotiations.
Always good to know what the choices are and thanks for staying on top of this matter. The way I prefer to look at Norwich residents wanting to run for a Town office is that they are a “Norwich resident wanting to run for an open position” instead of saying they are running “against” another resident that has decided to run. Also, it is a Norwich resident who happens to be a Lister….and not the reverse. This changes the “one vs another” perspective and views it more as the opportunity to serve our town residents when an opening in a elected position occurs. Overall, I am disappointed in the lack of enthusiasm on the part of town residents to NOT step forward to fill vacancies. In the past, races for each open position was the norm, but not today.
Great comments, Cheryl. I edited the post to (hopefully) reflect your comments regarding the Lister position.
Chris, I would respectfully disagree with you. I am not running AGAINST anyone. I am running FOR a 3-year term on the Selectboard…..just as I ran for a 3-year term one year ago. If you will recall, I was very clear in all of my posts on the Norwich Listserv last year that I was running on the issues that I feel are important. I still believe those issues are important and so I am running, once again, in the hopes of being elected to serve a 3-year term.
Thank you for all you do to shine a light on the happenings in our Town.
Pam Smith, Candidate for a 3-year term on the Norwich Selectboard