A Simple Ask After Town Meeting: Adopt and Post Annual Goals

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Here’s a governance oversight that the Selectboard and Town Manager should address promptly after Town Meeting. Norwich’s Town Manager employment agreement includes a basic but powerful practice. Every year, in September, the Selectboard and Town Manager are supposed to set written goals and performance objectives (Section VI.A). Those goals guide priorities, provide a clear basis for evaluation, and help the public understand what Town leadership is trying to accomplish. Through a public records request, I learned that there is no Continue reading A Simple Ask After Town Meeting: Adopt and Post Annual Goals→

‘Local Minutes’ enables AI-powered search of meeting minutes

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There is a wonderful database of meeting minutes of Vermont municipalities that is accessible through an AI-powered search engine. It’s called Local Minutes. “Ask a question and Local Minutes can generate a response referencing meeting minutes and other public documents.” There was a write-up about it in Seven Days about a year ago. Links below. “Local Minutes utilizes large language model (LLM) technology to make it easier for people to stay informed about what’s happening in their local government,” says Continue reading ‘Local Minutes’ enables AI-powered search of meeting minutes→

Spending More, Getting Less: Vermont’s Education Problem in Two Graphs

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Sometimes a picture (or in this case, a graph) really is worth a thousand words. Two simple graphs tell you everything you need to know about an overlooked problem in Vermont’s education system. We are spending more but students are getting less. The Cost Crisis Over the past 20 years, Vermont’s education property taxes have increased by $924 million while the system educates 15,650 fewer students. Think about that: we’re spending a whole lot more to teach dramatically fewer (16% Continue reading Spending More, Getting Less: Vermont’s Education Problem in Two Graphs→

Town Meeting 2026: Open Positions

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Do you want to run for office in Norwich? A number of important positions – thirteen — are up for election at Town Meeting in March, and the filing deadline is late next month.  The Town Clerk recently provided the Selectboard with the chart below of open positions. At least one Selectboard seat will be wide open as Priscilla Vincent is not running for re-election. The Treasurer’s job may also become vacant, as Cheryl Lindberg is considering retirement after 30 Continue reading Town Meeting 2026: Open Positions→

A Proposed Town Budget Without Real Numbers

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The Selectboard began review of the Town Manager’s proposed budget last Wednesday and will continue this Wednesday. Although the budget process is arduous and tedious, the Town budget is probably the most important policy document the Selectboard reviews each year. In reviewing this year’s budget materials, I noticed something troubling: there is no information about what we actually spent last year. I don’t know how the Selectboard can intelligently participate in the planned presentations from Department Heads without knowing how much the Continue reading A Proposed Town Budget Without Real Numbers→

Town budget includes funding for electronic message sign

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At Town Meeting in 2020, voters soundly defeated ballot Article 6 to spend $11,000 on two flashing pedestrian crossing signs, known as RRFBs or Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons. Given that defeat, I was surprised that the Selectboard was not more inquisitive about the line item in the Town Manager’s proposed budget to purchase a variable message sign. The cost is $25,000. Not much detail was provided. Here is the transcript from the YouTube video of the Selectboard meeting of November Continue reading Town budget includes funding for electronic message sign→

Grange Kitchen Design Process Offers Lessons for Tracy Hall Renovation

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Sometimes great examples of effective project design happen right in our backyard. The Norwich Grange’s kitchen renovation process offers lessons for Town officials to consider as they ponder early steps in renovating Tracy Hall. Here’s how the Norwich Community Collaborative described the process, in a recent mailing: The Norwich Grange Kitchen committee has been working over the past year to bring the vision of the Community Kitchen to life. The committee has been working to assist with design and development Continue reading Grange Kitchen Design Process Offers Lessons for Tracy Hall Renovation→

Hidden Good News: FY 25 Closes With Nearly $1 Million ‘Surplus’

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Officials buried the lede in presenting Norwich’s unaudited financial results for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. Missing headline: The Town has nearly $1 million more in surplus money than expected. The Town Manager’s August report overlooked this significant good news, and the Selectboard failed to highlight it in their review. By the numbers. The numbers are clear. Our town ended the fiscal year with approximately $972,000 more on hand than projected when the property tax rate was set Continue reading Hidden Good News: FY 25 Closes With Nearly $1 Million ‘Surplus’→

Selectboard strips Finance Committee of independent role

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Four years ago, in January 2021, members of Norwich’s Finance Committee resigned en masse, stating that their work felt “pointless” due to the Selectboard’s disinterest in their input. Since that time, the Selectboard has not addressed the underlying issues that prompted this exodus. Nor has the Town had a Finance Committee since then, because residents were uninterested in serving That changed recently when three well-qualified residents volunteered to serve. Their appointment at the March 26 Selectboard meeting established a quorum, Continue reading Selectboard strips Finance Committee of independent role→

Podcast: Norwich Selectboard Budget Debate

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Google’s NotebookLM has an Audio Overview tool that will generate a “deep dive” podcast from your specified sources. I gave it my recent post A Divided Norwich Selectboard Grapples with Budget Oversight Responsibilities. The resulting output is below. Click on play to listen. Note that this audio overview is not a comprehensive or objective view of a topic, but simply a reflection of my blog post. Also, inaccuracies and audio glitches can (and did) occur. Nevertheless, I found it interesting Continue reading Podcast: Norwich Selectboard Budget Debate→