BELLOWS FALLS — The Bellows Falls Trustees' Town Manager Committee concluded last week that hiring a new employee was not in their best interests, and that if an assistant manager position was approved by the voters, someone from within the pool of existing employees would be considered.
Earlier this year, the Rockingham Selectboard decided to eliminate two full-time positions that served both Town and Village without consulting Village Trustees. In June, the Selectboard refused to use funds allocated to preserve those positions that town voters put back into the budget at Town Meeting.
The actions - taken in spite of the voters' wishes by the Selectboard and without consultation with the Village Trustees - was the impetus behind forming a Village committee to look into hiring a separate Village Manager “who does not work for the Town of Rockingham,” in a non-binding advisory vote at the Village Meeting in May.
The Trustees Town Manager Committee - made up of current interim Town Manager Francis “Dutch” Walsh, committee Chair Doug MacPhee, Village President Roger Riccio, Trustee Leslie White and resident Andrew Smith - was able to meet only three times due to various scheduling conflicts before the July 31 deadline to reach a conclusion.
And several residents have objected to the conflict of interest in having the sitting - though temporary - town manger on the board, and felt Walsh should be included strictly in a consultant and advisory role.
It was Walsh's knowledge of the post as interim town manager, as well as Finance Director John O'Connor's financial expertise, that informed the conclusions the committee arrived at.
A thorough investigation was undertaken into all aspects of town government, including salary allocations of shared employees, legal ramifications of having separate town and village managers and how the finance director's duties would be split between town and village.
Andrew Smith noted that “no comparative studies of what other town managerial duties were in other municipalities, as I requested, were done.”
Combining the town manager and economic development director positions, as well as the finance director and village manager, were considered and discussed.
In that case, the salaries of the village manager/finance director and the town manager/economic development director position would then be split between Town and Village.
According to the committee's findings, a recent study indicated that the town manager currently spends 65 to 70 percent of his time on Village-related issues.
The minutes of the Town Meeting of March 2, 1926 and the Village Meeting of Jan. 24. 1927 were reviewed to see what the legal considerations were to creating a separate Village manager.
Walsh suggested that, regarding the legal issues of creating a completely new position, perhaps a combined assistant manager/finance director and a assistant manager/development director position be considered as an alternative.
When the committee's report was read before the Trustees and public on Aug. 10, Riccio's summation of the findings were:
• The manager spends approximately 65 percent of his time dealing with Village issues; however the village is approximately 60 percent of the Town;
• Town and Village responsibilities are constantly intertwined and cannot realistically be divided;
• After reviewing the minutes of the 1926 Town Meeting, and the 1927 Village Meeting, a separation of management between Town and Village would legally require a public vote to be held at the Village Meeting in May 2011.
During public comment, Cathy Bergman noted that she had contacted academics who trained municipal managers asking what standard duties and expected salaries were for a town manager position.
“They routinely do finance, development and administrative duties for a salary of around $55,000,” she reported.
Walsh replied that those were not “real-world statistics.”
According to Ida Rainville, executive secretary to the Town Manager, St. Johnsbury discontinued the economic development director position this year. They do not have a finance director, so that - as well as administration and the development director duties - falls under the town manager's duties.
According to the town website, “The manager reports to a five-member selectboard and is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Town. The manager develops and administers an $11.3 million operating budget, $30.3 million worth of federally and state funded grants, and oversees all personnel, financial, public works, public safety and community relations matters. The town employs approximately 50 full- and part-time employees as well as numerous volunteers.”
“The hiring range is $50,000 to $75,000,” according to the website.
Joe Brissette stated he did not feel the committee fulfilled the spirit or intent of the will of the voters.
“It got lost in the shuffle,” he said.
Brissette had surprised everyone at the Village meeting in May by requesting that the Trustees look into hiring a separate town manager who didn't work for the Town of Rockingham.
“I'm in favor of the merger,” he said Tuesday night. “But I don't think we can realistically go forward without the Village having its own representation.”
Smith said he agreed with Brissette.
“I'm for merger now myself,” he said. “But if you look at the Town and the Village as two businesses that are thinking about merging, you wouldn't do a major merger such as this without a CEO from each business present at the table.”
“We need our own representation,” Smith added.
Walsh repeated his offer Tuesday to assist the town manager, whoever that might be, that would be “no different in job title, no additional pay.”
Again, several residents saw this suggestion from a sitting, albeit interim, manager as a conflict of interest.
Walsh said his offer was “misinterpreted and blown out of proportion” when he proposed it to the committee previously and wanted to clarify his offer. Speaking of his commitment, he said, “I have no desire to leave this town [or village].”
“The person in this position could attend meetings, check a sewer line for instance, in assisting the municipal manager. I'm all for cutting and finding ways to reduce cost,” he added.
Riccio urged the board to “move on something. We're in limbo here.”
Trustee Vice-Chair Paul Obuchowski moved that the “status quo” be maintained, and that the Trustees, with the Selectboard, hire a town manager “with the option of assistant manager” being hired at some point.
That motion was defeated.
Smith objected to the language “status quo” as “squishy” language, and a new motion was amended and passed, dropping any reference to an assistant manager.
“We can still hire our own manager,” Riccio said. “We need to move forward on what's best for everybody now. We can't put this off any longer.”
Lance Allen still wants to look into the Village hiring its own manager. The Trustees tabled the discussion until sometime in the future.