Killington considers its future
By Josh O’Gorman
Rutland Herald staff writer | April 11,2013
Tuesday night, the Select Board voted unanimously to adopt a strategic operating plan for the next 12 months, which will culminate in a public information meeting on the budget in March 2014.
“This plan articulates our vision, goals and priorities,” said Town Manager Seth Webb during a 50-minute discussion that included a PowerPoint presentation and discussion among Board members and the public. “What this does is say, ‘What kind of town do we want to be, and what sort of actions do we have to take to make that happen?’”
The town’s vision statement, adopted in April 2010, states Killington’s goal to “(b)e Vermont’s premier resort community, offering residents a high quality of life and tourists a memorable mountain adventure.”
While the vision statement puts residents first, the next slide in Webb’s PowerPoint presentation acknowledges “the economy of a resort town is geared almost entirely towards catering to tourists, with most residents of the area working in the tourism or resort industry.”
Board member Bernard Rome asked if the town had ever conducted a survey to learn what percentage of residents work in the tourism trade.
“It’s something I would like to know,” Rome said. “I don’t know if it’s material to know, and it might not mean anything, but it might become material in the future.”
Board member Patty McGrath said she would be interested in learning from residents what it is about Killington that brought them there in the first place.
The Board voted to amend the plan to include a public forum in the future to give the public a chance to communicate to the Select Board their occupations and motivations for moving to the mountain town.
Alice Sciore, vice president of the Killington Arts Guild, asked the Board to take initiatives to bring greater awareness of the town’s art galleries to tourists and travelers. Board Chairman Chris Bianchi asked Sciore to meet with her fellow Guild members to brainstorm ideas regarding how the Board might help them.
Audience member Jim Haff advocated for greater support for Killington Mountain School.
“If you want to bring more people here, KMS is where it’s at,” Haff said. “It’s proven that when those families come to this town to send their kids to this school, they build in this town, they buy in this town, they support this town.”
Other items on the agenda for the coming year include:
May: Killington Road sidewalk extension alternatives presentation
June: Teen Center planning
July: Special meeting to set the tax rate; Fire Department renovations consideration
August: “Buy Local” policy
September: Campaign for Vermont forum on tax reform; 2014 budget goals and priorities
January: Finalize budget.
The Select Board will next meet at 7:30 p.m. April 23 at the town offices.
Comment: Probably the biggest news in the meeting was the grant denial for Bill's Country Store.
I'm not sure why Patty doesn't understand that the ski resort is why most of the people moved to this town.
As far as how many people who live in the town are employed in tourism those jobs do not pay enough for anyone to afford a mortgage in the town and make a reasonable living. The only possible jobs that would pay enough are either with the resort or the town. I guess you could call Seth's job tourism related and he certainly makes enough to live in town, but he chose not to. I would venture to say there are relatively few residents employed in tourism based on the wages paid.
Vito
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