Killington Hires New Police Officer, Interim Town Manager

Vermont Standard

By Curt Peterson

Standard Correspondent

killington — Finding a replacement for Town Manager Seth Webb is a major project in killington, as it would be for any town. Select board chairman Patty McGrath updated attendees at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Seth’s last day will be Dec 31,” she said. “We are moving forward as planned, with Vermont League of Cities and Towns acting as our back office.”

McGrath said the process is expected to take 3-5 months. The board has appointed resident Dick Horner, who has been involved in town business for many years, as interim Town Manager. Horner will start Dec. 1, giving him a month to shadow Webb during his final days and to get up to speed on ongoing issues Webb was handling.

Employment ads and a job description are in the works - McGrath said the first stakeholder meeting, involving senior staff, went very positively and effectively. Another public meeting with appointed and elected officials as stakeholders will take place Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m.

The deadline for applications is April 30. Vermont League of Cities and Towns will process all the applications, vetting and ranking them by qualifications and references, and turn them over to the board.

“During the following week we’ll choose 8 – 10 candidates to interview, with an additional five as alternates,” she said. Anyone wishing to serve on the selection committee should contact Webb on or before Nov. 9.

Marty Post announced the killington Energy Committee will host a round-table discussion about solar energy at the Sherburne Memorial Library on Saturday, Nov. 7 from 3 to 5 p.m. Participants will include residents and business owners who have installed solar energy systems, and a Green Mountain Power representative. People who are considering a solar option are encouraged to come and ask questions, hear about current tax incentives and rebates, about savings available through solar energy, and about new efficient heat pump systems. The theme of the discussion is, “Don’t Be Left Out In The Cold.”

The killington Police Department has a new full-time officer, McGrath announced.

According to Chief Whit Montgomery the new patrolman, Brent Howard, who is in his early 30s and lives in Poultney, has 10 years’ experience with the Rutland County Sheriff’s office, and the Castleton and Mendon police departments. He is certified to process suspected driving under the influence operators and will start Nov. 9.

“Brent’s talents include being an excellent communicator,” Montgomery said. “In a town such as killington, this is extremely valuable. You can be the only officer on duty on a weekend when there are 20,000 people in town and backup is some time away. At times like those, when something happens, your ability to communicate is your best and most effective weapon.”

Montgomery said that, other than uniforms, no additional equipment will be required for Howard.

“I’m salaried, but I often work way over 40 hours a week,” he added. “And our one part-timer is often putting in a lot of hours. Having Brent as a full-time officer will give much better coverage for the residents and businesses, and take some of the pressure off us.”

Much of the meeting involved budget discussions, as Webb made a slide presentation showing 2017 budget projections compared with past years, a task made difficult  by killington’s one-time, 18-month financial period necessitated by the town’s change from calendar to fiscal year accounting.

The anticipated expenses are $4,140,938 for the 12-month 2017 budget. Counted on to partially fund these expenses is non-property tax revenue of $1,408,825, which includes $870,000 from “Options Taxes” on rooms, meals and alcohol sales.

“We based this figure on the average Options Tax revenue for the last three years of $855,000,” Webb said. “It’s a 2 percent increase over that average.”

The options tax was instituted in 2008, and, according to Webb, there has been little opposition to it. Doing away with it would require a town vote.

“A couple of years ago, the Resort (killington Mountain Resort and Ski Area) talked about campaigning to repeal the options tax,” he said. “But nothing ever came of it and I’m sure they are not planning to try to have it repealed now.”

According to the proposed budget the residents’ tax rate would increase $.0267 in order to cover expected expenses.

“Costs have gone up,” McGrath said. “And the Grand List has decreased. That’s the reason for the rate increase in a nutshell.” She blamed lower Grand List values on years of successful appeals by individual taxpayers following a reappraisal that had resulted in a 20 percent increase in the Grand List total.

For a couple of years killington has been putting aside significant funds in their budget for specific future capital improvements such as culvert and bridge repairs and replacements. McGrath said this has worked out much better for planning than the old method of earmarking the same amount year after year without identifying specific needs ahead of time.

Comment: One thing that come up is that the Town is not going to finish the second phase of the Killington Road repaving due to lack of funds. It will only pave from West Hill to Schoolhouse Road. Jim Haff asked if the $1.4 million dollar bond voted for road repairs to Killington and West Hill Road  was supposed to cover expenses through phase two of the Killington Road repaving. I wondered that too. 

Seth Webb's response was, "That is incorrect." Well frankly I and many others recall the bond was sold to the taxpayers based on the plan to repave Killington Road from Rte 4 to Dean Hill Road.

I wonder what happened to that promise and what happened to that money. Perhaps it disappeared into the overruns at the Visitor Center parking lot - where scuttlebut has it that project cost in excess of $200,000 not the approximate $120,000 that was told the taxpayers.

Vito