Norwich
Board members voted unanimously to sign a three-year agreement with Durfee, who topped 54 other candidates for the job, at an initial annual salary of $84,427.
“The Selectboard saw in Mr. Durfee not only the skills and knowledge pertaining to municipal government and his knowledge of Vermont statutes, but also his experience in collective bargaining and other forms of negotiation,” said a statement from the panel read aloud by Selectboard Vice Chairwoman Mary Layton.
“He conveyed to the board an interest in being actively responsive to the needs of Norwich residents and he espoused the desire to work in a team environment with the Norwich Selectboard in support of its role as the town’s policy-making legislative body.”
Durfee has served as proprietor of a consulting firm that provides technical assistance on community development, according to the statement, and worked as community development director for the town of Essex, Vt., as well as acting executive director for the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission.
He has been manager in Fair Haven, a town of 2,700 people with a roughly $2 million annual operating budget, since 2013. He attended the Holderness School and graduated from the University of Vermont in 1985, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Durfee was at Fair Haven’s Town Meeting Monday night and could not immediately be reached for comment.
A copy of Durfee’s contract passed out at the Norwich meeting says that the agreement will begin on May 1 of this year and end on April 30, 2020, at which point the board will either offer him a new contract or he will leave the position.
The contract also defines circumstances of termination, a subject that was an open question under the previous manager, Neil Fulton, who did not have a formal written agreement with the town.
Fulton retired about a year ago, and interim manager Dave Ormiston has filled the position in the meantime, overseeing federally funded infrastructure projects and renovations to the police and fire stations.
Durfee, the contract says, may be dismissed at any time “for cause,” meaning that the board must supply a reason if it ends his employment prior to the expiration of the agreement.
The Selectboard on Monday night met for only five minutes, taking two 5-0 votes in quick succession to authorize the chair or vice chair to sign Durfee’s agreement and then to release a statement on his hiring.
The floor portion of Town Meeting, where residents filled most of the seats at the Tracy Hall auditorium, began 25 minutes later with a reading of a short play about the town Listserv written by a resident.
Norwich school officials took the floor next. School Board member Neil Odell announced changes to the proposed 2017-18 budget expected to blunt what school officials initially had said could lead to an increase in the school tax rate of 7.6 cents per $100 of valuation.
Thanks to an expected surplus of $292,164, which the School Board plans to use to offset the tax assessment, plus new state legislation that allows Norwich to count more of its pre-K students toward its per-pupil spending, the tax rate now is expected to rise only 2.6 cents per $100, board members said.
School officials estimate this will lead to an increase of $104 on a $400,000 house, rather than the $304 initially predicted in the annual town report. The Norwich School District’s overall spending budget, as proposed, would increase by just over 2 percent to $5.57 million.
Odell also mentioned that contract negotiations with Marion Cross School teachers, which reached an impasse in December, still were ongoing and were headed to mediation.
“As it stands right now we were unable to get an agreement,” Odell said during his presentation. “It’s not a bad thing; it just means we needed to get a mediator’s assistance on this.”
Odell said there was an October deadline to finalize contract terms with the teachers so that they could enroll in health care plans during their provider’s open period.
The Selectboard began the town’s portion of the night by reading a prepared statement announcing Durfee’s hiring.
Board Chairwoman Linda Cook noted that two members, Christopher Ashley and Dan Goulet, are stepping down this year.
Kris Clement and John Langhus are running to replace Ashley for a two-year term, and Claudette Brochu and John Pepper are competing for the three-year seat that Goulet is leaving.
Cook lauded Ashley and Goulet’s service; the board’s accomplishments this year, including the implementation of fire and police renovations; and the public for facilitating the capital facilities project.
“You all helped that happen,” she said, “so I thank you all for doing that.”
Layton, the vice chairwoman, presented the proposed municipal expenditures, which, including articles that finance town library operations, are slated to increase about 2.1 percent to $4.83 million.
If residents approve the spending plan, the anticipated increase in the town portion of their property taxes will be a little more than a penny per $100 of valuation, or $41 on a $400,000 house.
Layton added that the Selectboard, in a separate warning article, was seeking $70,000 to cover a shortfall in the $1.4 million fire and police facilities improvements resulting from a miscalculation in the project’s budget.
“We’re not perfect,” she said. “Sorry; we made an arithmetic error.”
She added that the Selectboard did not expect to have to use the money.
Residents offered no questions on the budget, and the meeting adjourned not long afterward, once representatives for the various outside agencies seeking town funding made short presentations outlining their needs and the services they provide.
Voting on all warning articles and town elections will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today at Tracy Hall.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.