WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — New Town Manager Tracy Yarlott-Davis has outlined an ambitious set of goals for her first six months in office that include a focus on diversity and inclusion, as well as making Selectboard meetings and town communication more efficient.
“This is just part of the work that I do being town manager,” Yarlott-Davis prefaced at a March 9 Selectboard meeting before announcing the three main goals, which she said she and town staff will work on through the summer.
Yarlott-Davis, who was hired in December following a monthslong search, officially took office a month ago and said she has spent the time exploring Hartford and meeting with town staff.
“I’m really fascinated with the intersection of all our departments,” Yarlott-Davis said in an interview Thursday. One goal she pointed to specifically was infrastructure issues, like potholes and road construction, some of which she hopes to tackle in time for outdoor activities this summer.
However, her six-month goals are more focused on issues concerning the way town staff and department staff work with residents and with one another.
The first goal focuses on bettering communication with Hartford residents, in part by making the town website clearer to understand and easier to navigate, according to a set of the goals published in the Selectboard minutes.
“If you want to find any policy, there are multiple click-throughs,” Yarlott-Davis said in an interview Thursday. She added that the site is also not as user-friendly as it should be for smartphones. As they focus on updating the website, town staff will also look at making it more accessible for people with mobility issues, those who are hard of hearing and those who are vision-impaired.
Additionally, Yarlott-Davis said she plans to focus on bolstering the town’s social media presence through platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, which can be an effective way to communicate with non-residents like some business owners and visitors.
“I want the town’s social media to be a well-rounded information provider,” she said.
A second, bigger-picture goal focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion within town departments. That includes diversity training, as well as assessments within each town department to see whether they are serving all members of the community, and whether diversity is reflected within department staff.
“I want to be cognizant of my departments’ individual roles,” Yarlott-Davis said Thursday of the assessments. “Take a little time and say, ‘OK, who’s not at our table? Who can we put a chair out for?’ ”
She explained that might include elderly residents who can’t make it to town meetings — like Selectboard meetings — in person or on Zoom, or people like single parents, who may not have as much time to get involved in town business.
Yarlott-Davis wrote in her goals that she also plans to encourage elected officials to “seek out diverse voices for appointed positions” and that she’ll work with local schools and universities to provide more internship opportunities for students of color and LGBTQ students.
“Equity and inclusion are essential. Everyone needs to feel safe, heard and valued for who they are,” Selectboard Chairman Dan Fraser wrote in an email Friday of the diversity goal. “This work will affect everyone: departments, boards and residents. We must focus on these issues until they become non-issues.”
Yarlott-Davis’ third goal centers on a more structural concern: increasing the efficiency of Selectboard meetings and working more closely with the board. A large part of that is ensuring that the biweekly meetings, which typically start at 6 p.m., don’t stretch into the late hours of the night due to hefty agendas. Throughout the past year, many of the meetings, which have been held on Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have included packed agendas and often wrap up as late as 10 p.m.
“If we’re going to tackle things, we need to be able to be there fully,” Yarlott-Davis said, adding that it’s hard to work through complex topics in a meeting that goes late into the night. A key to shortening meetings is prioritizing what should be discussed, and giving a more time for each item on a smaller agenda.
“I realize during the height of the pandemic we had many unknowns, but weekly meetings that go four, five and to almost six hours are not good for anyone,” Fraser wrote. “I can’t put into words how helpful this will be.”
The goal of agenda efficiency also includes a plan for Town Hall Listening Sessions, which will be similar to Town Meeting Day in that staff and officials can share information on town operations and take feedback and questions from residents. The sessions, which Yarlott-Davis plans to start hosting in May, will be held every other month.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.