NORWICH — Town residents call for an improvement in community dialogue and civility following a reorganization of the Selectboard and news that the board will seek its third town manager in two years.
In a board restructuring last Wednesday, the Norwich Selectboard voted 4-0 with one abstention to appoint member Marcia Calloway to be the new board chair. Calloway, who was elected in March, replaced former Chairman Roger Arnold, who announced in September that he wished to relinquish the chair role to devote more time to his family.
The board also voted unanimously to reappoint Mary Layton as vice chair.
Arnold, who became the chairman in March 2021, thanked the board for allowing him to serve the role, calling it a “deeply formative” experience, albeit a sometimes “difficult” one. During Arnold’s tenure as chairman, the board replaced two town managers.
“It is very difficult to form good relationships on behalf of the community with these town managers and see it not work out,” Arnold said during the meeting, which was held via Zoom. “Very simply I cannot do it for a third time. I don’t have the reservoirs in me.”
During public comments town residents expressed their concerns and frustrations over the ongoing friction between the local officials and a number of town residents about the town’s management and governance.
Several residents defended Town Manager Rod Francis, who has faced criticism from community members over his management style.
Some critics, such as resident Stuart Richards, allege that former town employees said they left Norwich because of their difficulty working with Francis.
“I think Rod is one of the most competent town managers we have ever had and he has worked under very difficult conditions,” resident, and former Selectboard member, Liz Blum said.
On Oct. 24, the Selectboard announced a separation agreement between the town and Francis, who will serve his last day on Monday, Nov. 7. In a public statement, the board attributed the decision to “unusual difficulties affecting the town’s operations and the manager’s role in Norwich town government.”
Arline Rotman, chairwoman of the Development Review Board, called Francis one of the most “untiring public servants” she has known and that she is “ashamed” of how community members treated him.
“We have some wonderful people here,” Rotman said. “But we (also) have this criticism and (negativity) that has fractured the town and given to the polarization of our national politics. I hate to see this in Norwich.”
Rotman and other residents called for an end of the divisiveness and for the community to return to civil dialogue and finding compromise.
“I feel that it’s important to seek consensus (of parties on different sides of discussions) to move toward a middle ground that is suitable for everybody,” resident John Cushman said. “I would urge everybody who is engaged in a dispute about town processes to drop the dispute and attempt to make common ground, which is our tradition in New England.”
Richards, though disagreeing with the positive appraisals of Francis’s job performance, said he would like for the community to work together. But for him that also requires improving the transparency and communication with the public.
“The reason there has been scrutiny and (an effort) to reverse the non-transparency that has existed on this board is that it was necessary for me to file public records requests (to receive information),” Richards said. “I am hoping in the future that this board will be more transparent and that it will be more open with the public in a way that it has not been previously.”
In an email on Tuesday, Francis told the Valley News that some information requested by Richards and others, particularly personnel issues, are treated confidentially in accordance with state law.
“It is not appropriate for residents to demand details of workplace interactions that took place with some expectation of privacy and argue about their significance publicly,” Francis said.
Patrick Adrian can be reached at padrian@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.