Greensboro Town Meeting

Voters opt for Australian ballot

by Josh Karp

GREENSBORO — The Highland Center for the Arts was packed on the morning of March 4 for Greensboro’s Town Meeting, probably due to articles on the Warning that really got residents’ attention.

After long-time moderator Tim Nisbet was reelected, the meeting got underway with immediate controversy.  Outgoing select board member Bobbie Nisbet (yes, Mr. Nisbet’s wife) said she received an 11-page report via email just a few hours earlier, in which a resident expressed concerns about a number of items in the Town Meeting Warning.  Ms. Nisbet expressed consternation that the author didn’t make an effort to engage with the select board about those issues.

Former select board member Gary Circosta said he was the author of the letter, with his biggest concern being the lack of audited financial statements for fiscal year 2024.  He said the town is required by statute to make audited financial statements from the prior year available to the public well before Town Meeting.

Mr. Circosta said that fiscal year 2024 included the July 2023 flood, which was extremely impactful on the town’s finances.  He asked how can voters be expected to make an informed decision about fiscal year 2026 spending when it’s not known if the various town fund balances, as stated, are accurate?

In his letter, Mr. Circosta proposed that the vote on the town budget be postponed until that information is available.

Select board chair Eric Hanson explained that the town treasurer has been on medical leave since October, and the tiny town staff has tried its best to keep up with the resulting extra workload.  It also appears the town’s outside auditor has been backed up with other work.  Mr. Hanson read a statement from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT), stating that despite the missing audit, it is its opinion that Greensboro’s Town Meeting can move ahead, including a vote on the fiscal year 2026 budget.

Mr. Circosta had numerous other corrections and concerns about the Town Report, and said he hoped those would be considered by the select board.

Karl Stein then moved to suspend the rules and skip to consideration of Article 11, which asked “Shall the registered voters of Town of Greensboro authorize a vote by Australian Ballot on the question of whether to transfer ownership of Town Hall to Gilman Housing Trust, Inc. DBA Rural Edge?”

It was clarified that this article merely determines if the sale of the town hall should be voted on by Australian Ballot at a later date.  There was much discussion about amending the article but ultimately it passed in original form with just one vote against.

The annual Greensboro Award was given to Jennifer Lucas and John Schweizer, a couple who have volunteered extensively in town for many years.  Both have experience with finance and helped the select board develop the fiscal year 2026 budget last fall when the town suddenly found itself without a treasurer during the budgeting process.

Three out of five select board seats were open this year — an unusual occurrence.  Being a select board member is always challenging, but being one in Greensboro over the past few years has been particularly so, due in large part to the controversial town hall redevelopment proposal put forth by RuralEdge.  Project opponents have paid close attention to the board’s approach to the project, especially to the way public involvement has been handled.  Challenges to the process along the way have been characterized as select board missteps by several residents.

Four residents were nominated for the first open select board seat, a three-year term. Tim Brennan spoke of his extensive experience in financial management in the nonprofit sector.  He currently serves on the boards of a few area nonprofits.

Christian Holland said while she saw a tremendous amount of knowledge around the room, she also sees a lot of people who need to get listened to, and she would make it a point to do so.

Davis Barnett said he is an owner of a consulting business and spoke of his penchant for triathlons.  This, he said, shows he is capable of working hard and seeing things through. Mr. Barnett said he’s attended many select board meetings over the past year and that his priorities are finding alternatives to selling the town hall, improving town government communications, creating housing at a scale that makes sense for Greensboro, and improving town infrastructure.

Bill Chidsey said he recently moved to town after losing everything due to catastrophic flooding in Hardwick.  He has a background as a farmer and energy efficiency contractor, is a fiscal conservative, and believes in transparent government.  Mr. Chidsey said he stands for saving the town hall from becoming just another nameless apartment building. He added that the town has a wastewater crisis to solve.

Resident Denise Stewart said that many people can’t attend Town Meeting since they have to work, and asked the candidates how they might address that problem.

Mr. Barnett said changing to Australian Ballot for some items could help.  It’s ironic, he said, that we’re trying to attract young working people to town yet we’re not giving them the opportunity to get involved and have their say.  Town committee meetings held during working hours could be excluding working people as well.

Ms. Holland, Mr. Brennan and Mr. Chidsey all agreed that while there may not be a perfect way to hold Town Meeting, the town has an obligation to try to make it more accessible to residents.

Mateo Kehler said he’s concerned about an anonymous group called the “Save Town Hall Coalition” that has questioned the select board’s communication process around the RuralEdge project.  He asked the candidates if they are committed to transparency.

Mr. Barnett said he’s asked the select board many questions over this past year and hasn’t always received satisfactory answers.  While he made further comments, he didn’t directly answer Mr. Kehler’s question.

Ms. Holland said she has not been involved with this group, but felt disheartened that those folks felt things were so bad in town that they had to go to an attorney.  She added that it was wrong that some “Save Town Hall” signs were vandalized.

Mr. Brennan said he isn’t involved with the group.  He added that he was distressed when he received an email from a different anonymous group calling itself “Transparency for Greensboro,”  regarding the Town Hall redevelopment.  He asked if anyone else can see the irony.

While Mr. Chidsey indicated earlier he is against the RuralEdge proposal, he said he’s not been involved with those groups.

A few people spoke up to defend town government from the accusations of poor communications, saying that residents have had ample opportunities to engage in discussions about the town hall redevelopment and many did not take the time to do so.

The first select board vote was held and it was already lunchtime by the time counting was completed and Mr. Brennan was announced the winner with 132 votes (Ms. Holland 26, Mr. Barnett 12, Mr. Chidsey 10). It looked as if it would be a long day.

The Highland Center put out a delicious, free-lunch buffet with a donation basket.  After lunch state Representative Leanne Harple spoke about Governor Phil Scott’s proposal to further consolidate the state education system.  This would likely lead to the forced closure of more small rural schools, she said.

Representative Harple recently introduced her first bill, which would allow towns to regulate wake sports on their lakes.  This was met with approval from the crowd, as many in Greensboro are passionate about keeping wake boats off Caspian Lake.  Greensboro and a few other towns whose lakes are on the state’s “wake boat-approved” list have filed petitions with the state to obtain an exemption from that regulation.

Ms. Harple said she’s been focusing on Northeast Kingdom issues in Montpelier with other Kingdom legislators, regardless of party.

Brent McCoy said he’s been disheartened by actions taken by the Trump administration and asked how to be politically engaged at a time with an overwhelming amount of unprecedented executive actions.  Ms. Harple said people need to write to their legislators and express their opinions. And, she said, get comfortable with getting loud and possibly disruptive.

Voting continued for the remaining two select board seats, and while she is not as well-known as the other candidates, voters began to warm up to Ms. Holland.  While former select board member Mike Metcalf prevailed in the second vote with 92 votes, Ms. Holland received 59 votes.  Former selectboard member Judy Carpenter then won the final select board seat by just 10 votes (Ms. Carpenter 73, Ms. Holland 63, Mr. Chidsey 8).

The $2,386,953 budget passed with only a few votes against.  Town expenditures weren’t on voters’ minds so much this year — the fundamental structure and nature of Town Meeting, and who is able to attend, dominated the discussions.

The Greensboro Communications Working Group put forward Articles 8 and 9 and worked hard to let the public know about their inclusion on the warning.  The group says it is hoping to kick-start more civic engagement and remove as many barriers as possible to Town Meeting participation.

Article 8 asked “Shall the town change the day of its annual town meeting to the third day preceding the first Tuesday in March pursuant to 17 V.S.A §2640(b)?”. The VLCT had recommended this odd-sounding statutory language be used, with the understanding that Saturday, the day proposed, could be amended on the floor to a different day.

There was much discussion of this article, with many proponents speaking about the fact that the traditional Town Meeting Day, being a Tuesday, is a workday and inherently excludes working people from the democratic process.  Consequential decisions, then, are being made by a limited segment of town residents.

Others felt that Saturday is often a day full of activity including kids’ winter sports, and moving Town Meeting to this day could lead to a decrease in attendance.  Also, some people might be out of town due to school vacation.

While many residents who spoke said it was worth test-driving a Saturday Town Meeting despite the unknowns, the article failed by a vote of 50 to 48. Given such a close division of the house, a paper ballot was requested but the article failed again, this time by a margin of 53 to 44.

Next to be considered was Article 9, which asked “Shall the registered voters of Greensboro, Vermont, elect its town officers by Australian Ballot?”

Supporters of the article spoke at length about that being a way to allow more voters to be involved in the town’s democratic process.  Since polls would be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., working people could scoot in after work and cast their ballot vote for town officers.  Absentee ballots would also be available for those who might be traveling or unable to leave home for any reason.

Others said there’s no guarantee this change will lead to more voter engagement:  will people who don’t currently attend Town Meeting make the effort to go to the town offices and cast a ballot?

After discussion the article passed 51 to 43.

After agreeing that July Fourth will be celebrated on July fifth, the meeting adjourned at 5 p.m., the longest and best attended Town Meeting in recent memory.  Some left the meeting mourning the loss of in-person voting for select board members, with all its politicking and lining up to cast paper ballots.  Others left feeling jubilant that the voters of Greensboro overcame 240 years of inertia and that voting for town officers was, finally, made more accessible.