News from the Town of Killington

News from the Town of Killington

The town of Killington convened it's annual town meeting promptly at 10:00 AM this morning at the Sherburne Elementary School. The mood of the assembled citizenry of Killington was somewhat subdued this year, versus some of the town meetings of the last couple of years, but the meeting was not without controversy and a few surprises.

M.B. Neisner was elected Town Moderator and immediately took charge of the meeting. Following some administrative procedures to approve year end reports, M.B. lead the group to elect Town Officers to fill vacant positions.

In the town officer elections, many of the positions went with one unopposed candidate. Included in this group were Pat Keim as Town Treasurer; Whit Montgomery as Second Constable, Red Glaze as Grand Juror, Ken Keim as Town Agent, Anne Marie Blackman as Trustee of Public Funds, Pat Zack as Cemetery Commissioner, and Mary Hogstrom as a Library Trustee.

Town officer elections did yield a few surprises in the contested elections. Incumbent Selectman Jim Blackman was defeated by challenger Jim Haff in a vote of 101 to 140. Mr. Blackman had been an outspoken proponent of Article 10 on the town meeting agenda, the purchase of the Fireside Lodge Property for use by the towns Economic Development and Tourism Commission as an events venue. Mr. Haff has been an opponent of Article 10. As Article 10 is being decided by Australian Ballot with polls open until 7:00 PM this evening, it is difficult to say what the fate of Article 10 will be. But Mr. Blackman's defeat took many at the meeting by surprise.

The normally quiet election of a new Town Lister also brought a challenge. Incumbent Town Lister Pat Whalen was defeated by local realtor Butch Findeisen in a lopsided vote of 31 to 157. Over the course of the year, there has been a far amount of controversy between the Selectboard and the Town Listers regarding the appraisal process being used by the listers to assign property values in town. This controversy clearly spilled over into the listers election this year at town meeting.

The remainder of the meeting was fairly straight forward. Town citizens approved a General Fund Budget of $2,834,639 as Article 8. They also authorized the selectboard to borrow approximately $380K to cover a budged deficit in the towns Golf Account to manage Green Mountain National Golf Course as article 7. Questions were raised concerning the Golf Course Budget, which will probably bring further scrutiny to the operation in the coming months. However, at Town Meeting the need to authorize the selectboard to borrow additional monies was a fait accompli quickly recognized by the citizens attending the meeting.

Several awards were handed out during the meeting. Andy Reid was given the "Volunteer of the Year Award". Norm Holcomb was also given a plaque by the selectboard in recognition for is years of service to the town as a prior selectboard member.

The remaining open issue to be resolved at this years meeting is the status of Article 10 which would authorize the town to acquire $1.4M in general obligation bonds to purchase and improve a 37 acre tract of land across from the Grist Mill on the Killington Road, also know as the Fireside Property. Article 10, as it is a bond issue, is to be settled by an Australian Ballot. Polls are to be open at the Sherburne Elementary School until 7:00 PM to allow those who could not attend the town meeting a chance to vote on this item. It will be interesting to see how this article will turn out once the votes are counted.

......let it snow!