A potluck dinner at the Jay Town Meeting was organized by Christine Beerworth. Photos by Bethany M. Dunbar
JAY — Jay voters rejected a proposed charter form of government, 76 to 23.
The vote seemed to be more a matter of needing more time than a rejection of the concept of a charter form of government.
“It’s a major change to the town,” said Jude Smith. “We should have had more people involved.”
He said the committee working on the charter plan seemed to be mostly newcomers. It should have had more business people and Jay Peak people. A survey should have been done of the town.
Delores Burroughs-Biron, who served on the charter committee, agreed.
“I do believe there should be cross-representation,” said Ms. Burroughs-Biron. But she added that it seems the newcomers have been showing up to volunteer where some of the people who have been in town for a long time have already done a lot of volunteering.
“Sometimes people are quite frankly burned out,” she said. “I agree that people need more time to think about a charter.”
The charter form of government was proposed as a way for the selectmen to be able to act more quickly on putting ordinances in place and anticipating other town issues and addressing them in advance.
The charter committee got a round of applause for its efforts.
Selectman David Sanders got a standing ovation for three years of service as a selectman. He stepped down as his term was up, and Peggy Loux was unanimously elected to take his seat.
The town voters heard that plans are on track for a new sewer system to be built by December 2010.
“It looks at the time as though the plant will be completely covered by grants,” said Selectman Marc Burroughs-Biron. He said if there are residual local costs, Jay Peak and the Local Boys have said they would pick them up.
The road budget, town budget, school budget, and a special item to replace the shingles on the school roof all passed. The school is a joint school with Westfield, which also approved these expenditures.
The amount approved for the highway budget was $235,405 compared to $228,055 spent in the current year. The amount of $235,405 was put into the town report, Town Clerk Tara Morse explained, with the idea that any help from the state would be subtracted from it. At the time the budget was being written, it looked like the state might not give the towns any highway aid for class two and three roads. In past years, state aid for Jay has been about $40,000.
But Ms. Morse said so many towns protested the possibility of cuts in state aid that the state put 85 percent of the money back into the budget. Mr. Sanders said he has spoken with Representative Mark Higley, who said the Legislature is expected to level-fund class two and three road aid at the 2008 level.
The town road crew got a round of applause for great work during the winter.
Mr. Sanders said the selectmen bought a new used town truck after one of the old ones died. But they were able to save $11,000 by taking the dump body off the old truck to use on the new (used) truck, which is nine years old. They had $10,000 set aside, and that means they did not have to ask the voters for money for that particular truck.
Voters pointed out that a lot of the town’s equipment is really old, and at some point the town will need to start getting some new equipment. Mr. Sanders said that is true, but they have a plan. There is currently a line item for equipment, and a loan is almost paid off. When that loan is paid the town will continue to keep the line item and start setting some money aside.
Jay is in the middle of reappraising, with help from a private firm called New England Municipal Consultants. The reappraisal will be done by May 1. Mr. Sanders said the town has not been fully reappraised for a long time, and the common level of appraisal is only about 65 percent of what the state says it should be.
In the future, the town could opt for a rotating appraisal system where one-third of the town is done at a time so a full reappraisal is done over a three-year period.
“It’s probably the most cost-effective way to do it,” he said, but Jay would have to budget an amount for it each year.
Voters decided against changing the time of Town Meeting, which is 10 a.m.
Emeline Harmon, who is assistant town clerk and served as town clerk for 30 years, urged voters to keep the meeting during the day — the traditional time.
“If I come out in the daytime and it’s a blizzard, I might get here,” she said. Jay tried evening meetings a few times, but she said it was not as good.
“People who worked all day then they’re ugly when they come out, and they want to hurry up and go home,” she said.
The school budget of $1,028,030 (compared to $1,000,175 in the current year) passed with little discussion. This budget means a net assessment to Jay of $526,246, compared to $629,140 for the current year. In response to a question about the cost of running the school compared to tuition, Ms. Morse said she had done a spreadsheet for the meeting along with one of the Westfield school board members, and she read a list of the annual costs per student over the last several years, which comes out to $11,370 for 2009, slightly down from $11,442 in 2008.
Christine Beerworth said she had a question about the school budget.
“How can children break toilets?” she asked. The town report included mention of replacing some toilets in the school.
School board members responded that the children didn’t flush and put too much paper into the toilets, which got plugged up. The new toilets flush automatically.
“Oh. That’s interesting,” said Ms. Beerworth, which generated considerable laughter from the crowd.
Ms. Beerworth is credited for organizing the Jay Town Meeting potluck dinner, which some observers (and participants) said seems to get bigger every year. Asked how she does it, she answered that she calls all the town voters and asks them to bring something if they are going to be at the Town Meeting at lunchtime.
Appropriation requests from nonprofit groups adding up to $11,364 were passed. A separate request for $40,062 for the Jay Volunteer Fire Department was also passed.
Selectman David Sanders got a standing ovation for his three years of service as he stepped down. He is seated in the photo above. At left is Selectman Michael Brady, and at right is Selectman Marc Burroughs-Biron. On the far right is Tax Collector Cynthia Vincent.
Re-elected were Moderator Fred Cushing, Town Clerk and Treasurer Tara Morse, Lister Fred Cushing, Auditor Roseanne Beaudry, Tax Collector Cynthia Vincent, School Director Jeffrey Morse, North Country Union High School and junior high director Harold Morse, Town Agent and Grand Juror Roger Morin. Constable Michael Caffrey, who had been appointed in the middle of the year, was elected.
