red bird
How are we getting through false spring/third winter/pre-mudseason? I’m personally surviving on peanut butter M&Ms. Don’t tell my PCP.
It’s been a minute since Town Meeting - let’s catch up!
Return of Votes
The town, water, and sewer budgets passed on Town Meeting Day (part 1). Here’s the breakdown of the votes from Town Meeting Day (part 2).
Votes of last meeting
Here’s what we voted on in the last regular SB meeting:
approved several liquor and a tobacco licenses. One of the SB’s many hats is as the local liquor control board.
appointed Nina Phalen to the Town Development Review Board. The TDRB is a quasi-judicial body that administers Woodstock’s land use regulations. We still have two open vacancies on our Planning Commission for anyone interested in land use policy.
approved a letter of thanks to the Economic Development Commission for their decade of work advising the Selectboard on the allocation of the Economic Development and Community Fund (funded by the meals, alcohol, and lodging tax). Raise your hand if you’ve been positively impacted by the EDC (raises hand).
approved an allocation of $35,000 to supporting a housing development strategy through our Economic Development Director Abbie Sherman.
approved a driveway variance on Carlton Hill Road
set advertising rates for the WoodstockVT.com website at $1,500 for 3 months. The revenue from the site is split with the Chamber of Commerce as the town co-owns the website with them, Chamber members receive a discount on website ads per the Memorandum of Understanding agreed to last year.
delegated warrants review and approval to Chair Ford and myself as backup. We have a multi-step, multi-approval process for how town bills get paid. After the Municipal Manager, Treasure, and Finance Department review the bills and payroll, they are sent to the board for approval. We each sign off on the payments before they are issued.
set a new schedule for the Selectboard meetings in hopes of reducing the number of special meetings. The new schedule is 8:30am on the first Tuesday of the month; 6pm on the third Tuesday of the month.
Next meeting
We will be meeting Tuesday, April 7th at 8:30am to set sewer and water rates and potentially vote on the purchase & sale of the portion of the Vondell Cobb Reserve we have previously discussed conserving with the Vermont Land Trust.
Thanks for your patience on sewer and water bills! They will be issued soon!
Upcoming events (the theme is literacy!):
The Woodstock Rotary is partnering with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to bring the program to Bridgewater, Barnard, Pomfret, and Woodstock. The Imagination Library mails one book per month to any child enrolled from birth until their 5th birthday. You can support this initiative at the OYC on May 3, 2026, from 4-6 pm! Radio Bear will be playing live music! Suggested donation at the door is $20 per adult; kids are free.
Upper Valley Educators Institute is hosting a screening of Hopeville: How to Win the Reading Wars on Saturday, May 9th at 4:00pm at Billings Farm, followed by a panel discussion with local leaders, educators, and students to discuss the future of literacy teaching and learning in the Upper Valley. Suggested ticket donation is $15-$25.
Reading/listening:
