I was elected to the Selectboard!

I did it! Tuesday March 3, 2009 was Town Meeting Day in Vermont. I was on the ballot running for a seat on the Randolph Selectboard for a 3 year term. Although it was a cold blustery day, I stood outside the polling place from 7AM until 7PM, the hours that the polls were open, with the exception of the 2 hours for the town meeting itself. At the end of the day the residents of Randolph voted me into a seat on the board. The final vote count was 472 votes for myself and 281 votes for my challenger and incumbent, Ken Goss. Below is the article that was on the front page of "The Herald" on Thursday:

RANDOLPH BALLOT SURPRISE
Big Victories by Flint and Brown over Thompson, Goss

In a rare revolt against incumbents, Randolph voters tossed two sitting selectmen out of office Tuesday, perhaps reflecting a conviction that the selectboard had become too conservative.

At the same time, voters approved all town and school budgets by large margins, and they approved all of the requested "Special Appropriations."

Both Selectmen Del Thompson and Ken Goss were defeated for re-election, and by very similar - and very large - margins.

Carol Flint defeated Thompson by 465 votes to 291; and Dennis Brown defeated Goss 469 to 277.

Flint has been a member of the budget committee but has not held elective office in Randolph previously, though she narrowly missed being elected last year. Brown had been a selectman for four years in the 1990's and had been on both the Planning Commission and Development Review Board.

Speaking just after the results became known, Thompson said his impression was that voters felt the board had become too conservative. Both he and Goss pledged to continue working constructively with the town.

It was the second year in a row that two new selectboard members came aboard at one time. A year ago, the election of Stephen Webster and Joe Voci created a selectboard with a more conservative majority. The new board immediately took a different road than the previous one by electing Webster to be chairman instead of Jim Hutchinson, with Goss voting with the majority, and then by taking a different approach to improving the town offices.

The new majority block in the selectboard was solidified after the untimely death of Hutchinson, who was replaced by Thompson.

Carol Flint, who had been narrowly defeated by Voci at Town Meeting, asked to be appointed to Hutchinson's seat on the board, but she was never interviewed for the position.

This years turn out was far lower than last year - just 803 voters compared to 1380 last year. That 51% turnout was sparked partly by a hot controversy over where to build municipal offices. A 25-vote majority agreed to authorize moving to the former co-op building on Pleasant Street.

That sentiment, however, was set aside by the new selectboard, in an action that was much criticized at the time. Since then, good progress has been made to enlarge and renovate the town offices in the current site.

The various town and school budgets all passed by wide margins of two or three to one. That included the three budgets that had been removed from the main budget - the ambulance service, the library, and the cemetery department.

The special appropriations also passed, most of them easily, even though several were increased from last year and some were new requests.

The closest vote was for $5000 for the White River Craft Center. That vote was 392 in favor and 378 opposed.

The selectmen and Town Manager Gary Champy have predicted that, even with the approval of all appropriations, the town tax rate should not increase this year.

Note: The final vote count in "The Herald" was a preliminary number. The vote count that was certified for myself was 472 to 281 for Mr. Goss.