don’t dream it’s over
A note of gratitude
Last week, in the largest floor vote in Woodstock’s recent history, voters approved the acquisition of the Woodstock Aqueduct Company.
This would not have been possible without the work of many people - including but not limited to our Water Working Group, Charlie Kimbell, our Municipal Manager Eric Duff, Chief of Staff Stephanie Appelfeller, Assistant to the Boards Kitty Mears, Finance Director Robert Densmore, Public Works Director Chris Barr, the many business that hosted our gatherings over the last month, and our community for showing up, asking questions, bringing thoughtful concerns, and most importantly, voting.
Before I get to what is next, let’s catch up on non-water business:
Objectives and goals
Two weeks ago, the Selectboard and Village Trustees finalized objectives and goals, which if you recall was prompted by Eric’s presentation on the State of Woodstock in June. In order to have our community move and work in the same direction, make efficient use of staff time, and give the boards a framework for decision-making, we established long term objectives with shorter-term measurable goals.
Objectives:
Housing/Development
Effective and efficient government:
Affordability
Climate Resiliency
These objectives are not mutually exclusive of each other, there is and should be overlap for many of the goals. For example, the purchase of the Woodstock Aqueduct Company has implications for housing, affordability, and climate resiliency.
The goals we decided on are for the remainder of the FY25 year and will help guide the budget process we are kicking off next week.
This is the first time this has been done in Woodstock’s history, for either executive board. We still have a lot of work to do on them, including specific directives for our advisory boards, which I hope to finalize in the coming weeks. One of the biggest struggles of our staff and our boards is the current demand for services and executive action, and the finite amount of time and financial resources we have to give to them.
Since I know folks will ask, the Selectboard requested that the EDC to halt any new grant funding requests until we finalize our objectives and priorities. We have sparred on a few of the last grant proposals and the board wants to make sure the EDC, as with all other boards, is working in-step with the entire town and reflecting the community’s wishes.
Retail cannabis
At last week’s meeting, the Selectboard approved a retail cannabis application at the location of the former Mountain Creamery. The approval was conditional on the outcome of a competitor’s appeal to the Environmental Court of the Town Development Review Board’s decision to approve the change of use from commercial to retail. The board has received some public comment on this, so I’ll address some concerns here:
The notice for the change of use from commercial to retail by the Town Development Review Board was properly warned.
As of October 25th, the State Cannabis Control Board has an active moratorium for any new retail cannabis permits so until that is lifted, we will not see any more permits issued for Woodstock.
I mourn the loss of the diner at Mountain Creamery, but that loss would be compounded if we were to suffer a vacant building. And if we care about helping businesses like the Creamery succeed, we need to create more housing.
Municipal Manager annual review + budget kickoff
The joint boards are looking at meeting mid-week to conduct Eric Duffy’s annual review and kickoff our budget process. If you have any feedback you would like included in the review, please let me know.
…And we’re back to water
The next vote will be a vote by Australian Ballot on Tuesday, December 10th to bond for purchase the Vondell Reservoir and bond for the following capital improvements: the water main replacement from Cox District Road (known as Option 1B), suspension of the water main under the Elm Street Bridge, and the new well replacement. You can read descriptions for each project here.
The board agreed to layout the ballot with two articles: 1. for the purchase of the Vondell and 2. for the financing of the other 3 infrastructure projects. We are signing the warning on Friday and will continue to meet the public out in the wild throughout the week. You can find the schedule here and also posted to the listserv.
We have a tentative agreement on the allocation of the bonds, but if you have feedback please seek us out. The Board has recruited the Finance Committee to work on a rate card for the water utility and will be discussing that more in depth at our Nov 19th meeting.
Upcoming
Susan Ford and I will be at the Vondell Reservoir this Saturday, November 9th at 2pm for anyone interested in touring and learning about the property. Please RSVP to her at susanford412@gmail.com if you want to come so we can arrange for carpooling or group transportation as parking is limited.
If you prefer to stay in your jammies and learn, Charlie Kimbell and Woodstock Community Television produced a video that explores the water-related aspects of the property:
