PHILLIPS – Residents faced a $970,000 municipal budget Saturday morning in what turned into a lengthy debate on whether the town should continue employing a town manager.
Many of the 75 residents arrived late, navigating around roads washed out after more than three inches of rain fell last evening. Fire Chief James Gould reported that three miles of the Tory Hill road was gone, as were parts of Wheeler Hill and the Parlin Road. Reeds Mill Road was completely flooded, and the town’s highway department was still trying to ascertain the total amount of damage sustained.
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Residents elected John Stinchfield to succeed Eric Kinney as selectman for a three-year term. Stinchfield, whose background is in construction, won 47 votes, beating out former-selectman, Charles Wilbur, who had 24, and resident Harold Small, with 12 votes.
Evelyn Wilbur was reelected to the position of town clerk and Mary Jane Thorndike will serve another three-year term on the school board. Both ran unopposed.
While each article was questioned, explained and debated, the most contentious portion of the meeting involved Article 15, which asked residents to raise and appropriate $138,411 for the town’s general administrative costs.
Resident Donna Chamberlain then moved to amend the article, lowering the amount raised to $71,374. She also recommended that selectmen hold a special town meeting, at which time residents could decide if they wanted to continue employing a town manager or utilize a less-expensive administrative assistant.
“This is what we used to have,” Chamberlain claimed. “At the time we were ensured that [hiring a town manager] would save money. I think we were sold a bill of goods.”
Debate then began on whether employing a town manager was necessary or not. Arguments became contentious at times. At one point Selectman Jon Wilbur told Chamberlain that if she didn’t like Phillips “there’s more than one way to leave,” resulting in both applause and cries that the selectman was “out of order.”
Chamberlain told new Town Manager Jim Collins, who was the third manager to work in Phillips in 2008, “no offense, Jim, but good luck finding your next job,” which prompted more strong reactions.
Other residents questioned the need to have two people at the town office, the clerk and manager.
“It’s hard to understand why there’s two people working 40 hours a week in the office,” Thorndike said, after noting that both Elaine Hubbard and Collins had done an excellent job, “when it used to be one.”
A written ballot was requested, after a resident successfully moved the question. The final vote was 50 in favor of not amending the article, and keeping the full administrative budget, and 23 in favor of slashing the budget.
Residents also agreed to the purchase of a $135,000 plow truck, which would be paid through 10 years of lease payments. While some questioned the possibility of holding off a few years, purchasing the truck outright or the wisdom of paying more than $30,000 in interest, Collins said that the town had few options.
“Our equipment reserve fund is $10,000,” he said. “There’s $37,500 in there now, for the fire department and highway department. Had our revenues not been cut so much, I would have asked for larger reserves, but that isn’t possible right now.”
The only option, he said, was to purchase a new truck outright and try to get along until reserve accounts could be replenished. The $16,850 payment for the first year of the lease, Collins noted, was less than the $27,000 in repairs the existing fleet had required over the last year.
Residents also passed Article 6, which asked residents to increase the tax levy limit set by the state, by a vote of 29 to 23. The issue was largely moot, as the $985,000 limit was $15,000 more than the proposed budget.
Rep. Tom Saviello (U – Wilton) presented Charles and Evelyn Wilbur with a legislative commendation. The pair recently celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary.
