While not specifically enumerated among the commission’s statutory charges, support for a central processing unit to address common fiscal, personnel, inventory control, and statistical analysis activities across state government quickly emerged. In its final report the commission noted, "Data processing is partly here. Central data processing is on its way in Vermont. A central service is more economical than that conducted by many separate installations. Several states are now engaged in a painful process whereby each is converting separate services into a consolidated, centralized service."1

Eight state departments already used various data processing (punch card) machines. Agriculture used IBM equipment for accounting and statistical analysis. Motor Vehicles used IBM punch cards to track car accidents. The Unemployment Compensation Commission (the most mechanized program in the state government) used IBM’s system for benefit determinations, statistical studies, employer history and rating, wage earning records and other controls. The Department of Health used punch cards to track vital statistics and to monitor public nursing programs. Vermont Life was using punch cards to track subscribers. Forests and Parks, Tax, and Fish and Game utilized Agriculture’s equipment to track costs and for statistical analysis. In addition, the Highway Department was starting to use data processing to prepare payrolls and track labor costs.2

The commission looked across the Connecticut River to view the problems of letting each department generate its own processing system. Rolf Haugen of the University of Vermont political science department and a consultant to the commission was dispatched to Concord to investigate the governor of New Hampshire’s warning that his state had gone too far in using IBM machines. Haugen reported that "what he meant by going too far was that too many departments had individual installations, and they were not using them economically." Consequently New Hampshire’s "Department of Administration and Control doesn’t have the information it needs" and was looking to consolidate data processing.3

The commission was clear, however, that the efficiencies of mechanical processing could not be achieved simply by buying the technology. Deane Davis, again drawing from his experience in the insurance industry, noted that, "The bigger the operation, the more economy there is involved in using electronic machinery. The larger insurance companies have already gotten machines. We [National Life] have been planning on ours for five years. We have three men spending full time planning for what will be three years hence. In the state…is the long range planning function adequately provided for?"4

Later Davis returned to his concern for the need to plan. "I feel that this development of electronics, if we could expedite a practical system for planning for it [sic]. You can’t just decide you want one. You have got to start way back, getting punch cards lined up so they are useful. We [National Life] had lots of things that had to be done over. It is a long term proposition. The quicker we get started on centralization, the better. It is a field where you are lost without proper advice and preparation."5

Against this caution he also painted the promise of centralized processing. "Suppose ten years hence we had centralized accounting, and had electronic computation and recordation equipment, the amount of information that would be available would be a great help toward business management of the administrative branch of state government…If you are going to have real management, the electronic thing would be undoubtedly in the cards for the state."6

1. Technical errors in process may be fixed by ratification. We regularly get questions about whether a board action is invalid if it was taken in an improperly noticed meeting. The Vermont Supreme Court has held that, as a general rule, if a public official or board has the power to take a particular action, but failed to properly exercise that power, it may correct the error by ratifying or readopting the motion to act at a later meeting. Valley Realty v Hartford, 165 Vt. 463 (1996.) We believe a court would not use this precedent to allow a municipal board to purposely or repeatedly disregard the requirements of the open meeting law; however, in the event of an inadvertent failure to follow the technical requirements of the law, it will allow a board to correct the error and preserve the legality of the action.

2. Municipality may profit from sale of water and sewer services to neighboring communities. State law requires rates for sewer and water services to be reasonable, and the rates charged to residents are limited to the amounts needed to pay for the operation of the system and the capital costs associated with past, present or future improvements to the system. That being said, when a municipality sells these services to landowners who are outside the municipality the law permits them to make a reasonable profit. Handy v. City of Rutland, 156 Vt. 397 (1990).

3. Municipal sewer department may alter rates to pay off a deficit. The selectboard or sewer commissioners may set the rates and rents necessary to support the operation and capital costs of running the municipal sewer system. This means that they may alter the rates at any time, if it is necessary to keep the system solvent. 24 V.S.A. § 3507.

4. Vote needed to charge interest on delinquent water or sewer payments. Water or sewer commissioners can charge interest on delinquent payments for water and/or sewer ONLY if the voters of the municipality have approved an article in the warning to collect interest on overdue water or sewer bills. 24 V.S.A. §5151 and 32 V.S.A. §5136. The article must be voted in the same manner as the vote to collect interest on delinquent taxes, and likewise stays in effect until voted otherwise at a subsequent meeting.

5. The zoning administrator may be replaced at the end of his or her three year term. A zoning administrator is appointed to serve a term of three years. During the three-year term, the administrator may only be removed for cause, after the selectboard consults with the planning commission. However, at the expiration of the zoning administrator’s term the planning commission can nominate and the selectboard may appoint anyone they choose to fill the position. They may choose to reappoint the zoning administrator or they may choose to appoint someone new to the position. 24 V.S.A. § 4448.

6. Selectboard and planning commission work together to appoint a zoning administrator. At the expiration of a zoning administrator’s term, and whenever there is a vacancy in the office, both the planning commission and selectboard must work together to fill this position. First, the planning commission nominates a person to serve as zoning administrator and sends the name of the nominee to the selectboard. The selectboard then considers the nominee and, if it is satisfied with the nomination, makes the appointment.  In the event that the selectboard does not choose to appoint the person nominated by the planning commission, it can send the nomination back to the commission and ask that the planning commission come up with a new name for the selectboard’s consideration.  In many towns the planning commission and the selectboard will jointly interview candidates for the position to try to ensure that the candidate chosen by the planning commission will be acceptable to the selectboard.  24 V.S.A. § 4448.

7. Listers must be on the voter checklist. Towns may choose to have boards of listers with either three or five members. 17 V.S.A. § 2650. Whether a vacancy is being filled by the selectboard, or a new lister is being elected by the voters, the person serving as a lister must be a voter in the town. This is because 17 V.S.A. § 2646 provides that a town must choose its listers (and certain other officers) "from among its legally qualified voters."

8. Fire chief may be member of the selectboard. No law prohibits a fire chief from also serving on the selectboard. However, the fire chief must be mindful of the potential for conflicts of interest, and not participate in decisions that directly impact his or her employment. The fire chief and the employees of the fire department serve at the pleasure of the selectboard, and the selectboard determines their compensation and establishes personnel rules that apply to the members of the department. 24 V.S.A. §§ 1953, 1956.

9. Selectboard may establish local speed limits.  Vermont law provides that "the legislative body of a municipality may establish, on the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation, a speed limit on all or a part of any city, town or village highway within its jurisdiction." 23 V.S.A. § 1007. The speed limit it establishes may not be more than 50 miles per hour, nor less than 25 miles per hour (except that the speed limit may be less than 25 miles per hour in downtown development districts.) 23 V.S.A. § 1007(g). Note that the law permits the board to set speed limits on its unpaved roads without a traffic and engineering study, so long as the speed is set at not more than 50 miles per hour nor less than 35 miles per hour. The law also permits the board to establish speed limits on all or part of a state highway that is within its jurisdiction (except for a limited access highway.) 23 V.S.A. § 1007(f) allows towns and villages to adopt local ordinances duplicating the speed limits established for state highways by the State Traffic Committee.  The practical consequence of this is that it allows towns and villages to get a share of traffic ticket revenue when the issuing officer writes the ticket up as a violation of a municipal speed limit.

10. Town that has no record of traffic and engineering study may still have valid speed limit ordinance. Vermont law tries to prevent challenges to a local speed limit ordinance because of a failure to establish that a traffic and engineering study was made as required by law. Consequently, the law provides that " Lack of evidence of a traffic and engineering study will not invalidate a local speed limit ordinance as adopted or amended under this section after five years following the day on which the speed limit ordinance took effect." Note that a town is not protected from challenge during the first five years after the adoption of the ordinance, so it is important to keep a record of the traffic and engineering study that provides support for the speed limit ordinance. 23 V.S.A. § 1007(e).

11. Town may adopt the same speed limit on state highways as the state limit without traffic and engineering study. Some towns that wish to be able to keep the fines from enforcing the speed limit on the state highways running through their towns simply adopt as a local ordinance the same speed limit as the state limit. A town that wishes to adopt a local speed ordinance on a state highway (other than on a limited access highway) may do so without a traffic and engineering study so long as the ordinance duplicates the speed limit established by the state. 23 V.S.A. § 1007(f).

12. Law on posting land. During this time of year we get many calls for information about the laws that regulate the posting of land. 10 V.S.A. § 5201 provides that an owner of land or a person who has the exclusive right to hunt or fish on property may prohibit others from going onto his or her property for hunting, fishing or trapping. The law provides that: "Notices prohibiting the taking of wild animals shall be erected upon or near the boundaries of lands to be affected with notices at each corner and not over 400 feet apart along the boundaries thereof. Notices prohibiting the taking of fish shall show the date that the waters were last stocked and shall be maintained upon or near the shores of the waters not over 400 feet apart. Legible signs must be maintained at all times and shall be dated each year. These signs shall be of a standard size and design as the commissioner shall specify." In addition, the posting must be annually recorded in the town clerk’s office where the land is located for a $5.00 fee. The clerk should have copies of the recording form which is filled out in triplicate with one copy to be kept by the clerk, one copy being given to the person posting the land and one copy sent to the state fish and wildlife commissioner.

13. Landowners who permit public access to land for recreational purposes will not be liable for damage or injury unless it is intentionally or wantonly inflicted. Vermont law protects a landowner from liability when they permit the public to use their land for recreational purposes. The landowner may only be liable for intentional or wanton (malicious) harm. 10 V.S.A. § 448 (protects owners of land which are part of Vermont trails system); 12 V.S.A. § 5793 (protects land owners when property is used for recreational purposes, if it is not with express permission or for compensation).

14. Town sewer ordinance may require properties to connect. If a town or city extends its sewer system, it can adopt an ordinance to require that all adjacent property owners connect to the public system and abandon private septic systems. 24 V.S.A. §3509. The sewage commissioners may require the owners of buildings, subdivisions or developments abutting a public street to be connected to the municipal sewage system.

15. Land can be donated to a municipality and acquired by action of the legislative body for any of the purposes set out in 10 V.S.A. §6301. These purposes include to encourage and assist the maintenance of present uses of agricultural, forest, and other undeveloped land and to prevent the accelerated residential and commercial development; to preserve scenic natural resources; to strengthen the base of the recreation industry and to increase employment, income, business, and investment; and to plan for orderly growth.

16. The selectboard cannot expend any surplus from the general fund that is carried over to the next fiscal year without voter approval. Some boards take care of this issue by including an article for each annual town meeting: Shall the Town of XX vote to apply any surplus from the current fiscal year to reduce taxes in the next fiscal year. Otherwise, the board must have an article approved by the voters at a special meeting or the next annual meeting in order to expend the surplus funds for a project.

17. Surplus money in the highway budget can be rolled over into the next year and only requires board approval to spend. 19 V.S.A. §312. The legislature apparently understood that sometimes weather, permits, or other events prevent highway projects from being completed and included the following provision: "The funds raised from town highway taxes shall not be used for any purpose other than that for which the tax was voted subject to the provisions of this chapter. If in any year money so voted is not expended, it shall be applied for the same purpose the following year."

18. There is no statutory limit to the purchase price a municipality can pay for real property that is needed for municipal purposes. Obviously it is a best practice for a selectboard or school board to negotiate a price on any purchase that the electorate will consider to be a fair price, but there is no rule or statute that limits the board. However, if a municipality intends to purchase property with a grant from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, it may have to follow the grant rules that limit purchase prices to the certified appraised value.

19. Town cannot prevent social service agencies from submitting a joint petition. The law simply requires the selectboard to place on the ballot articles submitted to them by petition, so long as the subject matter of the article is appropriate for public vote. 17 V.S.A. § 2642. Because a special law permits social service agencies to petition the town for financial support, the board may not reject a petition for support for social services provided to the town. 24 V.S.A. § 2641. This means that social service agencies may join together in circulating a petition signed by five percent of the legal voters to ask to have an article or several articles placed on the warning for town meeting. Although we believe it is best for each social service agency to present its request in a separate article in the petition so that the votes for each agency will be taken separately at town meeting, the social service agencies can decide to lump the request into one article. Note that for articles voted on the floor, the moderator may take a motion to separate the particular requests for individual debate and vote.

20. Vote will count even if absentee voter dies before election day. If a voter who has requested an absentee ballot dies prior to election day, but the voted ballot has been properly returned to the town clerk with the certificate and signature completed by the voter, the ballot should be commingled and counted with all of the other ballots. The statute provides that absentee voters shall be treated as "present and voting" on election day (17 V.S.A. §2550). Therefore absentee ballots properly returned should be counted.

21. Petitions for candidates to be placed on the March 4 presidential primary do not need to have the signatures verified or certified by town or city clerks. The presidential primary candidates must collect 1,000 signatures from legal voters in Vermont on petitions and submit the petitions to the office of the Secretary of State along with the consent of candidate form and a filing fee of $2,000 on or before 5 p.m. on January 21, 2008. The primary petition signatures do not need to be verified at the municipal level.

Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz and the Safe at Home program were presented with the 2007 RockWater Award by the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence at the network’s annual meeting on November 9 in Quechee, Vermont. Secretary Markowitz and Safe at Home Coordinator Linda Hall were on hand to accept the award.

The RockWater Award acknowledges the work of individuals or organizations who, through professional or nonprofessional work, have contributed to the movement to end sexual and domestic violence and/ or supported victims and survivors in Vermont.

The goal of the Safe at Home program is to help victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, who have relocated or are about to relocate, in their effort to keep their perpetrators from finding them. Safe at Home offers two service components: a substitute address service and a protected records service. These services limit a perpetrator’s ability to access public information which could identify the new location of a victim who is in the program. For more information about the Safe at Home program, please contact Linda Hall at 802-828-0586 or visit the website at http://www.sec.state.vt.us/otherprg/safeathome/safeathome.html

The Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence is a statewide resource on domestic and sexual violence issues. Its director and staff provide technical assistance and training to member programs and statewide partners, inform Vermont legislators and policy makers, and coordinate statewide projects for systems improvement. For more information, visit the network’s website at http://www.vtnetwork.org/main.php

When inserting the Mylar survey maps into the melinex sleeve, rub a dry fabric-softener sheet over the map on both sides...it slips in very easily with no static.

Table of Contents     |     Past Issues of Opinions     |     Secretary of State's Homepage

Table of Contents     |     Past Issues of Opinions     |     Secretary of State's Homepage

Grant Management Workshop

Location: Old Dorm Lounge, Vermont Technical College, Randolph Center
Time: 10:00 am
Contact: John Cushing
Phone: 802/893-4111
Price: $20.00 includes lunch at VTC

This training session presented by VMAC, will be especially helpful to anyone who deals with grant management including town clerks, treasurers, other municipal and state employees, as well as non-profit groups.

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