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VLCT Selectboard Institute The Selectboard Role in the Municipal Organization Dominic Cloud Director, Municipal Assistance Center March 31, 2007. Challenges of the Municipal Setting. Vermont is a Dillon’s Rule State Municipal governance structure is flat; can make accountability difficult
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VLCT Selectboard Institute The Selectboard Role in the Municipal Organization Dominic Cloud Director, Municipal Assistance Center March 31, 2007
Challenges of the Municipal Setting • Vermont is a Dillon’s Rule State • Municipal governance structure is flat; can make accountability difficult • Have no authority over other elected officers, but much shared responsibility • Resource constrained environment
Overview • Nature of the Municipal Setting • Formal and Informal Roles • Habits of Highly Effective Selectboards • Understanding the Municipal Organizational Chart • The Role of the Selectboard
Unique Opportunities in Local Government • Decision–makers directly accountable to voters • Less bureaucracy; easier to implement policy • More opportunities for citizen participation • State statutes enable many creative options • Local option taxes (for some), tax increment financing districts, shared municipal managers
Unique Opportunities Cont. • Combination of formal roles (executive, legislative, quasi-judicial) with informal roles (leadership, management, administration) can produce highly effective government. You can’t blame it on the legislative branch You can’t blame it on the other party
Formal Roles • Executive Function • Appointment and remove officers • Negotiate contracts (unions, contractors) • Legislative Function • Adopt land use regulations, set a tax rate • Quasi – judicial Function • Allocate sewer capacity, serve on BCA and BOA
Informal Roles • Leadership Role • Where are we going as a community? • What unique challenges and opportunities are present? • Management Role • How do we get there? • Do we need more people on the road crew, an economic development director, or share services?
Informal Role, Cont. • Administrative Role • How should we warn this meeting? • Are our volunteers going to be counted as employees for purposes of Catamount Health? (No) • How should we organize our new ancient roads committee?
Effective Selectboards • Run Good Meetings • Reflect the values, priorities, and character of your board (and who will choose to join you). • Chair should run the meeting and allow others to advocate • Rules of Procedure should address procedural and administrative matters
Effective Local Government • Understand and Demonstrate the Elements of Teamwork • Once elected, your most important constituents are the other board members • No one member has authority and may not act unless authorized by the full board • Team also consists of other officers • Statutes assume everybody working as a team (no recall provision). • Orient new members and conduct periodic retreats to address relationships and goals
Effective Local Government • Focus More on Policy and Less on Administration and Management (Stay out of the Weeds) • Boards excel at deliberating, vetting, considering, advocating, and (if you’re lucky) deciding. • Not well equipped for administrating, managing people, and establishing procedures .
Effective Selectboards • Ensure financial management procedures are in place. • No obligation for Treasurer to report to Selectboard until a deficit occurs • Most elected auditors cannot adequately audit your books and provide false assurance. • Consider regular external audit • Request monthly reports from Treasurer; if unwilling or unable, hire bookkeeper. • Adopt a simple purchasing policy
Effective Selectboards • Adopt a Strategic Planning Process • Most towns have land use plans. • Many have capital plans • Strategic plans focus on long-term issues facing community; create a vision which drives the goals of staff. • Vision: revitalize a particular area of town • Goal: investigate extending water and seer to the area or obtaining CD block grant.
Effective Selectboards 6. Develop a Conflict of Interest Policy • State law does not (yet) require • Absence of a policy casts a shadow over many legitimate business functions • Conflicts are fairly easy to manage once the policy is developed • Almost impossible without a policy
Effective Selectboards 7. Develop Mechanisms for Public Feedback • Elections are one way, but a bit blunt • Public hearings attract extroverts with free time • Surveys attract the introverts but are cumbersome • One of best mechanisms is town website • Some towns publish weekly newsletter • Most traditional form is regular meeting, which is why they must be well run
Effective Selectboards • Understand (create) organizational structure with clear roles and responsibilities of major actors. • Vermont law does not do this for you • Without a clear organizational structure, basic business functions are impaired, including: Personnel policies Budget development Purchasing policy Financial management Hiring and firing
Four Basic Functions of Organizational Structure • Produce outputs and achieve goals • Minimize the influence of individuals • Define setting in which power is exercised, decisions are made, and action is taken. • Increase accountability.
The Municipal Organization • Characterized by it’s lack of clearly defined organizational structure. • Roles and responsibilities are often misunderstood. • Individuals exert tremendous influence. • Difficult to ensure accountability.
Basic Statutory Scheme Selectboard has a limited role in the organization as a whole; relies on compatibility of individuals to function well; functions poorly when conflict occurs. Often times Clerk functions as chief administrative officer.
Basic Form With Additional Personnel This structure works well for many towns; very exposed to the impact of individuals; can begin to function like three mini organizations; can be difficult to coordinate activities of different divisions; can also be difficult to ensure accountability.
Selectboard / Town Administrator Many Selectboards choose to delegate some of their authority to an administrator through a job description. This allows some personnel management to occur and can increase coordination among the departments.
Town Manager Form Town Manager Form is a statutory form of government, adopted pursuant to Chapter 37 of Title 24 and provides that the manager shall be the administrative head of all departments, perform all the accounting, etc. The manager form is the best way to ensure accountability in town government.
What is the Selectboard Role? Statutory Answer “ Selectboard shall have general supervision over the affairs of the town and shall cause to be performed all duties required of towns and town school districts not committed by law to the care of any particular officer.” 24 V.S.A. § 872
What is the Role of the Selectboard? Practical Answer • The Selectboard runs the town. Might delegate some of that authority to a town manager or administrator. • “Those who shall be held accountable” (Even for things you cannot control.)
How Does the Selectboard Run the Town? Three Major Tools • Budget • Municipal Ordinances • Policies
Managing the Town Budget • Municipal Budget is the premier local policy document. • Where the board tells the voters, “This is what we think matters (and what doesn’t). • Where the voters have the most ability to tell the board, “This is what we think matters (and what doesn’t).
Budget Cont. • Board is responsible for developing, preparing, and administering the budget. • This “Power of the Purse” when combined with Board’s broad executive authority is significant. • Bounded only by requirements for voter approval and functional independence of elected officers. • Board must keep a record of all orders
Municipal Ordinances • Generally, ordinances are to designed to regulate the public at large. • Ordinances allow you to “manage outward” in order to protect public health, safety, and welfare. • Packet contains excellent list of enabling statutes • Statutory authority must exist, however.
Policies • Where ordinances are oriented toward the public, policies are oriented inward. • Generally, policies apply to employees, town facilities, or the board itself. • Generally, policies are adopted under your general enabling authority.
Summary • Serving on the Selectboard is unlike other forms of public service. Can be tremendously rewarding. • Make laws, set a tax rate, decide the fate of wayward dogs, determine the future of your community. • Unique combination of government functions (legislating, executing, and quasi-adjudicating) that are separate elsewhere in government.
