Dear Editor,
It’s now been six years since Killington residents first elected me, Chris Bianchi, to the Select Board and I’m asking for voters’ support again as I seek re-election at Town Meeting this March 3. It’s been an honor to serve our town and I want to continue to work with our board and our town employees to continue the progress we’ve made and ensure the town is taking care of its responsibilities, conservative with its spending and thoughtfully planning for the future.
I understand that being part of a board means that no one individual can effect change or claim accomplishment without first building consensus with his/her board members. The Select Board needs to set the direction for the town and foster a work environment where the town manager and town employees can effectively carry out the plan established by the voters in the town budget. I want to thank the voters for supporting and passing our budgets.
Working together we’ve made significant progress. The town has created the first ever comprehensive long-term capital plans for the town and golf course, ensuring that we properly maintain our equipment and infrastructure and plan for the future while tremendously improving transparency. We have successfully completed all repairs of the damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene while managing the $3+ million expense to the town without significantly increasing taxes, easing the burden on the taxpayers. We’ve established the first ever police department in Killington, increasing patrols and better equipping our officers to handle the threats facing our community. We have fostered one of the best working relationships between the town, the residents, the business community and the resort, allowing for public/private partnerships that benefit all. We have changed our fiscal year to align with the state’s and the school’s, allowing us to avoid unnecessary borrowing, to vote on the budget before the fiscal year starts, and to spread the tax payments out over a longer time, making payments easier and allowing you to keep your money longer. We have continued to lobby Montpelier for education property tax reform and we’re finally seeing some action from our lawmakers. And for the past three years, we’ve established a strategic plan for the Select Board, mapping out the year and allowing us to be more proactive instead of reactive.
While we have made progress, there is more to do. With your support, I will continue to work hard for you and am committed to serving the town as I have done for the past six years.
For those of you who don’t know me, welcome to Killington. Here is a quick introduction: my family moved to Killington in 1973 and I attended the (now) Killington Elementary School and Killington Mountain School. I moved back to Killington after college and my wife, Betsey, and I bought a home in Killington soon after. We have two sons Joseph and Stephen, both at Woodstock Union MS-HS.After working as a civil cngineer for seven years, I switched careers and now work for a software company from my home. Before serving on the Select Board, I served on the Woodstock Union MS-HS school board and I’ve served on the board of trustees of KMS since 2001.
I’m again asking for your support on Tuesday, March 3.
Respectfully,
Chris Bianchi, Killington
