By Curt Peterson
Killington’s new five-member Select Board tackled a long agenda Monday evening, June 23. It’s second meeting as an expanded board saw new leaders emerge. Patrick Cushing was unanimously elected board chair at the last board meeting, June 9, and Bill Vines was elected vice-chair June 23. Jim Haff the only long-term board member had previously served as the chair. He did not oppose Cushing’s chairmanship and nominated Vines for the vice-chair position.
Cushing was elected to the board in March along with Ricky Bowen, and two more selectmen, Jay Hickory and Bill Vines were added in May to make up the new five-member board.
Since last fall, there have been rumblings perpetrated by a small number of meeting attendees regarding alleged corruption and wandering town funds. Theories have continued to fester with no public data or third-party investigation forthcoming, as some members of the public have called for.
“You all ran on this,” said resident George Brant. “I want to know from each of you: Are you going to push for a full audit so we know what’s been going on, or do I have to get folks to sign a petition to make this happen, ’cause I’ll do it,” he added.
The town’s annual auditor made a brief appearance at the meeting and Town Manager David Atherton said he’d requested they start a bit early on the 2024 audit. Atherton has also brought back Mark Decota, who was formerly the finance manager, to help get the books in order while the town prepares to hire a new finance director.
While individual Selectmen did not answer Brant directly, Cushing and Hickory said they wanted to see what Decota and the auditors turned up first before pursing costlier additional options.
Town Planner Lisa Davis Lewis brought the board some good news, announcing that the $25 million RAISE grant was back on after its fate was called into question by President Trump’s executive order in February that paused all funding for programs that include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).
The town of Killington was origianlly awarded the $25 federal grant in June 2024, for Phase 2-4, which funds Killington Road improvements from The Lookout to Anthony Way. Funding must still be allocated by June 2028—that was not extended despite the pause, Davis Lewis said.
“It may not seem like a tight timeline, but it really is,” Davis Lewis told the board.
One of the first requirements of the funding was to hire a third party project manager. Ken Robie of DuBois & King was at the meeting to answer questions. After a brief discussion the board unanimously voted to sign a contract to move forward with the contract.
The board also unanimously supported re-engaging the contracted services of Stephanie Clarke of White + Burke consulting engineers to help manage the town’s TIF project, as she had done previously.
Atherton also told the board that recreation and parks director Emily Hudson would be leaving at the end of the summer, creating a vacancy there and at Killington Elementary school where she runs the after school program.
The board also adopted a revised “Select Board Rules of Procedure” policy, Monday.
The process for handling complaints and mandates by state statute as part of the “Open Meetings” laws, has been taken very seriously by the five selectmen.
In general, discussion concerned how ethics complaints about town officials will be handled. Cushing’s day job as an intelligence and investigation consultant for Deloitte Risk and Financial Advisory, and past service as a police officer, lend weight to his input regarding any allegations of unethical behavior and corruption, and he agreed that the town manager should be the primary recipient of any ethics question involving town employees and officials.
If the “accused” is the town manager, the Select Board chair in other towns is usually the alternate, or back-up, contact for filing complaints, Haff noted. Discussion at the previous board meeting including the possibility of appointing a librarian, the town clerk or the police chief, but the chair was selected.
The town’s newly adopted policy is modeled after a template provided by VT League of Cities and Towns.
