Forguites era wraps in Springfield

By his own count, Robert Forguites has attended more than 450 Springfield Select Board meetings during his time as town manager.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20141115/NEWS02/711159965

Outgoing Town Manager Bob Forguites, left, and incoming Town Manager Thomas Yennerell pose for a photo beneath the Springfield Town Seal. Photo: PHOTO BY LEN EMERYPublished November 15, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Forguites era wraps in Springfield By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — By his own count, Robert Forguites has attended more than 450 Springfield Select Board meetings during his time as town manager. On Monday, Forguites, 75, at his familiar off-to-the-side lead spot on the town employees’ long desk, presided over his last one as town manager, with accolades from members of the Select Board. “It’s your last official meeting,” remarked Kristi Morris, Select Board chairman. “We’ve always appreciated your work.” Forguites, known for his quiet sense of humor and inclination toward self-deprecation, said the meeting “ended not with a bang, but a whimper.” Forguites has been town manager for 16 years, and four years before that was the town’s finance director. Prior to working for the town, he had a career in banking in Springfield and Windsor. Next Monday morning, Thomas Yennerell of Lebanon, N.H., who served two terms as town manager in West Rutland, will be sworn in as Springfield town manager. Earlier this week, he dropped off some boxes of possessions from his former office in Henniker, N.H. Friday marked the end of the Forguites era at the Springfield Town Hall. The Forguites years were marked by the opening of the maximum-security state prison in Springfield, the redevelopment of the Fellows Gear Shaper building, the opening of the Edgar May Recreation Center and the constant struggle over spending, taxes and town services. Any hopes of a quiet last day evaporated quickly. “Today’s been a doozy,” he said late Friday afternoon, referring to a day that began with what he called a “garbage (solid waste) meeting” in Ludlow, moved on to a two-hour labor negotiations session with the town employees’ union in Springfield, and then the elevator in Town Hall broke, again. “All of these issues, all at once,” he said. Forguites worried that dozens of Springfield residents would be wanting to use the elevator Monday, when quarterly property taxes are due. And Forguites’ prayers were answered late in the afternoon, when the Bay State Elevator Co. repairman showed up. It’s not like Forguites is going very far; he has promised to stay and work with Yennerell during the budget preparation season, or as Forguites said, “for as long as he wants me.” And Forguites has swapped one title for another: He was elected last week to the Vermont House, and will join fellow Springfield Democrat Rep. Alice Emmons in Montpelier in January. In between worrying about the elevator and everything else, Forguites was visited and called by friends and former fellow workers at Town Hall. Earlier in the week, Forguites went out to dinner with fellow employees. A townwide party is being planned, over Forguites’ objections. One of Springfield’s leading lights, dairy farmer Richard “Dick” Moore, “who is either 91 or 92,” Forguites said, and who was a lister until a year or so ago, gave him a call to mark the day. “He just wanted to say, ‘Have a good winter,’” reported Forguites, who will be in Montpelier for most of it. “I told him, ‘It’s not like I’m leaving,” he said.