Move to change Town Meeting social service funding defeated

A move to change the way nonprofit organizations are funded at town meeting has been rejected by the Select Board.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140912/NEWS02/709129932

Published September 12, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Move to change Town Meeting social service funding defeated By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — A move to change the way nonprofit organizations are funded at town meeting has been rejected by the Select Board. Selectwoman Stephanie Thompson, who is also executive director of the Springfield Family Center, made the suggested change at a board meeting Monday, saying she had the support of about five other organizations that traditionally get funding from voters. Thompson said collecting the signatures of 5 percent of the registered voters in town, as required by the town charter, is a very time-consuming effort. She requested that organizations that received prior voter approval did not have to collect the signatures, as long as they weren’t asking for more money or less funding. “Getting all the signatures takes precious time,” she said. “We are stretched very thin.” Thompson said she was supported on her proposed change by the Visiting Nurses, Southeastern Vermont Community Action and Senior Solutions, formerly the Council on Aging. Springfield has about 6,400 registered voters, and thus the petitions to be placed on the Town Meeting Day ballot require 350 signatures. But the change was defeated, as the Select Board was tied at 2-2. With Thompson abstaining from voting, it was defeated. Voting in support of the proposed change were Kristi Morris and Peter MacGillivray; voting against were David Yesman and George McNaughton. Yesman said he felt the organizations should “earn it” by collecting the signatures, since he said placement on the ballot was almost guaranteed a “yes” vote. “They should work for it, that’s my opinion,” he said. McNaughton, who ordinarily doesn’t agree with Yesman on much of anything, said this time he did, but for “vastly different reasons” than those voiced by Yesman. McNaughton said local government should include such funding in their budgets. Thompson’s organization, which works with Springfield’s poor and disabled populations, including running the town’s food shelf, has routinely won strong support at the polls. Also joining Thompson in making the request was another organization that has strong support — the Visiting Nurses Association. Together, the two organizations represent the majority of town funding of nonprofit organizations. Thompson said her organization usually spends 40 hours collecting the signatures, and collecting more signatures after the petition is reviewed by the Springfield town clerk’s office. She said she was constantly surprised that people don’t know if they are registered voters in Springfield, and people sign the petition and they aren’t registered voters. She said with the size of the organizations, most of which have very small staffs, the requirement for a week’s worth of time to collect signatures was a big and in her mind an unnecessary drain. But counting votes, Thompson said she wouldn’t press the issue. “I don’t want to spend the night arguing about it,” she said.