PLAINFIELD — About two weeks after he resigned, Riley Carlson has been reappointed to the select board, and the petitions that prompted him to quit have been challenged for their legality.
Carlson announced on Dec. 26 that he was stepping down from the board effective immediately. He had been serving as the board’s chair. He was initially appointed to the board in October 2022 after Tammy Farnham resigned in June 2022. Carlson then ran unopposed for the last year on that three-year seat at the town’s annual meeting in April.
In his resignation announcement, Carlson said he was stepping down after Bram Towbin submitted five petitions on Dec. 20 that would change how the town operates. Carlson said no one who signed the petitions, including current town officials, bothered to reach out to the board to get its opinion on the changes proposed in the petitions.
He said the petitions were “a mess” and ensured that town meeting “will be confusing and vitriolic.” Carlson said the petitions were submitted when the board is in the middle of its budget season, adding significant and unexpected work to the board’s workload.
“Serving on the select board is challenging in the best of times, and borderline impossible when someone quits in the wake of a major flood with his stated mission to ‘send a shock through the system’. To see Plainfield people are willing to sign their name in support of this approach, including many who I like and respect (and still do), has destroyed all motivation I had remaining for this work,” Carlson wrote.
The petitions, if approved at town meeting in March, would change the clerk and treasurer positions from elected to appointed. They also would allow the town to seek candidates outside Plainfield to fill those two roles. And a fifth petition would change the town’s charter, to remove the section stating all officers shall be elected by Australian ballot and to add a section stating elected officials need not be residents or legally qualified voters of the town, unless specified by state law.
Carlson had suggested in August that the select board be expanded from three members to five, in an effort to lighten the board’s workload among its members. He again called for expanding the board in his resignation announcement.
Towbin has since submitted a sixth petition to be voted on in March that would expand the board to five members.
The board held its regular meeting Monday night, its first meeting since Carlson stepped down. The first order of business was to appoint a chair. Board member Jim Volz volunteered for the role and has served as chair in the past. He and fellow board member Tim Davis then voted to appoint Volz as chair.
Davis was appointed to the board in October after Towbin resigned in August. Towbin said he was quitting, in part, because he couldn’t get support from his fellow board members to address complaints about the job being done by Town Clerk and Treasurer Robin Miller.
Last year’s annual meeting was delayed a month because Miller reported the town report was delayed in getting to the printer. This meant the town report did not get mailed to residents 10 days before the annual meeting, which is required by state law. The delay appears to have created a level of distrust for Miller among some residents.
She was appointed town clerk and treasurer in December 2022 to replace Linda Wells, who retired after 27 years of service. Miller had been hired by the town in July 2022 to work under Wells. Miller ran unopposed for clerk and treasurer during last year’s annual meeting.
Towbin also ran unopposed for a three-year seat on the board at that annual meeting. He said he had since been receiving numerous complaints about Miller’s job performance. He said he tried to take measures to address concerns, including requiring Miller to use a time clock to punch in that would be overseen by the board and requiring the board to be notified if a bill was paid late or a check deposited late. But because Miller is a fellow elected official, Towbin said he could not get support from Carlson or Volz to implement these changes.
Miller has said she conducts her job with professionalism and welcomes feedback. She has since stated she is not seeking reelection as clerk and treasurer.
After appointing Volz as chair of the board at Monday’s meeting, he and Davis then reappointed Carlson to the board. Carlson was not in attendance for the meeting. Volz said Carlson indicated he would be interested in returning to the board.
Carlson wrote in an email Tuesday afternoon that he offered to come back to the board to help “see things through to Town Meeting.”
“I have no reason (to return to the board) beyond that I still live in Plainfield and care about our community,” he wrote.
Towbin was in attendance for the board’s meeting Monday evening to discuss the petitions. He echoed comments he’s made previously about the proposed changes for the clerk and treasurer roles, that they aren’t about any one person, but an attempt to make the town more transparent and to make it clear who is responsible for what. He said he wasn’t trying to burden the board with these petitions.
Towbin said the way things are set up now is “problematic.” He said in order to elect someone, residents need to know what the record is, and the elected clerk controls the record. He said if an elected clerk or treasurer engages in malfeasance, the town has little ability to correct the action. Towbin said with an appointed clerk and treasurer, the board can take immediate action, if necessary, and there would be clear lines of authority.
Resident Charlie Cogbill challenged the legality of the petitions relating to clerk and treasurer. He said the petitions are not appropriate because the town’s charter has not been changed to allow such appointments or to allow residents from outside Plainfield to serve in those roles. Cogbill said it’s his belief that the charter change must come first, then the town can move forward with the other possible changes. He said it’s his belief that the petitions are illegal, which means the board may not be required to put those questions on the ballot for the annual meeting.
Towbin said he’s consulted with lawyers about this and he believes the town can vote on all the petitions at once, they just wouldn’t go into effect until the charter change is approved by the Legislature.
Towbin said the town can’t vote to change the clerk and treasurer positions from elected to appointed at a special meeting, so if those petitions have to wait to be voted on, then Plainfield wouldn’t be able to take those questions up until the town’s annual meeting in 2025, assuming the charter change passes and is approved by the Legislature by then. He said the four petitions about the clerk and treasurer positions become moot if the charter change doesn’t pass.
Cogbill asked the board to seek a legal opinion to get a better understanding of what can and can’t be done with these petitions. Volz said the town would seek that opinion.
The select board is able to put questions to voters at the annual meeting without a petition. Towbin said he’s willing to withdraw the petitions if language needs to be altered, as long as the board is willing to put the questions to voters on its own.
“Just so you understand, you have a working partner here,” Towbin told the board.
He said whether residents agree with the changes or not, the goal of the petitions is to have a public discussion about the town’s governance.
Cogbill said there is a 200-year history of elected town clerks in Vermont. He said these positions are independent of the select board. He said that only changed in 2017, when the state gave municipalities the ability to appoint town clerks.
He said it’s important that the town clerk be independent of the board, to be an officer of the town in order to handle the town’s affairs. He said others may feel differently, but appointing a clerk is “going backwards” and trying to fix a problem that could be solved other ways. Cogbill suggested separating the clerk and treasurer roles and seeking someone with expertise to serve as treasurer. But he said that would be a discussion that should take place at the annual meeting.
Towbin pointed out the constable used to be an elected position in town and is now appointed. He said Plainfield used to have a separate municipal government from the town government.
“Things change,” Towbin said.
The town had discussed possibly changing the clerk and treasurer positions from elected to appointed in January 2022 in anticipation of Wells’ retirement. The board had discussed asking residents to vote on those changes at the annual meeting in March 2022. Cogbill challenged the legality of those moves at the time, reporting the town’s charter specifically states officers must be elected by Australian ballot. The board was not considering a charter change as part of the move to an appointed clerk and treasurer.
The board opted not to pursue appointed positions and the discussion essentially became moot when Miller stepped up and was hired, and eventually elected, to replace Wells.
Towbin pointed out no resident has come forward yet to run to replace Miller. He said the filing date is about two weeks away. He said the town would have to find a person who lives in town to fill those roles. If no one runs for clerk and treasurer, Towbin said he’s prepared the paperwork so that he could serve in the roles temporarily until a replacement is found, at which point he would step down.
No action was taken by the board Monday about the petitions. Volz said the town will seek a legal opinion on the petitions and respond accordingly.
eric.blaisdell
@timesargus.com
