Well, the good people of The Town of St. Albans reelected Bill Nihan to another term as Chairman of the Selectboard.  Nihan will, no doubt, regard this as a mandate to do as he pleases about the policing contract and the Town Plan.  Look for girdlock in relations between the Town and the City to continue at least for the next two years; a return to “spot” zoning and pedestrian-free planning; and continued refusal to cooperate with any research on the watershed.

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Why should we care about petty-politics in neighboring towns when the country has so many larger problems? Because corruption and abuse of power begin at the local level.  From there they take a foothold, become systemic and deliver us all to the unhappy state of affairs we now have playing out in Wisconsin and elsewhere.  It’s a political habit that is near impossible to break.

As Town Meeting Day approaches, a new chapter in the ongoing drama between St. Albans Town and St. Albans City has been unfolding, largely unobserved outside the area since very little Messenger content is carried on-line these days.  But this time we have a link to an excellent piece of reporting by Michelle Monroe.

In the current chapter of the ongoing saga, the action is centered on a power struggle within the Town Selectboard over the question of which entity will be awarded the contract for policing services: Franklin County Sheriff Robert Norris or the City of St. Albans.  The Selectboard originally asked for “opinions” from the City and from Sheriff Norris as to what would comprise adequate policing for the Town, and requested each to give a quote on providing those services.  Sheriff Norris currently is the provider and the request for bids was for the upcoming contract period.  The details of those opinions and quotes are available in Ms. Monroe’s article; but in the end, the Selectboard voted 3-2 to give the contract to the City, which had a lower bid.  Sheriff Norris’ bid represented an increase over his current rate, which was already higher than the City’s bid. There was considerable rancor in the Town around this decision.  The Sheriff has a lot of friends in Town; and the City and Town have a history of rocky relations, both real and imaginary.

Now it comes out that after the bidding closed and the Selectboard had reached its decision, Town Manager Christine Murphy approached Sheriff Norris and asked only him to provide a quote on continuing his contract for another year at the same rate as is currently being paid.  Supposedly, the idea was to use  the difference between what the Sheriff was already being paid and what he wanted to be paid for the upcoming contract to fund an independent  “study” of the policing needs of the community. The City was not included in the request for a new bid.  Sheriff Norris was, of course,  amenable to  the offer since it was better than not having his contract renewed at all.  

The full Selectboard was not aware of Ms. Murphy’s actions until she provided a 4-page memo regarding the discussions to the Selectboard on February 18.  The Messenger got the memo from one  of the dissenting Selectboard members on February 23 and posted it to their website.  Let me tell you, there are some pretty angry words coming from the voting majority on the Selectboard, particularly Paul Larner who said there was no need of further “study” since the Selectboard had already received the opinion of two competing experts (the Sheriff and the City) who essentially were in agreement as to the need.   John Gray, who also voted to award the contract to the City, expressed his frustration with the City Manager’s actions.

“From day one, the process has been biased toward a certain entity.”

One cannot help but suspect politics were in play, since one of the two dissenting voters, Selectboard Chair Bill Nihan is running for re-election.  Chairman Nihan is one tough cookie who doesn’t readily take “no” for an answer.

His opponent, Dave Schofield, is currently serving on the Planning Commission that was charged with drafting a new Town Plan.  The Town Plan is of special interest to me, as a member of Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth, because it will shape the future of highway-centric development in the two zones at Exit 19 and Exit 20 that the Town has identified as their twin “growth centers.”  (Don’t get me started on that!)

Anyway, Mr. Schofield and his colleagues on the Planning Commission held a number of public forums and spent many months carefully crafting a workable plan that attempted to be as smart and sustainably framed as possible under the circumstances.  When they presented their ideas to the Selectboard, they had a great deal of difficulty finding common ground because the Selectboard, under Nihan’s influence, wanted to do overlapping or “spot” zoning, so that there would be no commitment that might later prevent a major player from locating wherever they wished to.  After the Planning Commission completed their task and submitted the new plan to the Selectboard, they were surprised to see that it was substantially altered…by Mr. Nihan and the Selectboard!

While Ms. Murphy’s actions will no doubt be under review to determine if she has done anything unethical, there has been a distinct pattern of abuse of power under the leadership of Mr. Nihan who comes from a corporate background in Asia-based manufacturing.  In his retirement from that life, Mr. Nihan has become a major policy controller in the Town for many years, also serving strategically to shape the Big Box ambitions and conveniently framed growth centers that enable them.  One can only hope that Town voters are growing tired of the drama and will finally give Mr. Nihan the retirement he so richly deserves.