By Layla Burke Hastings
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SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — The former police chief and political newcomer, a sitting incumbent, and current Chair Kristi Morris are running for two open three-year term seats on the Springfield Selectboard to be decided by voters on March 3.
Doug Johnston
Former Springfield Police Chief Doug Johnston said he has seen notable progress from the selectboard but simultaneously believes a shift toward prevention of municipal issues needs to be addressed.
“I think there needs to be transparency in town government,” he said. “I think the selectboard does a fairly good job but I think the town can do a better job. There’s a lot of things now you can post online to keep the public informed and I think there’s more that they could do about that.”
Johnston has concerns about the tax rate from his awareness of what he estimated could possibly be 44 houses that have been posted for tax sale and only nine new additions to the grand list in the last three years.
“Accountability needs to happen,” said Johnston, who explained that he has seen his concern grow for over a decade. “The selectboard works for the citizens and the town manager works for the selectboard and I don’t believe there has been much accountability over the manager’s position. It’s not any one person. It’s something I have seen for a while.”
He also said that the town is theoretically at risk with the towns unfunded liabilities.
“Another issue that the selectboard and the town manager have not addressed is the $1.4 to $1.5 million dollar unfunded liability,” Johnston said. “We have several people that could retire in the next five to ten years and we don’t have the money to cover it. We have saved $4,500 for that fund in the last three years.”
Johnston suggested that a solution would be to budget out the money over a five- or 10-year period that matches the number of potential retirees.
“I’d like to see a current reasonable attempt to fund it properly. There’s other ways you can do that. That’s just one of several different solutions,” he said, emphasizing that the number of potential retirees is not known. “Some of this might go away on its own. We don’t know exactly how many people to plan for. Some people might leave and change jobs. But we have a potential number of employees that we can’t cover.”
A Springfield High School graduate, Johnston has 40 years of service in the Springfield Police Department, 18 of which he served as chief of police. He also served in Operation Desert Storm and is F.B.I. trained.
Michael Martin
Incumbent Michael Martin is running for his second term to maintain revitalization throughout the town.
“One of the things that concerns me is that you only get one chance to make a good first impression. And one of the things that we’re trying to do in Springfield is to create opportunities that people can see clearly,” he said. “I’m concerned because we’re trying to attract young working people and businesses to come to our community and I think the appearance of our community and our reputation is important.”
Martin said the work he has done on the selectboard has been rewarding and he hopes to continue on the projects to improve from Clinton Street into Main Street outlined in the town’s tentative master plan developed three years ago.
“I’m all in favor of the Main Street master plan that was rolled out a few years ago,” Martin said. “Obviously, it’s going to cost a lot of money and it’s going to take number years to implement. But I think that that’s something that we should be working towards.”
A Springfield High School graduate with a degree in accounting from Castleton State College, Martin is a former Jones & Lamson employee and has worked on the budget advisory committee three times.
Kristi Morris
Chair Kristi Morris hopes to keep working on projects that he has been involved with during his 12 years on the selectboard.
“Our goals on the selectboard are to look at revitalizing Springfield from its status of being economically depressed and having dilapidated unsafe structures and just the lack of economic development,” Morris said. “We have a five-year strategic plan that we put together four years ago and we are advocating to make improvements.” he said regarding the recent demolition of blighted buildings and the repairing of roads and sidewalks.”
In an interview with The Eagle Times, Morris spoke about his passion for the recovery of Springfield.
“I also advocated for addressing the substance abuse issues specifically the opioid problems in Springfield. We’ve taken some steps to unite with different agencies that deal with substance abuse. I think we’ve had a positive effect on the outcomes,” he said. “There’s a lot more to do and we’re not finished yet and the problem is still prevalent. But at least we’ve taken some initial steps to address it.”
Morris believes the town should move forward and not look back at what is gone.
“Springfield should focus on the future in not and not get bogged down by the past and the industrial plants that we had in town back in the ‘70s and early ‘80s are gone, with the exception of one and that’s the Springfield Medical Care Systems on that 100 River St., those jobs and opportunities and support that we had for a tax base are gone,” he said.
A Springfield High School graduate, Morris is also a former Lovejoy Tool Co. employee and representative to the Vermont House of Representatives.
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