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Trustees debate 2025 budget and affordability of renewing town manager contract
Summary
Board members, staff and residents clashed over whether Green Mountain Falls can afford to renew Town Manager Becky Frank's contract; a trustee-led review of audits and reserves found the town in surplus in recent years and prompted the board to schedule an executive session for further review.
Trustees spent the longest portion of the Nov. 19 meeting on budget detail and whether the town can afford to renew Town Manager Becky Frank's employment contract.
Resident speakers urged renewal during public comment. Brandy Morales, chair of the planning commission, told trustees that since 2021 the manager "has successfully managed and brought approximately $1,500,000 of grant money" to the town, and urged the board not to let the position lapse. Several other residents echoed that appeal and asked the trustees to consider administrative continuity.
Trustee Bell presented comparative and audit data during the discussion and said he could not find evidence to support the recurring claim that "we can't afford the town manager position." He argued the town's unrestricted net position (reserves) has grown and that operating revenues and line-item spending patterns did not show a structural inability to fund the position. "But right now, I cannot validate this simple assertion that continues to be made that we can't afford, the town manager position," he told colleagues.
Other trustees urged fiscal caution and clearer communications about hiring and contracts; one trustee summarized the board's budget position bluntly: "Deficit spending for '24. Deficit projection for '25." Staff said the revised 2025 budget remains under review and that final audit numbers for 2024 are pending; trustees voted to continue the public hearing on the 2025 budget to Dec. 3, 2024 and scheduled an executive session later in the week to discuss the manager contract.
What happens next: The board left the manager contract off tonight's public agenda and will revisit it in executive session and as a business item after the board has had additional audit and budget updates.
