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Trustees continue budget review and delay town‑manager contract vote amid data dispute
Summary
Trustees continued the 2025 budget hearing to Dec. 3 and agreed to defer the town manager contract item to executive session after a lengthy debate over reserves, staffing costs and spending priorities. Public commenters urged renewal of Town Manager Becky Frank and trustees asked staff for clearer year‑end projections and line‑by‑line costs.
Trustees opened a long work session focused on committee priorities and the draft 2025 budget before voting to continue the public hearing on the budget to Dec. 3.
Trustee Bell, who led a data review of peer municipalities, urged the board to consider audited actuals and reserve balances before concluding the town cannot afford the manager’s post. "The net position unrestricted is growing," Bell said, summarizing the audit‑based figures he reviewed, and argued the town has run surpluses in recent audited years. Others countered that budget projections and unresolved equipment requests left the board uncertain about long‑term commitments.
Public commenters pressed trustees on the personnel decision at the center of the debates. Brandy Morales, chair of the GMF Planning Commission, told the board: "Hope is not a plan," urging them to renew Town Manager Becky Frank, citing roughly $1,500,000 in grant funding obtained during Frank’s tenure and the administrative continuity her renewal would provide.
After extended discussion the board agreed to continue the budget public hearing to Dec. 3, 2024, to allow staff to provide updated audit and projection information and to schedule an executive session to consider the town manager employment contract. The vote to delay the specific contract consideration (item 6c) was also approved and the item was removed from the public agenda for separate executive‑session handling.
