ROYALTON — The Selectboard decided to put on the Town Meeting warning a proposal to hire a town manager.

But the best way to pursue moving to the town manager form of government would be to vote it down, voters and town officials said at Tuesday evening’s pre-Town Meeting.

“This article is asking us to make a decision on having a town manager,” without providing any details, resident Suzanne Long said.

“Be clear about what you’re asking us,” she told the Selectboard. “Do some research.”

At a meeting that got testy at times, around 55 residents talked over the town manager proposal, a plan to end the town constable position, the police department budget, and why the town was voting by Australian ballot this year instead of at a traditional floor meeting.

Selectboard members acknowledged that beyond putting $100,000 in the budget for salary and another $20,000 for health insurance, they hadn’t written a job description, or even had much of a conversation among themselves about what a town manager would be responsible for. Given how substantial a change this would be for town government, voters were dismayed at the lack of detail.

“I agree with Suzanne,” Selectboard Chairman Tim Murphy said, referring to Long. “Our rollout was terrible.”

“That’s why we’d urge you to vote no, because we don’t know where we’re going with this,” board member John Dumville said.

Board members who favor the idea said they think a town manager would make government more efficient, provide residents with a single point of contact, free up the Selectboard to be more visionary and set policy, and wrangle the increasing complexity of running a town.

Royalton already has a town administrator — Victoria Paquin — who was hired to manage town finances. A town manager would not replace her, but instead leave her free to do the job she was hired to do.

“I think Victoria does a lot more than her job description,” Murphy said.

He noted that neighboring Bethel has had a town manager since the 1970s.

Around 64 Vermont municipalities use the manager form of government, according to a recent report from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.

Hiring a manager allows a town to designate some of the executive functions carried out by the Selectboard. A manager handles hiring and firing of town employees, for example, said Bill Finger, a senior adviser with the Vermont Town and City Management Association, a chapter of the International City Management Association.

The town manager “exists to professionalize administration” in a municipality, Finger said in a phone interview. The manager takes on the day-to-day decision-making, leaving elected officials, such as a selectboard or city council, free to set policy. Title 24, chapter 37 of state law sets out the job’s requirements.

“I’m glad we’re going to do a little more research on this,” resident Jim Proctor said at Tuesday’s meeting.

But if voters approve the town manager article, the Selectboard would go ahead and hire someone in the coming fiscal year, board members said. Residents said it was essential to vote the measure down.

If it doesn’t pass, the money in the budget to compensate a town manager wouldn’t be spent, Selectboard members said.

The board also has placed on the warning a plan to do away with the elected constable. That they did so without speaking first to Constable Todd Ballantine, rubbed some townspeople the wrong way.

“We were neglectful,” Dumville acknowledged. “We should have” notified Ballantine.

The constable position had been vacant, and the town had established a police force, so some years ago, the Selectboard stopped funding the constable position. Ballantine was elected to the post afterward and has been active, primarily as animal control officer.

Ballantine said he ran because the office was empty and because it was unclear who would police ATVs on town roads. He regularly gets called to pick up stray dogs, and he hasn’t asked the town for compensation.

“I just wanted to do it,” he said.

Dumville said he thought it made sense to do away with the position and transfer its duties to the police department. As it stands, the constable’s job is ill-defined in a town with a police force.

Ballantine said he sees some value in the role, but “I don’t know if the constable position is necessary if it’s not me.”

Marc Preston, a former constable and current candidate for the Selectboard, said the position needs to be more clearly defined.

He also took the board to task, saying it was overspending on the police department, arguing that it’s overstaffed.

Murphy, who’s running for the same two-year seat as Preston, said the police department has just gotten up to full staffing and the town deserves to see how it works.

Kate George is the third candidate for the two-year seat.

Stuart Levasseur is running unopposed for a three-year seat on the Selectboard.

Voters will weigh in on all business by Australian ballot, and attendees of the pre-meeting weren’t pleased about it. Pam Levasseur noted that if everything on the warning gets voted down, town officials won’t know why without the discussion at a traditional Town Meeting.

The Selectboard could explain the town manager proposal and other details, residents noted.

“That’s the advantage of having a regular Town Meeting,” resident Ted Kenyon said. “You have no recourse now.”

Alex Hanson can be reached at ahanson@vnews.com or 603-727-3207.

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