Openings and Fillings
8/25/2020 Trustee Meeting Rundown
by Irene Wrenner
August 25, 2020
At their August 25th meeting, the Village Trustees filled one of three openings on the Bike/Walk Committee by appointing Ramón Matanzo, an active cyclist who’s eager to see a better bike connection to Burlington.
Speaking of openings, several Essex Junction Recreation & Parks (EJRP) staff have moved on, including their after school enrichment coordinator. Betsy Hoffmeister, an Essex Parks & Recreation (EPR) employee, now coordinates after school enrichment for both the Village and Town. EJRP will post job openings this fall.
The Trustees adopted revised General Rules and Personnel Regulations to improve the uniformity at which pay changes upon promotion or reclassification. Also tweaked overtime and job structure rules to make compensation more uniform and appropriate.
New Village Bike / Walk Committee Member
Ramón Matanzo
Essex Junction Fire Department received approval for a no-bid purchase of a Bauer Compressor for its Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) system. The current compressor is 35 years old. This purchase came in at $5,000 over budget but will add needed features such as dual fill capability and the ability to track who fills each cylinder and when.
George Tyler mentioned that absentee voting on the Merger Charter can start in October so he wants an “all out full-scale effort to tell Village residents what’s in the charter: print, video, website”. Andrew Brown wants no misunderstanding or false hopes or promises. The Trustees will need to take some very quick action to set this in motion.
After the Selectboard adjourned, the Trustees continued to discuss the pending Separation numbers that are still a month away. There were hopes that maybe they could be delivered before the September 28th date promised. Evan pointed to COVID-related funding issues. George pushed the point: “As an old time journalist, I can make the numbers up myself, or you can give them to me!”