Killington, Vermont — Voters’ approval of the “Killington Forward” infrastructure in March 2023 seemingly pushed the town toward building out a base village. So far, this has included rebuilding Killington Road and improving the town’s water infrastructure. However, bickering between town officials puts the general infrastructure and the possible base village at risk.
Vermont Public Radio reported earlier this week that Killington is in the midst of a heated town battle between residents and public officials. The turnover and tension have put the town’s public infrastructure projects, and thus the long-sought-after base village, at risk.
Since these projects began in October 2023, the town has seen significant turnover. Over four years, Killington has had six Town Managers. High-profile departures include the fire chief, finance director, and a Select Board member. All have cited their disagreements with the Select Board as the reason for their departures.
Residents blame the Select Board for the dysfunction. Observers allege that their behavior is rude and condescending. It got to a point where, at a town meeting in March, residents voted to reject the budget and have the Select Board undergo an audit.
In response, a third-party leader of these projects decided to pump the brakes. Stephanie Clarke, the project manager but not a member of the town government, paused work because of all the turnover.
“I urged a pause, and caution not to proceed with some of the work until we have more internal capacity to the town,” said Stephanie Clarke, the project manager. “I don’t believe that there’s enough capacity, enough horsepower, to track all of the different financing of it all…
The town knew exactly how much scaling up needed to happen in order to pull this off. They were not naïve to the fact that they’re a small town of 800 people that was undertaking a multi-year, multi-million dollar infrastructure project. They did intentionally staff up and create capacity. But over the past several years that has not stuck. There’s been too much turnover.”
In response, a local resident decided to run for Select Board. Celia Clancy cited the relationship with the Select Board as the reason she ran:
“Things are not good in Killington. The town is not in good shape,” said Clancy.
Her opponent was Roger Rivera, a Select Board member. He defended his work in a recent candidate forum:
“It’s not easy to step up and be part of a board of five, and doing one’s part, and moving our town forward with the volume of rhetoric and inflammatory conversations in our town is very difficult,” Rivera said. “I’m committed to the progress of our town, and to the good work the current select board is undertaking.”
Since the Vermont Public Radio article was published, things seem to be trending in the right direction. Tuesday’s election saw Celia Clancy win in a blowout, signaling desire for change on the Select Board. Voters approved a revised town budget (albeit narrowly). Whether the rest of the Board takes that as a sign for change is anyone’s guess.
Image Credits: Emily Ho, Town of Killington
