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July 2025
Vermont League,
The height of summer has arrived, and with it all the fun activities we only get to do this time of year. At VLCT, you may have noticed a new voice answering your calls. Lukas Pomerville joined VLCT back in April as our new Human Resources and Administrative Assistant. In addition to new staff, we also have a new website – Vermont Town Careers – that we'll be promoting across New England, so be sure to post your job openings – for free! Lastly, a couple of reminders: 1) your Compensation and Benefits Survey is due July 31, 2) make sure to read the 2025 Legislative Wrap-Up and 3) recognize a champion of local government.
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Protests on Town Property
While protest events typically involve protected speech, local government can craft guidelines for those that occur on government-owned property and remain within the bounds of the First Amendment. This article provides information to help local officials in Vermont understand the legal parameters they must consider before regulating protest events on public property.
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If a Driveway Culvert Fails, Is the Municipality Responsible for Replacing It?
Typically, no. While the law does not address the issue of the responsibility for repairing and replacing driveway culverts, it follows that if a property owner has placed a culvert in the town’s highway right of way, then the owner would be responsible for repairing and replacing the culvert, unless the town has made provision to take ownership or responsibility for it.
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Highlights from Town Meeting 2025
Review Town Meeting 2025 trends from across the state including statistics on voter participation, budgets, elimination of offices, changes from elected to appointed offices, changes to the number of selectboard members, Local Option Tax votes, and notable articles around cannabis and non-resident officers.
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Is Bonding Coverage Required for Those Authorized to Handle Funds?
Most property and casualty insurers exclude bonding of officers from their crime coverage, leaving the organization to obtain the additional coverage that state law requires. This is not the case with PACIF. Your coverage through PACIF is not a "bond" per se, but it does meet the statutory requirement for bonding. PACIF covers Employee Dishonesty and Faithful Performance for employees, public officials (whether elected or appointed), and volunteers for up to $500,000 per occurrence.
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Reduce Your Risk During First Amendment Audits
“First Amendment audits” are normally conducted by people who intend to record their interactions with government officials – most often employees at a city/town hall or a police department – to ensure that the First Amendment right to record in public is preserved. The more interactive or argumentative the audit, the greater the draw. Learn what to do if a First Amendment auditor visits your town.
| | Town Report Contest: Do you have the best town report? Enter this contest and find out! Entries will be evaluated within three population tiers and a panel of judges will rank nominated reports based on cover appearance, report dedication, readability, utility, and presentation of the financial information. | | Featured Resources & Opportunities | | |
Streamline Your Highway/DPW Hiring Process
This comprehensive new resource is designed to revolutionize how local governments recruit, onboard, and retain their Highway/DPW staff. In today’s competitive job market, attracting and retaining top-tier talent is more critical than ever.
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Model Procurement Policy and Guidance
Our model policy assists municipalities in their efforts to procure goods and services. Adopting and following a procurement policy increases the public’s confidence in the process and helps municipalities adhere to standards and requirements of state and federal funding.
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Mayors Tackle Political Polarization
In many areas, political polarization is affecting relationships between constituents, between constituents and elected leaders, and between elected officials. Read about how mayors in Arizona are working to bridge disagreements and build more cohesion.
| | Member Showcase: Newport City unveiled the new Gardner Park earlier this month. This multi-year effort by city officials and volunteers resulted in several new wooden structures, built in the highway garage by public works staff. New misting canopies to cool visitors and three charging stations we also added. Congratulations Newport! (Photo L to R: Michael Brown, Director of Recreation; Thomas Bernier, Public Works Director) | | |
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Interested in Simplifying Your Benefits Administration – and More?
As an Acrisure client, you can use Employee Navigator to manage your human resource efforts from one place, making your job easier. Employee Navigator enables you to centralize your HR records online and syncs your employee data across multiple systems, including payroll, benefits, and time off.
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Land Use Review Board Overview
In this overview, the Land Use Review Board (LURB) Statewide Coordinator covers why the LURB was created and its role in the Act 250 process as well as major changes brought about by Act 181 of 2024 and the timeline of phased implementation for those changes.
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