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Volume 53 Number 46
Regionalization?
Towns start talks about sharing planning services
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shelburnenews.com
November 14, 2024
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With Charlotte’s town planner set for retirement in less than a month, the town is exploring a potential agreement for shared planning services with the neighboring town of Shelburne. Meanwhile, some leaders in Shelburne are beginning a conversation with neighbors about the concept of regionalizing services on a larger scale. While the state — with the passage of S.159 in May — is beginning the long work of studying how to best strengthen county-level government in Vermont, which has long held the tradition of hyper-local control, some municipal leaders have taken measures into their own hands. According to Shelburne and
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Charlotte, the shared service concept for planning is in its very early stage, but there is an eager appetite in both towns to see how something like that could flesh out. “I have seen shared service agreements work in other towns and other settings and thought to myself that this could be mutually beneficial for the town of Shelburne and town of Charlotte,”
Charlotte’s town administrator, Nate Bareham, said. The Charlotte Selectboard discussed the matter during an executive session at last week’s meeting, but nothing has been finalized. Bareham said he hopes to bring a proposal to the selectboard prior to Dec. 1. Matt Lawless, town manager of Shelburne, noted that such a collaboration is not only in the
spirit of neighbors helping neighbors but also regional efficiency. It could also go a long way to help Vermont towns save money. “We have a great planning staff,” Lawless said. “I think that’s a good idea for a number of our skilled staff. We’ve got a diesel mechanic who could go over to another town and fix a truck, and I like the idea of setting up that kind of contract.”
While every town has certain legal obligations to do a little bit of planning and zoning work, Lawless said, for many towns that work oftentimes doesn’t require 40 hours a week. “You can’t hire a 17-hour professional planner, so maybe we can share,” he said. See REGIONALIZATION on page 11
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