Woodstock votes to keep lister position

At the table, Charlie Degener (foreground, sitting), Carol Wood and Rick Fiske check voters in for the paper-ballot vote on the lister question at Saturday’s floor meeting. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

Woodstock’s elected office of lister will remain as is, after voters on Saturday rejected a proposal to replace that position with hired assessors.

The vote was 46 to 32 against the proposal, in a paper-ballot vote that was required by state law. The lister question, which is Article 3 on Woodstock’s Town Meeting Warning, was decided along with articles 1-10 at Saturday’s floor meeting at Town Hall. Voters will decide articles 11-21 by Australian ballot on Tuesday, when polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The lister question stirred some debate in the community in recent weeks. Article 3 proposed to eliminate the office of town lister “with a professionally qualified assessor or assessors,” as the article states.

At Saturday’s meeting, Select Board Chair Joe Swanson said switching to having assessors, rather than an elected position, would add stability to the office for the town’s long-term future. They would be appointed by the Select Board, and he said the structure and functions of the office would be the same, as would the current people running it.

“This is not a change that would cost someone their job; I know that’s been a concern,” he said.

If the proposal passed, Swanson said, the existing listers would be appointed as the assessors. Municipal Manager Eric Duffy said the currently elected listers, Kathy Avellino and Tim McCarthy, are up to date on all training and fully qualified to be assessors. One of the three lister positions is open, but no one is running for it this year.

During a lengthy discussion from the floor, all comments but one were opposed to the change. Former Woodstock lister Carol Wood, who served in that position for 15 years, said Avellino and McCarthy are very qualified and have been planning for a town-wide reappraisal, to take place in 2025. With this in mind, she said Article 3 “would have a detrimental effect on the continuity of the office going forward.”

Jennifer Maxham, also a former lister, said this should remain an elected position, since it means you have Woodstock residents doing this work.

“I do think you want to have people who live in Woodstock assessing Woodstock,” she said.

Others questioned the point that this move would bring stability, noting that the town has benefited from having longtime listers in the past. Swanson reiterated that this proposal was meant to be helpful for Woodstock’s future over the long term.

After the lister question was decided by paper ballot, the floor meeting continued on to the other items and concluded shortly after 12 p.m. The proposed Woodstock Town Budget of $7,681,341 passed easily by a typical voice vote.

— Gareth Henderson