LUDLOW, Vt. – The first meeting of the Ludlow Selectboard since March’s Town Meeting was held on Monday, April 6, and served as the board’s annual reorganizational meeting. Brett Sanderson was once again appointed board chair, and Justin Hyjek vice chair. Meetings will continue to be held on the first Monday of every month, at 6 p.m., in the Ludlow Town Hall auditorium, with the third Monday reserved as the alternate date.
The board then appointed nonelected town officials, a process which is often largely a formality. However, when it came time to appoint members to the planning commission, on which there were two four-year terms up for reappointment as well as the remainder of a term ending in 2028 vacated by Ryan Silvestri, it became clear that there were more applicants than available positions on the commission.
Scott Baitz initially suggested reappointing incumbents Jean Strong and Judy Pullinen to these positions, though, when a motion to this effect was presented, it was met with pushback from some residents present at the meeting. Resident Alan Couch requested that the board consider each position individually and consider all potential applicants. Resident Eric Alden concurred, telling the board, “The worst thing you can say or do is ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
“I’d ask that you consider what is really going to make the board work best for the town,” Alden continued.
Taking this feedback into consideration, the board rejected the motion to reappoint both incumbents. Board member George Tucker made a motion to appoint two new members, Matthew Bellatoni and Ed D’Attavio, in their places. Hyjek, however, felt that one incumbent should likely remain for the sake of consistency, and suggested keeping Pullinen in place of Bellatoni. Tucker amended his motion as such, and the motion passed. Noah Schmidt, who serves on the selectboard, was appointed to fill the remainder of Silvestri’s term, which ends in 2028.
The board also addressed bids for the $75,000 Better Connections grant the town was awarded by the state. According to the state website, the Better Connections program “provides municipalities the opportunity to engage in master planning efforts that evaluate multi-modal transportation options, community development, and water quality improvements.” Ludlow’s request for proposal outlines its goals as follows: “(1) Develop a comprehensive parking and access management strategy to improve safety and support businesses. (2) Foster equitable, walkable, and transit-friendly infrastructure through complete streets initiatives. (3) Identify redevelopment and infill opportunities that expand housing and economic options. (4) Integrate resilience, wayfinding, and placemaking into long-term planning.”
Town Manager Penny Wu informed the board that the town had received 11 bids, and that a committee made up of herself, Planning and Zoning Director Erin Ladd, Mount Ascutney Regional Commission representative Otis Ellms-Munroe, and Grants Coordinator Cheri Nicoll had reviewed and ranked each bid. The committee selected a bid submitted by SE Group in the amount of $74,945. The majority of the bids were within this same price range, apart from one lower and one higher bid, but Wu said that what made SE Group stand out was their experience working with ski resort towns, such as Breckenridge, Colo., and Lake Placid, N.Y. In particular, Wu said she appreciated that SE Group’s bid was the only one in which the work was slated to be completed prior to the beginning of the ski season, when traffic in Ludlow increases substantially. Other bids, Wu said, had work continuing into December and, in some cases, January, which would be disruptive to the town’s roads and traffic patterns during the highest-traffic portion of the year. Ladd also informed the board that SE Group has also worked with the Town of Chester on their own Better Connections grant, as well as on a housing feasibility study. The board approved the committee’s recommendation, awarding the project to SE Group.
Finally, Wu informed the board that the town and village merger packet has been delivered to Montpelier, and that “there is hope that we can get this passed this legislative session.” If that happens, the merger will take effect on July 1, 2027, rather than the July 1, 2028 date which had been speculatively. It had been previously speculated that the merger would not be approved by the legislature until the 2027 session, meaning it would not take effect until 2028.
The Ludlow Selectboard will next meet on Monday, May 4, at 6:30 p.m., in the Ludlow Town Hall auditorium.