LUDLOW, Vt. – The Ludlow Selectboard met, as usual, on this first Monday of the month, June 1, for their regularly scheduled meeting.
During the citizens’ comments portion of the meeting, Ludlow resident Lynn Baldwin rose to express her concern that the temporary emergency personnel housing structure located next to the Ludlow Fire Department had been purchased with money generated by Ludlow’s 1% local options tax. Baldwin said that the selectboard had assured her that the local options tax money would be used to maintain the spillways of the Jewell Brook dam sites, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers indicated in a report several years ago are in need of repairs.
Selectboard Vice Chair Justin Hyjek assured Baldwin that work has been done on the dam sites since the Corps of Engineers report, and that a full-scale replacement project for all five dams is in the works. The board also referred to the wording of the local options tax article as passed at Ludlow’s Town Meeting in 2025, which stated that the funds generated may be used for “capital purchases and infrastructure projects.” The selectboard’s determination at their meeting in February was that the temporary housing qualified as infrastructure, and was therefore eligible to be funded by the local options tax revenue.
The board also addressed some controversy around the Ludlow Planning Commissions May 12 reorganizational meeting, at which, prior to appointment of a planning commission chair, Planning and Zoning Administrator Erin Ladd informed the commissioners that the Ludlow “municipal office” recommended Noah Schmidt for chair and Edward D’Ottavio for vice chair. During a somewhat heated back-and-forth exchange between Ladd and previous Chair Terry Carter, who insisted that the recommendation was “inappropriate,” Ladd made a reference to the recommendations being made “at the selectboard meeting,” though it was unclear from the context what was meant by this. Schmidt and D’Ottavio were ultimately appointed chair and vice chair, respectively.
In reference to this incident, Julie Nicoll, a Ludlow village trustee, had submitted a letter to the selectboard questioning why the selectboard had recommended a chair and vice chair, and asking if it was the intention of the board to continue to do so in the future.
Town Manager Penny Wu read a written statement from the board clarifying that the selectboard “did not, nor did they ever, make specific leadership recommendations” for any town board or commission. However, Wu did confirm that she had personally made those recommendations, explaining, “That was absolutely my recommendation…never did the selectboard discuss that.”
Hyjek told Nicoll that he believed Ladd “spoke out of frustration or misspoke” when saying the recommendation was made at a selectboard meeting, though he added, “Do I think it could have been handled better at that [reorganizational] meeting? I absolutely do.” The board generally, however, expressed their continued confidence in Ladd as Ludlow’s planning and zoning administrator.
The board also discussed possible increases in fees for day use of town facilities, such as the community center gym and Dorsey Park. However, Ludlow resident and former selectboard member Bruce Schmidt questioned whether the new fees would apply to things such as high school baseball tournaments, and objected to this possibility. “I definitely think we should be looking to cover our costs,” Schmidt said, adding, “I am not in favor of us charging for the [high school] tournament.” There was general agreement on this point from the board, who agreed to table the discussion until their next meeting.
The board did, however, pass increased planning and zoning fees, which they had previously discussed at their May meeting. The board noted that the zoning administrator had received no feedback in the intervening month. After some explanations and discussion at the meeting, the updated fee schedule was amended to remove a section regarding temporary and seasonal structures, and was then passed without further changes. The updated zoning fees can be found in the Ludlow Selectboard’s June 1 packet on the town’s website, www.ludlow.vt.us.
The Ludlow Selectboard meets on the first Monday of each month, at 6 p.m., in the Ludlow Town Hall auditorium.