PLYMOUTH, Vt. – Kicking off Monday night’s selectboard meeting, Chair Jay Kullman introduced Plymouth’s new Town Clerk, Angela Kissell, who was officially appointed to the position by the board and sworn in.
Board member Rick Kaminski brought up an issue he said was going on with the town’s Short-Term Rental (STR) administrators, Mike Scomillio and Steve Radonis. Radonis was in attendance, Scomillio was absent. Kaminski stated that having two STR administrators had become confusing and complicated. Kaminski stated, “without getting into a lot of elaborate detail, I recommend Mike be appointed to the position.”
“What are the complications?” Kullman asked.
“Complaints from customers and staff. Steve was asked to return files to Margot –”
“And those files were returned,” Radonis interjected. Kaminski started to reply.
“You’re going to hear me out,” Radonis said, before Kaminski could speak.
Radonis stood and handed out papers to the meeting attendees. “These are the short-term rentals that I’ve done,” Radonis explained, “I think it’s been unfair. [Scomillio] said he had 13, I have 17, and there are only 24 on the list. We can’t both be doing them.”
Radonis claimed that Scomillio was often unavailable. “I asked him to come with me to look at more properties, and he said, ‘oh, I’m skiing.’” Radonis also said Scomillio was in violation of STR rules himself with regards to insurance, and KnoxBox requirements. Speaking to Kaminski, Radonis said, “you asked him about the KnoxBox last year and he said it would happen. Five months into this year, and he still hasn’t done it. And that’s the person you want doing this?” Radonis continued, “I’ve been talking to people for about four years about short-term rentals. He should not be part of the process. He is biased against short term rentals!”
“I’m not going to sit here and let you bash someone who isn’t here to defend themselves. That’s not right.”
“I don’t care,” Radonis replied. “I wanted him to show up, but he doesn’t show up for anything.”
“Steve, I know your intentions are good,” said Kaminski. “Mike needs to be managed better, and that’s my responsibility. I will look into that, but you said you were doing more work than him, and when I asked how did you get more files than he had, there wasn’t really an answer. But I thought we came to an agreement that we would split 50/50, and two days later you were in the office complaining to the treasurer that you should get paid more.”
“Because he said he did 13 of them, and he’s done four. Look at the paperwork, my signature is on it.”
“How did that happen, Steve?” Kaminski asked.
“I don’t know how it happened, but I did a lot more, and it is not right. If I do a job, I expect to get paid for it. It’s a 75% difference between the work we did.”
Kaminski told Radonis that if there was a pay dispute, they would resolve it, and make sure Radonis is paid what he is owed. “But that doesn’t change the fact,” Kaminski added, “you can be abrasive with residents, and that comes back in complaints to the office.”
“It’s not a complaint, I take it as a compliment,” Radonis protested. “That says I’m doing my job, I looked at the documents. I looked at all the documents.”
Kullman noted, “I think there is more discussion that needs to happen before we make this decision.”
“Okay, we’ll have more discussion,” Kaminski agreed. “We’ll put that appointment on hold.”
Kullman moved on to run through a list of other appointments and town business, before a discussion on school choice was introduced by a Plymouth resident and parent, who asked what his options were regarding his children attending school.
Another resident responded, “the town voted to eliminate school choice in an election several years ago, but I think people did not know what they were voting for. It was confusing, and a lot of people did not attend the meetings.”
Plymouth Zoning Board and Planning Commission member Bruce Pauley asked, “at the time, were there good explanations about ramifications and what we might expect from this? Because, if voters were confused, it would be nice to revisit that. It would take a lot of research, and a smart person, to make it understandable what a vote of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ would mean.”
Prior to that election, a parent in Plymouth could petition another school district to enroll their child. Some residents expressed that the policy should be reinstated.
Acknowledging that the topic was “not something easy to take on,” Kullman suggested a town discussion on the issue. “Rick, what do you think? Should we reserve some time at the next selectboard meeting if parents want to come?”
“Sure, let’s
do it,” Kaminski agreed.
The next Selectboard meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 1, at 6 p.m.