2024 Town Meeting Information

The Select Board and School Board are proud to offer an in-person option  for those St. Johnsbury residents who wish to attend in person The meeting will take place at the St. Johnsbury School. Kingdom Access TV will also be broadcasting the meeting on KATV, Spectrum Channel 192.

The Town encourages attendees experiencing illness, a fever or,  have been exposed to COVID-19 attend remotely.

A Note from the Town Manager

It was a hectic year in 2023, and the Town of St Johnsbury continues to improve. I am stopped frequently and told by both St Johnsbury residents and people from neighboring towns that St Johnsbury is doing great. There is excellent work being done by business owners and residents to continue to improve the Town, and it shows. Although we were not entirely immune to flood impacts, we weathered the storms that tragically devastated many Vermont communities in June. We sent crews to support clean-up efforts in Barre City, Hardwick, and Sutton, where damage was extensive and overwhelming.

The Town received approximately $2.4M in funds from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, which provided local governments with direct funding for pandemic recovery assistance. At the recommendation of an advisory committee, the Select Board directed these funds to several projects to increase the number and quality of housing units in St Johnsbury, support business and growth of the creative economy, and provide better access to mental health and social services. 

Parades and events, such as Final Fridays, First Night, and the Food Truck events, continue to bring people together Downtown and highlight our community’s passion for art and culture in a manner that supports businesses.   

As we have reported, the Town continues to receive positive reports from our annual audit. We remain in a great position to take full advantage of programs offered by funding partners such as the Vermont Department of Transportation, USDA Rural Development, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, thanks to financial management by our Finance Director, Lesley Russ and support provided by the Town Clerk and Treasurer, Stacy Jewell, and her office. In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the Town received and managed $5,455,376 in grant funds to offset project costs and expenses.

Assistant Town Manager Joe Kasprzak continues to support businesses within the Town and maintains close contact with agencies such as the Vermont Department of Housing, Agency of Commerce and Community Development, and Council on Rural Development in the interest of the Town of St Johnsbury. The Town must remain focused on economic development efforts and opportunities available to St Johnsbury businesses.

Housing needs are at the center of attention on a State-wide level. In addition to the Town’s rental housing inspection program, Kresten Sterling has managed our Rental Housing Improvement grant program.   This last year, a portion of the Revitalization Funds has been directed to increase the number of grants in this program, and $140,000 in grant funds leveraged approximately $972,000 in improvements and created 20 new units in St Johnsbury’s rental housing inventory. 

The Armory project is moving forward in the design phase thanks to the support of St Johnsbury's voters. This project aims to transform a vacant and blighted building, which is a Town liability, into an asset that will complement the Downtown and meet the needs of our emergency services. 

We want to thank Chief Tim Page for his service to the Town of St. Johnsbury and congratulate him and his family on his retirement. We were able to recruit Joel Pierce as our next Chief of Police, and we look forward to his leadership as we navigate the challenges of policing. We also want to recognize the dedication of the officers who work at the STJPD and thank them for their service at a time when policing across the country is a challenge.

Communications Director Anthony Skelton took advantage of an opportunity as Chief of EMS at Lyndon Rescue, and we wish him luck in his career there.  We are grateful for the work done by our Emergency Dispatchers to continue to improve our dispatch center as we search for a new Operations Manager. 

Our Fire Department remains at full staff, and we have welcomed several new Fire Fighters under the leadership of Chief Bradley Reed. Chief Reed continues to develop relationships with surrounding Fire Departments, including training programs developed jointly with the Littleton Fire Department, which mutually benefits both communities. 

The Department of Public Works Director, Steven Beauregard, continues to propose budgets to address the needs of our Class II and III paved roads. He and the Public Works Crews work very diligently to maintain our streets, sidewalks and bridges, stormwater systems, water and sewer systems, town buildings, and parks. 

Recruitment and retention of employees continue to be a challenge across the country, and we are lucky to have HR and Administrative Assistant Rachel Waterhouse to assist Department Managers in filling vacancies as she juggles payroll and benefits management.

Labor, fuel, materials, and supplies costs remain high. Increases in costs of EMS, as well as a continuation of inflated actuarial recommended contribution to the Town's Pension plan, resulted in a 10.2% increase in the town’s budgeted expenses for the FY 2024/2025 budget. We are not recommending continued use of General Fund reserves to offset costs as we did last year. We recommend using $100,000 of equipment fund reserves to purchase equipment and $80,000 in unallocated highway funds to offset expenses in that budget. Even with reserve funds advised in the current year's budget, the Town's reserves remain healthy.  

In this budget, we recommend maintaining the transfer from the General fund to the Special Service fund at $150,000 to offset the cost of services that benefit the residents outside the Special Services District. This proposed budget includes the continuation of full-time police coverage within the special services district, full-time fire services throughout the town, and a $300,000 paving budget in the highway budget to address residents' concerns. 

It has been an exciting year in St Johnsbury, and I look forward to continuing the work we have initiated. I would also like to thank the residents and business owners of St. Johnsbury for their efforts to bring our town forward. 

Thank you,

Chad L. Whitehead
Town Manager 

Budget Information