 Hello, and welcome to ongoing election coverage by Town Meeting Television. This is one of many forums that we're bringing you in advance of Town Meeting Day on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Town Meeting TV hosts forums with all candidates and all items that you will see on your ballot. Town Meeting TV election forums also introduce you to community decision makers and connect you with issues that shape your local community. With me tonight are our candidates, Ellie Beckett and Mike Isham, who are running to fill the remaining year of a three-year term on the Williston Select Board. Now if you're tuning in live, we welcome your questions. You can call us at 802-862-3966, and we will prioritize your questions if you call in, so you are definitely encouraged to give us a call. You can watch Town Meeting TV on Comcast Channel 1087, Burlington Telecoms Channel 1117 and 217, as well as online at youtube.com slash Town Meeting TV. With that being said, let's get started. So Ellie, we'll start with you for your opening statement. Can you please tell us why you're running and what will be different for Williston if you're elected? Sure. Hello, my name is Ellie Beckett, and I'm running for Select Board to continue my service to Williston, and pay back all the gifts this town and our community have given me and my family. I'm running to bring a new energy and fresh perspective to the Select Board. I want to serve. My mother's example of public service as the Williston Town Clerk for 20 years and a member of the Army National Guard have shaped my life. My own experiences growing up in Williston and being a young woman, building my life there now, have shown me that we must both keep Williston's historic identity and sense of community and manage the growth that will come. If elected, my priorities are the following. Williston must protect its green space and undeveloped land by continuing to concentrate growth in the growth center and working to ensure the town has adequate zoning regulations protecting our rural landscape and view sheds. We must adequately fund the town's environmental reserve fund, which has conserved over 2,000 acres of land since 1989. Another priority is small business support. Now more than ever, we must attract, retain, and assist small business owners who will make Williston a place where people want to be. And lastly, housing. We need to support local regulations that meet the need to increase housing stock and variety, but don't overwhelm the town resources and school capacity. Thank you very much, Ellie. And now, Mike, your opening statement. Why are you running and what will be different for Williston? Hello, my name is Mike Ischum. I'm a Willistonite. I've got eight generations in Williston where some of the early founders of Williston. I grew up as a boy in the 60s. I saw Williston change from a farm, milking cows at top corners to what it is today. I'm excited for the future of Williston. My experience is I left the farm in the early 80s. I joined the military. I had four years in the military. I've worked 26 years at IBM. And I came back and I purchased a family farm in the early 2000s. From my parents, I made it into a diversified community center. So I agree with a lot of what Ellie says. I'm excited about the future of Williston, the growth center, designation, the unified development bylaws, and the official town map. I wish to be a team player. I work with the town on future growth and housing, which is a big issue in the town of Williston. Great. Thank you very much, Mike. And we're going to stay right with you for the first question. Which has to do with the budget. Why do you or why do you not support this year's town budget of $13,977,877? And further, will you also be supporting the school budget? Yes, I will be supporting a budget. I think I absolutely support it. There was a lot of hard work that went into the budget this year for both the town and the school. I feel Williston's done a great job. He starts with the different departments, commissions, boards, meetings. In the town, the town manager looks at it all. He submits it to the select board, the select board approves it. So I stand behind what the select board did this year, approving the budget. And I'm looking forward to looking at next year's town budget. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. And now, Ellie, do you or do you, why do you or do you not support this year's budget as well as this year's school budget? I do support the budget. I support the budget because it's an increase of 6.3%, which is on track with inflation, which is nationally 6.5% and regionally 6.1%. The proposed budget would include a tax increase of only 3.2%, which is half the rate of inflation. The budget increase is largely a cost of living adjustment for town staff. It does not include any new municipal services. I support keeping our town staff salaries competitive. Our town staff are valuable. And we have a responsibility to our employees who support the town every day. Even under the circumstances, the budget still finances things the town needs to prepare for the future. Like $75,000 for the Environmental Reserve Fund, a second sidewalk plow, so a lot more town sidewalks can be plowed during the winter. And it finances a study on how we should expand the library and whether we should have a community center. As for the school budget, yes. Similarly, the bulk of the increase is going to salaries and inflation and I support those increases. Thank you, Ellie. And we'll stay with you for our next question, which has to do with the select board. So now the select board in Williston will see some changes this year with two open seats and yet two of the three elections are uncontested. So how do you rate the state of participation in the select board and local government for a community the size of Williston? Well, I think first the number of contested elections for seats on the select board isn't really a good litmus test for citizen participation. On one hand, being on the select board isn't terribly glamorous. It takes away from a lot of family time. It can make things awkward with friends and neighbors. And the time of day in the in-person meetings can make it harder for one to commit to a committee. I'm running because I have the capacity to do it and I really want to give back. There are some areas of civic engagement and participation that I want to highlight that have been improvements. I think moving to hybrid options for a lot of our town committees has been a tremendous help. The ability to participate by video from home has increased participation in town committees and boards as well as public attendance at these meetings. And then another thing that is helpful to note is that it used to be really rare that more than one person would come forward to fill a vacant seat on the various town commissions and committees when there's been an opening. But in the past year, I've noticed more and more people asking to be chosen to serve on those boards like the Planning Commission, which I'm on the Developmental Review Board, the Conservation Committee, and the Energy Committee. Lastly, I would say that Wilson residents are very engaged in discussing the public issues through other forums. We have constant robust discussion on from porch forum. I think that a lot of town issues are discussed at clubs like Rotary. And I think people out and about town are often engaged in what's going on and talking about these local issues. So well, yes, I too would love to see more candidates stepping up to run for office. I think there are other ways to be engaged and I think we are making progress in increasing participation. Thank you so much, Ellie. And now Mike, that same question for you. How do you rate the state of participation in the select board and local government for a community the size of us? I believe that the select board, town commissions, the committees, and all of the groups, it's amazing. There are over 16 groups in the town, over 16 boards, including the site advisory committee. And I think that there's a lot of different people that are involved in the town politics. It would be nice to see more people running. I understand that people are busy today with multiple jobs and part of life, teleconferencing such as Zoom has been very important. I think it's gonna bring more people into this, allows people off site to be an active participant. I think the community shows its pride with all the town members who service on all these boards and committees. It shows a serious time commitment and a pride to the betterment of this town. It was the specific site plan of the Glacier property that convinced me to run for select board. Thank you, Mike. And now we'll move on to a question about Vermont legislative initiatives. And we'll start with you, Mike. So the Vermont legislative session is underway. What are some important initiatives to the community of Williston that you will be tracking and supporting as a part of your work as a select board member? Well, I think number one, one thing that we've learned is that since COVID, the income and educational gap has widened dramatically. I think what we must do is level the playing field to the future. And our future is our youth. I think it's important that we support our youth. Our youth need more help today than they ever did before. So I will be following what the legislator does. I've followed them in the past on agricultural issues. I have actually was responsible for a bill that got submitted to the House and the Senate for Agritourism Liability. I got passed the last session and I look forward to following the legislator again and trying to make a difference with some type ideas of bills. Great, thank you, Mike. And same question to you, Ellie. What are some important initiatives to the community of Williston that you'll be keeping track of as a select board member? There are three specific initiatives that I wanna touch on that I'll be tracking. First is H68, the Omnibus Housing Bill, which aims to reduce sprawl and development pressure on forests and farmlands by modernizing local zoning to allow smart growth housing where infrastructure already exists. Some of the ways it aims to do this is through reexamining density standards, excessive parking mandates, and whether there's enough flexibility in the kinds of housing that can be built in the aim to get more missing middle housing. Another one I'll be tracking is H208, the Child Care Bill. Now I'm very pleased that this year the legislature has made child care a top priority, so overdue, but so happy to see it. The lack of affordable child care hurts everyone, families who need it, so they can get jobs, employers who can't find workers, children who are left with substandard and even dangerous levels of care. And then, thirdly, this isn't a specific bill, but it's a component of the budget that I'm interested in. I work part-time for Howard Center, which is the designated agency for Chittenden County, which the state has tasked with providing mental health and substance abuse services. And I think we can all agree that these are desperately needed services. And it affects everyone, the people struggling with mental health and addiction, their friends and families, and even every business and the people who use those businesses who have to deal with the behaviors and drug use that untreated mental health problems create. So, this year I'm interested in the budget and I hope to see a significant increase in mental health spending so that people in our community can get help who need it. Funding that would go a long way towards solving a number of problems that are truly all interconnected. Thank you, Ellie, and before we move on to our next question, I just want to remind viewers, anybody who's watching live, please feel free to call in at 802-862-3966. And we will prioritize your question and get that answered live. In the meantime, we'll move on to our next question. We'll start with Ellie. And that question has to do with development. So, Williston has certainly seen a fair share of growth and with the recent adoption of form-based code for task corners, it's set to see more. Excuse me, what is your 10 and 20 year vision of growth in Williston? All right, development. All right, first I refute the premise that the form-based code will cause growth. The form-based code will not cause an increase in growth. The areas of town that people are talking about are already zoned for development and they have been for decades. The form-based code is really more about aesthetics and functionality of development that is already going to happen one way or another. It doesn't encourage or discourage growth. Traditional zoning is concerned with the use of the building being built and doesn't really care how it looks. Whereas form-based code is much less concerned with the use as long as the building is cohesive with its surroundings and fits in with the expressed goals of the town. It'll make the development that does happen a lot more walkable, more environmentally friendly, and more functional and aesthetically pleasing. As for a long term vision, the form-based code is a huge step toward the goals that have been in place within the town for half-corner's area for my entire life, which is to create a pedestrian friendly town hub where people who work in Wilston can hopefully afford to live. Outside of the growth center, my vision for the future includes ensuring that land is preserved through adequate consistent funding of the town's environmental reserve fund and looking at potential development more creatively. Ultimately, we have a natural cap on growth. Our town's wastewater capacity will determine what is possible. But what we have control over now prior to reaching that cap is the ability to diversify the makeup and growth that is yet to occur. Thank you, Ellie. And now, Mike, what's your 10 and 20 year vision of growth in Wilston? I love the form-based code for the center of Wilston. I think it's important at half-corner's to keep the growth there, try to prevent the urban sprawl. I think that since COVID, we've seen the growth of Wilston and Chittin County and Vermont explode. It's gonna be growing exponentially now compared to the last 40 years. I see over 500,000 people living in Chittin County in 15 years. I see over 25,000 people in the town of Wilston. I think it's important that we control that growth, where we put the growth. I think the form-based code is a great way to do that. I love the pedestrian, the bicycle walkways. My wife and I, this winter, we went to New York City to see a couple of Broadway shows. And while we were there, we went to Brooklyn Heights, where they have a form-based code, I believe. We really enjoyed walking through the brown stones. We had breakfast at a cafe, a cup of coffee. We went to a bar, we watched a football game. I think it's a beautiful region, it's where tourists are attracted to. It's also proven that you can have high density growth, and you can have low crime, and also have affordable living. I think it's important that we have affordable living for the people that work in our town, our policemen, our firefighters. So I think we need to keep it affordable, and by controlling the growth, and where we control the growth is key. I think what we don't want to have is urban sprawl, where we have more large homes that are just bringing in more families. It's important that we follow the Williston Growth Plan, and make changes to it if it's necessary. Thank you very much, Mike. And we do have a caller on the line, so I'm going to ask them. I'm going to bring them on now, and hi, caller. Can you please state your name and your question for the candidates, please? Okay, my name is Rick, and two-part question. What political party do you each identify with? And the question is, the Williston Post Office is in terrible shape. On a good week, we get mail once a week. I know it's a federal issue, the Post Office, but what can they do to fix the problem with our lack of mail in Williston? Thank you very much for your question. All right, so, Mike, we'll start with you for that two-part question there. Excellent question, Rick. Yeah, I'm no national party here. This is local politics. Rather, we all love each other here, and we're not going to put national politics, I'm not going into this equation. Sadly, it is a national problem, the Post Office. I think all we can do is support our postal workers, take good care of them, and make sure our mailboxes are easy access, especially in the wintertime. You know, all plow the shovel of snow away from the snowbox. You know, just be mindful that our Post Office is going through some extremely tough times, and the people that we see in the office are extremely under duress, and just be as polite as we can to them. It's something we all have to work through. Thank you for the question. Thank you, Mike, and we'll move on to Ellie to answer this question. Sure, thanks for the question. I will identify that I am a Democrat, but I agree with Mike entirely that this office isn't partisan, and a lot of the issues that we're dealing with don't really lend themselves to one party platform or the other. Man, if I had a solution for the Post Office, I would win this Raisin' a Landslide. But seriously, I know it's very frustrating for all of us who live in town to not get your bills or important mail or Wilson Observer until the following week. And, you know, unfortunately, when I've asked the questions and been part of these conversations, the only answer that I'm hearing too is it's a federal issue and that there's a massive staffing shortage. So I don't know the answer, but I am willing to work hard to try to find it. And believe me, I'm right there with you. Thank you, Ellie, and thank you both for answering that caller's question. And thank you for calling in. Just as a reminder, if you'd like to call in and ask a question, the phone number is 802-862-3966. And in the meantime, we'll keep moving on down our list. And I'm not quite sure where we're at in terms of who's going first, so we'll keep it with Ellie. And we're going to move on to our question that has to do with your love of Williston. So can you tell us a little bit about why you care about and want to work for the community of Williston? And further, what are your favorite spots and why do you live here? Yeah, happily. So Williston is my hometown and I am biased, but it's a pretty incredible place to grow up. I left for college and grad school and spent a few years in D.C. but my plan was always to come back. And what brought me back was this big sense of community that I feel in Williston, the town traditions that endure and the good natured and caring people that make up much of the community. It has conveniences that I'm sure many Vermonters envy. It's located between the mountains and the lake. I love that the town is a mix of rural and modern. And it just truly feels like we have it all in Williston. So I've been interested in public service since my AP Gov class at CVU when I was 17. Everything I've done professionally since that has been in pursuit of becoming a more equipped public servant. I want to work on complicated and thorny issues, problem solved, and hopefully move the needle in a positive direction. This opportunity is, this is an opportunity to finally start doing the thing I want to do when I grow up. As for favorite spots, Catamount Forest, Suckerbrook Trails and the Bike Path, the Isham Family Farm for their Tuesday Night Farmers' Markets. Thank you. Yep. Let's see, Vermont Meat & Seafood, Williston Coffee Shop, and I'll give a plug for the new Junior Sidebar. Thank you, Ellie. Now, Mike, tell us a bit about your love for Williston. I'm proud of Williston. I'm proud of Vermont. You know, my favorite love of Williston is of my farm. You know, I love the metals. I love the woods. I love sugaring. I love being at the farm. That the rural Williston, you know, I like to be able to wander a corn maze, hike through the woods. I like to attend the Tuesday's Farmers' Market, whether we have it at the farm in the summertime. We have it from 1st of June through September. We have up to upwards of 30 vendors every week. We have live music. It's a great community gathering center. My wife has started a fine performing arts in the barn. We've got, we've had barn opera, we've had Tosca. We've had just amazing experiences at the farm. And I also love the historic village. I love the history in Williston. I think it's important to keep it. I saw a documentary on Phillipsburg, Montana, and about how the importance of why it's such an important town in Montana is because they've saved their historic structures. They've saved the history. They didn't just go in and raise it and build everything up new. So my vision of the town is I hope someday I can go down into the Taft Corners area where they have a pedestrian and bike-friendly area and I can have a cup of coffee at a cafe and enjoy the town center as much as I enjoy the woods of Williston on the farm. It's great. Thank you, Mike. And so next, the question has to do with all resident voting. And we'll start with Mike for this question. So a few communities around the state have implemented all resident voting in local elections, giving tax-paying non-citizen residents a chance to participate in local votes on school budgets, tax increases in candidates. Do you see this as a path to a more robust democracy in Williston? I do. I never thought about this before, but one of my best friends, he owns more property in Essex than the old IBM plant or the global foundries. But his home is in Williston. He's not allowed to vote in Essex on the budget issues. I feel that someone, a Vermont resident that owns land, you know, especially in a substantial amount of land, should have the right to vote on a town budget. I also believe that if someone like, for example, not picking on anyone, but if Elon Musk went up to the Northeast Kingdom and bought 50,000 acres across eight towns, that should not give him the right to vote in eight town budgets either. So I think it's a very good issue to look at. And I think, you know, we should expand it for Vermont residents. Thank you, Mike. And now we're gonna move on to Ellie for the same question. Do you see all resident voting as a path to a more robust democracy in Williston? So I'll start by saying I don't have a super strong position on this in particular. I feel like I could be swayed by a compelling argument to the contrary, but generally I've always been a strong supporter of increased voter participation and engagement. When I was in high school, I proposed an amendment to the Vermont State Constitution that I later had the joy of voting on when I was in college. But it allows 17 year olds to vote in a presidential primary if they'll be 18 by the general election. So I think participation in our democracy at every level is low. And I welcome opportunities to bring engaged community members into the process. Thank you, Ellie. And next question has to do with racial justice. And we're gonna start with you again, Ellie. Where do you see opportunities for addressing racial justice in the community of Williston? Sure. First, I support the work of the Williston Community Justice Center and support the town's racial equity value statement. And I know the town is currently working with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns and Abundant Sun as part of the welcoming and engaging communities cohort. So with that, they're currently in the process of collecting data on equity issues within the town to see where it can improve from within and where it stands relative to other towns. So I think this is a great step in the right direction to help make data-driven policy decisions. And I'm curious to see what story this data will tell and what recommendations will be made to continue to make progress. As for specific examples of areas that I imagine will be flagged, for opportunities for improvement, is increasing outreach to BIPOC communities when town employment opportunities arise. And of course, broken record here, but making progress and increasing affordable housing options in our town. Thank you, Ellie. And now Mike, same question. Where do you see opportunities for addressing racial justice in the community of Williston? I also believe that the Racial Justice Equity Board and the Community Justice Board are doing a great job in working towards that. Police Chief Foley and Sergeant Dan Shepherd of the Police Force have been actively involved in all of this traffic stops. And I know town manager Eric Wells has had national training for members of the town. So the town is working hard to address any issues as the town naturally grows, which I believe it will. You know, there'll be more things coming up and I believe that we will always improve where needed. Thank you, Mike. You're welcome. And we're coming up to the end of our forum here and I wanna give us enough time for if either of you have a question for the other to ask that now and then we'll do closing statements. So, Ellie, did you have a question for Mike? I did, yes. Okay. So you have on a couple occasions come out as opposed to the Glazer-specific plan and you said that even today that that was, the planning commission's vote was one of your determining factors that led you to run for this position. So I'm on the planning commission and that vote was a preliminary one about whether or not the commission believed the plan may provide a substantial benefit to the town. The vote enabled us to create a committee that will dive deeper into the proposal and then come back to the commission for approval and then we'll go to the select board for further approval. So there's still many steps left in this process before the plan is approved. So under existing zoning, the parcel is in the residential zoning district under current zoning and the owner has the absolute right to develop the parcel for as many houses as current zoning will allow, which is about 140. And there's no option for the town to forbid development on it and keep it afield forever. So the proposal gives about 50 acres of land to the town which maintains a viewshed, allows the moss farm to continue operations, potentially provide for a bike path connector and aims to develop the parcel at a vastly reduced density from what zoning would allow, which would be about 90 units. So the vote was just to explore the possibility of giving them a fast track in exchange for these benefits. With all that in mind, knowing that the alternative is to wait roughly 10 years for the traditional path to play out which will likely result in full capacity development and none of these benefits, are you still opposed to the vote to consider the plan? And if so, what would you say is the alternative? I believe I'm still against the plan because of the impact on the town's services. There's a specific growth management plan in place that takes into effect the water and sewage allotment. It also takes into effect the police and fire services. It takes into effect the all town services, traffic, other items. And I think it's important that we follow the town growth plan, the development bylaws of the town. The town's done a lot of serious work on this with the community. They've made decisions on the growth that they wanna allow. And I just see a lot of inequalities in different developments being built in Williston. And I don't think it's right that a developer can go and hire a paid lobbyist to come in and make changes to the town's specific plans that, you know, they've worked so hard to do. I just disagree. This is opening up a precedent to future growth that is out of control and urban sprawl is not what the town plan has in it. This is not part of the town plan. All right, thank you, Mike and Ellie. Unfortunately, we don't have much time left here, but I do wanna give you the opportunity if you have a question for Ellie to ask that, otherwise we'll do very, very quick closing statements. I'm fine. I think, you know, thank you, Ellie, for, you know, taking the time out to come down here and discuss these issues. I think it's important that there is active participation in town politics. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, in that case, thank you all for tuning in to Town Meeting TV's ongoing coverage of local candidates, local budgets, and ballot items. You can find this and more forums at www.ch17.tv. Don't forget to vote on or before March 7th. Ballots are not mailed automatically, so please check with your local clerk to request a ballot or make sure to get to the polls on March 7th. Thank you all for watching and sharing Town Meeting TV. If you're not already, please subscribe to our Town Meeting TV YouTube channel. Thank you all for coming tonight, and have a great night.