• Home
  • News
  • Features
    • Elsewhere in Vermont
    • VT Fish & Wildlife News
    • And The Islander Goes To...
    • Only in The Islands
    • Legislative Update
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
  • Events
    • Trunk or Treat Photos
  • Town News
    • Alburgh
    • Grand Isle
    • Isle La Motte
    • North Hero
    • South Hero
  • Islander Boutique
    • Islander Merchandise
    • Subscribe
  • Classifieds
    • For Sale
    • Real Estate
    • Employment
    • For Rent
    • Wanted
    • Services
    • Legal Notices
  • Municipal Calendar
  • Submit Info
    • Submit an Event
    • Summit a Community Meal
  • About
  • Archives
    • Recent Issues
    • The 70's
  • Contact
    • Islander in Your Inbox
  • Advertise
    • Classified Ads
    • Display Advertising
The Islander
  • Home
  • News
  • Features
    • Elsewhere in Vermont
    • VT Fish & Wildlife News
    • And The Islander Goes To...
    • Only in The Islands
    • Legislative Update
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
  • Events
    • Trunk or Treat Photos
  • Town News
    • Alburgh
    • Grand Isle
    • Isle La Motte
    • North Hero
    • South Hero
  • Islander Boutique
    • Islander Merchandise
    • Subscribe
  • Classifieds
    • For Sale
    • Real Estate
    • Employment
    • For Rent
    • Wanted
    • Services
    • Legal Notices
  • Municipal Calendar
  • Submit Info
    • Submit an Event
    • Summit a Community Meal
  • About
  • Archives
    • Recent Issues
    • The 70's
  • Contact
    • Islander in Your Inbox
  • Advertise
    • Classified Ads
    • Display Advertising

News

Spaulding and budget win at ILM election

4/9/2021

 
PictureTaxpayers also voted 138-69 to tell the ILM Selectboard to consider relocating the municipal offices to the Isle La Motte Elementary School. Photo by Connie Boutin, Islander Contributor.
By MICHAEL DONOGHUE
Islander Staff Writer


ISLE LA MOTTE -- Isle La Motte voters re-elected Selectboard member Rusty Spaulding and approved a proposed $533,971 budget for calendar 2021 Friday during a delayed Town Meeting Day vote.

Taxpayers also voted 138-69 to tell the ILM Selectboard to consider relocating the municipal offices to the Isle La Motte Elementary School, which no longer has classes.  It was a non-binding advisory vote designed to get a sense from the community.

Spaulding defeated former Selectboard member Sylvia Jensen 135-74 in a sometimes contentious race for a 3-year seat.    Jensen is believed to be the only woman ever to serve on the Selectboard in the history of the island town.

"It's time to move forward," Spaulding, the senior member on the board, told The Islander on Friday evening.  He said Jensen offered him congratulations. 

Eight other posts were filled by people running unopposed and other minor ballot items were approved. 

The budget was approved 131-82 during balloting, which ended at 7 p.m. Town Clerk Sarah Noble said about 1:30 p.m. there had been heavy early voting and less than two-dozen people coming to the polls.

Jensen has been part of a group of residents that had questioned how the 3-member Selectboard  has operated.  They also raised issues about transparency, the annual budget and a little-known effort to move the town offices to the school. Spaulding said he expects the oversight of the Selectboard will continue. 

The original ILM Town Meeting Day on March 2 was postponed because Vermont's Attorney General sided with Jensen's  formal complaint that the Selectboard had violated the Open Meeting Law.  The Selectboard failed to warn at least two budget workshops for the public to attend, had no meeting minutes and also approved the budget without allowing any public comment, officials said.  As part of the signed settlement with the Attorney General, the Selectboard agreed to attend Open Meeting Law training.

A second ILM Town Meeting Day in early April was postponed after the Selectboard said its legal warning needed to be corrected.  The third voting date was Friday and some residents have questioned if that legal warning was properly distributed as required by law.




Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

What Our Clients Are Saying

To the Editor,
I have just finished reading (online) this week’s edition of the paper.  I really enjoyed your article and I’m so happy to see you are now able to expand staff and reporting.  
The Islander is such an important part of Grand Isle County and beyond.  
The North Hero I grew up in is very different today and yet very much the same. There might be bigger houses and more emphasis on tourism, but in the end it’s all about community. I have read The Islander since the very first issue.  
 The border remains closed and I am not able to visit my beloved home town, but reading The Islander every week has kept me connected for all these months.  I long for the day I can cross the Rouses Point Bridge and see the sign “Entering Vermont” and then over the bridge from Alburgh and finally see that sign that says “Welcome to North Hero”….Home!
Phyllis Dodds Dale
Ottawa / North Hero

Contact Us

    Sign Up for Emails

Submit
© 2021 The Islander. All rights reserved.
  • Home
  • News
  • Features
    • Elsewhere in Vermont
    • VT Fish & Wildlife News
    • And The Islander Goes To...
    • Only in The Islands
    • Legislative Update
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
  • Events
    • Trunk or Treat Photos
  • Town News
    • Alburgh
    • Grand Isle
    • Isle La Motte
    • North Hero
    • South Hero
  • Islander Boutique
    • Islander Merchandise
    • Subscribe
  • Classifieds
    • For Sale
    • Real Estate
    • Employment
    • For Rent
    • Wanted
    • Services
    • Legal Notices
  • Municipal Calendar
  • Submit Info
    • Submit an Event
    • Summit a Community Meal
  • About
  • Archives
    • Recent Issues
    • The 70's
  • Contact
    • Islander in Your Inbox
  • Advertise
    • Classified Ads
    • Display Advertising