Editorial

At the very beginning of the 18th Century, Europe fought a war to assure that the thrones of Spain and France would not ever be united under one monarch. It was called the War of Spanish Succession.

Now, locally, we have embarked upon what is to happen upon the succession of Bill Lyon in his positions as Superintendent of Public Works and Roads. Should these positions be under one monarch or split up? Who should be the monarch who runs these departments, if there is to be any monarch at all? At the moment there appears to be no public consensus and certainly, no consensus among the members of the selectboard and village trustees.

The reason all of this is happening is because there is no plan for succession.

At the Selectboard meeting in Northfield to finalize the budget recommendation to the voters, Selectman Charlie Morse opined that he did not believe that a sufficient plan was in place presently to allow for a smooth succession in the public works department if Bill Lyon were to be replaced.

He stated that originally, he voted to eliminate the position of superintendent of public works to save money and because he was assured that there was a plan.

However, the town manager did not appear to exude confidence that a change over in July of this year would be a smooth one. She said that it would be hard work and would be very difficult.

This I believe was the reason that Mr. Morse along with three other selectboard members voted to put the position of superintendent of highways and four of the trustees voted to put superintendent of public works back into the 2010 budget.

However, that cannot be the end of the story.

There must be a succession plan.

Dick Wobby during his address to the joint meeting of the selectboard and village trustees made it abundantly clear that a succession plan is essential to assure a smooth transition and noted that only if a written plan were in place would the various crews who make up the department of public works and highways continue to have good morale and confidence in their leadership.

Both selectmen Mel Adams and Ken Johnson voiced their opinion that a plan was essential and vowed to work on one.

I have striven to find out whether a succession plan currently exists and have discovered that Charlie Morse did, at one time, propose a written plan but it is now obsolete and, in any event, it was never formally acted upon.

Kenny Goslant, another member of the selectboard said both at the meeting and to me that there is a plan but admitted that it had never been acted upon by the selectboard or the trustees and is not in writing.

He said the evidence of a plan coming forth was the fact that both of the current foremen who work in public works and highways have taken courses to further their education and prepare them to be administrators.

This is a step in the right direction but there must be more.

Bill Lyon has had the position of Superintendent of Public Works since 1981 and has run the water department even longer, since 1974.

There is just no one else who has the experience to handle all of the duties that he currently performs. None of the crews have spent a great deal of time working in the office. They have been too busy working out in the town and the village.

I want to state here that in my humble opinion, the work crews and their supervisors do a wonderful job maintaining the streets, roads and make sure that our utilities are maintained in the very best condition at all times.

They are a credit to the town and the village.

As Mr. Wobby stated at the time of the joint meeting, Mr. Lyon will at some time be retiring. Most likely, that will come within the next two years.

To assure a smooth transition, it is essential that a written plan be developed which will guarantee a smooth and confident succession.

The plan should be in writing and should be acted upon by both the selectboard and the trustees. A written plan should be proposed and should be discussed with input from the general public. I have attempted to put together a list things which the plan should address. They are certainly not all of the matters which need to be taken up to put a plan together, but they are, perhaps, the most important ones from a police point of view.

The questions which need to addressed and answered are, among others:

Will there continue to be a superintendent of public works and if so, what are the minimum requirements for anyone who is to hold that position?

Will there continue to be a highway superintendent for the merged town and village highways and if so, what are the minimum requirements for that position?

Should the town and village attempt to promote from within or should they find a candidate to bring in to take these positions who is a civil engineer?

Or, should there be a preference to persons who have been with the departments, only seeking a superintendent from outside there is no suitable candidate in the departments currently?

Should there be a training program if the preference is to promote from within and should that training program be undertaken at the earliest possible time to enable the successors to be ready when Mr. Lyon does retire?

Who is to undertake the training and how many hours should be dedicated to this function?

Does there need to be a budget item to cover the cost of the training?

Clearly, there are extremely capable candidates who are currently working in the public works department and in highways. However, just as clearly, they need to gain administrative experience and that should be a part of the plan when a plan is developed.

This is not something that should be put on the back burner, facing it once again when the budget for 2011 rolls around and a discussion once again begins about the question of succession. A written plan must be formulated and must be openly discussed with public input and then it must be adopted by a vote of the selectboard and village trustees.

Until that happens, both the town and village are very much at risk.