Selectboard — October 6, 2025

SUNAPEE SELECTBOARD — October 6, 2025: What Was Decided Without Public Notice

Monday's Selectboard meeting looked routine on the agenda. It wasn't. Several significant decisions about your taxes, town staffing, and public safety were made without being listed as agenda items — meaning residents had no advance notice and no real opportunity to prepare or attend specifically for these discussions.

Here's what was decided or substantively advanced on 10/6 without prior public notice:

• The 2026 budget baseline was set. The board agreed to use the default budget — not the failed 2025 budget — as the starting point for next year's planning. This affects everything downstream: staffing, fee levels, and your tax bill. It was not on the agenda.
• A new full-time HR officer position was agreed to for inclusion in the 2026 budget. The town manager acknowledged the lack of administrative staff is contributing to unclean audits. That's an important admission — and a permanent new expenditure — made without a posted agenda item.
• Ambulance fee increases are baked into the default budget baseline the board just adopted. Specific amounts were not disclosed at the meeting.
• The fire department was told to choose between a full-time chief and expanded per diem staffing for 24/7 coverage. A board member warned that requesting both could result in getting neither. This is a direct public safety tradeoff and it was set without agenda notice.
• Vandalism at the hydro facility may expand into an unplanned capital project to meet FERC compliance requirements. Cost is unknown. There was no formal vote and no agenda notice.

Additionally, a resident raised an unresolved complaint about procedural favoritism — alleging that LSPA representatives were allowed to speak at a prior meeting without following required procedures. The board chair declined to address the substance of the complaint. No review was promised.

The town manager also stated on the record that 'we didn't always do things right,' referencing ongoing legal complications from past administrative errors, including problems with how road takeovers were handled on the George Mills Bridge project. These are real costs to taxpayers stemming from past decisions — and they deserve more than a passing mention in an unagendized discussion.

Published minutes from this meeting end mid-sentence during the fire chief discussion, and they conflict with the transcript on the Conservation Commission's budget request amount. Residents who rely on the written record alone are missing information.

If you live in Sunapee, these decisions affect your tax rate, your emergency services, and how your town is run. The Selectboard meets regularly — check the agenda before each meeting and show up when the items that matter to you are (or should be) on it.