Three Tunbridge
Officials Quit

Tunbridge Town Moderator Euclid Farnham lives on a scenic farm on a high hill above the village. A really high hill.

And when Farnham looked out his window at the road on Town Meeting morning, all he saw was ice.

He placed a call to the town clerk. "I’m coming to Town Meeting," he told her. "But only when I have some sand on my road."

By 9:30, the sand trucks had made a pass, and Farnham headed down the road. He wasn’t alone in being delayed by slippery roads. Between the roads and a huge turnout—some 245 people—the meeting started 20 minutes late.

And a moderator, it turned out, was particularly necessary this year. A full half-hour of Town Meeting was consumed in what Farnham called an "unfortunate" disagreement between the three trustees of public funds and the town auditors.

As explained by trustee Townsend Swayze, the trustees felt slighted with remarks in the town report, inserted by the auditors. The auditors didn’t question the investment policies of the trustees, but they were frustrated by not getting the reports they wanted. Swayze called the auditors’ words "unduly harsh and announced that all three trustees would resign immediately—himself, John Durkee and Marian White.

And resign they did.

It’s an important position, Farnham said. Tunbridge has hundreds of thousands of invested funds, he said, including about $300,000 that has been anonymously donated by one person over the years to take care of the highways.

The positions were, however, able to be filled. Scott Terami, Peter Jorgensen, and Nancy Howe were elected.

There was also a three-way contest for selectboard to replace James Spaulding, who has been on the board nine years. Shane Young defeated Todd Tyson and Ingrid Pease for the position.

Tunbridge also has a new school board member, as Lorinda Oliver defeated Kathy Galluzzo for the seat being vacated by six-year veteran Fred Welch.

Both school and town budgets passed, and both had modest increases which, nevertheless, could cause taxes to rise almost 10%.

No Speed Trap!

The most constructive achievement of this year’s town meeting, Farnham believes, was to take the first step toward providing law enforcement in the town of about 1000.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will be given a contract of about $6000 to provide a presence that the town has lacked. Constables have not exercised enforcement powers, and "you call State Police and they may be in Bellows Falls or somewhere," he explained.

The sheriff’s services were outlined by Deputy David Eggum, a town resident who would be one of the deputies assigned to Tunbridge.

Ironically, the greatest worry that Eggum had to overcome was that there might be too much enforcement. Apparently more than a few Tunbridge residents have been caught in what they consider an egregious speed trap in Sharon—and they didn’t want Tunbridge to become a speed trap town as well.

Eggum was able to assuage their concern and the $6000 passed handily.

Another $6000 was voted in additional money to the Recreation Department, after a lot of discussion. The town must find another source for water for its swimming pool, located near the Little League field near Route 110. Thornton Hayslett was able to get approval for $6000, on top of the $9451 in the regular budget, to make a start in solving that problem.

The Tunbridge Town Meeting left unfinished business, however. When the time came to appropriate money to the First Branch Ambulance, which serves Tunbridge and Chelsea, nobody was there to request it, or even come up with a number.

Without a spokesperson present, citizens decided to bypass the request altogether.

Such an appropriation is important to First Branch, and the omission will undoubtedly require a special town meeting to be warned in the future.