04/02/2026
𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲/𝐕𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 - 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐤 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬
Dear Williston Community –
On March 30, 2026, the Town Clerk received and on March 31, 2026, confirmed the submission of a valid petition signed by 5% of the registered voters in Town requesting reconsideration of the Town Meeting Day vote on Article 6 held this past March 3, 2026. Article 6 stated as follows:
𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑦 𝐴𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 00/100 𝐷𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑠 ($13,900,000.00), 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠-𝑖𝑛-𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡?
Under 17 V.S.A. § 2661, if a petition requesting reconsideration of a question voted on at a previous annual or special meeting is filed with the clerk of the municipality within 30 days following the date of that meeting, the Selectboard shall call a town-wide meeting to vote on the matter raised in the petition within 60 days of its submission.
The Williston Selectboard will discuss and consider setting a date for a Special Town Meeting to vote on whether to reconsider Article 6 for the renovation and expansion of the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library and associated improvements to the Village Green at its next meeting on Tuesday, April 7th.
The Special Town Meeting will have this single article to consider following all the legal parameters required. This includes early voting available 20 days prior to the Special Town Meeting, an absentee ballot sent to anyone who requested one for Town Meeting Day on March 3rd, and holding a public information hearing prior to the Special Town Meeting. The date of the Special Town Meeting will be set by the Selectboard but must be held by May 29, 2026.
At Town Meeting, Williston voters approved Article 6 to authorize the issuance of a bond for the library/village green project by the following tally:
Yes- 1,262
No- 1,215
The article will appear on the ballot asking voters to reconsider the result from Town Meeting Day. 𝐀𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞.
• A “yes” vote at the Special Town Meeting supports reconsideration of Article 6, which will overturn the original result (reconsider) and reject the authorization to issue a bond for the library/village green project.
• A “no” vote at the Special Town Meeting defeats the reconsideration of Article 6, which authorizes the Town to proceed with issuance of the bond as approved at Town Meeting. Nothing changes from the original approval.
In addition, for the reconsideration article to pass, the number of votes in favor of reconsideration needs to be at least two-thirds of the number of votes that were in favor of the original bond article on Town Meeting Day. Therefore, the minimum number of majority votes needed to approve reconsideration is 842 “yes” votes.
The Town will provide an update on the date for the Special Town Meeting to reconsider the library/village green bond article next week following the April 7th Selectboard meeting. The estimated cost for the Town to hold the Special Town Meeting is $4,000.
Leading up to the vote at the Special Town Meeting I encourage community members who have any questions about the project including its scope and financial components to contact myself or Library Director Kevin Unrath directly (contact information below). There will be several opportunities planned to connect with the community to go over the project scope and answer questions leading up to the Special Town Meeting. If you would like to meet with Town staff to discuss the project please reach out. The project website contains extensive information about the project need, the development process for the project scope that kicked off in 2022, and the ongoing capital campaign to support the project. It can be accessed at https://willistonlibraryproject.org/.
Sincerely,
Erik Wells
Town Manager
𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲/𝐕𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
Kevin Unrath, Library Director:
[email protected]
802-878-4918
Erik Wells, Town Manager:
[email protected]
802-876-1168
