This will not be your Mother’s or your Grandmother’s Town Meeting. The 2021 Vernon Town Meeting will take place Sunday May 23rd, at 2 PM on the lawn outside Town Hall. The date and time, approved by Select board members on a 4 to nothing vote , was the result of a newly passed state law which allowed towns to push back their annual meeting dates during the Covid 19 pandemic. ** Please note- Bring your lawn chair**
According to Town Clerk Tim Arsenault, “ Select board members had wanted to find a way of holding an in person meeting this year. The final date, time and place are the result of numerous conversations with The Vermont Secretary of State’s office, legislators, the Vermont Agency of Commerce, plus numerous town staff and residents. The scheduled date will, no doubt, make someone unhappy, but it was the end result of nearly constant review and compromise over the past three months.”
The latest state guidelines for outside meetings allow for larger crowd sizes to attend. Participants must be masked, and answer a couple of brief questions during check in. Social distancing rules remain in effect. The state guidelines also forbid any table leafletting or food sales at the meeting, with the goal of going thru the items on the annual warning and then going home. We encourage you to bring a lawn chair.
The Selectboard approved the 2021 Warning on April 20 to be mailed to all town residents no later than the 23rd. Copies of the town’s annual report and Audit are available at Town Hall, or on line at https://vernonvt.org/town-reports/