Selectboard

Local Government

The Town of Essex is governed by a council-manager form of government. It has a five-member nonpartisan Selectboard, which is elected at large and serves as the Town's primary legislative body. The Town Selectboard and the Village of Essex Junction Trustees appoint the Unified Manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations, to draft a budget, and to implement and enforce Town policy and legislative initiatives. All residents, whether they live inside or outside of the Village of Essex Junction, are residents of the Town and have the right to participate in Town of Essex activities, including the election of Town officials.

View the Manager's Department page

Meetings

The Town Selectboard meetings are held via a hybrid meeting model that utilizes Microsoft Teams.  Participants may attend in person at the location indicated on the agenda or remotely. Meeting links can be found at the top of each agenda or by clicking on the calendar event from the Home Page.  For further instruction on how to access meetings, please view our tip sheet. Town Selectboard meetings:

  • Begin at 6:30 PM
  • Typically the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month
  • are held at in the main conference room at the Town Offices at 81 Main Street, Essex Junction, Vermont.

Hybrid Meetings

Beginning in June 2021, Town Meeting TV installed a pilot hybrid system for the Town of Essex. This allows continued remote access and offers a new alternative for attending public meetings. Under the new model, board members, staff and the public can either participate in person at the location of the meeting or attend remotely via phone or laptop. 

The hybrid approach aims to ensure that residents have continued access to meetings in a format that is most comfortable for them. Those participating via Microsoft Teams do not need to download the application and can join using their internet web browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, etc.). 

For quality viewing for all attending, participants who join remotely are asked to mute their microphones and turn off their videos when not speaking.


To learn more about joining a Microsoft Teams meeting, please watch this short video:

Screen shot to Join MS Teams Meeting Opens in new window

Agendas & Minutes

Agendas, meeting minutes, and Selectboard meeting packets are available by following the links below. The documents are also kept on file at the Town Offices at 81 Main St., and may be viewed upon request.

Selectboard meetings are aired on CCTV Town Meeting TV. Please visit their website for airtimes. Meetings are also live streamed on CCTV Town Meeting TV's YouTube Channel.

View Most Recent Agendas / Packets and Minutes

Information Packets

View meeting information packets from 2018-2019

SUBMISSIONS FOR PACKETS: If you have items for the Selectboard meeting packets or a request to be placed on an agenda, please send your request to Linda Mahns at lmahns@essex.org or Greg Duggan at gduggan@essex.org.  To be considered, all submissions and requests must be received by noon on Wednesday before the date of the next scheduled Selectboard meeting. 

Selectboard Members

Name
Term Expires
Phone ContactEmail Contact
Contact all members

selectboard@essex.org
Andy Watts, Chair2023(802) 872-8927awatts@essex.org
Patrick Murray, Vice Chair
2022

pmurray@essex.org
Tracey Delphia, Clerk2024

(802) 598-3168

tdelphia@essex.org
Sue Cook
2022
(802) 734-1373
scook@essex.org
Dawn Hill-Fleury
2022
(802) 878-7622


To ask questions or contact Selectboard members, you may also contact the Unified Manager, Evan Teich at eteich@essex.org or by calling (802) 878-1341.

Perspective

  1. General supervision of town affairs, working through the Town Manager.
  2. Ensure fair and credible planning and zoning process.
  3. Provide direction.
  4. Encourage communication among all entities.
  5. Provide financial and staff support through the preparation of the town budget.
  6. Insure appointees are qualified.

Functions

  1. Adopt ordinances, town plan and bylaws.
  2. Authorize permit issuance under interim zoning or during bylaw amendment hearings.
  3. Approve performance bonds for required public improvements.
  4. Approve application and hearing fees.
  5. Accept streets.
  6. Adopt impact fees and ordinances.
  7. Appoint and remove the Town Manager and supervise, create, change, and abolish offices, commissions or departments other than the offices, commissions or departments established by charter.
  8. Appoint the members of all boards, commissions, committees, or similar bodies unless specifically provided otherwise by charter.
  9. Provide for an independent audit by a registered or certified public accountant.
  10. Inquire into the conduct of any officer, commission or department and investigate any and all municipal affairs.
  11. Exercise other power which is granted to the Selectboard by the Statutes of the State of Vermont.

News

Village Separation/Independence

Charter Change

The March 3, 2020 ballot included a question that was posed by a voter-backed petition, asking if the Town charter should be changed to create a six-member Selectboard with three members elected from the Village of Essex Junction and three from outside the Village.  Voters passed the proposed change, 4,032 - 2,614. The charter change was sent to the Vermont Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Legislature for consideration.

Read the letter from leadership of House Government Operations relating to the proposed Essex charter change.