A Week's Vacation
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| My Science Project - Vermont's Clean Water Initiative |
The Vermont General Assembly is not in session during Town Meeting week. For the most part I stayed away from State business but the days leading up to and around Town Meeting were busy. The weekend before Monday night's lasagna dinner I worked at putting together My Science Project to be displayed at the dinner. The picture shows the project: the two watersheds that pour water through Colchester: the Lamoille and the Winooksi rivers. The maps have numbered pins to show the various State funded projects in the watersheds.
I also worked on my speech to be given at the dinner. The text of the speech is provided further in this post. The other member of the Legislature just stand up and kinda talk about what their doing, but I still can;t leave a written script. so mostly I read what I have prepared. Though the speech was good, the delivery needs work.
Monday night there was the dinner and then the Official Town Meeting. The voting on Municipal and School budgets are the next day, but at this presentation in the Colchester High School Performing Arts Center the budgets are presented and there is the opportunity for the public to ask questions, There were no real contentious issues so the evening went smoothly.
Monday I was at the polls from 7:00 am until 1:00 pm helping out. I'm a greeter. Yes, like at Walmart. Mostly I help people determine which voting district they're in. Because I know the streets of my district so well, it's a good job for me. It also gives me a chance to re-connect with my constituents.
The rest of the week I relaxed, though I am preparing my report of H.874. Tuesday of next week I will report the bill out of committee on the House floor. It will be short and sweet. Just a quick explanation of a pretty simple bill. It's not my bill, but the Chair chose me to report it. That will be fun.
These coming weeks are expected to be busy. We have bills over from the Senate and more gun-related legislation. Our Town Meeting vote resulted in a Charter change that needs to be approved by the Legislature so I may well get involved in working that bill through the system. More to learn.
Tuesday - Night before Town Meeting Day
At Tuesday's School Board meeting we learned that the School District Budget was approved by the voters. Thank you Colchester voters. The Board knew that there was considerable concern over the estimated 10% increase in Homestead Property Tax rates. It remains to be seen when the actual rate increase will be.My Speech at the Lasagna Dinner
Down in Montpelier we begin each day’s work on the floor with a Devotional. Someone, usually from outside the House, gives a short talk, or speech, poem or just a thought. Last week, singer/songwriter John Gilmore gave us a song about Town Meetings in Vermont. It was warm, funny and thoughtful. To me it was a reminder of how unique Vermont, and New England, are in having these opportunities to vote on budgets and issues, to reunite with friends, and to talk openly with your town and state policy makers. Democracy is an incredible political institution and I am thankful that the voters of Colchester gave me an opportunity to be a part of it. Thank you.
I do really enjoy my job as your Representative. Not because I get a lot of free food at receptions, or a license plate with a 79 on it, or even because when I call a State agency I get a call back. The reason I like my job so much is because I get to learn so much. And I get to use what I learn to solve specific, important, real-live problems. The solutions can have a tangible, beneficial effect on the lives of the citizens of Vermont. Seeing those effects is very rewarding.
Here are a couple of problems with which I am involved this session.
I’m on the House Corrections and Institutions Committee. So that’s Corrections policy. Next week I’ll be on the House floor presenting a bill about what happens when a person enters the Corrections system and is already taking prescription and/or non-prescription medications. The person may also have serious mental health issues. He or she may be violent or suicidal. Providing a proper Medical care transition from the community to inside a prison is a messy issue I’d never thought of prior to being elected.
You may have heard that the governor has a long-term plan to build a 925-bed corrections campus in NorthWest Vermont. My committee will be considering that. But that problem will have to wait until we deal with the critical backup in Hospital Emergency Departments caused by Corrections and Mental Health patients. It took us many hours of testimony to finally understand how people move through the Criminal Justice and Mental Health systems.
Vermont’s Clean Water Initiative relies on about 20 million dollars a year of Capital Funds. My Committee is responsible for the Capital Budget, so we get to worry about that one as well. Is that money well spent? Where and how should it be spent. I put together that poster display to give you some idea of the scope of the Clean Water Initiative. The Science is fascinating. The funding is equally so. Different agencies have different funds, each with its own restrictions and purposes. They all need to be coordinated to assure tax payers that Clean Water Funds are spent efficiently and effectively.
Because I’m also on the Colchester School Board and believe strongly in the importance of public education, I try to keep up with Education Funding in Vermont. Every time there’s a forum coming up or a gathering like this, I live in fear that someone will ask, “So, Honorable Representative Taylor, what exactly is this thing called the Dollar Yield?” Up until about a week ago I never had an answer I believed in. I now do.
This session has already been, and will continue to be, very interesting. There are important issues being worked through. I have great respect for all the members of the House and am proud to be a part of that body. I am confident that when the session ends in May . . . (or June) we will have taken positive steps, toward solving some of the problems confronting both the State and its citizens.
Thank You.
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| Me Helping at the Polls |
I do really enjoy my job as your Representative. Not because I get a lot of free food at receptions, or a license plate with a 79 on it, or even because when I call a State agency I get a call back. The reason I like my job so much is because I get to learn so much. And I get to use what I learn to solve specific, important, real-live problems. The solutions can have a tangible, beneficial effect on the lives of the citizens of Vermont. Seeing those effects is very rewarding.
Here are a couple of problems with which I am involved this session.
I’m on the House Corrections and Institutions Committee. So that’s Corrections policy. Next week I’ll be on the House floor presenting a bill about what happens when a person enters the Corrections system and is already taking prescription and/or non-prescription medications. The person may also have serious mental health issues. He or she may be violent or suicidal. Providing a proper Medical care transition from the community to inside a prison is a messy issue I’d never thought of prior to being elected.
You may have heard that the governor has a long-term plan to build a 925-bed corrections campus in NorthWest Vermont. My committee will be considering that. But that problem will have to wait until we deal with the critical backup in Hospital Emergency Departments caused by Corrections and Mental Health patients. It took us many hours of testimony to finally understand how people move through the Criminal Justice and Mental Health systems.
Vermont’s Clean Water Initiative relies on about 20 million dollars a year of Capital Funds. My Committee is responsible for the Capital Budget, so we get to worry about that one as well. Is that money well spent? Where and how should it be spent. I put together that poster display to give you some idea of the scope of the Clean Water Initiative. The Science is fascinating. The funding is equally so. Different agencies have different funds, each with its own restrictions and purposes. They all need to be coordinated to assure tax payers that Clean Water Funds are spent efficiently and effectively.
Because I’m also on the Colchester School Board and believe strongly in the importance of public education, I try to keep up with Education Funding in Vermont. Every time there’s a forum coming up or a gathering like this, I live in fear that someone will ask, “So, Honorable Representative Taylor, what exactly is this thing called the Dollar Yield?” Up until about a week ago I never had an answer I believed in. I now do.
This session has already been, and will continue to be, very interesting. There are important issues being worked through. I have great respect for all the members of the House and am proud to be a part of that body. I am confident that when the session ends in May . . . (or June) we will have taken positive steps, toward solving some of the problems confronting both the State and its citizens.
Thank You.
