NORWICH — A Selectboard decision last month to continue to allow the town manager to work remotely two days a week has left some residents questioning the board’s move.

The board voted 3-2 on Oct. 23 to amend Town Manager Brennan Duffy’s contract to extend the town’s initial offer to pay $10,000 toward relocation expenses should he move from Rutland to the Upper Valley, in addition to allowing Duffy to continue working remotely two days a week. Duffy, who took over the town’s day-to-day operations in 2022, is being paid an annual salary of more than $145,000. 

The board’s discussion of changing the contract took place during an executive session on Oct. 9. Duffy currently is required to work in person in Tracy Hall three days a week. His original contract stated he would be required to work in person five days a week by next March, 18 months from the signing of his the September 2023 contract.

Some residents found the accommodation misguided.

“I think we need a manager who is present five days a week to talk to those of us who need his help and care,” a Norwich resident wrote on the town Listserv. “It’s very disappointing indeed to see changes to the town manager contract that encourage him not to be here full time.”

The amended contract allows Duffy to work remotely two days per week indefinitely, unless he relocates to the Upper Valley, in which case he would be expected to be in-person full time. The original contract and the amendment the board approved in October call for him to receive up to $10,000 in moving expenses should he relocate.

Duffy did not respond to requests for comment about the changes to his contract.

“There’s a generational divide about the value and appropriateness of remote work,” said Selectboard member Mary Layton who supported changing the amendment to the three-year contract. “People in town want to be able to walk into the town manager’s office at any time with a concern. His time needs to be protected.”

Layton, 70, said the housing market has made it difficult for Duffy to relocate. “He’s the Selectboard’s only employee and we want to keep him happy,” she said.

In September 2023, the board voted 3-2 to hire Duffy permanently, after he served in an interim capacity for nearly a year. He previously worked as executive director of the Rutland Redevelopment Authority.

The board hired Duffy without seeking input from the community or a formal candidate search.

“The amendment marks the second time in just over a year that the Norwich Selectboard has made a major decision about our town manager position behind closed doors,” wrote resident Chris Katucki in a blog post.

Residents have expressed their concerns with both the Selectboard and town counsel, the Burlington based firm, Stitzel Page & Fletcher. The lawyer present during the executive session discussing the contract amendment, John Klesch, said he is “unable to discuss whether my law firm has worked on a particular matter for a client.”

“The town counsel is not working on the town’s behalf,” said resident Kris Clement in a phone interview. “Why would they weaken a contract?”

Clement argues the board is “abusing” the use of executive session and using the guise of seeking legal advice from town counsel to do so.

“Every time they go into executive session, they drag a lawyer into the meeting so they don’t have to go into the preamble analysis,” Clement said.

In Vermont, boards can only enter executive session if “premature general public knowledge (of the content discussed) would clearly place the public body, or a person involved at a substantial disadvantage,” or a body is discussing “confidential attorney-client communications made for the purpose of providing professional legal services to the body,” according to Vermont League of Cities and Towns, or VLCT.

In order to go into executive session, a “careful analysis of the need to enter,” must be made and the board should give as much information as possible about what will be discussed, according to VLCT.

Neither the minutes for the Oct. 9 meeting, nor the meeting recording, reflect any analysis by the board before it moved into executive session.

According to the minutes of the Oct. 9 meeting, Layton “moved to find that premature general public knowledge would clearly place the public body, or a person involved at a substantial disadvantage pursuant to 1 V.S.A. § 313(a)(1).”

After the motion passed unanimously, Layton made a motion to enter executive session “to discuss the Town Manager’s Contract and to invite Town Counsel and the Town Manager as may be necessary,” which also passed unanimously.

VLCT states that contract negotiation is a valid reason to enter executive session, however Clement does not believe the board provided enough information, specifically no “careful analysis of the need to enter,” executive session.

“Transparency in government is critical,” said Clement. “They know how to game the system.”

There is “nothing sneaky” about how the board went about amending the contract, Layton said. The board went into executive session to “deliberate” and she does not find “anything wrong with that,” she added.

However, she acknowledged, “coming out and explaining the reasoning would’ve been better.”

Emma Roth-We lls can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.

CORRECTION: The Norwich Selectboard voted  3-2 on Oct. 23 to amend Town Ma nager Brennan Duffy’s contract to extend the town’s initial offer to pay $10,000 toward relocation expenses should he move from Rutland to the Upper Valley and to allow Duffy to continue working remotely two days a week. Duffy’s contract, first approved in September 2023, does not include a residency requirement. A previous version of this story gave an incorrect description of the changes made to Duffy’s contract.