NORWICH — Town Meeting voters will be asked whether to allow Vermonters who don’t live in Norwich to be elected or appointed to some town offices and boards.

If the article passes, non-Norwich residents could be “elected or appointed to town offices, not including selectboard or justices of the peace, or for boards or commissions that are established by state law and which are required to be composed of a majority of Norwich residents,” reads the article.

Selectboard member Marcia Calloway, who proposed the article and drafted it, declined to discuss the measure when reached by phone on Tuesday.

Calloway, along with Selectboard Vice Chairwoman Mary Layton and board member Roger Arnold, voted in favor of adding the article to the Town Meeting warning at the board’s Jan. 22 meeting. Selectboard Chairwoman Pam Smith and member Priscilla Vincent voted against it.

“We always have open positions,” Layton said in a phone interview.

This upcoming Town Meeting, there are no residents running for the Trustee of Public Funds three-year position or the three-year lister position. The Cemetery Commission, Historic Preservation Commission and Development Review Board all currently have vacancies.

For boards that are “more social and cultural,” Layton said, it could be helpful to open positions up to nonresidents. She said she could see someone who “really likes history or our trails,” being a good candidate. Layton pointed out that the article could also allow for “people priced out of  Norwich” to serve the town where they once lived.

Other board members questioned the premise of the proposal.

“I find this whole article abhorrent,” said Vincent in a recording of the Jan. 22 meeting. “I don’t see why we want somebody from outside of Norwich to be elected to a Norwich position. I think that’s just ridiculous.”

Although she understands that there are vacancies, Vincent said in a phone interview that “if it’s clear that we really need somebody, people might step up. Most of the people who live here care a lot.”

Town Clerk Lily Trajman also expressed concerns with the article. She wondered if residents would feel well-represented by people who aren’t part of the community.

“There’s not a lot of oversight,” she said in the recording of the meeting. “I’m held accountable by the people I see at the playground everyday when I drop my daughter off, at the transfer station, walking to get my mail.”

Act 157, which the Vermont Legislature passed in 2022, allows municipalities to invite nonresidents to serve as elected or appointed town officers, not including legislative bodies and justices of the peace, and with the caveat that a majority of any board or commission established by state law must be residents of the municipality.

“Some communities report having difficulty finding residents to fill these offices, while others have expressed a desire for a more regional perspective on certain boards and commissions,” a summary of the bill from Vermont League of Cities and Towns, or VLCT, said.

Even before the 2022 law passed, some municipal charters already allowed for nonresidents of a municipality to serve in a town officer role. Thetford doesn’t allow for non-residents to appear on their ballot, but there have been non-residents appointed to committees and offices such as zoning administrator, assistant town clerk, assistant town treasurer and the Treasure Island Exploratory Committee, according to Thetford Town Clerk Tracy Borst.

Ted Brady, the executive director of VLCT, said he is not sure how many municipalities have put forward an article like the one proposed in Norwich since the 2022 law passed, but “it’s common enough and VLCT is asked often enough about it, that VLCT has created a model article for towns to consider as part of our Town Meeting resource.”

Town Meeting voting in Norwich will take place on Tuesday, March 4 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Tracy Hall.

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com.