here - City of Montpelier, Vermont

Montpelier 2012 / Annual Report / 74
Vermont League of
Cities and Towns
Serving and Strengthening
Vermont Local Government
The Vermont League of Cities and Towns
(VLCT) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
organization that is owned by its member
municipalities and directed by a 13-member
Board of Directors comprised of municipal officials from across
the state elected by the membership.
VLCT’s mission is to serve and strengthen Vermont local
government. All 246 Vermont cities and towns are members
of VLCT, along with 140 other municipal entities, including
villages and fire districts.
Vermonters use local government services, including highways,
police, fire, recreation, libraries, sewer, and water, on a daily
basis. In large part, volunteer elected and appointed municipal
officials lead these local governments.
VLCT provides the following services to its member cities
and towns, so that they may provide their citizens with quality
services at affordable costs:
• Legal, consulting and education services. In the past year,
VLCT responded to more than 3,000 inquiries for assistance
from municipal officials. Our Municipal Assistance Center
(MAC) conducted 23 workshops and 25 on-site training
sessions that attracted more than 1,600 people. Handbooks
produced by MAC may be purchased or accessed free of charge
on our website at our Resource Library. The Library also
contains nearly 1,000 other electronic documents, including
technical papers, model polices and newsletter articles that
are currently accessible to the general public. MAC has also
retained the services of professionals in municipal finance,
administration, and policing to provide consulting advice to
towns.
• Advocacy representation before the state and federal
governments to ensure that municipalities have the resources
and authority they need to serve their citizens. VLCT is a
leader in the education finance debate, enhancing local voter
authority in governance decisions, land use discussions, and
securing revenues for town highway and bridge maintenance
programs. Municipalities will face significant challenges in the
2012 legislature, assuring that they have the financial resources
and authority to recover from the effects of Tropical Storm
Irene.
• Purchasing opportunities to provide needed services at
the lowest cost. Examples include municipal employee health
insurance and liability coverage for town operations. The
VLCT Health Trust represents the most affordable option
available to provide health insurance to municipal employees.
The substantial municipal damages resulting from Tropical
Storm Irene made the value of VLCT Property and Casualty
Intermunicipal Fund (PACIF) to all our members painfully
clear, as members benefitted from the broad coverage, excellent
re-insurance, and prompt service and claims payments. These
two trusts, with the addition of the VLCT Unemployment
Trust, were responsible in 2010 for $43 million in municipal
tax dollars spent for insurance and risk management services.
To learn more about the Vermont League of Cities and Towns,
including its audited financial statements, visit the VLCT
website at www.vlct.org.
Central Vermont Economic
Development Corporation
The Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation
(CVEDC) provides a suite of programs and services that
include retention and expansion of our existing businesses;
promoting our region to those businesses considering
relocation to Vermont, and working on improving the
infrastructure necessary for economic growth in Vermont.
CVEDC has and will continue to work in partnership with
all the Central Vermont municipalities, and community
stakeholders to advance those initiatives identified by the
City of Montpelier as important to their residents and the
economic well-being of the community. In addition, the issues
of workforce development, telecommunications and housing
remain top priorities for CVEDC.
Although the national recession affected all of Vermont, the
Central Vermont region had been making steady progress
towards recovery. Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Irene
interrupted that progress with several communities severely
devastated by the storm. Since Tropical Storm Irene, CVEDC
has been working diligently with the affected businesses and
impacted municipalities by partnering with the State and
Federal entities, to bring assistance to those victims of the
flooding. We anticipate that work will continue for some time
to come.
CVEDC expends approximately 60% of its time allocation
on ‘Retention and Expansion’. To accomplish this goal, staff
conducts an active Business Contact & Visitation Program.
Establishing a working relationship with the Central Vermont
business community is paramount. Staff not only gathers
information regarding specific challenges and issues for the
business but also relays the suite of tools available from the State
of Vermont and other program partners such as USDA Rural
Development, the Small Business Administration, as well as
our regional partners. CVEDC maintains a strong relationship