Stamford Select Board — glossary of town terms

Definitions of the Vermont municipal terms in these records, written for somebody who was not in the room. On the meeting pages the first appearance of each of these words is underlined and carries the definition when you hover or tap it.

Definitions are held in data/glossary.json and are meant to be corrected by a person. The counts and the example sentences are measured from this archive, so a term that the town does not actually use says so rather than looking authoritative.

NEMRC: The mass-appraisal firm the minutes refer to as Stamford's assessor, under contract, with grievance and Board of Civil Authority hearings included in the work.; also written: New England Municipal Resource Center; 38 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; The 2026-08-20 audio transcript writes "NMRAC". That is the transcription mishearing the name; the minutes for the same meeting say NEMRC. It is not a second company.
executive session: The narrow exception to the Open Meeting Law: a closed part of a meeting for a named reason, such as personnel matters or probable litigation. The reason must be stated and voted before the room is cleared, and the results are reported in the open record.; also written: executive session in closed session; 843 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; "Personnel; probable civil litigation" is the phrase Vermont uses to name the exception. The archive does not contain what was said inside these sessions.
Municipal Roads General Permit: A statewide stormwater permit covering town road work. Signing it commits the town to drainage and erosion practices, records and inspections for the work it already does on its roads.; also written: MRGP; 6 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; The vote is usually whether to accept the paperwork and the practice changes, not whether to fix roads.
Act 250: Vermont's land use law. Larger subdivisions, commercial and residential development go to a district commission for a permit with conditions. A certificate of eligibility says a proposal may proceed to that review.; also written: land use permit, certificate of eligibility; 28 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Act 250 review is not the same as town zoning. A project can satisfy the town and still need a state permit.
Development Review Officer: The regional official who screens Act 250 applications for completeness and helps applicants through the process before a commission hears them.; also written: DRO, development review officer; 0 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; In these minutes the DRO appears as a person to consult, not as a decision-maker.
common level of appraisal: What share of market value the grand list currently reflects. A common level well below 100% means assessed values are far below sale prices, and the state can order a reappraisal.; also written: CLA; 6 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; CLA is a town-wide number. It does not by itself say whether one property is over- or under-valued.
Board of Civil Authority: In Vermont, the selectboard together with the town's justices of the peace. It hears property tax grievance appeals after the listers, and it has duties in counting votes.; also written: BCA; 78 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; These minutes list ballot-counting duties for "board of civil authority" members. Those are BCA duties, not ordinary Select Board business.
Zoning Board of Appeals: The town board that hears appeals and variances against the zoning bylaw — when someone wants permission the zoning map does not plainly give.; also written: ZBA; 67 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Stamford's ZBA meets separately. Its sessions are outside this archive's scope; only Select Board meetings are transcribed here.
Conservation Commission: The town's advisory body on natural resources — wetlands, forests, trails, drinking water sources — which reviews projects and advises the board.; 98 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Its recommendations arrive at the Select Board; its own meetings are not transcribed in this archive.
hazard mitigation grant: Federal money to reduce the risk of future damage — for example replacing a culvert that fails during flooding. It comes with eligibility paperwork and a local share of the cost.; also written: FEMA; 254 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; In these minutes the grant choice is between an alternative design and its cost, not whether to repair at all.
tax anticipation note: Short-term borrowing against taxes that have been billed but not yet collected, so the town can pay bills on time. Interest is paid until the tax money arrives.; also written: tax anticipation loan, line of credit; 102 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; These minutes compare a line of credit with a short-term loan. The comparison is about interest and flexibility, not about whether to borrow.
Town Meeting Day: The first Tuesday in March, when Vermont towns vote on officers, budgets and articles. Much of what the Select Board decides in the months before it is preparation for this day.; also written: town meeting, Vermont town meeting; 250 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; The archive's meetings continue after Town Meeting Day; the decisions taken in February and January usually shape it.
errors in omissions: Vermont's route for fixing a property tax mistake outside the normal grievance window — a parcel left off the list, or valued on wrong facts. It needs a written petition to the listers.; also written: errors-in-omissions, error and omission, errors and omissions; 16 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; In these minutes it appears as a form the assessor was expected to send. It is not the same as an abatement.
justice of the peace: An elected town official, part of the Board of Civil Authority, and in some towns involved in ballot counting and civil paperwork.; also written: JCP; 58 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; A justice of the peace may appear in these minutes as a name on a roster rather than as a speaker.
ARPA: Federal pandemic-era aid sent through the state to small towns, with strict rules about what it may pay for and deadlines for spending and reporting it.; also written: American Rescue Plan; 79 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; The deadline is a reporting deadline, not just a spending deadline. Money that is not documented can have to be returned.
Planning Commission: The town's advisory body on land use, zoning changes and long-range planning. It recommends; the Select Board and voters decide.; also written: planning commission; 1220 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Planning Commission meetings are a separate series. This archive inventories them but does not transcribe them.
all-boards meeting: A joint meeting of the town's boards and commissions together, used when a question touches several of them at once.; also written: all boards; 66 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; The archive counts these as Select Board sessions in the audio record, but they are not ordinary board business.
Australian ballot: Voting by secret written ballot rather than by voice. Vermont towns may adopt it for town meeting, and it changes how a vote is counted and challenged.; also written: secret ballot; 10 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; If a town uses Australian ballot, "all in favor say aye" applies to the board's own votes, not to the town vote.
deliberative body: A group that makes decisions by voting. Whether a committee is one decides whether the Open Meeting Law applies to it.; also written: deliberative body, deliberative; 1 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; A group that only advises is usually not one. A group that votes on permits usually is.
Open Meeting Law: Vermont's law that a public body's deliberations happen in public, with notice and minutes. Committees that decide by majority vote are generally covered.; also written: OML; 41 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; A working session or a subcommittee can fall under this law even when nobody intended a meeting.
dedication: Formally accepting land as a public way or for public use, which puts it on the town's books to maintain.; also written: dedicating a way; 19 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; A dedication is a promise to keep maintaining something. That is why it takes discussion.
article: A formal question put to voters, numbered Article 1, Article 2 and so on, usually at Town Meeting Day. "Accept Article 3 as written" means vote yes on it unchanged.; also written: warrant article, warned article; 201 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; An article is a question for voters. A warrant is an order to pay money. The words get mixed up in conversation.
warrant: An order authorising the town treasurer to pay bills, numbered as they are issued. Reading and approving warrants is routine business at almost every meeting.; also written: warrant number, payroll warrant; 505 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Not the same as a warned article, even though both are called a warrant. One pays money out; the other asks voters for authority.
public hearing: A separately noticed meeting where the public is heard on one specific question, such as a bylaw change or a permit. The board must hear people out before deciding.; 80 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; A public hearing is not public comment. It is on the record about one item, and the notice for it is a legal step.
public comment: A part of a regular meeting set aside for residents to speak on anything. It is heard, not voted on.; also written: correspondence; 306 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; In these minutes "correspondence" often precedes it: letters and emails read into the record.
voice vote: The chair asks who is in favour and the room answers out loud. It is how the Select Board decides almost everything in this archive, and how the transcript usually records it.; also written: all in favor, aye; 2272 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; A voice vote produces no tally. "Unanimous" in the minutes is the chair's reading of the room.
class 4 road: Vermont's road classification. Class 1 is a state highway, class 2 is a state road through town, class 3 is a town road the state helps fund, class 4 is a town road the town manages on its own.; also written: class 1 road, class 2 road, class 3 road, road class; 36 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Reclassifying a road moves who plows it, who pays for it, and what standards apply. Debates about a road's class are budget arguments.
easement: A legal right to use part of someone else's land — to cross it, or to run utilities through it — usually recorded against the property.; also written: right of way, ROW; 96 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Right of way is the public's right to travel over a way; an easement is a specific right written into a deed. Both show up as parcels in the land discussions here.
reappraisal: Valuing every property on the grand list again. Since 2023 Vermont municipalities must do this about every six years unless the state approves a longer interval. Grievance hearings follow, and the state reviews the result.; also written: revaluation; 127 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; A reappraisal is not a tax increase by itself. It moves values toward market, and the tax rate is then set against the new list.
county road: A road the county maintains rather than the town. Changing a road's status moves the cost between the town budget and the county tax.; 149 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; In these minutes a county road was considered for changing to a trail, which would take it out of the road budget entirely.
town report: The annual published account of what each department did and what it spent, presented for review and sometimes approved at Town Meeting Day.; 77 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Departments were asked to turn reports in by a deadline here; late reports are a recurring theme in the tracker.
fiscal year: The accounting year a department budgets against. Vermont municipalities mostly run July 1 to June 30; school budgets and some state programs follow their own calendars.; 7 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Deadlines in these minutes often refer to the fiscal year rather than the calendar year, so a January figure can belong to a budget ending the following June.
grand list: The town's list of taxable property and its value. Municipal and school tax rates are computed from it, so its accuracy decides who pays what.; also written: tax list; 57 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Complaints about the grand list are usually complaints about fairness between neighbours, not about the town's total.
abatement: Reducing or cancelling a tax after it has been billed — for an error, an exemption the owner qualified for, or hardship the board chooses to relieve.; 52 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; An abatement changes what one person owes. It does not change the grand list.
bylaw: A town rule adopted by voters at town meeting, usually a zoning or subdivision bylaw. An ordinance is adopted by the board itself, such as one governing the conduct of meetings.; also written: ordinance; 391 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Changing a bylaw needs a vote of the town. Changing an ordinance needs only the board. That distinction shows up in how long a discussion takes.
lister: Vermont's elected official who values property and maintains the grand list. "Assessor" is often a hired or contracted role working alongside the listers.; also written: assessor; 486 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; These minutes sometimes debate whether Stamford should have elected listers or a contracted assessor. That is a choice of who does the valuing, not whether it gets done.
lay over: To postpone a decision to a later meeting, either to get more information or to let a question cool. It is not a no.; also written: table, hold, refer; 319 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; The archive's outcome words are not always consistent. "Tabled", "held" and "referred" all mean the item comes back.
warning: Vermont's public notice. A meeting, and any article voters will be asked to decide, has to be advertised a set number of days beforehand. In these minutes "the warning" is the notice for the next meeting, and a "warned article" is a question put to voters.; also written: warn, warned; 66 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; "warn" is a verb here, not a reprimand.
setback: The required distance between a building or structure and a road or property line, set by the zoning bylaw.; 32 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Requests to relax a setback come to the Zoning Board of Appeals as a variance.
quorum: The minimum number of members who must be present before the board can act. Below it, the meeting can hear people but cannot decide anything.; 50 mentions across the transcripts, minutes and decision records · find them; Minutes will record an absence; a meeting still proceeds if the quorum is met.