YES means NO, and NO means YES
Erik Wells, Williston Town Manager
Dear Williston Community –
On March 30, 2026, the Town Clerk received and yesterday confirmed the submission of a valid petition signed by 5% of the registered voters in Town requesting reconsideration of the Town Meeting Day vote on Article 6 held this past March 3, 2026. Article 6 stated as follows:
Shall the voters authorize renovation and expansion of the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library and associated improvements to the Village Green and the issuance of general obligation bonds or notes of the Town in an amount not to exceed Thirteen Million Nine Hundred Thousand and 00/100 Dollars ($13,900,000.00), subject to reduction by grants-in-aid and funds then available to the Town, to pay the capital costs and related other costs of the project?
Under 17 V.S.A. § 2661, if a petition requesting reconsideration of a question voted on at a previous annual or special meeting is filed with the clerk of the municipality within 30 days following the date of that meeting, the Selectboard shall call a town-wide meeting to vote on the matter raised in the petition within 60 days of its submission.
The Williston Selectboard will discuss and consider setting a date for a Special Town Meeting to vote on whether to reconsider Article 6 for the renovation and expansion of the Dorothy Alling Memorial Library and associated improvements to the Village Green at its next meeting on Tuesday, April 7th.
The Special Town Meeting will have this single article to consider following all the legal parameters required. This includes early voting available 20 days prior to the Special Town Meeting, an absentee ballot sent to anyone who requested one for Town Meeting Day on March 3rd, and holding a public information hearing prior to the Special Town Meeting. The date of the Special Town Meeting will be set by the Selectboard but must be held by May 29, 2026.
At Town Meeting, Williston voters approved Article 6 to authorize the issuance of a bond for the library/village green project by the following tally:
Yes- 1,262
No- 1,215
The article will appear on the ballot asking voters to reconsider the result from Town Meeting Day. An important element of what is being asked is to reconsider the outcome from the original vote.
- A “yes” vote at the Special Town Meeting supports reconsideration of Article 6, which will overturn the original result (reconsider) and reject the authorization to issue a bond for the library/village green project.
- A “no” vote at the Special Town Meeting defeats the reconsideration of Article 6, which authorizes the Town to proceed with issuance of the bond as approved at Town Meeting. Nothing changes from the original approval.
In addition, for the reconsideration article to pass, the number of votes in favor of reconsideration needs to be at least two-thirds of the number of votes that were in favor of the original bond article on Town Meeting Day. Therefore, the minimum number of majority votes needed to approve reconsideration is 842 “yes” votes.
The Town will provide an update on the date for the Special Town Meeting to reconsider the library/village green bond article next week following the April 7th Selectboard meeting. The estimated cost for the Town to hold the Special Town Meeting is $4,000.
Leading up to the vote at the Special Town Meeting I encourage community members who have any questions about the project including its scope and financial components to contact myself or Library Director Kevin Unrath directly (contact information below). There will be several opportunities planned to connect with the community to go over the project scope and answer questions leading up to the Special Town Meeting. If you would like to meet with Town staff to discuss the project please reach out. The project website contains extensive information about the project need, the development process for the project scope that kicked off in 2022, and the ongoing capital campaign to support the project. It can be accessed at https://willistonlibraryproject.org/.