GUILFORD — Becky Stone is already busy in her new position as town administrator. She was hired in December amid preparations for grants, budget reviews, and the upcoming Annual Town Meeting. Once hired, she accepted immediately.
Today, she remains unperturbed and is busy planning for a proposal for a Town Highway Structures Grant from the state Agency of Transportation, which will seek money to reinforce the Green River Bridge, whose load rating was reduced from 8 tons to 4 tons last fall.
The job? “It's going great, actually,” she confirmed in an interview.
Stone has deep ties to the area. She now lives in Halifax but grew up in East Colrain, Mass., and spent her childhood driving to the Guilford area, where her grandparents and great grandparents once lived.
She has worked for 10 years for the town governments of Heath and Bernardston, Mass., performing duties that are similar to her current role.
Stone says her willingness to represent the towns at state meetings let her develop valuable connections.
The differences between Massachusetts state government and Vermont government are many, Stone noted. In her three weeks on the job, she has found considerably less bureaucracy in Vermont.
“The process is more streamlined than in Massachusetts,” she recalls - “less layers.”
She hopes to connect with legislators here as she had in Massachusetts - a prerequisite for making sure the town's interests are represented at the state level.
State legislators are instrumental in meeting the needs of small towns, she said: “It's who your friends are.”
Stone said she is impressed with the efforts of municipalities and the local media with communicating town government news, noting the speed with which Brattleboro Community Television (BCTV) makes video of town meetings available for streaming on its website.
She also is impressed with how quickly Guilford posts its public documents on its website, a contrast to some of her experiences in Massachusetts.
That type of public outreach is essential, she said.
Her experience has also taught her that it's “critical that people get the information as quickly as possible, in the event that there's not a reporter at your meeting,” Stone said. “It's genuinely welcomed [by the public].”