Sarah Waring: A watershed moment in local government

This commentary is by Sarah Waring of East Montpelier. She is state director of U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development for Vermont and New Hampshire.

In ‘regular’ times, USDA Rural Development staff helps communities navigate the administrative jungle of securing federal loans and grants, and applicants have the luxury to learn the programs, talk to other communities and stakeholders, and perform the required paperwork to create a complete application. During times not marred by debilitating pandemics, natural disaster, supply-chain nightmares or congressional budget rodeo, Rural Development customers and staff combine their efforts in a steady state of project intake and obligation.

Since Covid, however, I’ve been hearing the same thing from municipal leaders in the field: “We just don’t have the capacity.”

It’s not their lack of ability — they simply don’t have the time.

Today’s projects are ambitious, often with five or more funding sources. Multiple timelines, processes, projections and reviews must be managed, along with contractor availability. These are jobs for full-time project managers, not volunteers.

More money is available than ever. Transformational federal and state legislation came into play simultaneously, carrying the promise of positive recovery. But new programs create surges in questions, procedures and uncertainty, without commensurate staff to absorb them.

While the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation make grants through the state, and USDA Rural Development invests directly in communities, the Federal Emergency Management Agency does some of both while also addressing community assistance and social services. For applicants, understanding FEMA can be difficult because the agency wears many hats.

And finally: we don’t have county authorities. In some states, counties are intermediaries, overseeing state regulation and regional development. Here, our school and conservation and voting districts, and economic development entities, aren’t aligned. The result is less borrowing capacity and professional management experience.

Two solutions can break down these barriers. One is in play; the other, aspirational.

First, we must offer more technical assistance. With USDA technical assistance funding, non-profit providers are helping communities define scope and write applications. Recently, Rural Development entered a cooperative agreement with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns to guide municipal recovery by building financial, operational and administrative skills, and learning across our towns.

Other partners are helping small businesses and farmers write Rural Energy for America Program grants, or supporting community facilitation and networking events. Technical assistance providers work between agencies, between towns, and try to be the local selectboard’s best friend.

Second, we must reimagine the role of municipal leaders by creating sustainable support and coordination through regional governance based on watersheds. They connect us historically and culturally, representing the changing boundaries to planning, development and climate resilience, so we need to treat them differently.

Communities up and downstream from one another must work together to share equipment and professional staff, and advocate for state policy changes based on watershed needs and conditions. By governing via watershed, Vermont can better support towns by building crucial ecosystem feedback into human decision making.

At this most irregular time in our history, let us improve our capacity, collaboration and climate resilience by sharing our resources and planning together, based on our ecological boundaries.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Sarah Waring: A watershed moment in local government .