This fall, Vermont’s clerks and treasurers will celebrate ‘How Sweet It Is’ when the Vermont municipal Clerks and Treasurers Association (VMCTA) holds its annual meeting, conference, and awards banquet on September 15 and 16 at the Sugarbush Resort’s Lincoln Peak.
VMCTA President Diane Judd (Holland, Vermont Town Clerk and Treasurer) in her announcement email to the membership, noted “Our theme this year is How Sweet It Is. We ask that you don't be a sap and make sure that you leaf your offices to come and gather up buckets of knowledge with us!”
The education seminars at the conference get a fast launch off the starting block on with Who’s Laughing Now?, a morning keynote presentation by author, educator and speaker Gina Barreca, a board of trustees professor of English literature and feminist theory at the University of Connecticut and winner of UConn's excellence in teaching award. Barreca is currently a blogger for “Psychology Today” where she has over 7.5 million views.
Barreca has also published articles in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Chicago Tribune, The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, The Orlando Sentinel, Ms. magazine, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The two days of seminars for clerks include effective poll worker training; the municipal code of ethics, public records act and open meeting law; and paper recording statutes and strategies.
For treasurers the seminars will include subrecipient reporting surplus and deficit management; a wage and hourly employee seminar; and investment fraud prevention.
Attendees will learn about practical AI (artificial intelligence) for a modern municipality and enjoy the opportunity to learn skills to enhance personal wellness to strengthen the workplace culture.
Interspersed among the education session will be opportunities to network and learn from peers at roundtable discussions.
The association’s annual meeting will be held at the conference and the VMCTA officers will be elected. At the awards banquet, the Vermont Municipal Clerk of the Year and Vermont Municipal Treasurer of the Year recipients will be announced and other awards will be presented.
VMCTA has five graduated levels of advancement that include recognition for fulfilling educational requirements, community service performance, and participation in the professional field by attendance at county committee meetings or volunteering as a mentor to new clerks and treasurers. Clerks and treasurers meeting the requirements for advancement will receive certificates at the banquet.
Scholarships are available for the conference courses, and for other educational forums like the New England Conference (to be held in Bangor, Maine, this November), and NEMCI&A (the three-year program for clerks at the New England Municipal Clerks Institute and Academy). The funds are mainly raised through conference raffles and a small and entertaining auction after the awards banquet.
According to Waitsfield town clerk Jennifer Peterson, “This year, over 20 Mad River Valley businesses donated for the fundraiser, from gift cards to serious swag, so check the 2025 Four Season Guide to the Mad River Valley to see how you can enjoy The Valley before or after the annual meeting.”
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Although the event is officially two days, clerks and treasurers will begin arriving on Sunday afternoon and many will take advantage of the location to spend an extra night in The Valley.
