At a special meeting held on Nov. 23, the Board of Selectmen acted to restore lost compensation to First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice as a result of her voluntary pay cut in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vanderslice’s full salary ($139,511) was reinstated at a BOS meeting in June 2021, but she was never reimbursed for the amount of the voluntary reduction.
Vanderslice did not attend the special meeting. Second Selectwoman Lori Bufano led the meeting, and made the following statement:
“In April 2020, First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice voluntarily cut her FY2021 salary by [$30,000]. It’s also important to note that over the last six years, she has given back over $96,000 to our Town. Lynne did so in an act of leadership as we made cuts to the proposed FY2021 budget in response to the uncertainty of the financial impact of the pandemic on residents and the Town. In hindsight, despite those cuts, under Lynne’s leadership, the Board of Selectmen actual FY2021 operating results are less than the reduced budget.”
“During the pandemic, Lynne led the community through a historic time and by all accounts did an outstanding job. Her performance went above and beyond to include nightly updates; efficient management and implementation of the numerous executive orders; COVID testing and vaccine clinics; while still performing her normal day-to-day responsibilities, which also by the way, included dealing with a major tropical storm in August 2020. The storm resulted in severe damage and left many residents without power for several weeks.”
“Had Lynne not voluntarily cut her pay, we would likely be discussing paying her a COVID stipend. We’ve heard from a number of residents in support of paying Lynne the wages that she gave up in FY2021.”
At the conclusion of Bufano’s statement, the selectmen voted unanimously in favor of a payment to Vanderslice for the $30,000, and also approved a FY2022 wage increase of 2.5% effective at the start of the fiscal year.
Note: this meeting took place before board members Kim Healy and Bas Nabulsi were sworn in to begin their terms.
This is well deserved!!
She has been an exemplary leader for our town during good times and bad.