Nelson v. Town of St. Johnsbury, LaMotte, Oddy, Ruggles, Rust, Timson and Town of St. Johnsbury

Reiber, C.J.,

¶ 67. dissenting. The majority’s solution to the ambiguity inherent in 24 V.S.A. § 1233 — which provides that a town manager shall hold office “at the will of’ the selectmen who “may remove him at any time for cause” — is to conclude that “at *305the will of’ does not mean what we think it means. In the majority’s view, the phrase was not understood by its drafters “in the modern conventional sense” of an employment terminable at any time for any reason. Ante, ¶ 20. In support of this proposition, the majority claims that the at-will concept was not widely employed in Vermont law…