Three bond issues pass by wide margins in Chester

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2018 Telegraph Publishing, LLC


Chester voters passed three bond issues totaling $669,000 by wide margins on Town Meeting Day.

The bond to purchase a $110,000 compaction roller for the town’s nearly 100 miles of dirt roads, $115,000 for a sidewalk plow to be used downtown and $11,000 for a Hazmat trailer for the Fire Department passed by a vote of 335 to 87.

A bond for $408,000 for restoration work on Town Hall was approved by a vote of 353 to 69.

And the smallest of the three, a bond for $25,000 to create a pocket park at the end of School Street near the swinging bridge, garnered the least support but was still approved by a vote of 260 to 160. The park is one of the initiatives that came out of the Village Center Master Plan which was completed last year.

All of the bond totals are the maximum that the town is authorized to borrow. The final amounts to be borrowed could be lower however, if the town is able to get grants to offset the expenses.