Cavendish board budget eliminates recreation director, to move funds to sheriff services

By Lorien Strange
©2026 Telegraph Publishing

Cavendish’s Jan. 12 Select Board meeting drew a small crowd, which bundled into the small entrance hall of the Town Office on Monday evening as the Board of Tax Abatement concluded its session later than scheduled.

It was likely the biggest gathering Cavendish will see for a government meeting until the Town Informational Meeting, which the Select Board set for 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28. Town Manager Richard Chambers is talking with Cavendish Town Elementary School about using the school as the info meeting venue. Voting takes place on Tuesday, March 3.

Most of those in attendance Monday evening had come to speak about the town’s recreation director position, which the Select Board had decided to eliminate at its January budget meeting.

According to the unapproved minutes from that meeting, the position will be fully funded through July 1, “leaving the money for recreation supplies.” The director’s salary — about $31,000 — will be put into county sheriff services.

Town voters will vote on the budget on Tuesday, March 3 by Australian ballot.

In emails to the Select Board and in comments Monday evening, members of the public urged the Select Board to consider the wider impact of cutting the position.

Wendi McNaughton of Proctorsville led the charge, saying that Cavendish Town Elementary School hadn’t expected the change and wasn’t prepared to be fully responsible for organizing kids’ sports teams. She urged the Select Board to “pursue alternatives” to simply cutting the position without either a plan to transition away from it or changing it to better serve the town’s needs.

In a letter to the Select Board, Kate Lamphere, a Cavendish representative to the Green Mountain Unified School District Board, agreed with McNaughton. “At a time when keeping our school open is unlikely amidst education reform, it is imperative that we keep our community vital for families who reside here and consider residing here,” she wrote.

In the audience with a different take was Margo Caulfield. The Cavendish Historical Society coordinator noted that the town didn’t have a recreation director until 2014, when the community rallied around sports activities in the wake of Hurricane Irene’s destruction of Greven Field in 2011.

The field and backstops were destroyed again, and organizers’ interest faded as their time and efforts failed to attract enough attendees.

“Cavendish had kids’ sports before then,” Caulfield said, pointing out that the current, successful snow sports and soccer opportunities are run by parent volunteers. She argued that it should be the responsibility of parents and schools rather than the town to organize recreational activities.

“This is a town with a lot of needs,” she said, shaking her head. “A lot of needs.” Caulfield thanked the Select Board for their decision and for reallocating the funds to law enforcement.

Attending with one of her school-aged sons, CTES and homeschool teacher Amanda Gross emphasized that recreation events “aren’t just about kids’ athletics.” Rather, they are also opportunities for parents and others in the community to connect. “In our society right now, that community-building is really important.”

Gross added that unlike other area towns, Cavendish doesn’t have employ someone specifically for adult recreational opportunities.

Caulfield and another audience member responded that the previous — and first — recreation director, Terry O’Brien, had tried many times to organize various adult sports, but poor participation and the weather put a  damper on that. Caulfield also pointed out that Cavendish residents can and do use Ludlow’s recreational facilities, such as the pickleball courts.

Select Board member David Norton added that the board had asked for a year what the recreation director position actually does for the town and never received concrete answers. “There are pretty much no community (recreation) events,” Norton said. “All we hear about is the school.”

Norton’s comments ended the discussion for the evening, but the tension in the air indicated that the matter is far from settled.

Holiday spike in water demand hit record high

Every holiday season, Cavendish sees a spike in demand on the town water system. But this year, it reached an unprecedented high, doubling the normal demand.

“We typically see usage of around 60,000 to 65,000 gallons a day,” Town Manager Richard Chambers said in a interview with The Telegraph. But the town had seen “sustained high demand for a few weeks,” with an average of about 135,000 gallons per day.

The town checked for leaks in the system and found none. But the increased water usage is acting a bit like a leak in that it has stirred up the system, leaving sediment in many people’s taps.

Both the Cavendish and Proctorsville water tanks were filled to the point of overflowing just before Christmas. “We were making as much water as we could” over the holidays, Chambers said, but the doubled demand has left both tanks running low.

In response to a question from the audience, Chambers added that the recent fire in Proctorsville probably didn’t contribute to the continued elevated usage since the Fire Department was not pulling very much from town water.

As of Wednesday, Chambers said the usage was down to about 115,000 gallons per day.

Unfortunately, there are “no quick, operational fixes,” Chambers said. He hopes to get an engineer to examine the entire town system to help Cavendish alleviate the problem.

“This stuff is quite expensive, but needed. We can’t sustain this,” Chambers said, referring to the increased usage every holiday season. Major system overhauls would be “unaffordable,” so the goal would be to “get the best bang for our buck” and figure out “how do we fix this without fixing (everything) at once.”

Millington fails to make meeting, to hold ‘Open Forum’ on Jan. 20

Chambers also told the board that VTRANS will soon be using Greven Road Extension as they work on a long-planned project to repair the railroad bridge by the intersection of Routes 103 and 131.

Although contractor bidding for the project took place in October, Chambers hadn’t been getting updates until recently. “I do not blame anyone for me not being in the loop since they would have had the old managers email on file for notifications,” Chambers wrote in an email to The Telegraph.

In the Manager’s Report, Chambers encouraged the public to submit petitions for any of the town positions up for election this March. A list of these can be found by clicking here.

“Don’t print your own petitions,” Chambers urged. Instead, they are available at the Town Office, 37 Main St.

Two Rivers Supervisory Union’s Superintendent Layne Millington was scheduled to speak about TRSU’s FY26–27 budget, but did not attend the meeting. Chambers told The Telegraph  that the last communication he’d received from Millington’s office was on Dec. 23, saying they’d put the meeting on the Superintendent’s schedule and let the Town know if something would prevent him from being there. Millington will be hosting a “GMUSD Open Forum” at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at CTES. 573 Main St., or online via Zoom.

The Select Board also decided to recite the Pledge of Allegiance after its meetings is called to order.

The Cavendish Select Board’s next meeting will be on at 6:30 p.m., Jan. 26 at the Town Office or online via Zoom. By then, the board will be finalizing the town budget and the warning for Town Informational Meeting.