Town Manager Hance baffled by missing portion of Chester Green draft ordinance

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Tuesday morning, Chester Town Manager Julie Hance told Select Board members in an email that she does not know why a portion of a draft ordinance on the use of the town Green that she had sent them last week was cut off mid-page. She then forwarded a complete copy.

She wrote: “I apologize. As you know, I have been out of town for several days and am ‘off’ this week. I’m getting to emails this morning.  I have absolutely no idea what happened with the ordinance.  Here is the full ordinance that has the rest of the paragraphs. Sorry about that. See you all Wednesday night.”

Hance told The Telegraph that she sent the full text with the board packet on Sept. 30 as she was preparing to go out of town. “What was puzzling to me was that it was not a missing page or something, but cut off mid-sentence,” said Hance, who added that she went back to check the materials she had sent and it was the full text.

Each Select Board packet contains a “manager’s memo” with background on some of the items on the agenda. The memo for the Oct. 7 meeting contained this explanation regarding the draft ordinance:

Use of Town Green Policy:I know that you have been anxious to see a draft of a Use of Town Green ordinance. Per Jim’s request, I have drafted a Use of Town Green ordinance for you to start reviewing. This policyhas been drafted using the model policy from VLCT, the policy from Woodstock, and the policy from Richmond. This is very much a first draft and is intended only to give you something to start discussing. Jim will review in the coming weeks as well, but this will get you started. You have all received an article directly from Don Clark. I have forwarded this article to Jim Carroll as well for his review. To be clear, this draft ordinance does NOT take into consideration any information from that article, primarily because I didn’t have it at the time of drafting. In speaking with Jim this afternoon, he has had a chance to review the document provided by Mr. Clark. When Jim returns from his surgery, we agreed that his attendance at a special meeting with the Board to offer a legal opinion on the ordinance would be advisable. Jim has recommended that there not be much work put into this ordinance until that meeting has taken place.

The full text of the draft ordinance can be found here.

The Select Board will meet on at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7 at Chester Town Hall, 556 Elm St. Its agenda can be found here.