Chester board re-approves new sidewalk lighting on Depot Street

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

At its Oct. 21 meeting, the Chester Select Board took a second look at a decision it made two weeks before when it gave Town Manager Julie Hance the go ahead to have “pedestrian scale” lighting installed as part of the sidewalk project to be constructed next year.  The project will upgrade the sidewalk along Depot Street from Bargfrede Road to Town Hall.

Grant funding for the sidewalk project was originally approved in 2017 and engineering work began. The Covid-19 pandemic slowed work down, but not nearly as much as the Vermont Railway and the rail officials at the Vermont Agency of Transportation. Since the sidewalk crosses the tracks at the Depot an easement was needed and there was no movement on that for years. When the town finally obtained the easement, the question was whether the town still wanted a line of low, decorative fixtures lighting the way for pedestrians along Depot Street.

The money for the lights was in the grant, which was later increased to cover inflation during the delay. And at their last meeting, board members voted 3 to 1 to go ahead with the lights. But last Wednesday, Hance returned with saying that the news that if the town selects the standard light design offered by VTrans it might be tying its hands for future expansion because the state changes its default lighting fixtures every few years.

She said instead that the ornamental list offered more flexibility and choice, but was $40,000 more expensive. That would increase the town’s match for the lighting $8,000 to $98,000. Hance told the board that the bond approved by voters to cover the match was sufficient to cover the added cost but she was returning to the issue to see if members still wanted the lights considering the extra cost or if they would prefer not to spend that portion of the bond. If dropped, the lighting portion cannot be repurposed. And Hance noted that she has never seen grants just for lighting alone.

Board member Arne Jonynas, who had voted for the lighting on Oct. 7, said on Oct. 21 that he had second thoughts. Board member Lauren Fierman, who didn’t attend the Oct. 7 meeting, said she loves lighting but it was hard to decide on a nearly $100,000 expense.

Board member Peter Hudkins repeated his caution that once the lights are in, their maintenance will be on the town and that will be an extra expense and it was likely that a car or snowplow would damage them. Member Tim Roper said he saw the project as an economic development driver.

Board chair Lee Gustafson agreed with Roper, saying that the lights turning onto the lower part of Depot Street leads the eye toward the Green and may help with business retention there.

The addition to the lighting package was approved with Gustafson, Roper and Fierman voting to go ahead with  Jonynas and Hudkins voting not to.

Library balks on one aspect of memo of understanding

The law governing libraries in Vermont is a perpetual source of disagreement and interpretation. In Chester, the Whiting Library building belongs to the town but the collection belongs to the trustees of the library, who are municipal officials elected by voters to operate it.

The trustees govern the library and they operate outside the control of the town manager and select board.

The Vermont Legislature set up town library structures that way in the 19th century to protect the libraries from politics even as they receive funding and services from the towns.

Recently, the town and the Whiting Library have worked out a memo of understanding on their working relationship but a fee to be charged to the library for administrative services made the Whiting board balk. According to Whiting board member Donna Hudkins, the fee was two percent of the library’s “total revenue” for processing their payroll and financial management of their accounts. Hudkins explained that the board was not adverse to a fee, but wanted a set fee rather than a variable one so they could budget more precisely.

Town Finance Director Deb Epler explained that the town also charges the 2 percent fee to the water and sewer departments. She added that fee is based on the library’s “total revenue” from the previous year and comes out to $65 per week ($3,300 annually) for paying bills, processing payroll and issuing statements. Epler said that with the system the town uses, those functions take time.

She also said that the MOU was meant to start a discussion and that a flat fee would be fine and it could be calculated each year at budgeting time.

Education, meetings needed on new fiscal year

The board again discussed the move to a fiscal year that would run from July 1 to June 30,  decision that would have to be approved by voters and could not be implemented in 2027. Currently the town operates on a Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 fiscal year.

According to  town auditor Ron Smith, the change would solve a number of problems because it would align the town’s financial year with the school system, the state and a number of grant-making organizations.  And adding four quarterly payment schedules would make property tax payments smaller while giving the town the cash flow it needs to reduce borrowing.

At an earlier meeting, Smith told the board that the transition was easy, but getting it approved would require some public education. That became clear based on the questions at last Wednesday’s meeting, when a number of attendees sought clarity on the transition and its timeline.

According to Hance in her meeting memo to the board a number of measures are being taken to bring taxpayers up to speed on the change which will involve one 18 month budget from January 2018 to July of 2019.   There will be several meetings for the community in 2027 with generally the same presentation ahead of the Town Meeting vote on the change. The meetings are tentatively scheduled for:

• Monday November 16
• Wednesday December 16
• Saturday, January 9
•  Tuesday, February 9

The town will invite property owners on the Grand List as well as registered voters to the meetings with a postcard to be mailed in November and press releases will be sent to local media.