Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Early morning fire destroys Elm Street home in Chester, firefighters injured
© 2015 Telegraph Publishing, LLC UPDATE — 9:17 a.m. Saturday, March 7. Below in How to Help: Fundraiser at Pizza Stone, Monday March 16. UPDATE — 6 p.m. March 6. As the Chester Fire Department responded to the Monier fire early this morning, another fire was reported a few houses away on Elm Street, according […]
Chase beats incumbent Suursoo in landslide for Chester Select Board
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC In what could be considered a landslide victory, newcomer Heather Chase took more than 57 percent of the vote on Tuesday to beat incumbent Derek Suursoo for a three-year term on the Chester Select Board. With a 93-vote difference, Chase won, 335 to 242, in one of the biggest […]
Londonderry questions, then approves Champion fire truck
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The crowd of more than 100 voters who filled the first floor of the old Town Hall in South Londonderry for Town Meeting were joined in the balcony by about 30 7th and 8th grade observers from Flood Brook School. The largest and most contentious article – […]
News analysis: Are school tax rates going down?
Last August, Chester’s Select Board asked representatives of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns and the tax department, to attend a special meeting to explain Vermont’s education finance system. But it seems the Chester Select Board is still having difficulties understanding the way that about 70 percent of Chester’s property tax burden is calculated. […]
Water system upgrade, Edson monument placement addressed at Chester Select Board meeting
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC At its Feb. 18 meeting, the Chester Select Board heard a project update and information on funding alternatives for Chester’s water upgrade, considered a request to place the new Edson monument in an alternate site on the Green and got a report on traffic ticket income from Police Chief […]
Londonderry hears from candidates, considers new fire truck
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC About 25 people turned out for Candidates Night at Town Hall in South Londonderry on Tuesday Feb. 10. In the absence of town moderator Wendell Coleman, Select Board member Robert Cowles took over the moderating duties. Cowles also announced that after 18 years on the board, he would not […]
Chester firefighters stretched and cramped and looking for a solution
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The two-bay end of the town garage that houses the Chester Fire Department was quiet on a recent evening — a welcomed break from more than a month of non-stop action for the 17 part-time firefighters, whose main coverage area spans 89 hilly square miles in Chester […]
Community architect addresses villages’ futures at Rotary talk
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC An architect who specializes in helping people think about the futures of their town centers attracted a crowd of 45 to the Fullerton Inn in Chester last Thursday night. While most were from Chester, residents of Ludlow, Londonderry, Springfield and Grafton also came to hear the Chester Rotary Club-sponsored […]
Board seeks higher return on Chester economic loan fund
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC Having speculated for several years whether a loan fund created to help Chester’s businesses could get a higher rate of return on its unused balance, the Chester Select Board heard a presentation by representatives of the wealth management division of People’s Bank at its Feb.y 4 meeting. The Chester […]
Chester Planning Commission continues to hone sign regs
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC In the absence of Tom Bock, Naomi Johnson took the chair of the Chester Planning Commission for its Monday, Jan. 26 meeting as the commission began reviewing the “definitions” section of the Unified Development Bylaws. While the past several meetings were attended by a substantial number of business people […]
Chester Select Board rejects Open Meeting Law complaint, pulls Australian ballot articles
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board heard from the town’s attorney regarding The Chester Telegraph’s complaint of a violation of Vermont’s Open Meeting Law and the board removed the questions regarding Australian ballot voting for all questions from the Town Meeting warning at its Jan. 21 meeting. Jim Carroll, attorney […]
Chester Historical Society throws future of Yosemite Fire House into question
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The future of an iconic Chester structure is in question as the organization that has been responsible for it for nearly 38 years has expressed a desire to shed that responsibility. At a meeting on Thursday Jan. 22, Chester Historical Society President Ron Patch told the society’s membership […]
Chester Planning Commission begins drafting sign law, comments still sought
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Having taken several hours of testimony from business owners and residents at two earlier meetings, the Chester Planning Commission met on Monday, Jan. 12 to discuss and organize the work of revising the town’s sign ordinance. Commission chair Tom Bock referred to the complexity of the work […]
SAPA-TV announces video on demand; seeks donations to further broadcasting
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC If living on a Class 3 road out in the woods has always meant missing the thrill of watching a Chester, Springfield or Weathersfield select board meeting in your pajamas, you won’t be deprived any longer. As Springfield Area Public Access Television begins its video on demand service, […]
Chester board considers eliminating votes during town meeting; adopts budget proposal for voter approval
By Shawn Cunningham ©2015 The Chester Telegraph The Chester Select Board is considering whether voting from the floor at town meeting should be eliminated. Two articles were proposed for consideration at the Monday March 2 meeting. Article 2 asks “Shall the Town of Chester vote on all public questions by Australian ballot.” Article 3 asks […]
Public Funds bring tidy return, Hearse House project to receive grant
By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The three-member board that oversees more than a dozen funds given to the town for designated purposes met Tuesday to hear from representatives of People’s Bank who manage the $660,000 public funds portfolio and to announce a grant to support the rehabilitation of the Hearse House at […]
Our year in review: Land rights, wrecks, fires, floods and friendships
©2014 Telegraph Publishing LLC When The Chester Telegraph began publication three years ago, more than a few people (including the publisher of a local newspaper) warned us that “nothing ever happens” in these communities. And yet, over the past year, keeping up with “nothing” has often been hectic work. Here’s a selection of some of […]
Chester board delays budget decisions; discussed land purchase in questionable executive session
By Shawn Cunningham ©Telegraph Publishing LLC – 2014 The Chester Select Board took up the 2015 budget at its Wednesday Dec. 17 meeting, discussing several issues from earlier meetings. But it was agenda item No. 7 – the proposed purchase of land – that raised questions about transparency in the town government of Chester. Town […]
Chester Planning Commission looks at signs, ponders ‘appropriate funkiness’
By Shawn Cunningham © 2014 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Planning Commission continued to take comments from the public, especially small business people, regarding new sign regulations that the commission is beginning to work on. While the crowd was not as large as the previous meeting, several who were not at the Monday, Dec. 1 […]
Paving, police, library and health insurance among Chester budget topics.
By Shawn Cunningham ©Telegraph Publishing LLC – 2014 Taking up next year’s budget first on the agenda again at its Wednesday, Dec. 3 meeting, the Chester Select Board looked at issues from the cost of changing police and fire dispatch from Springfield to Hartford, to the need for a fifth full-time police officer and whether […]
