All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Grafton residents to vote on using surplus to buy tractor
By Cynthia Prairie ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Select Board Monday night decided to ask town voters to approve using funds from the town surplus to help pay for a new tractor and attachments that would help the town comply with Act 64, which was signed into law in summer of 2015 and is […]
UDBs adopted, questions on procedure persist
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The battle over the adoption of Chester’s Unified Development Bylaws came to an end with the Select Board voting unanimously to approve the document as presented, but not without questions about the way a change in the number of public hearings was handled. Board member Dan Cote […]
Chester board reverses course, will interview in private
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board reversed course last week, deciding to hold interviews for volunteer positions in secret, with one board member saying that the public should trust the board in this matter and another one indicating that executive sessions were necessary because the public could not be […]
Derry begins search for new board member, road foreman
By Bruce Frauman ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Londonderry Select Board, at a special meeting on Wednesday, March 15 accepted the resignations of Select Board member Will Reed and Road Foreman Duane Hart, both of whom had tendered their resignations following Town Meeting the week before. The board also made Paul Gordon its chair and […]
Nor’easter blankets region, closing shops, causing accidents
© 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Nor’easter that promised 18 inches of snow for New York has fizzled, but it’s keeping its promises to the New England coast … and Vermont. The snow started in most of the area around 6 a.m. Tuesday and by nightfall hadn’t let up since. See photo gallery below. At […]
Chester board votes to appeal Act 250 permit conditions
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 – Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday, the Chester Select Board met in executive session with a Rutland attorney and decided to appeal conditions of the recent Act 250 permit that allows the town to build a new water tank but severely restricts where the town can extract gravel on the […]
Board member Reed, road chief Hart quit Derry government
By Bruce Frauman ©2017-Telegraph Publishing LLC In the wake of the Londonderry Town Meeting last week, two key government officials have resigned: Select Board member Will Reed, who was starting the second year of a two-year term, and Road Foreman Duane Hart. Reed offered this written statement to The Chester Telegraph: “There is a conflict […]
Our Nor’easter
© 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC UPDATE 10:45 a.m. The Grafton Planning Commission meeting for tonight has been cancelled. UPDATE: 9 a.m. The Londonderry Town Offices will be closed today. So now we’re in for it. The many different weather forecasters’ models are coming together and it looks like a foot or more of the white […]
GM director takes aim at school property use in student music video
By Stephen Seitz ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC A 10-minute lip-synced video created by Green Mountain Union High caused a stir during Thursday night’s GMUHS Board of Directors meeting when one director criticized student use of school property and drew a line from it to the NECAP test scores from the junior class. Board member Hank […]
In blow to Chester gravel plan, motion to alter denied
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC When the Town of Chester bought 139 acres from Mike and Amy O’Neil as a site for a water tank, Town Manager David Pisha envisioned a decades-long supply of inexpensive gravel that could help pay for a portion of the $4 million project. It was part of […]
Weston Select Board gets a raise; town to buy a new fire truck
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Voters in Weston passed all of the articles on its warning and returned most town office incumbents to their positions on Tuesday morning during a Town Meeting that went by so quickly that the Little School, which was making lunch to be served, had to scramble to […]
Grafton votes ‘no’ on school merger; Mack ousts Turner from Select Board, Pollio beats Hall for Lisle seat
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The voters of Grafton voted overwhelmingly to nix the proposed merger that would create a Windham Northeast Unified School District. As a “necessary” town, Grafton’s rejection of the plan defeats it, but it was not alone. According to a report in VTDigger, two other necessary towns – […]
Mora, Ameden, Cavanaugh win Derry board seats; police contract renewed, salt shed gets voter approval
By Bruce Frauman ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Attracting more votes than any other candidate, George Mora was elected to the Londonderry Select Board during Town Meeting on Tuesday March 7. In a face-off with Chad Stoddard for the two-year position vacated by Wayne Blanchard, Mora tallied 125 votes to Stoddard’s 65. Former board chair James […]
Gustafson, Whalen win Select Board seats; budgets, bonds pass by wide margins
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC In the only contested race this year, incumbent member Ben Whalen and newcomer Lee Gustafson won election Tuesday night to one-year seats on the Chester Select Board. With 673 people voting, the totals were Whalen 441, Gustafson 388 and Kelly Arrison 318. When John DeBenedetti decided not […]
After long school meeting, Andover OKs $834,000 town budget
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC With about 10 percent of the town’s population in attendance, the Andover Town Meeting on Saturday was – as usual – a well-mannered and friendly affair even though it started 70 minutes later than scheduled due to the school district meeting running over its allotted 15 minutes. […]
Chester commission disabled as member quits after walking out on meeting
By Cynthia Prairie ©2017-Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester Planning Commission member Tom Hildreth walked out of the panel’s Monday Feb. 27 meeting, declaring to the remaining two members “you don’t have a quorum,” as he packed up to leave. The following day he turned in his resignation to Town Hall. His action leaves just two members […]
Chester Select Board candidates address issues
Editor’s Note: Three people are vying for two one-year seats on the Chester Select Board: incumbent Ben Whalen, who is seeking a second term, and newcomers Lee Gustafson and Kelly Arrison, both local businessowners. Arne Jonynas, who has been serving in a one-year position, was spurred to seek a three-year seat that is being vacated […]
Chester bond issues seek funds for equipment, roads
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC There are three general obligation bonds on this year’s Town Meeting Day ballot in Chester. If passed, these will fund public works and buy various pieces of capital equipment. To borrow using a bond, the items being purchased must have a usable life that is longer than […]
Weston board questions GNAT-TV, clinic budget requests as Town Meeting nears
By Bruce Frauman ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Select Board is asking GNAT-TV and the Mountain Valley Medical Clinic to come before Town Meeting on Tuesday, March 7 to justify their funding requests. On Monday, Feb. 27, board member Charles Goodwin asked GNAT videographer Bruce Frauman, who is also the reporter of this article, […]
TRSU Act 46 merger committee approves four-town RED proposal
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Two Rivers Supervisory Union Act 46 Study Committee voted last night (Thursday, Feb. 23) to approve the subcommittee report that recommends the creation of a Regional Education District (RED) from Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish and Chester. If approved by the Vermont Board of Education at its March […]
