All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Chester prohibits dual board memberships, sometimes; reviews dept. budgets
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing, LLC After nearly a year and a half of discussing a conflict of interest policy, the Chester Select Board resolved a final sticking point last Wednesday, voting to close the door on dual memberships on the Planning Commission and Development Review Boards. But they left the key under […]
Londonderry moves ahead with salt shed planning
By Bruce Frauman © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Moving ahead on plans for the construction of a salt and sand shed on the Prouty property on Route 100 between Londonderry and South Londonderry, Londonderry Select Board member Bill Wylie showed the board an engineering drawing for a wood frame shed at its Nov. 21 meeting. […]
Other issues waylay special Chester board meeting
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC What was intended to be a training session on the powers and responsibilities of the Chester Select Board and town manager, conducted by town attorney Jim Carroll, turned into a tutorial on legal aspects of several recent developments in Chester including why the Select Board believes it […]
Northshire merger panel unanimous in vote for larger district
By Bruce Frauman © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Northshire Merger Study Committee voted unanimously on Monday, Nov. 14 to recommend to the State Board of Education that a new school supervisory district be created. To be called the Taconic and Green District, it would be a part of the current Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union. The […]
Magic deal finally closes; new owners take over
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC “The journey begins,” said Geoff Hatheway, “as an operating company, not just an investment.” Sitting in an office that looks out on the slopes of the Magic Mountain ski area on Thursday Nov. 3 Hatheway looked forward to the ski season ahead but cautioned that the closing […]
UPDATE: Presumed Saxtons River shooter surrenders without incident
UPDATE Nov. 20 5:30 p.m. According to a VSP press release, personnel from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Major Crime Unit, Uniform Division and Crime Scene Search Team worked throughout the day investigating this incident. Investigators spoke with residents, many of whom had been evacuated earlier, and documented damage which was consistent with being caused […]
Stiles Brook landowner, wind foes take a breath, consider next steps
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC While Iberdrola Renewables has said it will not move forward with a 24-turbine wind project straddling the Windham and Grafton line following a decisive vote, the owners of the 5,000-acre project site have made no such promise. When asked on Monday, what happens next, Meadowsend Timberlands’ managing forester […]
Weston finishes vote, tally in the dark; no glitches elsewhere
By Bruce Frauman ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC As if everything about this remarkable election were not enough, just after 5 p.m. on Election Day, the lights went out in Weston. With voting set to continue for nearly two more hours the Town Hall polling place was plunged into darkness. Luckily, that’s just about the time […]
Chester limits service of Select Board members, others
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC There was more than a little interest in the conflict over wording of an ethics policy for town officials and employees at Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting. The idea of a conflict of interest policy has been kicking around since mid-2015, when board member Heather Chase asked […]
Chester zoning administrator’s action questioned
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Calling the situation “very disconcerting,” a Chester resident told the Select Board last Wednesday, that the town’s zoning administrator had issued a building permit for a property without a clear ‘use’ as outlined in the town’s Unified Development Bylaws. Marilyn Mahusky, who has been a vocal critic […]
Northshire Act 46 panel to vote on merger plan Monday
By Bruce Frauman © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The changing landscape in education governance in Vermont surfaced during the Londonderry Select Board meeting of Monday, Nov. 7. Northshire Merger Committee member Dick Dale told the board the committee will reach the end of its process at its Monday. Nov. 14 meeting. In the meantime, Board […]
Grafton, Windham voters deal fatal blow to Iberdrola wind proposal
By Cynthia Prairie © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a decisive blow to a proposed industrial wind project, the voters in Windham and Grafton have voted against putting a 24-turbine industrial wind project along the Stiles Brook tract of land that straddles the two towns. When the votes were counted on Tuesday night, Grafton defeated […]
Suspicious emails to Vt. town clerks traced to Yale Law School
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A survey by a Yale University Law School professor set town clerks throughout Vermont and election officials in at least 11 other states on edge just before Election Day, and has been pulled after the intervention of a nationwide association that represents Secretaries of State. Just one […]
TRSU Act 46 study panel reboots, takes comments on merger proposal
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC After nearly a year of meetings focusing on planning, finance, property and governance, the Act 46 study committee for Two Rivers Supervisory Union has – in effect – gone back to the drawing board and started over. Last night in Ludlow, the committee outlined what it was […]
Chester considers sex offender ordinance, stalls on board appointments
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC While Chester’s town attorney asserted that it could “enmesh” the town in a lawsuit “that you will lose,” resident Randy Miles stressed the need for an ordinance that would limit where sex offenders could live, saying he was willing to spend taxpayer dollars fighting to keep the […]
Sparse but enthusiastic group turns out for Chester planning forum
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing, LLC If Harry Truman was right and “decisions are made by those who show up,” then on Saturday, around 50 people began charting the course for Chester’s downtown for years to come. Despite efforts by town government to bring people out to express their opinions on issues facing […]
Ornithologist downplays turbine danger to rare bird
By Cynthia Prairie © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A Vermont ornithologist is downplaying concerns that the at-risk Bicknell’s thrush will be imperiled should the 24-turbine Stiles Brook wind project go through. Some in the anti-wind community in Grafton and Windham are hoping to use the plight of this small songbird as the Nov. 8 vote […]
Windham board says town now has less control over wind funds
By John Hoover ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Windham Town Treasurer Peter Chamberlain has told the Windham Select Board that while Iberdrola’s latest offer, presented on Oct. 4, totals $1 million, most of it will not be available for the town to decide how to use. Portions of the $1 million will go to the fire […]
Derry board unhappy with state delay in repaving Route 11 east
By Bruce Frauman © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a response to a letter of apology received by Rep. Oliver Olsen, the Londonderry Select Board on Oct. 17 voted to send a letter to Agency of Transportation Secretary Chris Cole expressing its “dissatisfaction” of the agency for not repaving Route 11 from Londonderry to Chester […]
Weston board splits on land gift, talks school merger
By Bruce Frauman © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Select Board on Tuesday, Oct. 11 told Forestry District manager Nate McKeen that the board was split on landowner Maurice Kahn’s proposal to donate about 1.7 acres of land to the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. The land, on Fulton Road adjacent to […]
