All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Londonderry Select Board presents new argument for land purchase
By Christopher Biddle © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC With a petition to reconsider a Town Meeting Day vote still on the horizon and a request from Vtrans that the town find new sand storage by June 1, the Londonderry Select Board could use another mallet in the Whack-a-Mole game that is the purchase of 20 […]
Sandri floats idea of purchase, lease of town land;
historical society says Yosemite will have new owner
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The president of Sandri Cos. asked the Chester Select Board last Wednesday if it was open to selling town land so the company could add a Dunkin Donuts franchise to the convenience store and liquor outlet that it already runs at its Sunoco gas station on Main […]
Come out swinging: CAES parents, kids kick off ambitious plan for new playground
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A group of parents, school staff and students have come together to begin working on a plan to replace Chester-Andover Elementary School’s well-worn 25-year-old playground known to generations simply as “The Structure.” The effort began several years ago when maintenance on the castle-like Structure began to get overwhelming […]
Champlain Oil donates, dismantles house to make way for larger Jiffy Mart
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC After unsuccessfully offering to give the Burbank house at the corner of Main and Pleasant streets to anyone who would move it from the site, Champlain Oil has donated the structure to a not-for-profit — EcoBuilding Bargains — and contracted with another company to dismantle it. EcoBuilding […]
Sandri probes land buy for Dunkin Donuts drive-thru in Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC With construction of a new Jiffy Mart across the street just a month away, Sandri, the owner of the Sunoco station on Main Street in Chester, is asking the Select Board if it would sell a strip of town-owned land so the company could add a Dunkin […]
Grafton board pushes Planning Commission on Town Plan
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC With a sharply critical response directed to the Grafton Planning Commission, Grafton Select Board member Ron Pilette on Monday called on the commission to make specific changes to the Town Plan that was rejected in late December. In a short, 1-1/4-page draft response, which will be sent on […]
Petition complicates land purchase for Londonderry Select Board
By Christopher Biddle © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A petition by Londonderry resident Tom Cavanagh to call a special meeting to reconsider the Town Meeting vote approving $10,000 for a feasibility study toward the purchase of land to be used as a gravel pit and for a salt storage facility has put the project in […]
Chester welcomes new Select Board members, considers new paper of record
Editor’s Note: The Chester Telegraph has reported on most Chester Select Board meetings since 2012. In the interest of full disclosure, we want readers to know that in our coverage of the March 2, 2016 meeting, we are reporting on an issue in which we are involved. To ensure that the information available to our […]
All articles pass at quiet Weston Town Meeting
By Christopher Biddle ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC All but one of the 27 articles in Weston’s 2016 Town Meeting passed by voice vote Tuesday morning at the Weston Playhouse. Article 17, which asked voters to approve a resolution to see if they were interesting in expanding the number of parking spaces in front of the […]
Londonderry accepts one-year State Police contract, votes to study gravel pit purchase
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Wendell Coleman’s last Town Meeting as Londonderry’s moderator turned out to be a six-hour doosie that saw a controversial proposal to hire state police to patrol the town turn victorious on the impassioned speech of a just-defeated select board member. The meeting was more than three hours […]
Sands fends off write-in candidate, Gibbs beats incumbent to win seats on Grafton Select Board
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC With 320 voters casting ballots, Grafton residents turned out one incumbent and turned aside a write-in candidate who mounted an active campaign against another in Tuesday’s Australian balloting. Cynthia Gibbs, who had served more than 30 years as Town Clerk and Town Treasurer, won her first Select Board […]
Newcomers Cote, Whalen win seats on Chester Select Board; incumbent Jonynas garners most votes
By Cynthia Prairie © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC ON THE COVER: From left, Arne Jonynas, Dan Cote and Ben Whalen. The Chester Select Board will welcome two new members when it meets Wednesday night. Chester innkeeper Dan Cote and firefighter and state police dispatcher Ben Whalen will be taking their seats along with Heather Chase, […]
Chester voters shorten two tax exemption articles at Town Meeting
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two of three articles to exempt organizations from property and education taxes were substantially changed at Monday night’s Chester Town Meeting, when both the Rod & Gun Club and the Green Mountain Softball League were given one-year tax exemptions (rather than five) and asked to return next year […]
Andover Town Meeting addresses status as education tax ‘sending town’
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The single longest discussion at Saturday’s Andover Town Meeting was for an article funding early education to the tune of $21,077. But it wasn’t the amount of the article that was at issue, but education funding in general. Gordon Payne rose to ask several questions about the […]
Grafton voters ask the questions in a lively candidate forum
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC About 40 members of the Grafton public got a chance Monday night to ask questions of the four people seeking two seats on the Grafton Select Board. The candidates forum, overseen by town Moderator David Ross at the Grafton Elementary School, was a lively and at times pointed […]
Grafton Board seeks way to garner wind project opinions from second homeowners
By Cynthia Prairie ©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC A majority of the members of the Grafton Select Board continues to search for a way to gather non-residents’ opinions on the 28-turbine Iberdrola-Meadowsend wind project proposed for the Grafton/Windham town line. Board chair Sam Battaglino has proposed that non-resident property owners in Grafton should have a say […]
Chester board raises water rates, hears grant request from Rod & Gun Club
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board began its Feb. 17 meeting in the guise of its mild-mannered alter ego, the Chester Water and Sewer Commissioners, which voted to raise the price of water by $2 per quarter. The hike is one step in reaching the rate structure required by […]
Chester wins one of three state grants for downtown planning
By Shawn Cunningham © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC The towns of Chester and Springfield are two of the three municipalities chosen from 10 applicants statewide to receive Strong Communities, Better Connections Grants given by a partnership of the state agencies of Transportation and of Commerce and Community Development. The funds are meant to help municipalities […]
In three-year Grafton race, Hall and Gibbs talk priorities
©2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC Two candidates are running for one three-year term on the Grafton Select Board this year. Incumbent Noralee Hall, now in her first term, is being challenged by Cynthia Gibbs, a newcomer to a select board race but not to Grafton Town government. The election, by Australian ballot, will be held Tuesday, […]
Violation may complicate gravel pit land buy in Londonderry
By Christopher Biddle © 2016 Telegraph Publishing LLC With just two weeks before Londonderry voters will be asked if the town should spend $150,000 to buy a gravel pit south of the town’s transfer station, Londonderry Select Board members heard on Monday, Feb. 15 that an unresolved environmental violation could complicate the purchase. Board member […]
