All Entries in the "Featured" Category
A scorecard for voters in the April 23 GM school budget re-vote
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Next Tuesday, April 23, voters in Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish and Chester will go to the polls to decide whether or not to approve a somewhat smaller budget for the Green Mountain Unified School District for the 2024-25 school year. The original budget was rejected in March by […]
Chester board gets water/wastewater update, approves coin drops
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Engineer Naomi Johnson of Dufresne Group updated the Chester Select Board last Wednesday on several town water and sewer projects that have been completed or are nearing completion. These include an “asset management plan” for the town’s wastewater system, an inventory of the water system to find […]
Julians admit violations, will cease hammering, other activities
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester’s Development Review Board was set to hear an appeal of the town’s notice of violation against Julian Materials/Allstone on Monday night when it was announced that those companies and the neighbors of its three quarries in Gassetts had agreed to a stipulation that brings a halt […]
Chester Board addresses preserving ancient roads Conservation Committee could aid with public accessibility
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC In the middle of a rather routine “housekeeping” meeting last Wednesday, the Chester Select Board took time to discuss the town’s 16.67 miles of Class 4 roads. Often called “ancient roads,” Class 4 roads are town-owned rights-of-way that are no longer maintained. Some are still recognizable as […]
Local short-term rental regulation one year later
By Shawn Cunningham ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC A a year ago, The Telegraph published an article about where area towns stood in dealing with short-term rentals such as AirBnb and VRBO. At Town Meeting earlier this month, Andover residents voted down making short-term rentals a conditional use while the Town of Londonderry began advertising for […]
Okemo’s women ski patrol takes over the mountain for International Women’s Day
By Cara Philbin ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC LUDLOW Friday, March 8, 2024 marks the second time in its history that Okemo Mountain organized an all-women ski patrol team to honor International Women’s Day. The first time was just last year, when the women realized they were enough to cover the mountain. It’s 7 a.m., and […]
Windsor Sen. McCormack won’t seek re-election He'll retire in January serving 31 years in state Senate
By Sarah Mearhoff ©2024 VT Digger After more than three decades representing Windsor County in the Vermont Senate, Dick McCormack plans to retire next January at the conclusion of his term. The veteran Democrat disclosed his decision to constituents on Town Meeting Day last week and explained his thinking to VTDigger in an interview Monday. […]
Chester hones STR ordinance changes as moratorium nears end
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC After a routine reorganization following Tuesday’s Town Meeting Day election, the Chester Select Board, with new member Tim Roper, got down to working on some proposed changes to its Short-Term Rental Ordinance. The board’s six month moratorium on new un-hosted rentals ends on April 1 and it […]
A Local Guide to the Solar Eclipse: Partial or total, prepare to be awed, if the clouds stay away
By Roderick Bates ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday, April 8, a band of midday darkness about 100 miles wide will move in a northeasterly path across North America from Mexico to Newfoundland as the moon crosses in front of the sun. In Vermont, the southern edge of that path will cross through Middlebury and […]
Voters nix GMUSD budget; Other area results Wunderle, Leahy win school board seats; Roper wins, Knapp re-elected to Chester Select Board
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last year was a rocky one for the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District and to cap it off, on Tuesday, voters shot down the proposed $17.4 million budget by a vote of 699 to 620 in a turnout substantially higher than one year ago […]
Andover voters reject ‘short-term rental’ article; set Monday meeting next year
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC In an otherwise routine Town Meeting in Andover on Monday night one thing stood out. On Tuesday, the town government asked its voters to weigh in by Australian ballot on whether it should add “short-term rental” to the list of conditional uses under its zoning bylaws. But […]
Cavendish voters narrowly approve cannabis sales, end ‘from the floor’ voting
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Voters in Cavendish on Tuesday voted 182 to 168 to allow retail sale of cannabis in the town. But the hot topic at Monday’s informational meeting were articles that would permanently eliminate voting from the floor of the annual Town Meeting in favor of Australian balloting. The […]
Chester voters approve $3.975 million for budget; $39,811 for social programs Ballot voting til 7 p.m. today; officers to be elected
By Cynthia Prairie ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The 60 or so Chester voters attending Monday night’s Town Meeting in person approved, with a few objections, to raising $3.975 million in taxes to fund the town budget, a budget that Town Manager Julie Hance said is “what it takes to maintain the services that we now […]
Grafton Fire Department celebrates 100 years of community support
By Dave Ross ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Grafton Fire Department was formally established at the March 4, 1924 Town Meeting exactly 100 years ago today and almost to the day of this year’s Town Meeting. This came about due to action by the Grafton Improvement Association that had appointed a committee the previous September […]
Julian quarry neighbors call on Select Board for action 'We want our neighborhood back'
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing The agenda for last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board was short and did not suggest the outpouring of emotion — from frustration to anger — that would come during public comment as neighbors of three quarries in Gassetts pushed the board to act more decisively on the complaints they […]
Chester voters hear from candidates in contested races
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC About 35 Chester voters turned out on Friday night to hear candidates running for contested seats on the Select Board, school district board and Trustees of Public funds address issues and why they want to serve. Moderator Bill Dakin introduced the candidates and asked each group some […]
Meet three candidates for Chester Select Board
© 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Telegraph sent a series of questions to the three candidates who are vying for two one-year terms on the Chester Select Board. Those two seats are currently held by Heather Chase and Peter Hudkins. Chase, who also serves as a state representative, is not seeking reelection and Hudkins […]
Meet the three candidates for the GMUSD board
©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Telegraph sent a series of questions to the three candidates who are vying for two three-year terms on the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District, which oversees Cavendish Town and Chester-Andover elementary schools and Green Mountain Union High. One of those two Chester seats is currently held […]
Chester Republican Committee launches inaugural candidates’ event
©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC After years of dormancy, the newly revived Chester Republican Committee held its first event on Sunday, drawing an audience of about 35 residents to hear from several “conservative-leaning” candidates running for Chester Select Board and the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District. The event was held at the Chester […]
Partisan candidates forum sparks concern in Chester New local GOP committee is hoping to grow dormant party
By Cynthia Prairie ©2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC A Chester candidates forum that has excluded half the candidates running for contested seats on the Chester Select Board and the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District is drawing concern that it could be injecting partisan politics into local elections that have not seen them in […]
