Chester Select Board to explore offering benefits to full-time Whiting Library staff

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

While last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board agenda was short, it yielded a lot of discussion and some progress on a couple of long-standing issues.

Whiting Library Board chair Matt Gorsky came before the board to ask for “some reasonable accommodation” to get benefits for the library’s two full-time employees. Gorsky said that the library director had left for a job at a library that offers benefits and the board has been looking to hire a new one but the lack of benefits makes Whiting less competitive.

This – and other questions of library governance – have been an issue on and off for years, in part due to  Vermont statutes that take the responsibility for and authority over libraries out of the hands of elected select board members and gives it to an elected board of trustees. The idea was to help shield libraries from town politics. But select boards have been known to balk over supporting libraries financially without having authority over them.

The Chester Select Board has appropriated funds for the library, which now gets $97,000 per year. That pretty much covers the cost of staff with a stipend for each of the full-time employees to help buy health insurance, but they do not get the very generous health-care benefits of other municipal employees.

Board chair Arne Jonynas opened the discussion by saying the board has fully supported the library in the past and that it warranted the same type of package.

“It’s just figuring out the details of the relationship because the town employees are under the jurisdiction of the town manager and select board directly, while the library employees are under the direction of the board of trustees,” Jonynas said, suggesting that there would have to be some sort of memorandum of understanding about that relationship.

That led to discussions of the cost and the restrictions on the town’s insurance coverage and statements of residents about the importance of the library as an asset and its ties to the economic development of the town.

Gorsky said that he was not there to make a demand, but to ask for collaboration and in the end it was decided that two select board members – Heather Chase and Arianna Knapp – would meet with the library to look at ways to provide the health-care benefit to library staff.

Planning Commission, Select Board to meet jointly over STRs

At its last meeting, the board passed a six-month moratorium on new, unhosted short-term rentals to give it time to collect information and to consider what steps can and need to be taken.

Knapp said she thought that the short-term rental ordinance was “pretty good” and that the six-month period should be used to roll that out, while she is open-minded to the path forward. Knapp pointed to the poor performance of Granicus in providing information and putting up a registration portal, but felt the board should go forward as if the ordinance was just enacted and stand strongly behind it.

Board member Peter Hudkins suggested waiting until after the first of the year — when there should be better data and the new Housing Commission in place. At that point, they could have a “really good discussion because you’ll really know what’s going on then.” Hudkins suggested that in the meantime,  the Select Board will be busy with the budget and the Planning Commission will be busy with finishing up amendments to the zoning bylaws.

He also suggested a more “technical” look at the problem including questions of spacing – not allowing several STRs in a row – and limits on how many could be in certain areas.

Board member Lee Gustafson said he was in favor of hosted rentals that allow people to stay in their homes but that he has a bit of a problem with unhosted rentals with people reaping the benefits of a small town like Chester and not leaving a whole bunch of money behind. He also pointed to the lack of a relationship with neighbors. He suggested looking at the data in a couple of months with an eye toward future actions.

Board member Heather Chase said she would like to look at the list of possible regulations that the Planning Commission put forward. And Jonynas suggested a meeting with the Planning Commission. Knapp felt that there is work to be done now rather than waiting and that included learning about what other municipalities are doing.

Planning Commission Chair Hugh Quinn said that his panel would have some time to work on this during the fall because there’s downtime between finishing work and warning a public hearing. He suggested a working session to go through the list of options.

The consensus was to have a joint meeting with the Planning Commission within 30 days to get the discussion rolling.

Economic development loan OKd for Masonic building rehab

The board heard a presentation from attorney Evan Chadwick whose REDD Holdings group has purchased the Masonic Temple on the Green and is in the process of rehabbing the building to accommodate a law office and apartments.

He was asking for a $50,000 loan to help with the work. Chadwick said the building needs substantial work on its systems to bring it up to code, in addition to creating apartments and an office while keeping the architectural charm of the building. Chadwick expects to install heat pumps both for efficiency and because the old heating system would be extremely expensive to replace. Chadwick is also seeking  funding and tax credits that come along with upgrading an historic building in the Village Center district.

An added expense will be removing lead paint as well as repainting..

Chadwick said he and his firm – Chadwick and Spensley – currently have three offices in buildings that the firm has rehabbed.  Those are located in Brattleboro, Pittsford and Randolph. Noting that he grew up in Vermont and has strong ties including coaching sports in Bellows Falls, Chadwick said his group wants to form good relationships with the community and would expect to provide the apartments at affordable rental rates.

Board members asked what would happen should his firm dissolve, Chadwick said he had a mortgage for less than the building was appraised for and that the town would be second in line behind the bank. Presumably the upgraded building would be worth more, but Chadwick said he did not expect his business to “go south.”

The board unanimously approved the loan.