Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Weston board changes planning and zoning structure, sets tax rates
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Select Board revised the planning and zoning structure of the town at its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 10, moving from a Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Adjustment to a Planning Commission and Development Review Board. This shifts the responsibility for a number of zoning […]
Chester board mulls construction finances, choices
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC In an accelerated meeting last Wednesday that took visiting members of the Andover Select Board by surprise, the Chester Select Board heard from Town Manager Julie Hance about the finances and schedules of the soon to open Public Services Building on Pleasant Street and the soon to […]
TRSU board hears reopening plans, hires GM board member
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC With school reopening in one month from its Aug. 7 meeting, the board of the Two Rivers Supervisory Union heard plans for bringing students back to the classrooms while the Covid-19 pandemic continues. Superintendent Lauren Fierman told the board that with the state of emergency lifted, the […]
Kids ‘go wild’ with Legos TRSU summer campers build a city in six hours
Rome wasn’t built in a day – as the saying goes – but the kids in Two Rivers Supervisory Union’s Go Wild summer camp program put their city on the map in six hours with the help of a Lego master model builder. On July 16, the Go Wild program welcomed Ian Coffey for a […]
Clearing a trail, one bite at a time
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Day and night during the last two weeks of July, a band of workers quietly and methodically rid 14 acres of the new Chester hiking trail of the invasive barberry bush – by eating it. Actually the 16 goats – from Slippery Slope Farm in Londonderry – […]
Weston tax rate still up in the air Public hearing set for Aug. 10 on switching from Zoning Board to DRB
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Select Board on Monday, July 27, once again passed on approving the town tax rates but did reinstate a 3 percent late fee for property taxes that had been waived last year due to the pandemic. At its July 13 meeting, the board had questions […]
In policy shift, feds to redirect ‘county’ ARPA funds to Vermont towns $121 million had been destined to 14 court 'jurisdictions'
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC In a phone call to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont last night, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin confirmed that her department would issue new guidance today specifying that Vermont’s 14 counties do not constitute “units of general government,” and will therefore send $121 million more in […]
Public weighs in on Chester greenhouse proposal Select Board continues speed limit talk; town garage rehab hits a budget wall
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Before taking up the regular business of its agenda for Wednesday, July 21, the Chester Select Board held a forum for the organizers of the community greenhouse project to explain what they are working on to the public, answer community questions and take comments and suggestions. Around […]
Weston board considers reappraisal, tables municipal tax-rate decision
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Tuesday evening, the Weston Select Board heard from Listers Greg Carroll and Dan Hanenberg who suggested that the town might want to consider a reappraisal of properties for the grand list. Noting that last appraisal was in 2005 and that the “cost table” and “land value schedules” […]
Chester taxes jump as reassessment cancels CLA cushion
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Wednesday night, the Chester Select Board set tax rates and, even though municipal and school budgets have seen only minor increases for this year and the 2021-22 school year, Chester taxpayers are looking at an increases of about 13 cents per hundred of assessed value (or […]
Derry resident arraigned on federal drug charges
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC A South Londonderry man pleaded not guilty in federal court (via Zoom) this afternoon on drug charges dating back to 2017 that apparently involved an overdose death. Timothy J. Slade, 29, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of heroin distribution and maintaining a drug-involved […]
TRSU boards look at their roles during retreat Association continues to push for less hands-on approach
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC School boards don’t operate schools.” If there is one takeaway from a presentation that facilitator Susan Holson of the Vermont School Boards Association gave to members of the Green Mountain and Ludlow Mount Holly district boards during their June 30 retreat, it was that school boards hire […]
Story ballet ‘Thumbelina’ sparkles on Cobleigh Field
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC On a perfect early summer evening, 11 local dancers marched on to Chester’s Cobleigh Field to premiere a new “story ballet” choreographed by Ashley Hensel-Browning and set to Vermont composer Evan Premo’s Thumbelina. The cast danced to a recording of Premo’s original musical setting of Hans Christian […]
Greenhouse siting takes center stage at Chester Select Board meeting
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The question of where to put a large greenhouse for community use was once again front and center on at the June 15 meeting of Chester’s Select Board with some questions and and a bit of push back from neighbors at each of the sites under consideration. […]
Green Mountain graduates 50 in a return to normal commencement
By Shawn Cunningham 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Green Mountain High’s commencement exercises on Friday were a welcomed return to normal compared to last year’s drive-thru graduation. Hundreds of parents and friends watched as 50 members of the class of 2021 received awards and diplomas. (A gallery of graduates is at the end of this story.) […]
GM board wrangles over approval of minutes from Hill appointment
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC At its first in-person monthly meeting in more than a year, the Green Mountain Unified School Board on June 17 continued its rumpus over the minutes taken during the meeting in which Keith Hill was named high school principal. For 45 minutes, the members wrangled over parliamentary […]
GM student represents Vermont in Smithsonian History Day exhibition
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC A Vermont History Day presentation on Suzy ‘Chap Stick’ Chaffee researched and created by Andover student Violet Haight at Green Mountain High School has been selected to compete in the National History Day Contest. It was also chosen to be showcased virtually by the Smithsonian’s National Museum […]
Scott lifts restrictions as state hits 80% vaxx goal State of emergency to expire at midnight Tuesday; businesses can retain masking
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC At a press conference called for this morning, Gov. Phil Scott announced that Vermont has reached the goal of 80 percent of all residents ages 12 and older having received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and followed through on his promise to lift all […]
Chester board looks at possible greenhouse locations
By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board took a field trip before its meeting last Wednesday night, visiting two town-owned properties that have been proposed as possible sites for a large public greenhouse and gardens project that has come before the board in the past. Identifying the sites follows a […]
Missing Ludlow man found dead
© 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC A missing Ludlow man who has been the focus of a multi-agency search since Monday was found dead this afternoon. According to a Vermont State Police press release, at about 3 p.m. on Friday, June 4, the body of Russell Nord was found by a search team in a wooded […]
