All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Chester board hears from attorney about STR ordinance
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester’s Select Board continued deliberating on an ordinance that would require registration of short term rentals — like Airbnb and VRBO — to gather information about the effects of such rentals on the town and to ensure that fire and safety regulations are observed. Back in August, […]
Blaze destroys Chester home, displacing family of eight Firefighters work amid bitter temperatures
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Firefighters from more than a dozen departments responded to Chester for a fire that destroyed a home that housed eight on Route 103 north near Wymans Falls Road and closed the highway for several hours on Sunday night as temperatures dropped into the low teens. According to […]
News Analysis: Next steps for GMUSD after bond defeat
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Tuesday’s 47-vote defeat of a bond issue to renovate three school buildings that make up the Green Mountain Unified School District is on the agenda for that board’s monthly meeting on Thursday, Nov. 17 as members and administrators figure out where to go from here. At […]
Andover’s ‘High Bridge’ re-opens on time
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC T bridge replacement project on Weston-Andover Road, a worry for the Andover Select Board for many years, has finished on time and reopened after an 11-week closure. The town and the construction company held a ribbon cutting on Friday, Nov. 4 to mark the occasion. The 84-foot […]
Mail-in ballots, large in-person turnout make for busy election day Props 2 and 5 pass, Democratic candidates win Windsor Senate seats, sheriff's office
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Town clerks across the area on Election Day morning said that especially large numbers of voters had cast ballots early, returning the general election ballots sent to them by the Vermont Secretary of State. At the same time, they noted there was also steady traffic at polling […]
$20M school renovation bond fails by 47 votes
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC The $20 million bond intended to pay for renovating the three school buildings of the Green Mountain Unified School District was narrowly defeated Tuesday evening by a vote of 808 in favor to 855 opposed, a defeat that school officials called “disappointing.” The lower vote totals may […]
Chase beats Ryan in new Vermont House district
By Cynthia Prairie ©2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Democrat Heather Chase has won the seat in the Vermont House of Representatives for the newly carved out Windsor-Windham District of Athens, Chester, Grafton and Windham. Chase handily beat Ryan 1,308 to 803, winning in comfortable margins in each town. Those town by town breakdowns were: 819 to […]
Competitive Chase-Ryan race yields local view of campaign financing
By Cynthia Prairie ©2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC For the first time in many years, voters from this part of Southern Central Vermont are viewing a rare bird: a competitive “spending race” for the Vermont House of Representatives — in this case the new Windsor-Windham District that encompasses Athens, Chester, Grafton and Windham. The race to […]
Details on GM school bond highlight aging systems
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC A number of readers have asked for more details on the prices of the elements that go into the total price of the bond. According to Eric Lafayette, of general contractor Energy Efficient Investments, their process is to generate estimates based on current jobs they are working, […]
Voters weigh in with questions on school bond
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Thursday evening, the Green Mountain Unified School District held a “walk through” at Green Mountain High School in Chester to give voters the chance to see why board members believe the proposed $20 million renovation bond that will come before them on Nov. 8 is necessary. […]
Ryan-Chase forum sheds more light on State House candidates
By Cynthia Prairie ©2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Like most candidate forums, the meetup in Grafton between Republican Eva Ryan and Democrat Heather Chase, candidates for the newly configured Windsor-Windham District of Athens, Chester, Grafton and Windham in the state House of Representatives, was a polite affair. No challenges, objections or name calling. The questions were […]
3 area villages to get ARPA funds for wastewater projects Grafton, North & South Londonderry among 12 recipients
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Wastewater projects in three area villages — Grafton, South Londonderry and North Londonderry — will receive American Rescue Plan Act funding to the tune of almost $4 million each, Gov. Phil Scott announced last week. The funding, which is coming through the state’s Village Water and Wastewater […]
What’s in the GM renovation bond: Elementary schools to see upgrades in heating systems
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Both Cavendish Town and Chester-Andover elementary schools are slated to get upgrades to their fire alarm systems, should the bond proposal pass. Cavendish Town’s portion of the upgrade is worth $1.7 million; Chester-Andover’s is $2.6 million. Todd Parah, facilities director for Two Rivers Supervisory Union, says this […]
Chester board mulls gardens, housing, short-term rentals in wide ranging meeting
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Coming in at just under three hours in length, the Oct. 19 Chester Select Board meeting got through a packed agenda that included a request for a lease to use the Canal Street well site for a community garden, a discussion of how to approach the lack […]
What’s in the $20 million GM school renovation bond? Part 1 of 2: We take a look at plans for Green Mountain High
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC With just about three weeks before the end of mail-in voting and the Tuesday, Nov. 8 Election Day, the public can weigh in on the proposed $20 million bond to renovate the three schools in the Green Mountain School District. Board members, administration and school staff are […]
Chester board hears pros and cons of short-term rentals, ordinance Will look at ordinance again after lawyer's review
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board review of a proposed ordinance that would require the registration of short-term rentals – like those marketed online by Airbnb and VRBO – brought out those in favor of regulation and those defending their income stream, as well as an emotional appeal […]
Vermont moves permanently to universal
vote-by-mail system Ranks No. 1 in MIT's Election Performance Index for 2020
By Matt DeRienzo Center for Public Integrity Vermont’s progressive election laws have put it in the Top 10 among U.S. states in voter turnout for decades. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, it switched to a universal vote-by-mail system for the 2020 election. Last year, it made that change permanent. It’s easy to register […]
Hollowed Community? Residents ring alarm over growth of unhosted short-term rentals
By Cara Philbin and Cynthia Prairie © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC Housing in the rural central tier of southern Vermont always has been dependent upon single-family homes. While Chester – with a population of 3,005 – has two purpose-built, townhouse-style apartment complexes, they are rare in most villages. Instead, residents in this east-west corridor have […]
Chester Police Dept. study finds communication lacking, training procedures outdated
By Shawn Cunningham © 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Police Department needs to improve its communication with the public as well as bring its policies and related training procedures into the 21st century, according to a number of recommendations in an assessment of the town’s Police Department written by Jim Baker, a former director […]
Chester boards up ‘health hazard’ Hennessey house
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC On Tuesday afternoon, employees of the Town of Chester boarded up the house at 138 Cummings Road to keep people from staying in the house that the town says has no running water or working septic and is surrounded by a junk yard containing hazardous materials. The house […]
