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Heather Chase: Increase public participation in town government

Heather Chase: Increase public participation in town government

©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC Heather Chase is a Chester resident with four children. She is also a nurse and the owner of a small business, Corporate Lactation Services, a company she founded in 1996 to “assist companies in creating environments and programs that would allow women to continue to breastfeed once they return to work,” according […]

Candidates in contested Chester Select Board race address pressing issues

Candidates in contested Chester Select Board race address pressing issues

©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC The Telegraph asked the two candidates for the open three-year term on the Chester Select Board to respond to a set of questions that address their vision for the town. The other two candidates — incumbents Tom Bock and Arne Jonynas — are unopposed in seeking re-election to one-year terms. The three-year […]

Chester firefighters stretched and cramped and looking for a solution

Chester firefighters stretched and cramped and looking for a solution

By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing, LLC The two-bay end of the town garage that houses the Chester Fire Department was quiet on a recent evening — a welcomed break from more than a month of non-stop action for the 17 part-time firefighters, whose main coverage area spans 89 hilly square miles in Chester […]

Board seeks higher return on Chester economic loan fund

Board seeks higher return on Chester economic loan fund

By Shawn Cunningham ©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC Having speculated for several years whether a loan fund created to help Chester’s businesses could get a higher rate of return on its unused balance, the Chester Select Board heard a presentation by representatives of the wealth management division of People’s Bank at its Feb.y 4 meeting. The Chester […]

Only one contested race in Chester, eight offices have no candidates

The petitions have been submitted, the signatures checked and here is the slate of candidates standing for elective office in Chester. The only office that is being contested is the three year select board position currently held by Derek Suursoo.  Heather C. Chase is running to take Suursoo’s place.   A write-in candidate for any […]

Fire destroys Chester home on Sunday, donations welcome

Fire destroys Chester home on Sunday, donations welcome

By Cynthia Prairie ©2015-The Chester Telegraph Chester Fire Chief Matt Wilson says that a fire that destroyed the home of Andy and Judy Lavallee on First Avenue in Chester on Sunday was not suspicious, but that the cause has not been officially confirmed. According to the Chester Fire Department, firefighters responded around 8:30 a.m. to […]

Chester Select Board rejects Open Meeting Law complaint, pulls Australian ballot articles

Chester Select Board rejects Open Meeting Law complaint, pulls Australian ballot articles

By Shawn Cunningham ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board heard from the town’s attorney regarding The Chester Telegraph’s complaint of a violation of Vermont’s Open Meeting Law and the board removed the questions regarding Australian ballot voting for all questions from the Town Meeting warning at its Jan. 21 meeting. Jim Carroll, attorney […]

Chester Historical Society throws future of Yosemite Fire House into question

Chester Historical Society throws future of Yosemite Fire House into question

By Shawn Cunningham ©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The future of an iconic Chester structure is in question as the organization that has been responsible for it for nearly 38 years has expressed a desire to shed that responsibility. At a meeting on Thursday Jan. 22, Chester Historical Society President Ron Patch told the society’s membership […]

Open offices: What's up in Chester, Andover, Grafton, Weston and Londonderry

Open offices: What’s up in Chester, Andover, Grafton, Weston and Londonderry

©2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC Next week: We’ll outline the fiscal articles that will be on the ballots for Andover, Chester, Grafton, Londonderry and Weston. Chester petitions due Monday Petitions to run for elective office in Chester are due at the Town Office by 5 p.m. Monday Jan. 26. According to Chester Town Clerk Deb Aldrich, […]

Chester board considers eliminating votes during town meeting; adopts budget proposal for voter approval

Chester board considers eliminating votes during town meeting; adopts budget proposal for voter approval

By Shawn Cunningham ©2015 The Chester Telegraph The Chester Select Board is considering whether voting from the floor at town meeting should be eliminated. Two articles were proposed for consideration at the Monday March 2 meeting. Article 2 asks “Shall the Town of Chester vote on all public questions by Australian ballot.” Article 3 asks […]

Public Funds bring tidy return, Hearse House project to receive grant

Public Funds bring tidy return, Hearse House project to receive grant

By Shawn Cunningham © 2015 Telegraph Publishing LLC The three-member board that oversees more than a dozen funds given to the town for designated purposes met Tuesday to hear from representatives of People’s Bank who manage the $660,000 public funds portfolio and to announce a grant to support the rehabilitation of the Hearse House at […]

Chester board delays budget decisions; discussed land purchase in questionable executive session

Chester board delays budget decisions; discussed land purchase in questionable executive session

By Shawn Cunningham ©Telegraph Publishing LLC – 2014 The Chester Select Board took up the 2015 budget at its Wednesday Dec. 17 meeting, discussing several issues from earlier meetings. But it was agenda item No. 7 – the proposed purchase of  land  – that raised questions about transparency in the town government of Chester. Town […]

Paving, police, library and health insurance among Chester budget topics.

Paving, police, library and health insurance among Chester budget topics.

By Shawn Cunningham ©Telegraph Publishing LLC – 2014 Taking up next year’s budget first on the agenda again at its Wednesday, Dec. 3 meeting, the Chester Select Board looked at issues from the cost of changing police and fire dispatch from Springfield to Hartford, to the need for a fifth full-time police officer and whether […]

Chester board addresses school funding, police resources, Popple Dungeon Road

Chester board addresses school funding, police resources, Popple Dungeon Road

By Shawn Cunningham ©Telegraph Publishing LLC — 2014 At its Nov. 19 meeting, the Chester Select Board continued to review  a proposed town budget and received updates on a number of projects including the solar farm to be built on town land behind the Jeffrey Barn, the long delayed Popple Dungeon Road project and improvements […]

Chester voters keep new auto uses in Residential-Commercial zones

Chester voters keep new auto uses in Residential-Commercial zones

By Shawn Cunningham ©2014 – Telegraph Publishing LLC A 3-to-1 majority of Chester voters who turned out to cast ballots at town hall on Tuesday voted against leaving a 40-year-old prohibition on automotive uses in the town’s new zoning bylaws. The 160 to 460 vote was colored by a number of issues including a proposed […]

An explainer: Clearing up some confusion surrounding Chester's referendum

An explainer: Clearing up some confusion surrounding Chester’s referendum

By Shawn Cunningham ©2014 — Telegraph Publishing LLC On Tuesday Nov. 18, Chester voters will have the opportunity to cast a ballot – Yes or No – on a zoning issue. Over the past few weeks, there have been many posters, letters to the editor, Facebook posts, a petition and even a mailing from the […]

Chester Select Board raises sewer rates, green-lights design of water system upgrade

Chester Select Board raises sewer rates, green-lights design of water system upgrade

By Shawn Cunningham © 2014 – Telegraph Publishing LLC In a busy Nov. 5 meeting run by vice chair Derek Suursoo, the Chester Select Board raised sewer rates effective immediately for its 600 users, gave a nod toward hiring Golden Cross for a winter ambulance restructuring and OK’d a $155,000 contract to design a $4.6 […]

New zoning bylaws complicate Chester armory development

New zoning bylaws complicate Chester armory development

By Shawn Cunningham © 2014 – Telegraph Publishing LLC An application for a conditional use permit to convert the former Army Reserve armory on Route 11 west for light manufacturing met with a friendly reception from Chester’s Development Review Board on Monday night. But a snafu in the new Unified Development Bylaws made the process […]

Chester planning board to send referendum info letter to homeowners

The Chester Planning Commission met Monday, Oct. 27 to discuss the wording of a letter to be mailed to residents regarding the referendum on a zoning issue to take place on Tuesday, Nov. 18. The vote is a result of a successful petition drive signed by 148 registered voters to remove “automotive sales/service/fuel” use that […]

Chester Select Board talks budgets, sets date for referendum

Chester Select Board talks budgets, sets date for referendum

By Shawn Cunningham ©2014 The Chester Telegraph The Chester Select Board set 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17 for a special town meeting and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18 for the vote on the question of whether the sales and service of automobiles and other vehicles and the sale of fuel should be […]