Search Results for 'water project'

Chester board approves $3.3 million budget

By Shawn Cunningham © 2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board approved the town’s $3.343 million budget at its Wednesday,  Jan. 20 meeting and decided to use the general fund surplus of $335,295 to pay upfront for the match for the grant to do the Depot Street sidewalk project rather than borrowing the $200,000 […]

Henry Homeyer: Looking back at 2020

By Henry Homeyer ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC This past year was a tough one for many of us: isolation due to Covid-19, political turmoil, employment interruptions and more. But in the garden, it was pretty good, overall. It was a very dry summer, but that meant that there were fewer fungal diseases on my tomatoes […]

Derry board ponders delay in Town Meeting; addresses property taxes and budgeting

By Cherise Madigan 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Londonderry’s 2021 Town Meeting may move to Pingree Park — and from March to May — if the state grants towns the ability to delay meetings due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And state legislators are working to make the one-time exception a reality, Town Clerk Kelly Pajala, who also […]

Chester board continues budget work, appoints Zoning Administrator Resident proposes civilian oversight of police

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC At its Dec. 2 meeting, the Chester Select Board continued working on the budget,  department by department, and even converted into its alter ego – The Chester Water Commission – to look at the numbers for 2021. As has happened in previous meetings, most of the budget […]

Weekly Covid Update: Vermont up 1,000 cases in 11 days State monitoring vulnerable nursing home population

©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Vermont Department of Health recorded five new deaths this week and a Covid-19 new case count that crossed the 4,000 threshold, leaping from 3,000 to 4,000 cases in just 11 days. New case numbers this week added 546, down from the 716 cases reported last week, for a total of […]

Weston board rehashes land survey decision, no change

By Cherise Madigan 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Select Board celebrated the delivery of a generator donated to The Little School at its Nov. 10 meeting, while continuing debate over a survey of the town-owned property on which the school and Weston Town Offices are located. While the board voted to proceed with the […]

Chester town budget underspent so far this year

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC With 75 percent of the year past, the town of Chester had spent about 65 percent of its annual budget, having hit the brakes earlier this year when it looked as though the Covid-19 pandemic would result in delayed or delinquent property tax collection. At its Oct. […]

BRAT installs LineKeepers collectors to help save wildlife, stop boating hazards

While fishing is a terrific activity that is fun for all ages and ability levels, it is almost inevitable that the line will get snagged, caught or just plain snapped. If left in the water or on the shore, it poses a hazard for not just boat propellers but also for wildlife of all kinds. […]

Derry board revisits future of Williams Dam

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Londonderry Select Board revisited the Williams Dam at its Monday, Oct. 19 meeting, continuing a discussion that has played out for years without resolution. Now, new safety classifications expected from the Vermont Department of Dam Safety in the near future poses a question for the Town of […]

Weston firefighters seek new building; board appoints rep for Communications Union District

By Cherise Madigan © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Volunteer Fire Department may be getting a new home following a preliminary presentation by Fire Chief Ryan Hart and Firefighter Jake Hart at the Oct. 13 meeting of the Weston Select Board. In their appeal, presented by Jake Hart, the fire company requested that, as […]

Derry Transfer Station food-scrap intake doubles

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Recycling Coordinator Esther Fishman told the Londonderry Select Board at its Monday, Oct. 5 meeting that the amount of food scraps being brought to the Transfer Station has increased by nearly 10,000 pounds per month since a state composting mandate went into effect this summer. Food scraps totaled […]

A community greenhouse grows in Chester

By Cynthia Prairie ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC A group in Chester is working to establish a community greenhouse that will allow residents to extend the season to grow plants, vegetables and flowers almost all year long. Their vision is of a community greenhouse and gardens that include educational opportunities while addressing climate change, food insecurity […]

Chester board OKs Act 250 appeal, orders dog in attack muzzled

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC In two special meetings last week, the Chester Select Board discussed the Act 250 District Commission’s rejection of the town’s application to extract gravel on the site it bought for a new water tank and took evidence in a hearing about a dog named Edgar that neighbors […]

To the editor: On Nov. 3, vote for new blood in Montpelier

As we enter another general election season, I encourage my fellow Vermonters to take a hard look at the local and statewide issues that affect our daily lives. In 2015, the education bill called Act 46 was passed with grand promises of efficiency, opportunity and importantly, a decrease in our property taxes. But just the […]

Derry Main St. paving wraps for season as town begins to focus on future Master Plan

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Londonderry’s Main Street paving project will continue into November, Town Administrator Shane O’Keefe announced at Monday’s Londonderry Select Board meeting, and the project is on-schedule to be completed this fall with the exception of a wear coat — the final driving surface for the newly paved road that […]

Black River Action Team (BRAT)

As a grassroots organization, Black River Action Team (BRAT) is responsible for Annual RiverSweeps. We began in 2000 with 4 volunteers, covering 100 feet of river. Now, dozens of volunteers, covering miles of river across several towns, have removed more than 500 shopping carts, along with innumerable tires and other debris, from riverbeds.

We perform monthly water sampling at 14 sites and instituted an “Adopt a Swimming Hole” program. Among our many other projects, we provide environmental education and citizen science projects, stream monitoring in proposed development areas, and clean-up at parades to prevent trash from entering the river.

We also started a “native nursery” on donated land to grow our own plants for streambank stabilization.

Donations are extremely appreciated; checks made out to “BRAT” can be mailed to us at 101 Perley Gordon Rd, Springfield, VT 05156. Funds support program costs for water-quality monitoring, river clean-up, educational workshops, and streambank stabilization tree planting.

Derry dog owner addresses barking issue; board appoints Health Officer

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC At a special session of the Londonderry Select Board on Monday, the board appointed a new Town Health Officer, heard from a resident whose dog’s barking was discussed by the board at its Aug. 17 meeting and went into executive session to discuss potential litigation. Cobble Ridge dog […]

Weston Board grants Little School rent relief, continues fiber optic consideration

By Cherise Madigan ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Weston Select Board continued to address the local impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic at its Tuesday, Aug. 25 meeting by granting rent relief to The Little School for the remainder of 2020 and exploring the potential for fiber optic internet service in Weston — an increasingly valuable […]

Weston board talks Little School work, fiber optic, shared health officer

By Cherise Forbes © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Despite a busy day at the polls, the Weston Select Board began to explore the potential for fiber optic internet in the town and discussed the viability of a shared regional health officer, alongside continued discussion about the Little School grounds and a generator to be shared […]

Chester board OKs funding for marketing efforts, looks at speed limits

By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC In introducing a marketing effort for Chester to the Select Board on Wednesday, Aug. 5, Bob Flint, executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corporation, said it started with a call from Town Manager Julie Hance to see if there were opportunities the town should look into […]