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JANUARY 31, 2019
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
Voters faced with $1.4 million fire truck bond question Fire chief: The town needs to plan for my retirement By Jason Starr Observer staff
The Williston Fire Department welcomed a new fire engine into its fleet last week, nearly three years after voters approved $600,000 in bonded debt to pay for it on Town Meeting Day, 2016. Simultaneous to the new truck’s arrival, the selectboard approved a new debt question for voters to consider on this year’s Town Meeting Day ballot — this one asking to take on $1.4 million in debt to pay for two more fire trucks.
“I’m not thrilled to ask for trucks this close together,” Fire Chief Ken Morton acknowledged. But he made the case during the selectboard’s meeting last week that replacing a ladder truck, fire engine and pickup truck that are all about 20 years old with a new ladder truck and mid-sized “brush truck” is the prudent move. A month shy of 65 and with 28 years under his belt as chief, Morton sees upgrading and streamlining the fleet to be one of his final initiatives that will set the department up for his successor. “I’m not announcing my retirement, but the town needs to plan for it,” he said. see FIRE TRUCK page 2
WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
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OBSERVER PHOTO BY AL FREY
Above: Abigail Hussey does the limbo at CVU’s Family Formal benefit for the Make-a-Wish Foundation on Sunday. Below: Grace Steinman dances with Dad, Glenn.
Zittritsch forces selectboard shakeup By Jason Starr Observer staff
Terri Zittritsch has made the unusual move of running against one of her colleagues on the Williston Selectboard in an effort to force more change to the makeup of the board. Zittritsch will finish her first two-year term on the board this year. Her seat, and the three-year seat currently held by Ted Kenney, are up for re-election at Town Meeting Day, March 5. The dead-
line for candidates to file petitions to be on the ballot was Monday. Instead of running for re-election to the seat she currently holds, Zittritsch filed to run for the threeyear seat, against Kenney. Firsttime candidate McKew Devitt will also be on the ballot. Another firsttime candidate, Gordon St. Hilaire, will run unopposed for Zittritsch’s two-year seat. It’s not that Zittritsch wants to serve a lengthier term, it’s that she see SELECTBOARD page 8
OBSERVER PHOTO BY AL FREY
New Year’s resolution: stop asking
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802.876.7167 64 Knight Lane | Williston
Conveniently located off Route 2A Handicap Accessible
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