The Citizen - 1-26-23

CVSD adopts $96 million spending plan

School district towns will see tax hikes

COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER

The Champlain Valley School District adopted its $96 million budget at its last district meeting and has warned a vote for Town Meeting Day.

The fiscal year 2024 budget, totaling $96,119,804, amounts to a 7.5 percent increase in expenditures from last fiscal year, driven by several factors including a general increase in health care, salaries, as well as in the district’s special education budget, among other things.

“One factor that is certainly affecting this budget is the consumer price index — the last time that I pulled the report was November and it was still at 7.1 percent,” said Gary Marckres, the district’s chief operations officer. “Everything is getting more expensive.”

School tax rate increases are included in all the district’s participating towns except for St. George; residents there will see a 1 percent decrease, or a $20 decrease per $100,000 of assessed home value.

Both Hinesburg and Charlotte will see a 5 percent increase, or a $79 increase per $100,000 of assessed value, while Shelburne will see a 6 percent increase, resulting in a $101 increase per $100,000 of assessed value. Williston will see a 2 percent increase, or a $37 increase.

One of the largest expenditure increases in the budget is for special education, which saw a 12 percent increase from the previous year.

The school district has had staffing trouble with its special educators and intensive care educators in recent years. Part of the 12 percent increase includes the hiring of two new special educators at Champlain Valley Union High School.

Charlotte approves a $3 million budget

LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER

At the Jan. 23 Charlotte Selectboard meeting, members finalized the town’s 2024 budget along with several other articles to be voted on Town Meeting Day on March 7.

The selectboard also decided that all the articles be decided by Australian ballot if the governor signs off on the bill that will allow municipalities that option.

Voters will be asked to approve a municipal budget of $3,093,908 — a nearly $478,000 increase over last year — along

with two separate articles for the library and the fire and rescue budget. Property taxes will raise $1,500,587 of the total, with $1,593,321 is expected to be raised by non-tax revenues.

Some of the highest expenses came from employee benefits, which total $373,069 — a nearly $182,998 increase from last year with health insurance nearly doubling in cost from $127,063 to $233,000.

Voters will be asked to allocate $965,806 to Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services — a nearly $75,000 increase from last year — and voters will need to approve a $324,356 library budget,

a nearly $40,000 increase.

All three budgets leave residents with an estimated tax rate of $0.2423, which is close to the $0.2422 residents saw this year — meaning residents can expect to pay nearly $242.30 for every $100,000 in property value.

Although the tax rate looks the same, because the town has also undergone a townwide reappraisal of property, which is required when the common level of appraisal drops below 85 percent, “there is a potential that the amount that you will pay

COURTESY PHOTO

Ella, Sonnet, Lucy, Olive and Theo hold up Martin Luther King, Sacagawea, Ruby Bridges and her teacher Barbara Henry. See story on page 2.

Puppet masters

‘Puppetkabob’ holds residency at Hinesburg Community School

From Jan. 4 to Jan. 11, Vermont Arts Council teaching artist and founder of the touring puppet company Puppetkabob, Sarah Frechette, conducted a residency for the Hinesburg Community School.

“Biography Puppets” gave students an accessible, hands-on activity to elevate this year’s informational reading unit: biographies with fine arts. Chosen for both their tactile and theatrical focus, marionettes were used to display rituals and ceremonies using string-operated figurines throughout history. To make theirs, students and community members collected and sorted through recyclable materials.

Prior to this residency the students worked with reading teacher Alyssa Wieland to research an important person

of color in American history. The students then took their research and, together with Puppetkabob, learned to design forced perspective background scenes and performable string-operated puppets.

In the end, each finished marionette-flipbook combo highlighted the fifthgrade students’ research abilities, creative impulse and artistic styles.

During this residency, the fifth graders imparted their new puppet-making skills by helping three kindergarten classes create finger puppets, which were presented to their classes in a showcase as they supported and celebrated their friends. Between the two grades, 101 students took part in this residency.

Wieland helped to secure funding for the program.

COURTESY PHOTOS

Above: From left, fifth graders Izzy and Eliza from Ms. Galyean’s class hold up their puppets of Ruby Bridges.

Right: From left, Eliza Mae and Tessa pose with their marionettes of Katherine Johnson.

Below right: From left, Owen holds a marionette of Barack Obama in front of his illustration of the White House.

Space shortages pressure school districts in region

Capacity issues driven by new development

COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER

Shelburne Community School’s “B-Wing” has been comprised of six temporary classroom spaces for at least a decade now — not as temporary as was envisioned when they were first installed.

The South Burlington School District hopes to avoid that fate. The district began using temporary classrooms at the Rich Marcotte Central School and Orchard School in March, and the district will begin using education impact fees to cost out the district’s use of zero emission modular buildings, but the city will still have to develop a more permanent solution for a growing student population.

For the Champlain Valley School District, the problem of overcrowded schools may be coming to a head sooner rather than later. At Williston’s Allen Brook School, a shortage classroom space for the school’s K-2 population is forcing the district to earmark more than $400,000 for two temporary classroom spaces.

“This is really urgent,” Jeanne Jensen, the district’s former chief operations manager, said at the Dec. 13 board meeting. “It is a major problem for Allen Brook; it has to be addressed.”

With K-12 populations expected to increase over the next five to 10 years, officials with Champlain Valley School District are beginning to formulate a plan to refurbish their schools to ensure they meet the space demands of their member towns’ increasing populations.

It’s a district-wide and county-wide issue that, according to demographic reports, should continue to increase in intensity for both the Champlain Valley and South Burlington districts in the coming years.

Hinesburg is set to see a spike in K-12 populations in the next decade; the town already has the highest percentage of renter-occupied units among the Champlain Valley district’s member towns but has hundreds of housing units that have yet to be permitted on the horizon that were not accounted for in the district’s demographic report that was released in May.

Additionally increased

student enrollment from new development in Williston will begin overwhelming capacity at the Allen Brook School, the report says.

However, potential renovations at Allen Brook come at a hefty price — to the tune of $47 million.

“We’ve known this was coming. We’ve had an architect working on this for two years; he came up with a number that was jaw dropping,” Jensen said. “I thought the number was going to be in the single digits.”

For now, the modular classroom spaces at the Williston school are “intended to be a bridge between a future project and the space issues they have now,” said Gary Marckres, Champlain Valley School District’s newest chief operations officer.

With the 2024 budget approved, Marckres says he is starting a more comprehensive look at the district’s schools “and to build a capital plan that makes sense to address needs at multiple schools (or) to at least address the highest priority ones,” including schools in Williston, Hinesburg and Shelburne.

2021.

South Burlington is expected to remain one of the fastest growing communities in Vermont, according to a report and data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2020 Census data indicates the state population grew 2.8 percent between 2010 and 2020, while South Burlington grew 13.34 percent, from 17,904 to 20,292 residents, between the same time frames.

The expectation is that South Burlington is expected to add over 1,000 housing units (up to 1,400 if long-term trends continue) over the next 10 years.

To address the issue, the district plans on spending more than $6 million on temporary classrooms there — an immediate, albeit temporary, solution to a longer-term problem — as part of a $14.5 million bond for voters to consider on Town Meeting Day.

“We’ve known this was coming. We’ve had an architect working on this for two years; he came up with a number that was jaw dropping. I thought the number was going to be in the single digits.”

— Jeanne Jensen

“A more comprehensive package will save taxpayers money in the long run,” he said.

South Burlington, meanwhile, has been facing overcrowding issues at both the Rick Marcotte Central and Orchard schools — both linked to population growth in the city — for some time now. Both schools exceed the state recommended 85 percent capacity by more than 100 students.

“This pressure has absolutely impacted the way that we’re able to deliver education to students in those schools,” South Burlington Superintendent Violet Nichols said.

All five of the district’s schools will begin to see climbing enrollment, according to a demographic report released in

To recoup those funds, the city will use education impact fees — or fees levied on new housing development in the city — to pay for capital expenditures. The city council approved that use during its meeting on Monday night.

Meanwhile, more longer-term options to address classroom space remain undecided. South Burlington residents rejected a bond vote that would have raised taxes to renovate the middle and high schools in the city in March 2020.

Marckres gave no timeline for when the Champlain district’s capital plan would be completed but said a “district wide conversation will certainly be needed, probably to include reestablishing and reenergizing a committee to really look at each building strategically and see ... what kind of relationships we can build and have a comprehensive plan that addresses our needs and is most fiscally responsible.”

Shelburne Museum establishes curator of Native American art Man who destroyed Tesla balks again on plea deal, judge OKs jury trial

Shelburne Museum has established a new curatorship in Native American Art and appointed Victoria Sunnergren as its first leader.

Sunnergren is the museum’s first associate curator of Native American Art, a post funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. In her new position, she will lead the interpretation and exhibition of the museum’s collection of Indigenous art and material culture and organize an exhibition highlighting the Perry Collection of Native American masterworks.

She will guide the museum’s program in collaboration with an advisory board of Indigenous artists, curators, and community leaders.

“I look forward to my role in bringing Indigenous art and mate-

rial culture to Shelburne’s audiences and amplifying the Indigenous voices represented in the collection,” Sunnergren said.

Sunnergren’s first project, this

summer’s exhibition “Built from the Earth: Pueblo Pottery from the Anthony and Teressa Perry Collection,” highlights important items from the Perry collection. The exhibition focuses on the skill and artistry of potters from eight of the Pueblo communities in New Mexico: Acoma, Cochiti, Laguna, Santa Ana, Santo Domingo, San Ildefonso, Zia and Zuni.

“Built from the Earth” will introduce visitors to the techniques of creating these works of art, discussing the historic methods rooted in the land and materials of New Mexico.

Sunnergren earned her master’s degree from the University of Delaware, where she is currently a doctoral candidate and Andrew W. Mellon fellow.

Champlain Area Trails hires new head

Christina Vaughn as the new operations manager for Champlain Area Trails.

Vaughn was recently at Mountain Lake Service in its fiscal intermediary department.

“Christina has a terrific set of experiences over many years in the nonprofit sector, and her interest and leadership in operations and office management are important strengths she brings

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to CATS,” said Champlain Area Trails executive director Chris Maron.

Vaughn is a North Country Community College graduate. She started work at Champlain Area Trails on Jan 17.

Information on future events and activities is available at champlainareatrails.com. Call 518-962-2287 or email info@champlainareatrails.com for more information

MIKE DONOGHUE CORRESPONDENT

A former South Burlington man, who is charged with illegal possession of five stolen Teslas, has balked a second time during a federal court hearing calling for him to withdraw his not guilty plea.

Michael A. Gonzalez, 33, fraudulently obtained the five Teslas valued at about $607,000 from car dealerships in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Florida and had them brought across state lines to Vermont in 2018 and 2019, a federal indictment claims.

One Tesla was destroyed during a suspicious fire in Shelburne Bay on Lake Champlain in February 2019, the U.S. Secret Service has said.

Gonzalez signed a 15-page plea agreement in September 2022 and a change of plea hearing was scheduled the following month. However, as the defendant arrived at court, he indicated he wanted to keep his not guilty plea on the record.

A second change of plea hearing was set for last Friday, but that time he said he now wants a jury trial.

Chief federal judge Geoffrey W. Crawford agreed to accommodate the request and said the trial needs to be held by late March under the speedy trial act and the lawyers need to talk about a potential date.

Crawford ordered Gonzalez to serve six more months in prison on an unrelated case and said he would be on federally supervised release for two more years.

The additional prison time comes from Gonzalez admitting on Friday that he had tested positive for cocaine at least four times and that he failed to tell his federal probation officer about five interactions he had with law enforcement.

Gonzalez began three years of federally supervised release in May 2021 as part of his conviction for trying to buy a firearm in 2019 while he had a pending felony charge for aggravated domestic assault, records show.

Gonzalez, who was living in Hinesburg at the time, failed to disclose to a Williston gun dealer he had a pending felony charge of aggravated domestic assault involving the mother of his child, police said.

Victoria Sunnergren

Cannabis, Medicare issue top citizens’ concerns

the House Chea Waters Evans

I now live in the land of acronyms and abbreviations. ARPA, ESSR, GOMA, EGWP, TIF, ADS, VIC, USGS. If you have some spare time, look up all those things and I’ll quiz you next time I hold a Chat with Chea gathering.

I was assigned to my firstchoice committee here in the Vermont House of Representatives. Government operations and military affairs — HGOMA, if you prefer — covers a wide range of topics, from the Department of Liquor and Lottery to municipal government, elections and open meeting laws, and from public safety to the Cannabis Control Board, and so many other things. I like it because it

covers a broad array of topics and touches on issues that are important and interesting to me personally.

Our first bill in committee was one of the first to hit the floor of the House and Senate — an extension of temporary laws that were in place for the past two years because of COVID-19. H.42 allows municipal governments to, among other things, hold votes by Australian ballot and hold meetings online. It also allows towns to move their town meeting date and requires that they record any public meetings.

The bill passed in both chambers and while I’m writing this, Jan. 24 at 11:45 a.m., it’s on the governor’s desk waiting for a signature. The bill is urgent because towns are legally obligated to warn voters before town meeting, and there are printer deadlines for the town

report.

I had no idea that basically everything your state government does is online. If you’re so inclined, you could watch all the committee meetings live all day on YouTube or watch them at night instead of Netflix or football. It’s equally as entertaining. Each chamber of the General Assembly has its own YouTube channel, as does every committee. And the Legislature’s website has every document we review, every PowerPoint presentation we watch, and the progression of every bill as it makes its way through.

I’ve so far co-sponsored two bills: H.66, which introduces paid family and medical leave insurance, and H.89, which is a shield law protecting health care providers and others who provide reproductive or gender-affirming health care. I feel quite strongly that both bills will have a profound positive effect on the life of Vermonters and are in line with what Char-

D’Amico misses mark on dangers of trapping

Guest Perspective

David Kelley

In his Jan. 19, 2023, column in the News and Citizen Jerry D’Amico claims leghold traps do “not torture or unduly harm the animal.” (“Trapping commentaries seldom right, most always distort truth.”)

He even claims, “I have walked up to captured animals that were sleeping, not struggling against the device.” He claims, “animals are released unharmed, with only a numb foot.” Yes. That is right. As amazing as it sounds, D’Amico actually walks up to animals captured in leghold traps — and these animals are just sleeping!

In their social media guides to trappers the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies tells trappers to be careful about what they put on social media. They advise, “Your excitement and enthusiasm for trapping is the best promotion! Sharing why you enjoy trapping is a great way to spread the message that trapping is a fun outdoor activity.”

The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife has also advised trappers not to post their cellphone videos on social media. But trappers like D’Amico just can’t help themselves from broadcasting all the “harmless” fun they are having with leghold and body gripping traps. On the Facebook posts of trappers themselves the truth of this so-called “fun” is as hard to escape as a Conibear trap. Warning: The truth is also heart wrenching.

I lived in Ennis, Mont., for six or seven years. We didn’t live too far from the Bar Seven Ranch. When beavers dammed the irrigation ditches at the ranch they called my neighbor, Curt Carson, and he killed them with Conibear traps. I helped him

sometimes. I learned about trapping up close and personal. I don’t need to see it on Facebook. There was a kind of insanity to it all.

For centuries the beavers had dammed the streams and kept enough water distributed to sustain vast herds of buffalo. We killed all the beavers and so the ranchers had to dig irrigation ditches from the rivers and streams to feed vast pivots to water and feed their cattle — in some cases pumping the streams dry. The beavers could have served that purpose with a lot less cost and without drying up the streams.

Carson and I came to disagree about our relationship with animals and wildlife. He always insisted dogs couldn’t go to heaven. I told him, in that case, I wasn’t going either. He said animals were put here to serve and support humans. But I always liked him, and I understood he had grown up in a pioneer family, and trapping had been about survival. Carson and his wonderful wife, Betty, are dead now. And many of Carson’s truths are no longer true.

D’Amico’s survival does not depend on trapping. And we have, as a species, slowly come to realize that wildlife, and even domestic animals were not put here simply to serve and support the human race. Today it is almost axiomatic that human and wildlife well-being are inextricably linked. It is long past time to develop a new ethic that recognizes that truth.

To inflict suffering on any creature for fun and recreation was never justified. But today, following a pandemic that has killed millions, with its source in an ill-considered human-wildlife relationship, and in the midst of what many call “the sixth mass extinction” all the evidence says we must think anew.

Some have already begun that process.

Ten states have trapping bans, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Washington and New Mexico, and at least 108 countries, including all member countries of the European Union have done the same. The American Animal Hospital Association, the World Veterinary Association and the National Animal Control Association have declared that leghold traps are inhumane. Vermont should do the same.

lotte and Hinesburg voters want — I’ve heard a lot from people about these issues.

The other topics I’ve heard the most about from constituents are cannabis and the governor’s proposal to move health care pension benefits to a program called Medicare Advantage. The Medicare Advantage issue isn’t solvable by the Legislature at this point, since it comes from the executive branch. The best way to get your voice heard is to contact the governor’s office.

My understanding regarding cannabis growers and planning and zoning is that the state’s laws are intentionally left somewhat open in order to allow municipalities to mow their own path — with the clear directive that towns can’t make so many restrictive laws that it effectively makes it impossible to grow cannabis.

There are a whole lot of unknowns here, particularly since until recently, it wasn’t legal to grow cannabis in Vermont, and it’s still not legal on the federal level. As a decision-maker, I like to rely on facts, figures and data as much as possible. Unfortunately, in this industry, there aren’t a lot of those to rely on yet because it’s so new. I’ll let you know more about this as things progress.

I had fun this week at the Charlotte Senior Center holding an informal dropin; anyone is welcome from Charlotte or Hinesburg, or anywhere, really. We had great discussions about compost, cannabis, vehicle inspections, zoning laws and more. I’ll be doing it again on Monday, Feb. 27, at 1 p.m. and I’d love to see you. Call or text any time at (917) 887-8231 or email me at cevans@leg.state.vt.us.

David Kelley, a lawyer, is on the board of the Vermont Wildlife Coalition. He lives in Greensboro.

Chea Waters Evans, a Democrat, represents Charlotte and Hinesburg in the Chittenden-5 House district.

From

Rep. Chea Waters Evans

OUTDOORS

The barn across the road from the house

Connect the Dots

We were walking down a wooded trail in Little River State Park in Waterbury to see some old stonework that a friend had found near her backcountry campsite. Through the brush ahead, a six-foot-tall stone wall appeared, and as we got nearer, we could see that it was a large, three-sided shape.

It had all the features of a 19th-century bank barn foundation. When my friend asked why it was in the woods by itself, I said it probably wasn’t and we should look for the remains of the old farmhouse that had once gone with it. I suggested we look first on the other side of the trail, which looked like the old road. As we crossed the road and pushed through the brush there, the stonelined cellar hole opened in front of our feet, as I had predicted.

The pattern of building the farmhouse and the barn next to the road but across from each other was very common in western Vermont in the 19th century, and many examples remain today. In eastern Vermont, some farms followed this pattern and other farms connected all their farm buildings together — as in the children’s ditty “big house, little house, back house, barn.”

Each pattern had advantages and disadvantages and farm fami-

lies had to weigh their choices before they decided how to build. With connected farm buildings, the farm family could walk from their house through the

attached shed, or “back house,” to the barn without ever going outside, no matter the weather. The biggest benefit came in the winter when the frequent live-

stock feedings, milkings and other farm chores could be done with much less exposure to the cold and wind.

Until well into the 20th century, the farm chores were done by lantern light. The lanterns had open flames from the candle, oil or kerosene they used, making them a fire hazard in the barns full of dry hay, straw and other flammables. Farmers were careful about where they placed the lanterns, but there was always a risk of one being knocked over and starting a fire. If the barn caught on fire, it could easily spread to the other attached buildings, including the house.

In western Vermont, most of the farm families decided they’d rather go out to the barn in all weather to lower the risk of fire spreading between buildings. They usually positioned their barns directly across the road from the house. This meant they were close by and easy to find in the dark and the dirt roadway acted as a fire break to prevent flames from spreading from building to building.

The roadbed was also easily traversed when going from the

house to the barn, even in winter. In the earliest years, roadway snow was packed down using a variety of homegrown methods and devices. In the later 19th-century, towns used specially designed snow rollers on the roads to make a good surface for the main mode of winter transportation: horse-drawn sleighs. Farmers crossing the road from their house to the barn in winter would walk relatively easily on the packed snow surface.

This pattern of placing the house and barn across the road from each other was usually possible because many early Vermont farms owned land on both sides of the road. The earliest farmhouses were built before the roads were laid out and the buildings were usually placed near the middle of their original lot, giving them easier access to their whole parcel. When the first rural roads were put in, they usually connected farm site to farm site in a neighborhood, thus running through the middle of the farm lots.

Farm families, then, were able

Jane Dorney

PHOTO BY JANE DORNEY

A 19th-century barn across the road from the farmhouse on a back road in Hinesburg.

Charlotte’s emergency management team ready for disaster

LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER

Charlotte’s emergency management team, Chris Davis and Karina Warshaw, are working to ensure that residents are educated about emergency preparation and coordination when a disaster occurs.

Davis has been a volunteer with Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service for almost 40 years, and back in the 1980s, the emergency management director role fell on the shoulders of the acting fire chief, a position he held for most of his time on the squad.

“When the state started talking about having emergency plans for the town, we did our best back then, that would have been the ‘80s and early ‘90s,” he said. “We had a plan and we used to have it in all the fire trucks, a lists of phone numbers, but it was still so very informal.”

Davis recalled that it wasn’t until the ice storm of 1998 and Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 that the state became serious about its emergency preparedness.

“You saw a real push to make sure that every town that could possibly do it had an emergency

plan, had an emergency manager, and the county regional planning groups got involved in being part of emergency planning,” he said.

The real honor, he said, came when he was selected along with eight other people from all over the state to recreate the template that’s currently being used by all towns as a fill-in-the-blank emergency management plan, better known as a local emergency management plan, or LPE. “I was honored to be part of the group that helped create that because we were trying to make sure it was easy to do and even a really small town that maybe only had three selectmen and a town clerk could do it,” he said.

Davis’ current position as the emergency management director is appointed by the selectboard on a one-year term.

“We’re very fortunate in our town to have selectboards over the last 10 years that have been very willing to get involved with supporting the idea of being prepared,” he said.

While Davis had many people to thank for the support, he recognized that none of this would be possible without the emergency

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management coordinator, Karina Warshaw, who first became involved in 2021.

This position works hand-inhand with the emergency management director, attending both regular meetings to discuss next steps for the town’s emergency preparedness and training sessions to keep the Charlotte Selectboard updated.

“I love to help in whatever capacity I can. Particularly as my interest relates to emergency management, I was a volunteer firefighter, EMT and CPR instructor in the town of Bedford, N.Y., for many years. When I moved to New York City, I became a member of CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams),” wrote Warshaw in an email. “My husband and I started a GO-Bag company a number of years ago. The impetus for starting this company was that we saw a need for an easy, ready-to-go way to help people get prepared to evacuate at a moment’s notice.”

At the January selectboard meeting, chair Jim Faulkner expressed his thanks to the emergency management team that spearheaded efforts during the

December storm.

“We had Chris and Karina take the lead on that for us. They were a huge help,” he said. “It was really cold, people lost power, and people needed to get warm. It was really an excellent job. (Davis) worked nearly 24/7 to figure out the power issues, generators, warming center, you name it.”

Davis said that nearly 300 homes in Charlotte were left without power during this year’s Christmas storm with some households going three days without electricity. The emergency management team, along with Faulkner and town administrator Dean Bloch and volunteers, were able to open the senior center as a warming center from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day.

“Karina and I and the selectboard had been super busy, and it has been super helpful to have the participation of the senior center

staff and volunteers to help us to be able to put this in action so quickly from just a concept a year or so ago to actually opening a warming center,” Davis said.

Several residents used the warming shelter, including a couple that came on Christmas from Middlebury to charge their phones and get warm, he added.

Both Warshaw and Davis encouraged Charlotte residents to sign up for VT-ALERT, which is used by the state and local responders to notify the public of emergency situations and stay up to date on the town’s website with the emergency preparedness guide that the team is consistently updating. The guide can be found at bit. ly/3H6R9XY.

“We feel we’re just at the beginning of it but I want to also stress that we have really great support from town staff and from the selectboard,” said Davis.

Nature study

COMMUNITY

Community Notes

Enjoy Age Well meals at Charlotte Senior Center

The Age Well meal pickup for Thursday, Jan. 26, is from 10-11 a.m., Charlotte Senior Center, 212 Ferry Road, and features barbecue pork rib, fried potatoes, carrots, southern biscuit with butter, fruit crisp with cream and milk.

You must have pre-registered by the prior Monday with Kerrie Pughe, 802-425-6345 or kpughe@ charlotteseniorcentervt.org

The suggested donation is $5. Check the website for last-minute cancellations at charlotteseniorcentervt.org.

First Congregational Church hosts concert series

On Sunday, Feb. 5 at 3 p.m., the First Congregational Church of Essex Junction will host the first concert of its 2023 concert season.

Blues guitarist Paul Asbell will share his fresh takes on blues and jazz standards, old-timey country tunes and original pieces from the American roots tradition. In his 50-year professional career, Asbell has played and recorded with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, David Bromberg, Mary McCaslin, Bobby McFerrin and many others. He has taught guitar for more than 50 years.

Concert proceeds support Essex CHIPS and First Congregational Church of Essex Junction. There is a $20 suggested donation; those under 18 attend for free. Tickets are available at 802-878-5745 or bit. ly/3XxeQzO.

Girls on the Run seeks volunteer coaches

Girls on the Run Vermont needs volunteer coaches for its physical activity-based, youth development program that inspires students in grades three to eight to be joyful, healthy and confident.

Volunteer coaches utilize a curriculum to engage teams of girls in fun, interactive lessons. The spring season begins the week of March 27. Teams meet twice a week for 90 minutes and the program culminates with all teams participating in one of two 5K events in Essex and Manchester.

Locations in need of coaches include Chamberlin School, Charlotte Central School, Christ the King, C.P. Smith Elementary School, Edmunds Elementary, Hinesburg Community School, Rick Marcotte Central School and

Shelburne Community School. More information is available at gotrvt.org.

BSA Troop 658 hosts spaghetti dinner fundraiser

On Saturday, Feb. 4 at The Bagel Cafe 1127 North Ave in Burlington, BSA Troop 658 will hold a spaghetti dinner fundraiser to benefit the troop’s 15-person Sea Base crew.

The Sea Base crew consists of 15 Scouts and leaders who will enjoy a week of sailing, fishing and snorkeling while studying astronomy, navigation, fish identification and coral reef ecology in August at the Sea Base High Adventure Camp in Florida.

Seating times are available at 5 p.m., 6:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. with take-out orders available between 5 and 7:30 p.m.

The meal includes one beverage of choice, green salad and freshly baked garlic bread, spaghetti with Bove’s tomato sauce and homemade meatballs, Italian dressing and parmesan cheese, fresh-pressed pizzelles and vanilla ice cream. The cost is $25.

The $15 kids meal includes one beverage of choice, garlic bread, spaghetti with Bove’s sauce and vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sauce.

Reserve before Saturday, Feb. 1, at bit.ly/3XH4AEG.

SCHIP hands out almost 30K to local nonprofits

The Shelburne, Charlotte, Hinesburg Interfaith Project (SCHIP) has awarded $27,500 to 11 non-profits in that met the criteria of serving the people of our communities in a variety of ways.

The recipients for the fall cycle included Age Well, Champlain Housing Trust, Feeding Chittenden, Hinesburg Community Resource Center, Joseph’s House, Kidpower, Prevent Child Abuse, Resource, Shelburne Rescue, St. Catherine of Siena Church and Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

These awards are made possible because of SCHIP’s mission to raise funds through the sale of donated, gently used clothing, household items, accessories, art and collectibles at its resale shop in the yellow building on Route 7 next to the Shelburne town offices.

Since the first grants given in

PHOTOS BY LEE KROHN

Lichens and moss add splashes of color to the Charlotte Park and Nature Refuge.

Supreme Court Gallery displays paintings of Charlotte artist

“Poetic Ecologies,” a collection of acrylic paintings by artist, teacher and environmentalist Cameron Davis of Charlotte will be shown through March 31 at the Vermont Supreme Court Gallery.

Over the last seven years, these large-scale works were created with the intention to bring forth an ecological, scientific and spiritual narrative to reveal relationships that transform life. Davis’s work is filled with ever-changing symbolism of our living earth.

This exhibition opens for the Montpelier Art Walk on Friday,

COMMUNITY NOTES

continued from page 8

April 2005, more than $828,500 has been distributed.

SCHIP accepts grant applications twice a year. The deadlines are April 15 and Oct. 15 of each year. The maximum grant size is $3,000. Application forms are available at theschip.org.

For more information on how to donate or volunteer visit the website or the group’s Facebook page or call the shop at 802-985-

Feb. 3, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Davis will offer public remarks at 6 p.m.

“As our world continues to reel from increasingly intense weather events, Cami’s amazing and monumental paintings remind us of the visual life forms that are part of nature — and how interconnected it all is,” said state curator David Schutz. “This is a show that inspires a sense of awe and very simply must not be missed.”

For additional information, contact Schutz at 802-279-5558 or email david.schutz@vermont.gov.

3595.

Participating faith communities are All Souls Interfaith Gathering, Shelburne; Charlotte Congregational Church; Hinesburg United Church; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church, Charlotte; Shelburne United Methodist Church; St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, Shelburne; St. Jude’s Catholic Church, Hinesburg; and Trinity Episcopal Church, Shelburne.

We Can Take It!

From an armoire to a zucchini, check our A-Z list and learn how to reuse, recycle, or dispose of items and materials you no longer want.

Now serving you with eight Drop-Off locations in Chittenden County. Visit cswd.net for locations and materials accepted.

COURTESY OF CAMERON DAVIS

“Encounter,” acrylic on canvas, 7 inches by 60 inches

Federal funds will help Hinesburg with runoff

CIARA MCENEANY COMMUNITY NEWS SERVICE

Communities statewide are set to start a series of wastewater projects funded by federal COVID-19 relief money.

These initiatives — overseen by the state Agency of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental Conservation — include sewer overflow abatements that aim to reduce pollution in streams and lakes; revitalization of public water systems in communities that can’t afford the costs; and helping some Vermont businesses upgrade stormwater treatments for impervious surfaces like parking lots.

All the programs, six in total, are being funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, the federal COVID19 relief bill meant to combat economic hardships caused by the pandemic — with $640 million allocated for initiatives promoting clean water and mitigating the environmental stresses of climate change. Each program awards funds to multiple towns.

State officials chose which communities to put projects

in through a “priority ranking system,” a triage system that looked at how much each project costs and how needed it is.

“ARPA funding has allowed several communities to move forward with projects that they had planned to do,” state environmental engineer Win Wilson said. “And therefore, will also allow them to, in the long run, accomplish more projects, without taking on as much debt as they would have had too initially.”

One program — focused on combined sewer overflow systems and funded with $25 million from the federal act — seeks to help municipalities overhaul wastewater release points. Combined sewer overflows are where rain, stormwater runoff and sewer systems flow together into a single source.

Wilson, who is the project manager for the sewer overflow grants, said updating the systems will help mitigate pollution in surface waters.

“Combined sewer overflows were put in place as somewhat of a safety measure to not cause backflow into homes and to overwhelm the wastewater treatment plant,”

Wilson said. “But as a result, they also allow untreated sewage into the surface waters. Abating the instances of overflow events is the goal of this program.”

As of late January, 11 Vermont communities had been awarded grants to update their combined sewer overflow systems. Many of the towns and cities had been looking to do so for more than 30 years but haven’t had the funding, officials said.

“The town had been working on this project prior to the award, and it was looking like the municipality would have to cover the costs,” said Northfield town manager Jeff Shulz. “ARPA funding was a huge help to cover nearly all the project.”

Also under the umbrella of the federal funds is a village water and wastewater initiative — with $30 million allocated for these projects — that aims to help villages develop new public drinking water systems and replace old wells with one unified wastewater system.

Lynette Claudon, chief pollution control design engineer for the Department of Environmental Conservation, said that relocat-

ing communities’ septic disposal areas and combining them in areas outside villages will help achieve the state’s housing and development goals.

“From an environmental standpoint, it’s really about a reduction in the global carbon footprint and having people be able to walk to the general store, work, and just having more of a healthy village downtown area,” Claudon said.

Town officials involved in the initiative hope vacant or unused buildings can be expanded to provide additional housing or business spaces that otherwise couldn’t be built because of out-of-code septic systems.

The communities involved in the final stages of planning for these projects include Westford and Montgomery. Claudon said officials in both towns are trying to talk with the public about the projects and how the eventual construction will impact daily life.

Using $5.5 million in ARPA funds, the state is also partnering with businesses to tackle runoff on properties with at least 3 acres of impervious surfaces, like those made with water-resistant asphalt that collect contaminants and let stormwater wash them into waterways

The program aims to replace

those surfaces with what officials call green infrastructure — manmade wetlands, floodplains and meadows that can naturally absorb and filter runoff.

The projects are all in the Lake Champlain basin on municipally and privately owned land.

The funding is meant to bring those properties into compliance with new state rules for mitigating the environmental impact of impervious surfaces.

Officials said the towns of Brandon and Hinesburg were the only two involved in the program as of last week.

The problem for a lot of towns and property owners is that the permits to do the work can cost a lot, Megan Koss, the grant program lead, said.

“It’s meant to offset as much of the costs as possible for obtaining your permit,” she said. “So how that’s going to work is we will cover the cost of the 3-acre permit application plus up to $20,000 in engineering fees associated with getting that permit.”

Ciara McEneany is a reporter with the Community News Service, a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.

“The program is meant to offset as much of the costs as possible.”

— Megan Koss, grant program lead

CVU boys’ basketball keeps winning streak going

LAUREN READ CORRESPONDENT

Boys’ hockey

Champlain Valley 2, South Burlington 2: The South Burlington and Champlain Valley boys’ hockey teams battled to a 2-2 tie on Saturday.

CVU also grabbed a win on Wednesday, beating BFA-St. Albans 2-1.

Travis Stroh and Trevin Keefe each had a goal for the Redhawks, while Jason Douglas stopped 26 shots in goal.

Keefe had the game winner in the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie with a score at 3:21 of the frame.

With the win, CVU moves to 5-5-2.

Boys’ basketball

Champlain Valley 52, Burlington 42: A 14-5 run in the second quarter was just enough to separate the Champlain Valley boys’ basketball team in a win over Burlington

on Friday, Jan. 18.

Alex Provost led all scorers with 22 points for the Redhawks, while Kyle Eaton added seven points.

With the win, CVU moves to 10-1.

Girls’ hockey

Champlain Valley-Mount Mansfield 5, South Burlington 1: Five different goal scorers found the back of the net as Champlain Valley-Mount Mansfield beat South Burlington in girls’ hockey on Saturday, Jan. 21.

Hannah Schmid, Miles Brien, Tess Everett, Megan Rexford and Riley Erdman each had a goal for the CougarHawks, who move to 10-2-1 with the win.

Sophie Brien, Samara Tucker and Karina Bushweller each added an assist, while Ella Gilbert stopped 14 shots in goal.

The win helped the CougarHawks rebound for a 4-0 loss to BFA-St. Albans on Wednesday, Jan. 18, with Gilbert making 31 saves in a losing effort.

Promote your program in our Summer Camps guide for targeted exposure to a local audience of kids and parents as they make plans for the upcoming summer season. This advertising section is a go-to guide for summer camp and recreation researchers, making it the ideal place to outline your offerings and secure more early enrollments.

Publication Dates: February 9, March 9 and April 6

Deadlines: Thursdays before each issue

Contact: Stowe Reporter/News & Citizen at 802-253-2101, Shelburne News/The Citizen at 802-985-3091 or The Other Paper at 802-864-6670 for information or to advertise your camp (ask about multi-paper, half-price color and Burlington Area Newspaper Group deals).

PHOTO BY AL FREY

Champlain Valley’s Kyle Marvin placed 10th in a dual slalom at Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond on Jan. 16. His combined time was 1:25.23.

CHARLOTTE BUDGET

in taxes could go up 22 percent, but that is separate from what (the selectboard) can do here,” selectboard chair Jim Faulkner said.

Per recommendations from NMREC, which is conducting the reappraisal, the town was recommended to estimate a significantly larger grand list value than last year. The grand list of all the property values for 2024 is set to go beyond the $1 billion threshold — a nearly $200 million increase from last year’s grand list of $900,444,078.

“The tax rate is a red herring, it’s a derivative. It’s what happens when you take how much tax you need and divide it by the grand list,” said resident and Charlotte Volunteer Fire and Rescue member John Snow. “That grand list increase doesn’t help us as taxpayers, we still have to pay that 30 percent.”

“Most of what we’ve seen in the real estate market is actually a rising tide in home prices. It’s

not like lake houses increased in value way more than houses in East Charlotte, or the villages versus the rural district,” said selectboard member Matthew Krasnow. “It’s really because house prices everywhere have gone up because of the demand on the real estate market.”

Town manager Dean Bloch confirmed that the reassessment is expected to be finished by the end of the 2023 fiscal year in June, and by the time the new tax rate is set in August, the town could have new valuations.

“The reason we set the actual tax rate in August is because we need the numbers to come in for the fiscal year that we’re in so we see a surplus or deficit,” Krasnow said.

In addition to budget articles, voters will be asked to elect town officers and one Champlain Valley School District director for a term of three years beginning in March.

BARN

continued from page 6

to put their farm buildings on both sides of the road and all of them would be on their property. This is very different from the placement pattern in the Midwest, where the rural roads were built on the lot lines between farms and the farm buildings needed to be on the same side of the road.

Where the roads became heavily traveled thoroughfares, farm-

CVSD

ers moved away from this pattern of building their barns across the road from the house so they could avoid crossing a busy road to do barn chores.

I always watch for this pattern when I’m driving on the back roads. However, with most of the old barns no longer housing farm animals, it’s not an everyday sight to see someone crossing between

the house and the barn as it would have in years past, especially not with a lantern in hand.

Jane Dorney is a consulting geographer who does research and education projects to help people understand why the Vermont landscape looks like it does. See more at janedorney. com.

Local businesses and restaurants need your support more than ever. Whether you visit stores, get delivery or shop online, keep your spending local and keep your community healthy.

Newspapers are LOCAL. We are dedicated to keeping you informed, safe and connected and care about the issues that are important to our neighbors, our schools and our businesses.

Local

When you support your local newspaper, you support your community.

continued from page 1

“Really, since the beginning of the pandemic, we had been seeing an increase in the requirements and the need of students across the district for support, but we were understaffed at CVU,” Marckres said. “So, there are two special educators that are going to be added.”

Health care costs for the general staff were also a significant driver of the budget’s new expenditures. There was a 12.7 percent increase in health costs from the current year, Marckres said.

“Frankly, we’ve had some workforce challenges, and to increase hiring potential and competitive wages, we increased support staff (wages) by $2 per hour during fiscal year 2023, so that is driving some of the some of the increase as well,” he said.

The district recently reached an agreement with the Champlain Valley Education Association for pay increases for district educators for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

District leaders, meanwhile, are also bracing for the potential

impacts of Act 127, the legislative bill that adjusts the education funding formula.

The new formula tries to ensure that rural or low-income school districts with fewer resources are not forced to pass big tax hikes onto their residents by weighing students in these districts differently. As a result, Champlain Valley School District is facing a drop in pupil weights, which could eventually result in a budget hole that would need to be raised through a 16 percent homestead tax rate increase, or by dramatically cutting spending in the district.

The district this year did not increase programming in this budget and has virtually the same programming expenditures as last year, Marckres said.

The legislation allows for a

5 percent cap in tax rate increases from fiscal years 2025 through 2029, which Marckres said gives the district some time to “right size and limit as much as possible the potential future impacts.”

“We are cognizant of the potential impacts of Act 127 and the change in the pupil weights,” Marckres said. (But) there’s a lot more than just weighting in Act 127 and one of the critical pieces is that the agency of education and department of taxes, they’re directed by Act 127 to conduct a study on our current property tax formula and to compare that with an incomebased system.

“Banking that it will be exactly the same system in five years — I don’t know if that’s a certainty or not,” he said.

PHOTO BY JANE DORNEY 19th-century bank barn foundation in Little River State Park.

“We are cognizant of the potential impacts of Act 127 and the change in pupil weights.”

— Gary Marckres

CLASSIFIEDS

Full and part-time front desk positions

AD TRAFFIC & GRAPHICS/PRODUCTION

Part-time

Ad Traffic/General Office Support

• ad booking/data entry (display ads & line classifieds)

• liaison between sales and production departments

• running reports for sales reps to keep them on task

• processing tear sheets for advertisers

• general office support & customer service

• attention to detail is a MUST

• general computer skills - Microsoft Office: Word & Excel

• willingness to tackle tedious tasks when appropriate

• a team player with a positive attitude

Graphics/Production

• creating advertisements for print and web

• newspaper page layout

• loading web & social media content

• design/layout software (Adobe Creative Suite, Quark)

• attention to detail is a MUST

• willingness to tackle tedious tasks when appropriate

• a team player with a positive attitude

If one or both of these positions appeal to you, we want to hear from you.

Send a resume and cover letter to: Stowe Reporter, POB 489, Stowe VT 05672; katerina@stowereporter.com. No phone calls please.

Why not have a job you love?

Service Coordinator: Continue your career in human services in a supportive environment by providing case management for individuals either for our Adult Family Care program or our Developmental Services program. The ideal candidate will have strong clinical, organizational & leadership skills and enjoy working in a team-oriented position. $47,000 annual salary, $1,500 sign on bonus.

Residential Program Manager: Coordinate staffed residential and community supports for an individual in their home. The ideal candidate will enjoy working in a team-oriented position, have strong clinical skills, and demonstrated leadership. $45,900 annual salary, $1,500 sign on bonus.

Direct Support Professional: Provide 1:1 supports to help individuals reach their goals in a variety of settings. This is a great position to start or continue your career in human services. Full and part time positions available starting at $19/hr, $1,000 sign on bonus.

Residential Direct Support Professional: Provide supports to an individual in their home and in the community in 24h shifts including asleep overnights in a private, furnished bedroom. You can work two days, receive full benefits and have five days off each week! Other flexible schedules available, starting wage is $20/hr, $1,000 sign on bonus.

Shared Living Provider: Move into someone’s home or have someone live with you to provide residential supports. There are a variety of opportunities available that could be the perfect match for you and your household. Salary varies dependent on individual care requirements. $1,000 sign on bonus.

Join our dedicated team and together we’ll build a community where everyone participates and belongs https://ccs-vt.org/current-openings/

Positions include a sign on bonus, strong benefits package and the opportunity to work at one of the “Best Places to Work in Vermont”. Make a career making a

Champlain Community Services, Inc.

https://ccs-vt.org/current-openings/

ARIES

March 21 - April 20

Aries, make a concerted effort to focus your attention on something that interests you. This may require that you nd something new to stoke your passion.

TAURUS

April 21 - May 21

It’s a week for love and you have all of the resources available to take advantage and explore your feelings, Taurus. Work things out in your head before taking action.

GEMINI

May 22 - June 21

Gemini, currently you are playing a much smaller role at work than you would like. It is not that you aren’t capable, but it’s a matter of paying your dues before taking the next step.

CANCER

June 22 - July 22

Cancer, don’t box yourself in with a strict to-do list and schedule. You need a little more wiggle room to explore your creativity and what makes you happy.

LEO

July 23 - Aug. 23

Your open and outgoing nature may lead many people to think they know all about you, Leo. Instead, you can be quite a mysterious person. Show others only what you want.

VIRGO

Aug. 24 - Sept. 22

Believing someone is awless can set you up for disappointment when you realize no one can live up to that standard, Virgo. Be realistic when assessing partners or other people.

LIBRA

Sept. 23 - Oct. 23

Being available to other people is admirable, Libra. Make sure this is not at the expense of your own well-being. You may need to dial back and prioritize your own needs.

SCORPIO

Oct. 24 - Nov. 22

Living in your comfort zone may lead to missed opportunities, Scorpio. You may need to let your risktaking side show this week. Enjoy the ride.

SUDOKU

Here’s How It Works:

Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must ll each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can gure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

SAGITTARIUS

Nov. 23 - Dec. 21

You might start to notice you are losing some traction in your love life, Sagittarius. Figure out a way to talk and spend more time together in the days ahead.

CAPRICORN

Dec. 22 - Jan. 20

You may believe you can think your way out of a situation this week, Capricorn. But sometimes logic just doesn’t cut it. You may have to use your heart to get to the root.

AQUARIUS

Jan. 21 - Feb. 18

Take a second look at your talents and your abilities, Aquarius. You may have been selling yourself short for some time. But you can accomplish anything with some effort.

PISCES

Feb. 19 - March 20

Don’t make assumptions about how others see you, Pisces. You have a lot to offer. It’s time to recognize all your strengths.

CROSSWORD

Accustom to something unpleasant

__ Kubrick, lmmaker

One who revolves

Having the shape of a cube

A politician’s of cial stances

It can catch sh

British thermal unit

Helps little rms

Where patients go for treatment

Large red deer

Pokes holes in

“Star Wars” hero Solo

One in a hospital

Scandinavian god of battle

Famous cat

__ Angeles: City of Angels

Part of your foot

It’s at the back of the eyeball

Where things stand

Boisterous gettogether

Canonized

Type of drug (abbr.) 30. City along the Rhine 31. Animal disease 32. Martini ingredients 33. Get away 34. Rare species of rodent 36. Suppress

2023 Rebates for Your Home

If you’re planning on improving the efficiency of your home or apartment this year, take a look at Efficiency Vermont’s residential offers, including:

Air Sealing and Insulation

• 75% off weatherization project costs, up to $5,000 (completed by an Efficiency Excellence Network contractor)

• DIY weatherization: $100 back on select do-it-yourself projects

Heating, Cooling, and Water Heating

• Air-source heat pumps: discounts starting at $350 + income bonus

• Ground source heat pump: up to $2,100/ton + $500 income bonus

• Smart thermostats: $100 rebate for select ENERGY STAR models

• Water heaters: $300-$600 for select heat pump water heaters + $200 income bonus

• Window air conditioners: $100 rebate for select ENERGY STAR models

• Wood pellet furnaces & boilers: $6,000 rebate

• Wood and pellet stoves: $400 discount at select retailers

Electric Vehicles

• Up to $6,500 in local incentives and up to a $7,500 federal tax credit

ENERGY STAR ® Appliances

• $200-$400 rebates on heat pump clothes dryers, $25-$40 for dehumidifiers

Lighting

• $100 rebate for qualifying LED fixtures for indoor growing, plus discounts on select ENERGY STAR ® LED fixtures at participating retailers

• Free Energy Savings Kit full of LEDs and water-saving devices while supplies last!

Income-based Assistance

Additional rebates may also be available from your electric or gas utility.

Not sure where to start?

Sign up for a FREE Virtual Home Energy Visit! Call 888-921-5990 to learn more

• Free lighting, appliances, energy consultations, and more — visit efficiencyvermont.com/free-products to see if you are eligible. All rebates are subject to availability and eligibility. Visit www.efficiencyvermont.com/rebates for the most up-to-date information.