Sound artists
Arctic visitors
Storyteller helps others record their stories
Snowy owls might be plentiful visitors this winter
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Page 10 Page 16
Volume 51 Number 4
shelburnenews.com
January 27, 2022
In Shelburne
Snow sculpture
Beach house supporters hope voters approve bond SCOOTER MACMILLAN STAFF WRITER
systems and medical practice certifications. “You have to have duplicates, maintain it and pay licensing,” Reiss said. The Charlotte Family Health Center will become known as the Evergreen Family Health Group and the consolidated health practice will operate out of a new office being built in Williston.
Supporters of building a new Shelburne Beach House are feeling confident but not cocky about the chances a $350,000 bond vote will pass on Town Meeting Day. A campaign to raise $50,000 to kickstart the project has raised over $27,000. “This money will be used directly toward project costs as work on engineering and permitting begins this fiscal year,” chair of the Shelburne Parks and Recreation Committee Peggy Coutu, said. “I’m optimistic about the level of community support we’ve seen from residents and the number of people who have donated,” Betsy Cieplicki, director of the Shelburne Parks and Recreation Department, said. Cieplicki is hesitant to be too rosy in her predictions, not willing to presume whether verbal support and monetary donations will translate into votes. It is a good deal for voters that the selectboard opted for a bond vote on a separate ballot item rather than as part of the general budget, Cieplicki said, because the beach house’s cost will be spread over 20 years. Like the existing facility, the new beach house features changing rooms and restrooms. Whether voters approve the measure or not, it is a project that will happen sooner or later because the current beach house “is well past its prime,” said Jeff McBride
See HEALTH CENTER on page 2
See BEACH HOUSE on page 2
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
A dusting of snow and frigid temperatures turn pine needles into frosty works of art.
Dream of Charlotte Family Health Center ends SCOOTER MACMILLAN STAFF WRITER
Dreams of the Charlotte Family Health Center locating in Charlotte are not only merely dead, but they are really most sincerely dead. After a years-long, and at times contentious, effort to build a medical facility in Charlotte, the medical practice is leaving its temporary space in Shelburne and consolidating with its other medical partners
in Williston. “We looked for every opportunity to stay in the Shelburne/ Charlotte area to remain convenient for our many local patients, but the ability to maintain a small independently owned office in Vermont’s health care environment is challenging,” Dr. Andrea Regan said. Charlotte Family Health Center joined Evergreen Family Health Partners in 2017. Maintaining small
independent offices has become difficult for other partners in their practice, Dr. Paul Reiss said. The Charlotte practice is one of three being consolidated into one office because of the pandemic and other factors in the current state of health care. Reiss said the major difficulty is the duplication of so many things in the different medical practices including labs, reception areas, waiting rooms, IT systems, phone