Man crosses America in effort to ‘fix democracy’ for all
Remembering Al Fortin, cop who dedicated his life to helping others
Page 3
Storytelling project brings tales to Carpenter-Carse Library audiences
BRIANA BRADY STAFF WRITER
“I was raised by people who believed in domination. Parents had power over kids.”
That’s how Karen Tronsgard-Scott, Hinesburg resident, began her story to a rapt audience of 30 or so people at a storytelling event at Carpenter-Carse Library in Hinesburg last Thursday.
She spun her story from her own childhood to her work at a school for children with develop-
mental disabilities in Sri Lanka in the 1980’s. The audience laughed with her as she described dressing up as Santa Claus for the kids and fell quiet as she recounted an incident in which a student yelled at a staff member who sat calmly while the student released their anger and responded kindly.
She shared the lesson she had learned with the people in front of her: in leadership, love is more powerful than domination.
The audience clapped enthusiastically as Tronsgard-Scott
finished speaking. She pulled the next name from the hat.
Tronsgard-Scott was the first of eight storytellers, all telling true stories from their own lives, no notes allowed. Last week’s event was the fifth of a series put on by Samara Anderson, who aspires to host a storytelling event at each of Vermont’s 185 libraries. She has one planned each month for the rest of year. If you’ve done the math
See STORYTELLING on page 9
Hinesburg Center II moves forward without a crossing
BRIANA BRADY STAFF WRITER
A sketch for Hinesburg Center II was brought before the Development Review Board on Jan. 21 after getting denied during the Act 250 process last April, and it’s official: the development will not include a crossing over Patrick Brook connecting it to the Haystack development.
The crossing, which the review process determined would raise a 300-foot section of the brook’s floodplain by two and three-quarter inches, slightly expanding the area of the floodplain, was the basis for the state sending the plan back to the sketch phase.
In addition to the removal of the crossing, the revised sketch eliminates three single-family homes to pull the development further back from the brook. However, the plan includes an additional 18 units in a new mixed-use building, increasing the total number of units in the project.
According to Brett Grabowski, the project’s developer, the only way to resolve the floodplain issue was to remove the crossing. The proposal relied on a box culvert to allow the brook to pass through the crossing. To get approval from the Agency of Natural Resources, the development would have to utilize
a different kind of bridge or crossing with less impact on the floodplain.
“The bridge would probably cost as much as the entire project,” Grabowski said.
While the plans still include a road where a crossing might one day get built, it won’t be paid for as part of this development.
According to Mitchel Cypes, the town’s development review coordinator, the crossing has been in the town plan for four decades.
“This is something that everybody has known should be coming and it will have a huge effect on traffic. It will have a huge effect on public safety. It would allow more of Hinesburg to be interconnected,” Cypes said.
Board members and residents raised similar concerns about cutting the crossing out of the development during the review process two weeks ago. They had hoped the crossing would divert traffic cause by the development at the intersection of Farmall Drive and Route 116 and open another route for emergency vehicles.
Although raising the floodplain by a few inches might violate state regulation, according to Cypes, doing so would pose no practi-
See CENTER II on page 9
PHOTO BY BRIANA BRADY
Hinesburg resident Kelsey Pasteris tells her story about taking the 116 Commuter bus.
Two races, three faces for Charlotte board elections
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
With Town Meeting Day just a month away and two selectboard seats up for grabs, three candidates have cast their bids for the spots.
As the town moves through new land us regulations for its East and West villages, prepping for a town plan rewrite, and recovering from devastating flooding this summer, the town of Charlotte is arguably at a pivotal point in its history. Deciding its leaders is even more paramount than ever.
Kelly Devine has been a familiar face at the selectboard table for the past two years, and her hope is that after Town Meeting Day, she will be back ready to finish the work she has started. Her two-year seat, however, is receiving some competition from another familiar face around town, former vice chair of the development review board JD Herlihy.
Kelly Devine
Devine, a Charlotte resident since 2006, said she came to the seat two years ago with a specific agenda in mind, and the work has only just begun.
One important piece of the puzzle, she said, is helping the town do more deliberate capital planning. She noted, for example, the recent proposal from the recreation department to begin planning to update the bathhouse at the town beach, which was built in 1980. Not only is its infrastructure aging, but it’s also not accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Devine is also one of the two selectboard members on the negotiating team working to secure the first union contract for employees.
“That’s going to take some time,” she said. “It’s going to be hard work and a diligent effort to come to an agreement with the bargaining unit as to benefits, compensation and all the job descriptions. That all has to be worked out and we’re headlong in the middle of that.”
She also noted the recent debate over switching to a town manager form of government that came before the voters last Town Meeting Day. While residents ultimately voted to keep the status quo,
See ELECTIONS on page 16
Man crosses USA to ‘fix democracy’
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Rick Hubbard opened the door to his quaint South Burlington home sporting a printed shirt that perfectly encompassed his mission for the last two years: “Walking to fix our democracy.”
Hubbard, 83, was spending the remaining month of January settling back into his nest after doing just that, except his walk wasn’t just a short jaunt around town spreading awareness about America’s shortcomings. This journey stretched 3,081 miles and across 14 different states, from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. just ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as 47th president of the United
States — timed intentionally for that purpose, Hubbard said.
But the idea for the adventure started brewing long before the 2024 election and this isn’t Hubbard’s first time putting rubber to pavement for a cause he believes in. He isn’t even the first person to walk across the country for a similar mission.
His idea was originally spurred by an 88-year-old woman, Doris Haddock, better known as “Granny D,” who walked across the country in 1999 and 2000 in support of campaign finance reform. Hubbard joined her for part of the trek through Kentucky for one week in 1999.
“What motivated Rick? Well, a woman from New Hampshire,”
he said, sitting comfortably in his home office, surrounded by a sprawling bookshelf that mirrors his well-read mind. “She puts me to shame finishing when she was 90. I’m a mere pup at 83.” He kicked off his walking advocacy efforts on his own in the early 2000s when he walked some 450 miles around three sides of Vermont to similarly advocate for the same issues.
“That got me in to talk to people, so I suppose you could say it’s been in the back of my mind as I got older,” he said.
While his life’s greatest walking feat began in the fall of 2022 when
PHOTO BY LIBERTY DARR
Rick Hubbard relaxes at his South Burlington home after spending two
See HUBBARD on page 7
JD Herlihy Kelly Devine Lee Krohn
School district ahead of curve on statewide phone ban
BRIANA BRADY STAFF WRITER
Champlain Valley School District has been working towards a new bell-to-bell phone free policy for months, which, if the recent school phone policy bill proposed in the Vermont house passes, will put the district in a good position to meet new statewide requirements.
Statewide school cell-phone bans have been increasing in popularity in the last year due to concerns over teen mental health and the harms of social media. Eight states have passed bans, and another 23, including Vermont, have introduced legislation, issued policy recommendations, or launched pilot programs.
Vermont’s state senate introduced a different cellphone bill last
Al Fortin remembered
The officer who taught safety
MIKE DONOGHUE CORRESPONDENT
Veteran Vermont police officer
Allen A. Fortin, who became the leading voice and face for highway traffic safety in the state, died at his Hinesburg home Sunday. He was 61.
Fortin, a lieutenant with the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Department, won numerous awards for his dedication to highway traffic safety work about drunken driving, proper use of seatbelts, speeding, child safety seat protections, passing stopped school buses, aggressive driving and more. The awards included being honored at a Vermont Statehouse ceremony for his public service in 2017.
He served as the full-time traffic safety coordinator for Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille and Orleans counties.
Fortin hosted numerous press conferences and public events throughout Vermont for over two decades on every kind of safety issue and was the go-to guy for media members looking for comments and statistics for any news story. He helped coordinate a news conference as recently as last month at Jay Peak Resort concerning winter driving and sharing the roads with slow-moving vulnerable road users.
“It is hard to guess how many lives Al Fortin saved through his safety messages and enforcement work,” Chittenden County Sheriff Dan Gamelin said Sunday.
Fortin was well known for his honesty and integrity, Gamelin said. Fortin’s favorite word, “absolutely,” went hand-in-hand with his can-do attitude.
He collapsed at his home Sunday morning and first responders were unable to revive him.
Gamelin said survivors include Fortin’s longtime wife, Anne, and their three adult sons, Patrick, Stephan and Sam.
year that didn’t move forward. The future for the house bill proposed in January, H.54, looks better.
Rep. Angela Arsenault, D-Chittenden-2, a Williston resident who has sponsored the bill in the Legislature is also a member and former chair of CVSD’s school board and a member of its policy committee — her term ends this spring.
The Senate bill falling to the wayside spurred her to act in the house and in her own district.
to cops
A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Jude Catholic Church on Route 116 in Hinesburg.
There will be a large police escort from Ready Funeral Home on Shelburne Road in Burlington to the church before the funeral, Gamelin said. Visiting hours at the church in Hinesburg will be from noon-2 p.m. and 4-8 p.m. on Sunday. A burial is planned for the spring.
Fortin began his extra focus on traffic safety work initially part-time when he was not serving as the No. 2 person at Shelburne Police. It was a passion he held for two dozen years.
Former Shelburne Police Chief James Warden hired Fortin as a patrol officer in 1989. Fortin worked his way up to sergeant and later lieutenant at the police department. He eventually retired in August 2018.
Fortin jumped at the chance to become the first fulltime safety office in Chittenden County through the sheriff’s office in October 2018. It soon expanded to other nearby counties.
He also served his hometown of Hinesburg as its first part-time police chief (1989-95) while still working for Shelburne. He stayed on in Hinesburg as a part-time lieutenant to help the town’s first fulltime chief, Chris Morrell, until 1999.
In 2019, Fortin was one of six leading candidates to become police chief again in Hinesburg, but the town eventually picked an applicant with less experience as a police officer and no administrative background.
During his career, Fortin also found time to serve the state of Vermont as a deputy game warden for 24 years.
Fortin, who was assigned at Shelburne Police to a 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift, laughed when he was
“I knew from last spring that I was going to introduce this legislation in January, as soon as the session started, but I still don’t know exactly what’s going to happen with it,” she said. “So, I wanted to also really push for a policy in our district, because I believe it’s the best thing for kids.”
Arsenault said she brought up the possibility of developing a phone-free school policy to the school board’s policy committee last year. The district then started moving carefully as it considered what a policy like that might look like in CVSD.
This past fall, superintendent Adam Bunting spearheaded an administrative committee, which is separate from the school board, that studied cell-phone use in the district’s schools and how a bellto-bell phone ban might impact student well-being. They conducted a survey of Champlain Valley Union High School faculty and staff, and met with principals, teachers, and students at Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, which instituted a phone-free policy this past year.
Nearly 90 percent of CVU staff was in support, and the committee’s findings from Harwood were that students and teachers alike felt that their bell-to-bell policy had increased student participation. Studies have also shown that phone bans can result in rising test scores among low-performing students and a decline in cyberbullying incidents.
The administrative committee recommended to the school board in December that it adopt a policy.
The board’s policy committee expects to send the draft it began
working on to the board for approval in March.
In their meeting this week, the policy committee reflected that they’re thankful they’ve had time to approach this slowly.
“We still have another bite at this in our March meeting of this committee, if we need it. It’s really nice to feel like we’re not rushing and that we have time to do this with care,” Erika Lea, school board director from Shelburne, said.
The Vermont House bill would require that districts adopt a policy, but it doesn’t entirely shape what the policies or procedures should be, leaving those up to school boards and communities like CVSD’s to draft locally. It would also require that, within their policies, school boards make exceptions for medical uses or 504 plans and individualized education programs.
The proposed bill also includes a clause that prohibits using social
See CELL PHONES on page 12
FORTIN
continued from page 3
told he would be working at the sheriff’s office a Monday through Friday day shift with no scheduled nights, weekends or holidays. He still managed to show up for safety roadblocks on some weekend nights to support area departments.
A Hinesburg native, Fortin moved to Monkton and graduated from Mount Abraham Union
High School in 1982. He served in the U.S. Army for a couple of years before returning to Vermont, where his family opened a restaurant in Hinesburg in the mid-1980s. Fortin became the Hinesburg town constable in October 1987.
Fortin was a master chef and known for his incredible apple pies.
Hinesburg Police Blotter
Total incidents: 32
Traffic Stops: 6
Crashes: 5
Jan. 28 at 2:17 p.m., police conducted a welfare check on Lewis Creek Road.
Jan. 28 at 8:07 p.m., officers responded to a single car motor vehicle crash on Pond Road.
Jan. 29 at 6:45 a.m., an officer responded to a two-car motor vehicle crash on Route 116.
Jan. 30 at 4:04 p.m., police assisted a citizen with fingerprinting for employment purposes.
Jan. 30 at 4:45 p.m., an officer investigated a report of shoplifting at Aubuchon Hardware.
Jan. 30 at 5:57 p.m., officers assisted Shelburne P.D. with attempting to locate a stolen vehicle.
Jan. 31 at 4:23 p.m., police investigated a report of an abandoned vehicle on Hayden Hill West.
Jan. 31 at 7:54 p.m., an officer
responded to a single car motor vehicle crash on Tyler Bridge Road.
Feb. 1 at 2:19 p.m., police investigated a report of trespassing at a residence on North Road.
Feb. 1 at 3:30 p.m., police assisted a citizen with a lockout.
Feb. 1 at 4:08 p.m., officers responded to a single car motor vehicle crash on Richmond Road. Floyd Wood, 76 of Hinesburg, was arrested for DUI.
Feb 1. at 5:47 p.m., police conducted a welfare check on Route 116.
Feb. 2 at 7:49 a.m., officers responded to a medical emergency on CVU Road. Al Fortin, 61 of Hinesburg, was pronounced dead at the scene of apparent natural causes.
Feb. 2 at 2:37 p.m., police investigates a report of trespassing at a residence on North Road.
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PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
Allen Fortin worked for the Shelburne Police Department for nearly three decades. He died Sunday.
It’s important to navigate the challenges with a steady hand
From the Senate
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale
Like the rest of the country, Vermont faces uncertainty due to the federal funding and hiring freeze. Essential programs — including healthcare, housing, education and public safety — are at risk. While Washington gridlock dominates headlines, our focus remains on practical, local solutions that serve all Vermonters. Federal policy shifts may also impact civil rights protections, immigration laws and economic well-being. But Vermont has always stood for fairness, inclusion and protecting individual freedoms.
No matter what happens at the national level, we are committed to ensuring that our state remains a safe and welcoming place for all.
Education finance reform
Governor Scott’s Jan. 28 budget address outlined key funding priorities, including a major proposal to consolidate Vermont’s school system from 119 districts to just five. This raises critical questions: How will it be funded? What will the impact be on small, rural schools? How can we ensure transparency in the process?
We recognize that reform is needed, but it must be done carefully to avoid negative
consequences for students, teachers and families. That’s why we encourage communities to engage in these discussions. Education must remain efficient, effective and equitable for all Vermont students, and that can only happen with strong public input.
Addressing Vermont’s housing crisis
We can all agree that housing affordability is one of Vermont’s most pressing issues. A lack of affordable homes contributes to broader financial strain on families and affects workforce retention across industries. We must work together — across party lines — to ensure that Vermonters have access to safe, stable housing.
See HINSDALE on page 6
Education and accountability are on the docket
One day, maybe I’ll update you all on something that’s not taxes or education spending, but for now, it’s still the hottest topic in state government. Since we don’t know too much yet, I’ll give you a brief overview of the new education plan and my thoughts, and then I’ll fill you in on a government accountability bill I’ve been working on.
The governor is driving the school bus for education and property tax reform right now. Secretary of Education Zoie Saunders unveiled the administration’s big plan in front of the House and Senate a couple weeks ago, which you can watch here: tinyurl.com/4s7mb5vr. The plan is called “Stronger Schools, Stronger Students.”
Valley Union and the Champlain Valley School District. I’m all for anything that reduces our property taxes and improves education outcomes and opportunities for the young folks. But I’m still not quite sure how those numbers are going to work out well, especially for us.
One of the most significant changes transitions the state from 90-plus school districts into five. The largest one would be ours, the Champlain Valley Region, which would extend from southern Chittenden County all the way up to the Canadian border. There would be a little more than 34,000 students in our district; the next largest would have just over 14,000.
impartial way so that they’re all more equal in size and no one area is disadvantaged.
My main concern with the whole plan is that the administration estimates it will save about $184 million a year. That’s not nothing; it’s around 9 percent of our yearly state expenditure on education.
What we don’t know, though, is if that’s going to extend to that amount of savings in our property taxes. We don’t even know if that’s even a real number. We have no way of predicting how much health insurance and other costs will rise. I’m not sure if it’s factored in all the money that we need to fund school construction and PCB mitigation, especially if schools are consolidating and will need infrastructure work. We just don’t know.
When the plan was initially presented, there weren’t many details. Like none, really. Since then, we’ve gotten some, but it’s still not clear how it’s going to play out for students in Charlotte, Hinesburg, and at Champlain
I’m not sure why there’s such a huge difference. I suspect it’s an effort to avoid having a school district that’s made up solely of Chittenden County students, although the disproportionate numbers could present some logistical issues and end up costing us more than the rest of the state. I’m hopeful that there will be another attempt at configuring the school districts in a fair and
The governor and the secretary of education have indicated that this plan will take two years to implement. This seems fast. In the meantime, I don’t anticipate much further property tax relief, and to be honest, I don’t know how we can get legislation through in the next four months that will give this plan the careful
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale
From the House
Rep. Chea Waters Evans
Rep. Chea Waters Evans
Meeting the moment to build more housing
Guest Perspective
Lindsay Kurrle
This is a pivotal moment in the history of Vermont that will determine our future. It’s imperative we all realize that housing is the foundation of how we will meet this moment to create the momentum that will reverse our demographic decline.
Housing will bring more working age people here and help fill our schools with kids. More housing will improve public safety outcomes. Housing will give those most vulnerable Vermonters a chance to access and achieve stable rental or homeownership options.
Turning the tide on housing will grow municipal grand lists, increase the tax base, and ease the property tax obligation we all share by spreading it out over more properties. As Gov. Scott repeatedly says, we need more taxpayers, not more taxes.
Housing is the key that can unlock so much of what will make Vermont a vibrant place, not just for us, but for our children and their children. This is the moment we find ourselves in.
And here’s the thing: we can accomplish the goal of adding more housing without losing the Vermont we love.
Gov. Scott recently said “(We) don’t want houses to litter our mountainsides or development that replaces our farmland.” What we do want is to improve
the current system to make it easier and faster to build and rehab houses, condominiums, and apartments where we want them.
Adding more housing requires all of us to be engaged advocates for growth. For too long, we have allowed the voices of opposition to dominate our local discourse on housing. We need Vermonters to loudly and publicly advocate for progress.
Preserving Vermont’s beauty does not mean placing our state in a time capsule, freezing potential progress with our nostalgia. We cannot create starter homes, residences designed for aging in place, and homes for our kids and grandkids unless we embrace building in our communities.
We need more places to rent and buy in every corner of Vermont at every price point. To learn more about the scale of the issue, I encourage you to look at the “Statewide and Regional Housing Target” report released earlier this week. Look up what the recommendations mean for your community. Then see the building that has been happening in your community the last few years via the new Housing Development Dashboard. The picture is stark and every region can be doing more.
We recently unveiled our proposal and will begin working with lawmakers on our Omnibus Housing Bill in the coming days which contains policies intended to preserve Vermont’s beauty and
natural resources while bringing more housing online. We can’t fix this problem overnight and we can’t buy our way out of it by asking taxpayers to fund all new housing.
The bill calls for, among other things, further appeals reform to expedite cases, shift the cost of permit appeals to the appellant and raise the standard for petition appeals, which are widely viewed as a mechanism for preventing the construction of new homes.
We want to add tools to help small communities that don’t have the capacity to manage development projects so that they can expand their grand lists and welcome new people to town. And we want to remove barriers for adding homes to areas that are already served by public water and wastewater.
I am optimistic, despite the immense housing challenge we face. Legislative leaders are now embracing the need for more housing and the integral role housing plays in affordability. I look forward to working with them to increase housing options for all Vermonters.
I am also hopeful that Vermonters will embrace this mission. Affordability cannot be achieved for all of us until we build more homes. The stakes are high, but so is the opportunity to shape Vermont’s future.
Lindsay Kurrle is Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development.
HINSDALE continued from page 5
Our priorities include expanding housing development while maintaining Vermont’s unique character; investing in infrastructure to improve flood resilience and energy efficiency; and supporting workforce development in construction and trades to meet housing demand.
These steps will not only address the housing shortage but also strengthen our economy and communities.
Healthcare and climate action
Vermont has an opportunity to lead the conversation on healthcare and climate action with practical, cost-effective solutions.
We’ve made progress. Treasurer Pieciak’s plan could eliminate $100 million in medical debt.
Medicaid coverage is expanding, improving access for rural communities. We are advocating for healthcare workers’ wages and workforce protections.
The next challenge is ensuring affordability while maintaining the financial sustainability of our healthcare system. We welcome community input as we shape policies that balance these priorities.
Vermont’s economy and way of life depend on a clean, healthy environment. But climate action must also consider economic impacts on families and businesses. Our approach focuses on strengthening flood resilience and infrastructure to protect
communities; investing in clean water and waste management solutions for public health; and encouraging energy efficiency and innovation while keeping costs reasonable for consumers. We believe Vermont can balance environmental responsibility with economic stability, ensuring a sustainable future without placing undue financial pressure on residents.
A Common-Sense Path Forward
We are at a pivotal moment. Vermont’s challenges — whether in education, housing, healthcare, or climate — demand practical, results-driven solutions that rise above partisan politics. Vermonters expect us to work together, and that’s exactly what we intend to do.
We will continue seeking common ground, prioritizing affordability, and strengthening Vermont’s future. Your voices matter, and we encourage you to participate—whether by attending town halls, reaching out to local legislators, or sharing your thoughts with us directly. Let’s work together to ensure Vermont remains a place where everyone can thrive.
Kesha Ram Hinsdale, a Democrat from Shelburne, serves the towns of South Burlington, Shelburne, Charlotte, Hinesburg, Burlington, St. George, Underhill, Jericho, Richmond, Williston and Bolton in the Legislature.
continued from page 2
he drove his large RV to Los Angeles to start the cross-continental trek, Hubbard has been a lifelong mover and shaker, both metaphorically and physically.
An attorney by trade with decades of experience in economic consulting, he said he has watched the writing on the wall spell out America’s problems for quite some time. But also, in retirement, he’s kept up not only learning about the nuanced complexities of politics but advocating for ways he thinks the country could — and should — be better.
Physically speaking, Hubbard has spent
most of his life active. And even though he is held together “with a lot of electronic parts” in his older age, his body has been primed for a walk like this since his youth. He was involved in starting running groups in Stowe, where he lived for more than 30 years, and participated in different physical activities like biking.
But the walk was, nonetheless, difficult. At times, the journey’s physical exertion coalesced with even greater heartbreak. In 2023, Hubbard suspended his endeavor to be home with his partner and “sweetie” Sally
Hinesburg’s Green Street neighborhood counters affordable housing stereotypes
Hinesburg Affordable Housing Committee
Carl Bohlen
We all know a lack of housing, especially affordable housing, is today one of Vermont’s biggest problems. Through the 1960s, however, a steady supply of housing had been provided by plentiful land, lax regulations, a stable or shrinking population, and low construction costs.
Zoning regulations allowing dense mobile home parks, sometimes on marginal property, provided plenty of housing that was affordable.
Starting in the 1970s, all those conditions began to reverse. Housing pressures gradually heated up like a big pot of water that finally boiled over, locally and nationally, with the housing-based financial meltdown of 2008. Hinesburg was among the earliest towns in Vermont to recognize market forces were no longer meeting housing needs on their own, and public policy and action needed to be developed to address the problem on the local level. In 2006, the Select Board created the Hinesburg Affordable Housing Committee to help figure out what to do.
Ten years later, in 2016, HAHC celebrated the completion of Hinesburg’s first affordable family housing project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open Green Street. It is a lovely neighborhood nestled just southwest of the Rout 116-Charlotte Road intersection.
While its location provides easy walking access to the grocery store, elementary school, and other local businesses, it also has great westerly views of a meadow and the La Platte River wetlands. The Green Street project was constructed by Evernorth, known as Housing Vermont in 2016, and Champlain Housing Trust.
The 21 permanently affordable units, plus two market rate ones, all rental, are managed by the Trust. Affordable rental units were, and still are, in such high demand that before the project was completed there was a waiting list of potential tenants.
Soon, Green Street was a thriving community, as it continues to be today. Walking down Green Street, one would never suppose it was conceived and constructed any differently than any other small Vermont town neighborhood.
Nigel, who declined to give a last name, has been living at Green Street for about five years.
“It’s a cool neighborhood,” he says. “Friendly neighbors. It’s great for kids. A nice little scenic area too.”
The project could not have happened without the selectboard supporting HAHC’s recommendation to apply to the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development for federal U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds from the Vermont Community Development Program.
Howe, who was suffering from cancer and later died that same year.
He resumed the walk that year as summer in New England was dwindling.
“Finally, although I’m ‘back,’ some days may be more putting one foot in front of the other, rather than a crusade to save our Democracy,” he wrote in a blog post in August announcing his return.
Hubbard trudged 10 miles a day, five days a week, with an American flag strapped to his back. He spent a lot of time organizing with support groups, talking with people and even managed to have some fun in the meantime. That is, when he wasn’t battling a terrible bout of Covid in Dubuque, Iowa, that stopped him in his tracks for a few days.
While in Colorado, he took on even more miles by hiking a portion of 14,000-foot Pike’s Peak, catching a glimpse of a partial eclipse at around 9,000 feet.
“You can find ways to have a little fun on this kind of a trip,” he said, letting out a laugh.
Why?
It’s no surprise that a trek like this would pick up some media attention along the way, and while Hubbard says, “When any old guy is crazy enough to walk across the whole damn country, sometimes the media has a little interest,” that isn’t the real essence of it.
He’s sparked plenty of conversation starting with one notion: the preamble to the United States Constitution. Hubbard argues that, while many of us can cite most of its words by rote, how well has our government done upholding its guiding principles, particularly promoting “the general welfare” of all Americans?
He said he’s talked to people on both sides of the major political parties — a two-party system is also one he views as problematic — and asked a simple question: How well do you think they’ve been doing on our behalf for the last several decades?
“I didn’t meet a single person who thought they were doing their job,” he said. “When you’ve got problems with the structure and the financing of our country, the way we run our political system, that has resulted
in the division we have in the country, and that’s flowed through to Congress.”
He argues that if both parties are focusing on just that, promoting the general welfare of all Americans, it may be possible for people to cross political party lines and find some agreement.
“You may have to compromise, but you’re both working in the same direction,” he said.
What America has come to, in his eyes, is a different situation, one where the rich get richer, the middle-class collapses, and the working class faces low wages, debt, lack of healthcare and too little educational opportunity.
“A majority of those who are representing are more interested in getting re-elected and pleasing the wealthy financial people whose money they need to get re-elected and pleasing their political party than they are in governing to pass legislation that addresses the biggest issues,” he said.
But the problems span political parties and didn’t develop just under one party and not the other, he said. Ironically, his crusade for democracy ended just days before the next presidential inauguration, a transition in power that he said has never been like any he’s seen in his life.
“We’ve never had such a black-andwhite contrast setting up,” he said. “But they all take the same oath, and I really think that that’s a good way that people can go on the offensive in terms of addressing this issue because they all take the same oath to do what’s in that preamble.”
While he didn’t get to witness the inauguration in person due to inclement weather and other factors, the fateful ending did cap off, in more ways than one, a courageous fight for democracy. While he has no plans for a future crusade of this same level, he plans to keep up his fight both locally and statewide.
“If there’s a takeaway from my walk, it’s that all Americans, of all ideologies, Trumpers right through to ardent Democrats, we all know it isn’t working,” he said. “We divide like hell as to how to fix it and who we turn to to fix it. But the point is, we all want it fixed.”
Chittenden, Lamoille, Franklin, Washington, Grand Isle,and Addison Counties, add $500
COMMUNITY
Ask basic questions about your town government
The Charlotte Grange, in collaboration with the Charlotte Library, presented “Government 101,” on Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 6:30 p.m., at the Charlotte Public Library, 115 Ferry Road.
Town meeting day and local elections are just around the corner, buy what is Charlotte town government and how does it work? How can individuals get involved?
The talk covered everything from where to go to get your dog license to how to propose a change to the budget on Town Meeting Day.
Charlotte town administrator Nathaniel Bareham and town moderator Charles Russel were on hand to answer those questions. This was a hybrid event presented in person and online. Zoom link at us02web.zoom. us/j/85047715293.
Politics, poetry and more at Charlotte Grange
Here are some upcoming events put on by the Charlotte Grange.
• Candidate night, Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m., Charlotte Senior Center, 212 Ferry Rd. Ask questions and share concerns with the candidates on this year’ s ballot. Learn more about each candidate, their
Claire Houghton
Claire R. Houghton, 90, a resident of Charlotte, died Jan. 12, 2025, at the University Medical Center after a brief illness. Surrounded by her loving family, Claire was reunited with her beloved son Brent, her husband Clifton, and her parents Gladys and Cecile Robarge.
Claire was born Dec. 18, 1934, in Hardwick, where she spent her early years, and graduated from Hardwick Academy. She married Clifton Houghton Sept. 21, 1957, at Saint Norbert’s Church in Hardwick. They then settled in Charlotte to raise their two boys, Brian and Brent, in the house they built together.
Claire continued to live in
the home her family shared after Clifton’s passing on Nov. 15, 1992, which is where Claire remained until her final days.
Claire leaves behind her son Brian, with whom she shared a close bond and loved dearly. Together they worked daily at the barn overseeing his cattle, affectionately known to Claire as “the girls”. Here was where she found her passion. She never feared hard work or found a task her strong will could not help her complete. Claire found joy in rising early to go to the barn to spend her day tending to her “girls”, mending fences or handling whatever task that day may bring. She continued this daily routine until her passing. Claire was predeceased by
Community Notes
priorities, reasons for running, and points of view. Moderated by Nina Regan. Questions for the candidates can be emailed to Tai Dinnan at charlottegrangevt@ gmail.com or posed during the event. This event is coordinated by the Charlotte Grange in collaboration with the Charlotte Library and the Charlotte Senior Center and is a hybrid event. Attend in person at the Senior Center on Zoom at us02web.zoom. us/j/86823077883.
• Poetry at the Grange, Feb. 13 at 1 p.m., Grange Hall, 2858 Spear St. Poets, poetry lovers, and everyone interested in poetry are invited to gather at the historic Charlotte Grange Hall and bring a few favorite poems or your own poetry to read or recite or just come to listen. Enjoy a discussion with fellow enthusiasts over tea and cookies. Joining the event will be Shelburne’s Poet Laureate, Amy Allen. At the beginning of the gathering she’ll share a bit about herself, her work, and read a few poems.
The Grange plans to make this a monthly gathering and will be meeting on Feb. 13, March 13, and April 10 to start.
• Charlotte Walks, Feb. 21 at 8:30 a.m., location TBD, weather dependent. On the third Friday of each month, meet at a different Charlotte trailhead for a morning walk. It’s a great way to get more familiar with Charlotte’s public trails, and to meet and chat with other Charlotters. Walks usually last about an hour and are led at a comfortable adult walking pace.
Each month’s location will be posted on the Grange events calendar.
her parents, her husband Clifton, and her son Brent (April 12, 2011).
Survivors include her son Brian (Nancy Steady) of Charlotte; grandchildren Eric and Ashley of California; sis Cecily Powers (Wendell); nephew David Powers; nieces Sara Magro (David), Mary Jane McCormack (Brad); all of Rutland; and several great nieces and nephews. Claire also leaves behind many cherished friends with whom she shared many precious moments.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that tax-deductible donations be made to the Charlotte Food Shelf, PO Box 83, Charlotte, VT 05445.
Author, forester showcases “How to Love a Forest”
The Burlington Garden Club hosts Ethan Tapper for a talk about how forests work, the many threats and stressors that Vermont’s forests face, and what it means to care for forests in a changed and changing world.
The talk is Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. at Faith United Methodist Church, 899 Dorset Street, South Burlington.
Tapper, the author of the 2024 book “How to Love a Forest,” served as the Chittenden County Forester from 2016-2024, a role for which he earned numerous awards and distinctions. Now he runs his own forestry company — Bear Island Forestry — and writes and works on his homestead.
NOFA-VT to host annual winter conference at UVM
The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont hosts its 43rd annual winter conference Feb. 15-16 at the University of Vermont.
Saturday is a day of learning and gathering with keynote speakers Dãnia Davy and Tim Gibbons, 40-plus workshops, a children’s conference, and many more activities. Sunday features a day of in-person, immersive, workshops with a choice of four topics.
This year’s theme is “Growing Together.”
Registration is open on a sliding scale from $0-320. For the most up-to-date information and to register, nofavt.org/conference.
Student Milestones
Several Charlotte and Hinesburg students received academic honors for the fall semester. Their colleges sent the news along to the newspaper.
Peter Stewart of Hinesburg, class of 2028, majoring in Chemical Engineering, was named to Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s dean’s list.
The following Hinesburg students were named to the Vermont State University president’s list, for a semester grade point average of 4.0: Laura Gurdak and Madison Kittell
The following students were named to the University of Rhode Island’s dean’s list: Crawford Phillips of Charlotte, Norah Van Vranken of Hinesburg.
Ciara Eagan of Charlotte was named to the dean’s list at Norwich University.
Alex Dees of Hinesburg was named to the dean’s list at Norwich University.
Max Opton of Hinesburg, a senior majoring in environmental science, was named to the dean’s
The following students were named to the Vermont State University dean’s list: James Anair of Charlotte, Izzy Hopkins of Hinesburg, Aiden Robertson of Hinesburg, Samuel Zinner of Charlotte.
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
A mushroom straddles two branches of a tree in Charlotte.
STORYTELLING
continued from page 1
on that, don’t worry, so has she — Anderson knows she might be doing this for the next 15 years.
Anderson, a Monkton resident and lawyer, started telling stories years ago at a series of storytelling events called Extempo, which were run by Lovejoy Dole and hosted at a rotating set of venues in central Vermont. When pandemic lockdowns shut down in-person gatherings, the Extempo events stopped as well.
After restrictions eased and people started to gather again, Anderson learned that Dole wasn’t planning to start Extempo back up, but she encouraged Anderson to take up the mantle and begin planning events.
What came to mind were the storytelling events at Bridgeside Books in Waterbury, where storytellers would also share about their favorite books between stories. As Anderson considered what she wanted to do with her events, naturally, she turned to libraries.
“I really like the experience of connecting with the librarian, connecting with the community, being around books, talking about books. It just hit all these things for
CENTER II
continued from page 1
cal issues. There would be no effect on any existing or planned structures, even in the case of a 100-year storm — a term that’s used to describe a large flood that has a 1-percent chance of happening in any given year.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation also wrote a letter in support of the crossing in December.
“The Patrick Brook crossing is an invaluable asset in helping to alleviate traffic congestion along VT-116,” the letter said.
VTrans officials added that including the crossing in the development would create a “grid street architecture” that would increase the connectivity between neighborhoods and spread out town traffic. However, even with this recommendation, state regulations override town plans.
“They’re not allowing the crossing. Period,” said Grabowski.
me, and I actually didn’t know there were 185 libraries,” Anderson said.
Once she found out, it didn’t change her goal.
Part of what drives Anderson is that she views storytelling as a form of wellness, both personally and as a community. Getting up and telling a story about yourself, sometimes to strangers, is vulnerable. It can be scary. Nerve-wracking. But then, Anderson said, there’s often a moment when she’s telling a story that she realizes that the audience is with her.
“If they are feeling and laughing and experiencing the story, that’s a three-dimensional experience for me, and it feels magical. It feels like a suspension of time. You know, like you’re completely present. Everyone is completely present,” she said.
That kind of magic was evident at the Carpenter-Carse Library last week.
The group that gathered was a mix of newer storytellers, Hinesburg residents, and some people who have been connected to the Extempo community for years. Anderson’s events don’t have a theme that the stories must adhere to, and they ranged
from a tale by Bill Torrey about rocketing down a Vermont hillside in a makeshift sled during his childhood in the 60’s to a story from Lexie Kensington about working at an Indiana “freak show” during the 90’s.
Kelsey Pasteris, a Hinesburg resident, was one of the first-time storytellers. Her story, which wove together reflections on the community she’s found on the 116 Commuter bus with memories of a harrowing 40-hour bus ride she once took across Argentina, is something she’s been working on for a while. She started writing short stories recently, but no one had ever heard her tell this one before.
Anderson hopes to encourage new storytellers like Pasteris to continue growing in their ability to get up in front of a group and tell an excellent story. Storytelling, she said, is partly a learned art – by practicing telling your own and watching more experienced storytellers, you learn how to construct stories, build suspense, or use imagery to draw an audience into a scene.
“I’m basically, in this initiative, planting a bunch of seeds of storytelling, and I hope that they take root in the communities that I’m in,” she said.
During the Jan. 21 development review board meeting, the board ultimately accepted the elimination of the crossing and voted to forward the sketch to the final plat stage.
Grabowski, for his part, is eager to push on with the permitting process. With the exception of the floodplain issue, the state approved the rest of the original plan for every criterion. The developer has appealed the denial to the environmental court to bypass another Act 250 review at the state level.
“By appealing this to the environmental court, or appealing that section of the denial, it allowed us to basically work with ANR to come up with a solution without having to go and reinvent the wheel,” he said.
“I just kept practicing by myself. I’d walk and practice or drive and practice and so then finally, my family was like, sick of hearing about this bus story that I wanted to tell,” she said. “Now, I finally got to tell it.”
Anderson’s next few events will be Feb. 27 at Cabot Library, Mar. 26 at Richmond Library, and a special legal storytelling event in April at Vermont Law School in Royalton. You can email anderson_samara@yahoo.com to sign up to tell a story.
Grabowski expects that he will receive the Act 250 permit before the town’s permitting process is finished.
Wanakee is a summer camp and retreat center located in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Our afnity-based small group programming welcomes children, youth, and adults. Wanakee fosters a Christian community of radical acceptance where campers of all ages can grow personally, socially, and spiritually.
A unique primitive camp for boys, ages 10-14 located in Vermont’s Green Mountains
PHOTO BY BRIANA BRADY
Karen Tronsgard-Scott tells her story to the people gathered at Carpenter-Care Library.
CVU girls race to second straight track title
LAUREN READ
CORRESPONDENT
Indoor track and field
Buoyed by their strength in the distance running events, the Champlain Valley girls’ indoor track and field team captured the Division I state championship for the second year in a row.
CVU finished ahead of second-place St. Johnsbury during Sunday’s D-I final the University of Vermont.
Alice Kredell paced the Redhawks with first place finishes in the 1,000-meter and 1,600-meter races. Lydia Donahue was first in the 3,200-meter race and second in the 1,600. Isabella Gravina-Budis came in first in the 600-meter race and second in the 1,000.
Champlain Valley also captured first in the 4x400 meter relay to set the tone for the day.
On the boys’ side, Champlain Valley came in third place overall.
Quintin Fortier was first in the 300-meter race and Benjamin Holoch came in first in the 3,200meter event.
Boys’ hockey
Champlain Valley 2, Middlebury 1: The Champlain Valley boys’ ice hockey team beat Middlebury on Saturday to capture its third win in a row.
Ronan Evans and Brady Jones each had a goal for the Redhawks, who also got an assist from Sawyer Wellman.
Tommy Barnes stopped 10 shots on goal for CVU.
The Redhawks also got a win last Wednesday, beating BFA-St. Albans 5-4.
Teigen Holmes, Jameson
Yandow, Eric Weinberg, Brady Jones and Jack Bryan each had a goal for the Redhawks, while Tommy Barnes had 17 saves.
Girls’ hockey
Champlain Valley/Mount Mansfield 6, U-32 4: In a goalfilled game, the Champlain ValleyMount Mansfield girls hockey team beat U-32 on Saturday afternoon.
Mackenzie Rivard tallied twice for the CougarHawks, while Maeve Gilbert, Livia Brochu, Devin Taylor and Mae Arnoldy each had a goal.
Eva Mazur dished out three assists for the CVU-MMU and Ella Gilbert stopped 20 shots to get the win in goal.
The win helped the CougarHawks rebound from an early week loss to Burlington-Colchester. CVU-MMU fell to Burlington-Colchester 5-1.
Sophie Brien had the lone goal.
Girls’ basketball
Champlain Valley 40, BFA-St. Albans 30: Champlain Valley beat BFA-St. Albans on Friday night to add another notch to the win column in high school girls’ basketball.
Zoey McNabb had 18 points to pace the Redhawks, while Rose Bunting added 11 points.
Boys’ basketball
Mount Mansfield 42, Champlain Valley 31: Champlain Valley was outscored 14-3 in the final quarter in a loss to Mount Mansfield on Thursday.
Luke Allen had 10 points and five rebounds to pace the Redhawks in a losing effort.
CVU and Mount Mansfield were tied at 28 heading into the final frame.
Summer Camps
PHOTO BY AL FREY
Redhawk senior Jackson DuBois goes up for an easy layup versus Mount Mansfield last Thursday.
OUTDOORS
Northeastern hawks still soar throughout cold winter months
The Outside Story
Susan Shea
Driving on Vermont’s Interstate highways in winter, I often notice large hawks perched in trees on woodland edges at regular intervals along the road. With the stark landscape providing better visibility and many bird species gone for the winter, this is a great time of year to hawk-watch.
The raptor I see most along the highway has a white breast with a band of dark brown streaks across the belly, a brown back, and a reddish tail. This is a red-tailed hawk, North America’s most common hawk.
Some species of hawks that breed in northern New England migrate south for the winter, but most red-tailed hawks remain and are joined by others of their kind from Canada. I frequently see red-tailed hawks soaring above open areas. They turn slow circles on broad, rounded wings, with their tail feathers fanned out, and occasionally emit a piercing kreer.
Red-tailed hawks belong to the genus Buteo, and are often referred to simply as buteos; all hawks in this group share this distinctive flight silhouette. From the sky, they scan for prey with their keen eyesight until they spot an unsuspecting rodent, then suddenly swoop down to grab it in their talons. They also hunt from high perches, such as trees along highways. These raptors prey on mice, voles, rabbits, squirrels, and some waterfowl and other birds.
They prefer open country interspersed with woods. In winter, the Champlain Valley and parts of the Connecticut River Valley are hotspots for them.
Another hawk that can be spotted in open areas is the American kestrel, North America’s smallest falcon. Males have a rusty back and tail, a slate-blue head and wings, and the pointed wings and long tail of a falcon, while females are just rufous.
Look for a small hawk perched on a utility pole or wire or hovering over a field, flapping its wings. In summer, kestrels consume many grasshoppers and other insects, but in winter they prey solely on small rodents and birds.
They will stash surplus kills in shrubs and tree hollows for future meals.
Kestrels favor open areas such as fields, pastures, and parks. They are common in the Champlain Valley in winter. Kestrel populations have decreased 53 percent over the last fifty years, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Declines are likely due to the cutting of dead trees they use for nesting, the loss of insect prey due to pesticides, and farming practices that remove trees and brush, making rodents scarce.
Some hawk species hunt other birds and will visit feeders in winter, hoping to catch a tasty meal. One is the sharp-shinned hawk, our smallest accipiter. Raptors in this genus have short, broad wings and long tails which enable them to fly through the woods at high speeds in pursuit of prey. Adult sharp-shinned hawks have a gray back, orange, horizontal bars across the breast, and a banded tail.
Although they breed in dense forests, in winter they frequent woodland edges, fields, and suburban backyards with feeders where it’s easier to spot songbirds and mice.
The Cooper’s hawk, a medium-sized accipiter, also visits bird feeders in winter. Very similar in appearance to the sharp-shinned hawk, it can take on larger prey such as pigeons, doves and squirrels.
While snowshoeing or skiing in the forest, if you’re lucky you may glimpse an American goshawk, our largest accipiter. This uncommon and secretive bird of prey has a gray back, streaked breast, and a white stripe over its orange eyes. The goshawk hunts larger prey than our two other accipiters, such as rabbits and grouse.
In summer, goshawks are known to fiercely defend their nests. With the mate making a racket nearby, I was once divebombed by a goshawk when I unwittingly got too close to a nest while hiking.
In some winters, it’s possible to see an arctic hawk called the rough-legged hawk in northern New England. Another species of
buteo, these hawks move south seeking open habitat similar to the northern tundra such as farm fields and airports. This raptor has narrow wings, a long tail, and a large head. The dense feathering on its legs, an adaptation to cold, gives the rough-legged its name.
The plumage of this species varies in pattern and color.
While driving, gazing at your backyard feeder, or walking outdoors this winter, keep your eyes peeled for these skilled hunters and masters of flight.
Susan Shea is a naturalist, writer, and conservationist based in Vermont. Illustration by Adelaide Murphy Tyrol. The Outside Story is assigned and edited by Northern Woodlands magazine and sponsored by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of New Hampshire Charitable Foundation: nhcf.org.
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WARNING TOWN OF CHARLOTTE ANNUAL TOWN MEETING 2025
The legal voters of the Town of Charlotte are hereby notified and warned to meet in-person at the Charlotte Central School Multi-Purpose Room, located at 408 Hinesburg Road in said Town, on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at nine o’clock in the forenoon (9:00 A.M.) to act upon the articles set forth below not involving voting by Australian ballot (Articles 1 through 9), and to meet at the Charlotte Town Hall, located at 159 Ferry Road in said Town, on the Tuesday, March 4, 2025 to vote by Australian ballot to begin at seven o’clock in the forenoon (7:00 A.M.) and to close at seven o’clock in the afternoon (7:00 P.M.).
The legal voters of the Town of Charlotte are further notified and warned that a public informational hearing to explain and discuss the Australian ballot articles set forth below (Articles 10 and 11) will be held on Monday, February 24, 2025, at the Charlotte Town Hall, located at 159 Ferry Road in the Town, beginning at six o’clock in the afternoon (6:00 P.M.). The public may attend the informational hearing in person or on Zoom at the following information:
• Meeting Link: https://shorturl.at/GerwD
• Meeting ID: 879 7042 9352
• Meeting Passcode: 123456
ARTICLES TO BE VOTED FROM THE FLOOR
Article 1: To hear the reports of the Town officers and to act upon the same.
Article 2: Shall the voters authorize the payment of property taxes, with the payment due on or before Friday, November 14, 2025, and to have payments made to the Town Treasurer, as provided in 32 VSA § 4773(b)?
Article 3: Shall the voters approve total fund expenditures, as set forth in the Selectboard’s budget, of $4,265,990.00 for the fiscal year July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, of which an anticipated sum of $2,531,353 will be raised by taxes and an anticipated sum of $1,734,637.00 will be raised by non-tax revenues?
Article 4: Shall the voters approve raising a sum of $62,000 by property taxes, in addition to those monies raised pursuant to Article 3, to be allocated to the Charlotte Trails Fund?
Article 5: Shall the voters authorize the Selectboard to use not more than $5,000 from the Charlotte Trails Fund for the purpose of maintaining Town recreational trails?
Article 6: Shall the voters approve raising a sum of $40,000 by property taxes, in addition to those monies raised pursuant to Article 3, to be allocated to the Recreation Capital Fund, for the purpose of developing a new bathhouse at the Charlotte Town Beach?
Article 7: Shall the Town of Charlotte adopt all budget articles by Australian Ballot, as provided in 17 V.S.A. § 2680(c).
Article 8: Shall the Town of Charlotte vote on all public questions by Australian Ballot, as provided in 17 V.S.A. § 2680(d).
Article 9: To transact any other business proper to come before said meeting.
ARTICLES TO BE VOTED BY AUSTRALIAN BALLOT
Article 10: To elect Town Officials.
Article 11: Shall the voters authorize the Town to submit to the General Assembly of the State of Vermont a proposal to adopt a municipal charter which contains the following sections:
Section 1: Corporate Existence
Section 2: General Provisions
Section 3: Routine Adoption of Land Use Bylaws
Section 4: Separability
Section 5: Amendment
The official copy of the Charter proposal, in its entirety, is on file and available for public inspection at the Charlotte Town Clerk’s Office, 159 Ferry Road in said Town, during regular office hours, MondayFriday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Copies thereof are available to members of the public upon request.
EVANS continued from page 5
consideration and time it needs.
I’m hopeful that a compromise will be reached, but it’s hard to imagine that we can completely revamp the whole kit and kaboodle in such a short period of time. I worry we’re going to make a bigger mess in the interest of expediency.
I worry we’re going to make a bigger mess in the interest of expediency.
Before I move on, I want to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and willingness to pivot and adapt that our school board members have shown. It’s a volunteer job that gets little reward, takes up lots of time, and has been particularly difficult in the last five years. I’m so appreciative.
I don’t introduce a lot of bills. Some legislators are prolific in that way but I’m a less-is-more kind of gal, so I only introduced one this session, but it’s a hefty one. I’m the lead sponsor along with Reps. Lucy Boyden from Cambridge and Rey Garofano from Essex. It’s a government accountability bill, H67
CELL PHONES continued from page 3
media as part of education or communication with students.
In its current draft, the CVSD policy would meet all the state requirements apart from the social media clause. It institutes a ban on cell phone use from the beginning of the school day until dismissal, including time between classes, homeroom, recess, or lunch.
The committee is still considering how to approach buses and field trips, and whether those issues are better addressed in school procedures, rather than at the policy level. They plan to get feedback from district leadership, teachers, students, parents, and community members before
(legislature.vermont.gov/bill/ status/2026/H.67), and it takes a systematic approach to looking at government programs to make sure they’re doing two things: achieving the goals they set out to achieve and not costing more money than they should. There are systems in place to do some of this work, but oftentimes we’ll create a program or commission or working group or study committee, fund it through the general fund budget, and then not ever come back to take a good look at whether or not it’s accomplishing what it’s supposed to.
Thank you for your feedback after my last column; it’s so valuable to me and always welcome at 917-887-8231 or cevans@leg. state.vt.us.
Chea Waters Evans, a Democrat, represents Charlotte and Hinesburg in the Chittenden-5 House district.
the policy goes to the board for approval.
For Angela Arsenault, it’s been rewarding to be able to work on policies at both the state and local level at the same time.
“I am very grateful that they took this up in the district and they chose a really thoughtful approach and came to the decision through their own observations and conversations, that a bell-to-bell policy is what’s best,” she said.
If the bill passes as introduced in the Legislature, the state will expect school districts and supervisory unions to have phone policies adopted by December of this year.
TOWN OF CHARLOTTE NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY: 2024 ANNUAL TOWN AND AUDITOR’S REPORTS
The Town of Charlotte, in accordance with 24 V.S.A. 1682, is providing notice of the availability of the 2024 Annual Town Report and of the FY24 (July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024) Professional Annual Audit. The FY24 Professional Annual Audit will be available on the Town’s website (www.charlottevt.org) no later than February 19th, 2025. The Annual Town Report will also be available both on the Town’s website, with physical copies available for pick-up at the Town Offices (located at 159 Ferry Road).
Please visit our advertisers and tell them: “I saw your ad in The Citizen
BOHLEN
continued from page 7
Such projects often encounter local opposition due to a kind of NIMBY fear that “affordable” housing is somehow inferior. The support that Hinesburg showed for the project, in particular through HAHC, convinced Champlain Housing Trust and Vermont’s Department of Housing and Community Development that the Green Street project had a good chance of success. They were right, and Hinesburg now has a fairly new, but well-established little neighborhood.
The reputation that Hinesburg has earned as welcoming to new and affordable housing has attracted more projects. We have recently reported on some of these, such as Kelly’s Field 1, which is also well established, and Kelly’s Field 2, which will be opening soon.
Others are in the works, including a new development again led by Champlain Housing Trust called Windy Ridge. It is
MILESTONES
continued from page 8
list at Montana State University.
Ruby Opton of Hinesburg, a freshman majoring in marine biology, was named to the dean’s list at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Jacqueline Goldsmith of Hinesburg was named to Furman University’s dean’s list.
The following students were named to the dean’s list at the University of New England. From Charlotte: Sophie Pidgeon and Jasmin Townsend-Ng.
on land adjacent to NRG donated by its founder, Jan Blomstrann. It will include permanently affordable rental apartments and both affordable and market rate homes for sale.
We’ll keep you posted as the project moves forward. The specific ways and means that such projects reach fruition varies from project to project and can be complicated. Hinesburg has become skilled at wielding them.
If you have an interest in helping Hinesburg bring housing to our community, especially affordable housing, the Hinesburg Affordable Housing Committee has two openings on the committee.
Please contact Carl Bohlen at larcredsox@gmavt.net or contact the Town manager’s office.
Carl Bohlen is a member of the Hinesburg Affordable Housing Committee.
The legal voters of the Town of Hinesburg, Vermont are hereby warned and notified to meet in-person and remotely in said Town of Hinesburg, on Monday February 10, 2025 at 6:00 P.M. at the Champlain Valley Union District High School, at 369 CVU Road, Hinesburg, VT 05461, for an informational meeting on the articles to be voted upon by Australian Ballot on Tuesday March 4, 2025.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82400091842?pwd=LVzUeS0WAKu 2E7KF6bsmJrwxWc5RsP.1
Meeting ID: 824 0009 1842
Passcode: 747203
This Informational Meeting will be held in-person and remotely. Available options to watch or join the meeting:
• Attend in-person in the library at Champlain Valley Union High School.
• Join the meeting via Zoom using the log-in information above.
• View remotely by streaming on the Media Factory
• For the purpose of recording minutes, you will be asked to provide your first and last name.
From Hinesburg: Thomas Garavelli, Cassandra Guillemette, Corinna Hobbs, MacKenna Riggs. The following area students were named to the dean’s list at Quinnipiac University: Angela Fortin of Charlotte; Hannah Wager of Hinesburg.
The following Hinesburg students were named to the dean’s list at Endicott College: Caleb Nye, criminal justice; Trinity Nye, psychology.
HOW TO REGISTER TO VOTE: There is no deadline to register to vote. You can register by going to olvr.vermont.gov to register on-line, by going to the town clerk’s office and filling out a paper registration form, or on election day at the polls.
HOW TO REQUEST AN EARLY BALLOT: You can request an early ballot by visiting mvp.vermont.gov and signing in to your voter page. You or a family member may also request a ballot by phone, in person or via email at hroberts@hinesburg.org or kfrazier@hinesburg.org
ARTICLE I: To hear the reports of the officers of the Town of Hinesburg.
ARTICLE II: Any other business thought proper.
Signed this 23rd day of January by the Hinesburg Selectboard.
ELECTIONS
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she said she was supportive of bringing the question to voters but does believe there is a way to streamline some of the selectboard’s simple tasks and delegate more to the town administrator.
Lee Krohn
For a three-year seat vacated by selectboard chair Jim Faulkner, Charlotte resident and former town manager of Shelburne Lee Krohn has thrown his hat back into the municipal government ring.
She noted some of the selectboard’s accomplishments in the last two years, like hiring the new town administrator and successfully passing two town budgets, especially during a particularly difficult year for education financing.
Krohn stepped away, though not fully, from his local government roots when he left his post in Shelburne after five years in 2023.
Devine had formerly been on the town’s planning commission but is even more familiar with local politics from her stint as president of the Burlington Business Association for the past 17 years.
“One unique thing that I bring to the position is I have a tremendous amount of connections at the state level, with other municipal governments, and at the regional planning level,” she said.
While she is gunning for her spot back at the table, she said she is a big believer in democracy and ultimately letting voters of the town decide the outcome.
JD Herlihy
Herlihy, with four years of experience on the development review board and the town’s former zoning board, brings another side of expertise. He noted that, in the coming months, land use regulations and the discussion of a town plan rewrite will play a major role in selectboard conversations since all zoning changes must come before the board.
“When I stepped away previously, I thought, you know, 35 years of public service, I’ve done paid my dues, I’ve had more than enough night meetings to last several lifetimes,” he said, letting out a laugh. “But then I started thinking and it felt like the civic governance in Charlotte would benefit from someone like me with significant experience, knowledge and the ability to forge relationships and just help bring a calm, respectful, knowledgeable approach to community governance.”
“It just felt like if we all sit around and do nothing, then nothing gets done.”
Community governance may as well have been Krohn’s middle name for most of his adult life, beginning his career working for the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and decades in many municipal roles in the town of Manchester and Putney.
— Lee Krohn
He’s been tuned into important discussions regarding the changes to the town’s east and west villages and said the conversation, while at first causing a visceral response for residents, has spurred meaningful discussion about how residents want to see the town grow.
“Bringing a good understanding of what and how to interpret or read the (land use regulations) and making sure that the public understands what the topic is because sometimes you look at these and they seem to be overly complex or it’s hard to understand,” he said.
Since living in the town since 2019 and with experience in product management and marketing, he said he hopes to be able to bring a different voice to the selectboard seat while also creating space for people to speak freely.
“There’s been some fractures in the town and pretty opposing points of view, and I see people talking past each other rather than trying to understand each other and work toward a common understanding,” he said. “We can disagree and have different opinion on exactly what we want, but we can do so in a congenial, civil manner.”
Krohn was also tapped last year as a consultant to help the town with the town manager debate. He said, like Devine, there may be some areas that the selectboard could delegate more to the town administrator while also working to better support the volunteers of the town.
While he has the experience to bring knowledge to the slew of planning and other projects the town has moving forward, he ultimately hopes to create a more collaborative and respectful approach to civic government.
“It just felt like if we all sit around and do nothing, then nothing gets done,” he said. “I look at communities sort of like gardens, and they need to be nurtured and seeds need to be planted, but at some point, you hope you reap the harvest as well and get things done.”
Faulkner, who has been in the seat since 2019, could not be reached for comment about his decision to not seek reelection. But Devine, having worked closely with him for two years, said that he has done “yeoman’s work for this town,” specifically regarding the new town garage and the most recent flooding disaster that left Spear Street devastated.
“He has just devoted a lot of time to helping move those projects forward,” she said. “I hope that we can send him off with a proper thank you, because it’s not easy to be on a selectboard, especially nowadays.”