Senator recounts efforts to strengthen Vermont’s unions and workforce
Page 5
Batter
up
CVU baseball looks for redemption, other teams look to rebuild
Page 10
Parents invited to weigh in on school phone rules
BRIANA
BRADY STAFF WRITER
A group composed largely of parents sat in the library at Champlain Valley Union High School the week before April break to discuss a topic currently on the table in both the Vermont legislature and the Champlain Valley School District: their children’s phones.
Over the past few months, both the legislature and the school board have been discussing imposing a bell-to-bell phone policy in the district and across the state, meaning that from arrival to dismissal, children would be barred from using their personal electronic devices.
At the beginning of the school year, superintendent Adam Bunting put together a working group to investigate what shape such a policy might take and research the impact of similar policies in other schools. In March, the school board’s policy committee presented a draft policy to the board and is now collecting feedback from the community.
The panel inclued two students, senior
See PHONE on page 16
Charlotte residents pitch charter change at Statehouse
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Two Charlotte residents last month introduced a proposed town charter change that voters approved on Town Meeting Day, but the Legislature is unlikely to take up the measure this year.
The effort was spearheaded through a petition led by two Charlotte residents, Karen Frost and Mat Citarella, who began circulating the petition at the end of last year. The basis for the change was to allow Charlotte to exempt itself from a piece of housing legislation that was passed in 2022.
The HOMES Act addressed several ways
the state could encourage more housing by limiting some of the barriers that were present prior to the bill’s passage. One of those major changes was allowing the governing bodies of towns and cities — selectboards or
See CHARTER CHANGE on page 12
COURTESY PHOTO
Phil Poeuch, D-Hinesburg, pictured above, helped organize a tire collection as part of Green Up Day this year. See story on page 8.
Climb up, Green Up
Waste district gets grant for hazardous material disposal
The Chittenden Solid Waste District has been awarded a $111,323 grant from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation to help offset the costs of providing convenient facilities and public education for the safe and proper disposal of hazardous waste generated by residents and qualifying businesses.
The grant comes from a solid waste assistance fund provided by the state to help towns and solid waste planners implement their plans, as required by state law.
The district uses the grant to help fund its hazardous waste collection program, which includes the Environmental Depot, a facility located in South Burlington that accepts hazardous waste year-round from households and Chittenden County businesses, and the Rover, a mobile collection program that complements the Depot.
“These funds will support our hazardous waste collection program for residents and
qualifying businesses,” the district’s director of operations, Josh Estey, said. “Each year, we manage over 600,000 pounds of hazardous waste, and the program costs more than $500,000 to operate. This grant will help ease some of that financial burden and allow us to continue providing this critical service to our community.”
The funds will be used specifically to help cover costs for proper disposal of waste collected — expected to be nearly $275,000 in Fiscal Year 2026 — as well as for making district members aware of the collection program.
Some program expenses are offset by revenue sources including product stewardship programs, which reimburse the district for collecting certain products and materials, hazardous waste handling fees charged to businesses, and proceeds from the sale of Local Color paint, made by district staff from latex paint brought in for recycling.
The Citizen
Serving the community of Charlotte & Hinesburg A publication of Vermont Community Newspaper Group LLC thecitizenvt.com
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Total incidents: 39
Traffic stops: 12
Suspicious persons/ incidents: 5
Selected incidents:
Hinesburg Police Blotter: April 29 - May 5
Route 116. This incident is still under investigation.
April 30 at 10:55 a.m., police investigated Illegal burning on Magee Hill Road.
April 29 at 7:52 p.m., an officer assisted the Hinesburg Fire Department with a medical emergency in St. George.
April 29 at 9:00 p.m., officers attempted to stop a vehicle on Richmond Road for excessive speed. That vehicle led officers on a pursuit to Shelburne Falls Road where the pursuit was discontinued for safety concerns.
April 30 at 9:54 a.m., an officer responded to report at St. Jude’s church of an individual stealing property. This incident is still under investigation.
April 30 at 10:01 a.m., an officer investigated a burglary reported at Bushel’s Market on
April 30 at 12:55 p.m., an officer investigated an assault that was reported at Champlain Valley Union High School.
April 30 at 1:41 p.m., police investigated an animal complaint on North Road.
April 30 at 6:25 p.m., police investigated a motor vehicle complaint on Route 116. They located the vehicle and determined the operator to be suffering from a medical condition.
May 1 at 11:44 a.m., an officer responded to a two-car motor vehicle crash on Mechanicsville Road.
May 1 at 6:27 p.m., officers responded to a domestic dispute on Hollow Road.
May 1 at 7:17 p.m., police are still investigating a report of suspicious activity on Richmond Road.
May 2 at 10:05 p.m., police conducted a motor vehicle stop on Richmond Road. The operator was ticketed for driving with a suspended license, no insurance, false registration, and no inspection.
May 5 at 8:00 a.m., police returned some missing property to its owner.
May 5 at 11:02 a.m., police investigated suspicious activity on Charlotte Road.
May 5 at 9:33 p.m. police investigated illegal burning on Richmond Road.
Note: Charges filed by police are subject to review by the Chittenden County State’s Attorney Office and can be amended or dropped.
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Billing inquiries Leslie Lafountain leslie@stowereporter.com (802) 253-2101
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VALERIO
continued from page 6
economy. It allows them to be fully present in their workplaces. And, when we are less worried and anxious about where our children will be during the day, we have more time to dream, to create businesses that contribute to the economy and livelihood of our state. Our children experience the benefits of having parents and caregivers who have the time and freedom to work.
Lawmakers need to hear from us
that child care is an absolute priority for Vermonters.
When we invest in commonsense solutions that support families and our economy, we keep people and businesses in our Green Mountain State. Public investment in child care does just that.
The 2025 legislative session has big implications for child care. As lawmakers in Montpelier make critical state funding decisions, they need to hear from us that child care is an absolute priority for Vermonters. Our state representatives and senators have an opportunity to build on a
solution that’s working. Doing so would increase access and lower costs for child care while supporting our workforce and preparing our youngest children for school. I love our state. I love that my job lets me experience so much of it and share it with others. Neither my son nor I would be where we are today without the luck we had in accessing quality early education. So, let’s build a Vermont where it’s not just about luck but, instead, about our values and creating a community where we can all thrive – and that all starts with access to quality, affordable child care. Join me in taking action with Vermont’s Child Care Campaign: letsgrowkidsactionnetwork.org/action-center.
Mirna Valerio is a Vermontbased professional athlete, advocate and educator known for her online personality as “The Mirnavator.”
Resetyour Health & Wellness
HINSDALE continued from page 5
emergency response, to make sure they have the tools and support they need to keep our communities safe.
We’ve amplified the voices of our educators as we work to improve Vermont’s schools, ensuring decisions are informed by the people closest to our students. And we’ve supported health care workers fighting for fair wages and the ability to organize in one of the most vital sectors of our economy.
While we know there are challenges at the national level, Vermont has chosen to step up — strengthening our own Vermont Labor Relations Board so workers here have strong, reliable protections regardless of the political climate in Washington.
It’s also important to acknowledge that immigrant rights are part of this conversation. Our state relies on the contributions of immigrant workers, including farmworkers and essential employees, and they deserve the same fairness and dignity we want for every Vermonter. We’ve worked to ensure that people in our state are treated fairly and that families are not unnecessarily separated or put through hardship.
Because here’s what we all understand: when any group of workers is treated unfairly, it affects the whole community. When families live in fear, or when people don’t have access to fair wages and safe workplaces, we all lose.
My neighbor’s challenges are
my challenges — and when we come together, we’re all stronger for it.
May Day is not just a day of protest — it’s a day of unity. It’s a reminder that we are all part of the same fabric, that we share common hopes, and that the future of Vermont depends on making sure everyone has a fair shot.
So today, let’s take a moment to celebrate the progress we’ve made — and recommit ourselves to the work ahead. Let’s remember that “Freedom and Unity” isn’t just a motto — it’s a promise we make to one another, every day.
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.
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale
Volunteers collect more than 1,000 tires
BRIANA BRADY STAFF WRITER
Hinesburg held a free tire drop off as part of its Green Up Day efforts Saturday. Rep. Phil Pouech, D-Hinesburg, did much of the organizing.
“We hoped allowing a free tire drop-off would reduce the number of tires that ‘appear’ on our roadways just days before Green Up. Picking up all those tires, spread around town roads, is a real challenge for volunteers who must pick them up and transport them to the town garage for disposal,” he said.
While Pouech and others had expected around 200 tires, they ended up with more than 1,000 by the end of the day.
“We were not only surprised but concerned about how we would pay for and transport all those tires to the Williston Chittenden Solid Waste District drop off station. Fortunately, we have great community volunteers who stepped up in our time of need,” he said.
He provided a list of volunteers to thank in helping with the tires:
• Jay Mitiguy from East Coast Excavating, who allowed use of his dumpsters and trucked all the tires free of charge.
• Volunteers who manned the drop off and helped load the dumpsters: Neale Gow, Louis Prue, Rocky Martin, Andre Morganti, Chuck Reiss and Rick McCraw, the town’s representative to the solid waste district.
• Zoning administrator Jim Jarvis
• The town highway crew who offered up the town garage space
• The solid waste district, which provided a grant to pay for the tire disposal.
• “Finally, all the folks who dragged old tires out of the woods, picked them up from the side of the road and transported them to the town garage for proper disposal,” Pouech said.
Pouech said that, after grinding up the tires, CSWD sends them out of state for processing, so they do not end up in the landfill.
PHOTOS BY BRIANA BRADY
Community Notes
Plants and pies on sale at Hinesburg church this weekend
The United Church of Hinesburg’s Plants and Pies sale is Saturday, May 10, from 9 a.m. to noon, 10580 Route 116.
Choose from a large selection of annuals, including old and new favorites in a variety of colors in multi-packs, pots, and hanging baskets — all sourced from Paquette’s Nursery in Williston and offered at competitive prices. Home-baked pies will also be for sale.
Cash, checks, and debit and credit cards will be accepted.
Have some more: Shelburne school presents “Oliver! JR.”
The streets of Victorian England will come to life when Shelburne Community School presents the musical “Oliver! JR,” May 23 at 7 p.m., and May 24 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Shelburne Town Gym, 5420 Shelburne Rd., Shelburne.
The show is based on the novel “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens and adapted from the full-length musical by Lionel Bart, who wrote the book, music and lyrics.
“Please, sir, I want some more.”
Through these famous words asking for a bit more gruel, a malnourished orphan named Oliver Twist is cast out of the grim 19th century workhouse where he lives. The young boy eventually falls in with a friendly gang of pickpockets and their leader, Fagin. Oliver quickly discovers he is not fit for a life of crime and finds the life he was meant to live all along.
Tickets: $10 adults, $8 seniors and children. Tickets are available online, with limited tickets available at the door. For more information: shelburnepto.org.
Test your pedal mettle in Thursday time trials
Have you ever been curious to learn just how fast you can really go on a bike? Starting on May 22 and ending on Aug. 21, you
have a chance to push the envelope during the Green Mountain Bicycle Club’s time trial series, which takes place on Thursday nights, weather permitting, throughout the summer.
The club has been running this series for more than 50 years. It’s free and no racing license is needed, but helmets are mandatory. In time trials, racers start one after the other at one-minute intervals to see just how fast they can go. The routes range from flat to hilly with starting locations in Chittenden, Franklin and Lamoille counties. The courses run the gamut from just under seven miles to more than 16.5. The flattest one has 330 feet of elevation gain, while the hilliest includes a climb of 1,800 feet. This is a great opportunity for novices as well as veteran racers to test their limits, racing against the clock.
For more information, thegmbc.com/ time-trials/.
Vermont launches reduce, reuse and repair project
Vermont’s reuse and repair community is about to get bigger and stronger with the launch of a new program focused on elevating the people and businesses that keep waste out of the landfill by giving used and broken items a second life.
“Reuse and repair are not new concepts to Vermonters, who are known for both frugality and resource conservation,” said Anne Bijur of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservtion. “The recently established project aims to bring together the creative and resourceful reuse and repair service providers with the larger community in need of those skills. This includes thrift and consignment shops for gently used items as well as electricians who can fix your lamp or tailors who can fix the zipper on your coat.”
The kickoff meeting for this project will be held virtually on May 13 at 2 p.m., and interested parties can register by contact-
See COMMUNITY NOTES on page 12
Bikram Method | Inferno Hot Pilates
CHARTER CHANGE
continued from page 1
city councils — to make changes to land use regulations without a townwide vote.
The petition, which passed at the annual meeting 694-335, asks the town to adopt a charter that states all bylaws, bylaw amendments or repeals must be adopted by a vote of the town by Australian ballot.
“This is something that was removed and previously existed,” Frost told the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs in April. “We’re asking just to restore something that we previously had.”
But the charter poses some problems for lawmakers who say it contradicts the Legislature’s intent in passing new laws meant to spur housing.
Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden Southeast, who is the main sponsor of the HOMES Act, said the bill is single-handedly geared toward speeding up routine bylaw changes and speeding up the development of modest multi-family housing in population centers.
“My presentation to you has
nothing to do with Charlotte. It has everything to do with communities wanting an exemption from a law that sets a floor for a very specific reason,” she told the committee.
“Charlotte, and I would argue all of Chittenden County, is in our largest employment corridor, and yet does not at all have a housing supply to support people who want to be employed by those large employers.”
Ram Hinsdale pointed to the recently released Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission housing targets for the area, which stipulate new goals for each of its member communities. Overall, Chittenden County has a target range of between 15,783 and 47,407 new housing units needed by 2050, according to the regional planners.
Charlotte is in the rural category, along with Bolton, Underhill and Westford, which, combined, account for 3.8 percent of the county’s potential new growth. In Charlotte, the regional planning commission suggests a relatively modest growth of 11-32 percent over the next 25 years, with
the annual growth somewhere between 7 and 21 percent.
The town is currently undergoing a revamp and update to the land use regulations that govern the east and west villages in an effort to streamline development in those areas while minimizing sprawl in the town’s more rural areas.
The project recognizes that the development pattern in Charlotte has ultimately not been consistent with the town plan which mandates to focus growth in the east and west villages. Some of the current zoning bylaws, like the 5-acre lot size minimum in both village centers, contradict the intent of the town plan.
“If you still require an acre, two
COMMUNITY NOTES
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ing mullandmor@outlook.com.
A series of meetings is planned throughout the year to learn from the practitioners of reuse and repair and to grow consumer habits that prioritize reuse and repair over disposal or buying new. The online workshops will help identify barriers to the reuse and repair industry, share stories of success and create inspiration for a more robust system that supports the network. This will make it easier for Vermonters to live lightly and find the local resources they need.
“Once we build a critical mass and flesh out the program, we plan to host a one-day conference with
acres or more for a lot, you have essentially zoned people out of your community, in a very, what I would argue whether you mean to or not, in a very biased way about who can afford to live in your community,” Ram Hinsdale told the committee.
Currently, there is no penalty for towns that don’t meet those housing targets. But Ram Hinsdale told the House committee that she plans to propose to the Senate Finance Committee taxing towns that are unwilling to meet those targets at a higher rate.
“If a community is unwilling to meet their housing target, they should have a higher property tax burden than communities that are
working towards their housing target, because it is a cost to the whole state that some communities are unwilling to grow their grand list,” she said.
The committee took no concrete steps on moving the charter forward last month, and House Rep. Chea Waters Evans, D Chittenden-5, who sits on the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs, said it’s likely not to.
“A lot of times, charters will create laws or rules for municipality, but I can’t really think of another time when I’ve seen a charter that just flat out exists to exempt one municipality from a law that already exists,” she said.
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speakers, demonstrations and an on-site repair cafe,” said Susan Alexander of Mullandmor, LLC, who is heading this campaign.
First responders to stage mock crash at CVU
On Thursday, May 15, at approximately 10 a.m., Champlain Valley Union High School will host a mock crash event as part of an educational program aimed at promoting safe driving habits among students.
As part of the demonstration, CVU Road will be closed at VT Route 116 and Pond Road from approximately 9-11 a.m. Motor-
ists are advised to seek alternate routes during this time.
The mock crash will involve a large presence of emergency vehicles and personnel from multiple local departments, including fire, EMS, and law enforcement agencies. The event is designed to simulate the real-world response to a serious motor vehicle crash and highlight the potential consequences of unsafe driving behaviors.
With prom, graduation, and summer vacation approaching, this event serves as a timely reminder for students to make safe and responsible choices behind the wheel.
PHONE
The Garden Calls
at Vermont’s Finest Plant Nursery
continued from page 1
Mira Novak and sophomore Marina Hallisey; Nick Canaday, an English teacher at the high school; TJ Mead, a house director at CVU; Erika Lea, a board member from Shelburne and the chair of the policy committee; Steve Hale, a pediatrician; and Angela Arsenault, the representative sponsoring the phone policy bill in the legislature who only recently stepped down from her position on the Champlain Valley School Board.
In general, the perspectives from both the panel and the audience two weeks ago were in favor of the bell-to-bell policy. However, the policy and its proponents have received pushback from board members, parents and students in recent months.
The panel discussed a range of issues related to phone use, but at the center of the debate has often been the question of whether children should be free from their phones while they learn or whether it is the school’s responsibility to teach them how to have a healthy relationship with their phone during the school day.
“You want to meet your kids where they are, and you don’t want to get into power struggles with them all the time, and having cell phones as a part of that equation always creates that potential for conflict with kids who really feel like they need to be on them, and we really feel like we need to be teaching and they need to be learning,” Canaday said, representing the 89 percent of the district’s high school teachers who said they would be in favor of a phone ban.
He also referenced the anxiety and pressure students feel knowing that they could be filmed at any moment, and that that video may live on the internet forever.
Hale agreed about the mental health impacts of phones, and specifically social media, citing that he and his colleagues think it’s causing anxiety and depression at younger ages.
“Any of you who try to access mental health for your kids know how hard it is in the community. It’s just exploding, and it’s not going away, and our concern is that this generation is going to be having kids — scary spot for parents — in 10 years, and it perpetuates it if you can’t stop the cycle,” he said.
“It’s not completely out of the realm for a school lockdown or a school shooting, which is very sad to note that it is a fact that does need to be a part of the conversation,” she said.
Members of the board, for the first time, also came forward with their own reservations about the policy during the March meeting. Keith Roberts of Hinesburg said he had been holding his opinions, letting the process play out and listening to the perspectives of the teachers and administrators, but he felt that banning phones would be an abdication of their responsibility to students.
“We have to teach them how to live in the world,” he said.
The board was split on the subject, with some agreeing with Roberts that teaching students how to live with their phones made more sense than removing them from the situation. However, others, like Lea, said while they understand the arguments around managing phone use, they remain convinced it would be better for students to ban phones during school hours.
“This is an incredibly addictive piece of machinery. I mean, I experience it. I feel addicted to my phone at times and have made adult decisions to leave my phone outside my bedroom, for example. And it literally changed my life when I did that. But I don’t expect that a 14- or 15-year-old is going to make the decision to be different than their peers and leave it in their backpack during the day,” Lea said as part of the panel discussion.
Arsenault also argued that schools often teach children how to manage and deal with things like drugs and alcohol without providing access to them.
Since at least 2022, the district has had a phones-away policy in schools, providing pouches and storage in classrooms where students can put their phones. However, Bunting said, the phones are insidious, they creep back in, making it harder and harder for teachers to enforce the policy. Usually, he said, as principal, he had no trouble enforcing rules. The phones are different.
Although there was positive feedback from some parents in the audience, a couple of them understood the policy differently — they see taking away their children’s phones as potentially having a negative impact on their mental health.
“My oldest daughter told me she probably could not have made it through her freshman year if she didn’t have her phone, her lifeline. And if you’re asking all three of my kids, what is the main reason you want your phones? It’s because they’re terrified. Every single classroom they walk into, they plan their escape,” Megan Pidgeon, a parent and behavior interventionist in the district, said.
It wasn’t the first time school shootings came up in discussion of the phone policy. In March, during the public comment period, CVU student Graciela Sanchez presented to the board a survey she and other students had conducted among their peers. Along with students citing the need to use their phones for classwork or feeling anxious if they were taken away, Sanchez said that safety in an emergency situation was on students’ minds.
“It was funny in this situation where people were like, no, not happening. So that’s, I think, part of the reason why we were a little less inclusive with students (in drafting the policy). We knew students weren’t going to be like, ‘Yeah, let’s do this thing.’ And we’d already tried that more moderate approach the last couple of years, and it just didn’t work,” he said at the panel.
Mira Novak, one of the students on the panel, agreed. Despite the outpouring of resistance from many of her peers, she thinks school would be better without cell phones.
“I think it is really important for students to be able to classify what an emergency is and have the resources within themselves and know how to access resources in institutions like a school without texting their parents,” Novak said.
For her, even though she’s a senior and this policy will not impact her, she said it’s about learning to live with discomfort, knowing what to do in a room instead of looking at a phone, learning to be a little bit vulnerable.
“I also think it’s really important to kind of establish that when I enter a class and I feel uncomfortable, that is something I need to learn how to deal with in my life going forward.”