The Other Paper - 2-2-23

Overhaul

Lawmakers, child care providers look for solutions

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At the library South Burlington library features slate of events in February

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the South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977

SB’s $31M budget restores past cuts

COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER

South Burlington’s more than $30 million budget for fiscal year 2024 was approved by the city and is set for a vote on Town Meeting Day.

The $31,140,318 budget takes steps to restore previous cuts that were made during the “lean Covid years” and, through incremental investments into capital improvement funds, one that keeps pace with expected growth in the city, city manager Jessie Baker said.

To accomplish these goals, the city has

The Vermont Chinese School hosted its 29th annual Lunar New Year celebration at F. H. Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington on Sunday, Jan. 22. The event was sold-out and attracted more than 200 guests. “Xin nian kuai le! Gong xi fa cai!” guests greeted each other with big smiles. Guests were treated with Chinese food and performances by students at the school, their teachers and parents. The program started with a dragon dance, a tradition to bring good luck to people in festive celebrations, performed by the adult students of the Chinese language class. Kids and adults of different Chinese classes participated in the diverse cultural performances, including dancing, martial arts, singing, playing pipa and spinning diabolo. Lunar New Year is widely celebrated in many countries in Asia. The Green Mountain Korean Culture School joined the Year of the Rabbit celebration and performed Korean drumming.

Five candidates vie for two open city council seats

COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER

South Burlington’s March city council election is beginning to take shape, as five candidates have filed petitions to run for the city’s two open seats.

Two candidates, Andrew Chalnick and James Leas, will vie for a 3-year council seat vacated by state Sen. Thomas Chittenden, who announced in May last year that he would not seek reelection.

Chittenden, who has served on the council for eight years, won reelection to the Vermont Senate in the newly formed Chittenden Southeast district. He is also the interim director of undergraduate programs at the

University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business.

“For the past eight years, I’ve had the honor and privilege of serving on this council, representing the town I grew up in and the community I care deeply about,” he said. “But with my kids still being in school, my role at University of Vermont expanding and with my other commitments, I am committed to stepping away from the city council at the end of this term.”

“My objective in this role was to learn from the past, serve the present and plan for the future,” he added. “My intention in this role has been to serve with maximum transparency, accessibility, humility and, most important, civility.”

Chalnick has held several posts in city hall, including chair of the energy committee and vice chair of the climate task force. He also held a seat on the planning commission and the interim zoning transferable development rights committee.

Chalnick wrote in The Other Paper that he would prioritize several initiatives, including affordable housing and the protection of natural resources, as well as assuring through recommendations of the Climate Action Plan, which target transportation and infrastructure as ways for the city to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

“Motivating me to run are my four children and concern about the world we are leaving to them,” he said. “I am determined

to make a difference and am committed to working hard to help us thrive, and to meet our challenges.”

He will have to fend off a challenge from Leas, a longtime activist in the community well known for his opposition to the F-35 fighter jets now based at the Burlington International Airport.

Leas graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has worked as a patent lawyer for much of his career.

Issues he hopes to tackle if elected include “the economy, jobs, affordable housing, a healthy and safe environment for our children and their learning, climate change,

COURTESY PHOTO

Vermont Chinese School Lunar New Year

Timeless Gift of Love

Lawmakers pursue overhaul of Vermont’s child care system

AARON CALVIN AND LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITERS

Armed with a report offering definitive paths forward and a Democratic supermajority, legislators are searching for the way forward when it comes to addressing problems with Vermont’s child care system.

As lawmakers contemplate options, workers and advocates in the industry are urging them to look beyond temporary solutions and pursue industry-redefining policy changes.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the unsustainable and inadequate child care options available to Vermont families as many parents and caregivers are increasingly required to spend outsized amounts of their income while workers still go underpaid and without benefits.

Along with housing and climate change, child care has been consistently identified as one of the greatest challenges facing Vermonters, with employers from disparate industries consistently citing it as one of the foremost workforce barriers.

Act 45, passed in 2021, called for a financial analysis to determine how much it might cost to reform the child care system so that Vermonters pay no more than 10 percent of their income for child care while also adequately compensating child care workers and potentially expanding the subsidies currently available to low-income families to middleclass earners.

That study, authored by the RAND Corporation, a policy think tank, was provided to lawmakers last week.

Depending on how comprehensive an overhaul legislators decide to pursue — and what kind of new taxes they decide to raise — the report estimated the cost of an overhaul of the child care system to be somewhere between $179 million and $279 million per year.

Closing the initial gap would mean spending $179 million to $193 million per year to retain the status quo of limiting subsidies to families making three and a half times the poverty level or less. The 2022 poverty level for a family of four was $27,750.

Going even further and subsidizing health care expenses for Vermonters and expanding child care subsidies to middle-class earners would cost $256 million to $279 million per year.

Covering the lower cost would require just a single new tax reve-

nue stream but raising the higher amount and expanding child care services further would require a bundle of taxes.

New tax options laid out by the RAND study include a near 1 percent payroll tax, a 2-percentage-point increase in the sales tax, a new limited services tax of nearly 10 percent or a new expanded services tax of just over 7 percent, with the payroll tax being the more progressive option and the sales tax option being the most regressive tax.

The study asserted that even instituting a mix of taxes to fund the expansion of child care subsidies to middle class earners, or those whose income is five times the poverty level, would have a “small impact on household well-being,” even while acknowledging that parents with young children make up a relatively small segment of the state’s population.

While expanding child care subsidies would only expand employment by a modest amount, the report said, it could potentially allow a greater number of women, who bear the brunt of inadequate child care options, to join the workforce.

On the ground

Loveworks, located in South Burlington, offers year-round programs for children six weeks old through pre-kindergarten with activities that seek to enhance fine and gross motor skills, language development and social and emotional skills.

Tara Brooks, the school’s director of operations, explained that the greatest need for the school is staffing. The South Burlington location is currently at the max capacity of 58 students, with a waitlist of 30 families and nearly 100 families for its centers located elsewhere in the state.

“We did a wage increase in December for all of our staff,” said Brooks. “That range depending on the staff was anywhere from 5 to 15 percent and we’re still struggling to attract and keep employees in our programs and finding substitutes.”

Loveworks costs families anywhere from $1,200 to $1,800 a month depending on a child’s age with nearly 25 percent of families

in the schools utilizing subsidies. But Brooks explained that those subsidies still won’t cover 100 percent of the costs for care.

“We’re constantly analyzing our tuition versus what we can pay our teachers and trying to balance,” she said “We know that parents can only afford so much but there’s a need to offer higher salaries in order to entice the best people in the field. We’re constantly competing with public schools.”

Enduring the same staffing shortage struggles is the Charlotte Children’s Center.

The nonprofit was founded in 1984 by a group of local parents and serves children ages 12 weeks through five years old.

Public education teacher of 16 years and local parent Kelly Bouteiller took on the role of executive director in August after an intense search for the right candidate.

“Despite a fairly intense search, there was no director to be found,” Bouteiller said. “I had a background in education, and I was so compelled by the dedication of the teachers who love the school so much and take their work so seriously.”

The center currently is at max capacity of 56 with nearly 210 families currently on the waitlist.

“We are consistently understaffed, it’s really tight to try to just get through the day and make sure that we have appropriate staffing to meet state ratios and to provide high quality education for the kids,”’ said Bouteiller. “We have been working under shorten hours because we just do not have the bodies right now.”

Although the child care costs families nearly $1,400 to $1,800 a month depending on their child’s age, Bouteiller explained that with the rising cost of everything, there remains a massive disconnect between what it costs to educate a young child and what it costs to pay their teachers.

Only 7 percent of families utilize child care subsidies, and although this system has been improved Bouteiller said that it still has major flaws.

“Sometimes the amount that

“We know that parents can only afford so much but there’s a need to offer higher salaries in order to entice the best people in the field.”

— Tara Brooks

Celebrating the new year

SoBu school district grapples with bus driver shortage

LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER

In her nearly 26 years as South Burlington school district’s transportation supervisor, Kathy LaRock has never seen such a severe shortage of bus drivers.

Like most of the state, South Burlington has been battling a bus driver shortage that has left employees tired, disgruntled and overworked. LaRock explained that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic she had a total of 27 bus drivers. Now, the bus garage is forced to find solutions with only 17 bus drivers reporting for duty throughout the week.

With nearly half of her staff gone and no substitute fill-ins, LaRock said that much of her job now is spent splitting routes, finding coverage and figuring out how to get students to school should one of her drivers call in sick — which all needs to be done before 6:45 a.m. each morning.

“If somebody calls out at 5 a.m., I go into panic mode because you have to figure this out before 7 a.m.,” explained LaRock. “Then I call my assistant and say, ‘be prepared we’re going to have to split the run.’”

LaRock explained that splitting runs has been a go-to method for the district when drivers come up short. While effective, this solution also creates new stress.

“We find the closest two buses to (the absent driver’s) area and split it between those other two buses,” said LaRock. “But then we have to check to make sure we’re not overloading the bus by putting the kids on.”

Jeff Spengler, a bus driver for the district for the last eight years, explained that splitting routes can sometimes cause an “unruly, mob scene,” and much longer days.

“When we have a full bus load of your usual kids, and now a half a route of another driver’s kids, the bus is packed,” he said.

LaRock said that the difficulty of winter driving combined with splitting routes causes some of her drivers to not return to the bus garage till 6:30 p.m.

In a letter Spengler sent to the school board on Jan. 21 he explained that his initial experience as a part-time bus driver was enriching and positive but “the last couple of years ... not so good,” he wrote. “We have been consistently short staffed which has led to route cancellations, doubling up on routes and an extreme amount of stress on all involved.”

Spengler also explained that low wages and difficulty recruiting drivers among other factors ultimately led the drivers to unionize last year. The drivers are now negotiating for their first contract, desperate for a solution.

“The bus garage has now become a place of stress and tension,” wrote Spengler to the board. “Drivers are being stretched, buses are overcrowded and morale is bottoming out. I have appreciated the warm recognition letters from the school and the occasional pizza lunches, cookies, etc., but we are broken.”

In the neighboring Champlain Valley School District — which serves Williston, Charlotte, Hinesburg, Shelburne and St. George — transportation supervisor Barry Russell confirmed that his district is currently fully staffed with drivers with pay rates of $32 an hour.

Russell explained that the high hourly pay isn’t the only reason the district has been able to retain its drivers. “I think I do a good job as a boss, but we’re very fair with

COURTESY PHOTO

The Vermont Chinese School celebrates the new year at F. H. Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington on Jan. 22. Lunar New Year is widely celebrated in many countries in Asia.

South Burlington Police Blotter

Library offers computer skill-building classes

Alarm: 22

Agency / public assists: 21

Welfare check: 13

Trespass: 12

Suspicious event: 11

Accident: property damage: 10

Retail theft: 7

Domestic: 7

Disturbance: 7

Larceny from structure: 5

Threats: 5

Total incidents: 228

Arrests:

Dec. 9 at 12:29 p.m., Peter R. Henning, 41, of South Burlington, was arrested for home improvement fraud on Deerfield Road.

Jan. 11 at 3:33 p.m., Harley D. MacDonald, 37, of Burlington, was arrested for retail theft on Hannaford Drive.

Jan. 17 at 1:51 p.m., Alfonso A. Garcia, 42, of Essex Town, was arrested for retail theft on Hannaford Drive.

Jan. 19 at 8:03 p.m., Harley D. MacDonald, 37, of Burlington, was arrested for retail theft on Hannaford Drive.

Jan. 26 at 7:21 p.m., Gustavo Rodriguez, 27, of South Burlington, was arrested for domestic assault on Suburban Square.

Jan. 26 at 7:53 p.m., James Vantine, 22, of South Burlington, was arrested for domestic assault on Farrell Street.

Jan. 27 at 8:20 p.m., Brandon E.

Scarfone, 31, of Burlington, was arrested for assault on a law enforcement officer, firefighter, EMS or health care worker on Shelburne Road.

Jan. 28 at 12:59 a.m., Kisna P. Katherasa, 36, of Saint-Hubert, Quebec, was arrested for driving under the influence, first offense, on Dorset Street.

Top incidents:

Jan. 23 at 3:03, police are investigating a sex crime reported on Dorset Street.

Jan. 24 at 10:37 a.m., threats were reported from Oakwood Drive.

Jan. 24 at 2:22 p.m., a larceny was reported from a Farrell Street home or business.

Jan. 25 at 7:02 p.m., police took a report of stalking on Williston Road.

Jan. 26 at 8:32 a.m., an accident at Hinesburg and Van Sicklen roads resulted in property damage.

Jan. 26 at 11:16 a.m., an animal — or its owner — caused a problem on East Terrace.

Jan. 27 at 3:11 p.m., police performed a welfare check on Pavilion Avenue.

Jan. 28 at 1:18 a.m., a rash of alarms, a total of seven, started with this one on Shelburne Road and ended at 7:34 a.m. on Shelburne Road.

Jan. 29 at 4:12 p.m., a mental health issue on Dorset Street.

South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977 A publication of Vermont Community Newspaper Group LLC otherpapersbvt.com

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The South Burlington Public Library is offering five free technology and computer skills classes in partnership Technology for Tomorrow. Classes start on Thursday, Feb. 9. Students have the choice of attending the class in person at the library or virtually on Zoom. Classes will be recorded and shared with those interested but not able to attend.

Taught by professional technology instructors, each class seeks to leave attendees more confident in their abilities to navigate an increasingly digitized world. Learners of all ages, skill levels and technology access are invited to join in and participate in this judgement free, positive space.

Register at sbplprograms@ southburlingtonvt.gov or by calling 802-383-1797. Those attending in person have the option to follow along on a library laptop. Classes are open to all Vermont residents.

In addition to these classes, free one-on-one appointments to discuss anything related to technology are offered at the library. See bit.ly/3XZgdXz or call 802-846-4140 to find out more or register for these free consultations with a library techie.

Classes include:

• “Understanding Smartphones,” Thursday, Feb. 9, from 2-3:30 p.m. Learn about the common features of smartphones, versatile touch screen functions, navigation, adding and navigating contacts, adding and using apps.

• “Fundamentals of Internet Privacy.” Thursday, Feb. 16, from 2-3:30 p.m. Learn about secure and insecure connections, device controls, social media, web search best practices, consent, access and other concerns.

• “Organizing Digital Files,” Thursday, Feb. 23, from 2-3:30 p.m. Learn about file management, the cloud, calendars (Outlook and Google) and best practices for successful organization.

• “Password Management,” Thursday, March 2, from 2-3:30 p.m. Learn about password management, examples of scams, tips for safety, secure sites and tips for creating unique and complex passwords.

• “Practical Guide to Google Drive,” Thursday, March 9, from 2-3:30 p.m. Learn how to use Google Drive cloud storage to collect your important digital artifacts.

News from South Burlington Public Library

180 Market St., South Burlington, 802-846-4140, southburlingtonlibrary.org for information about any programming, cancellations or in-person changes. Some events may change from in-person to virtual. Some events require preregistration.

Hours: Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Saturday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Email sbplinfo@southburlingtonvt.gov.

KIDS & TEENS

Family math playtime

Thursday, Feb. 9, 5:30-6:45 p.m.

With educators Miranda Dalton and Nancy Pollack. For 3-to-5year-olds with guardians. Explore activities and play games which create building blocks for future

mathematical thinking. Registration required.

Babytime

Every Wednesday, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Join Miss Kelly and her puppets for a lap-sit storytime for infants and their caregivers.

Toddlertime

Tuesdays, Feb. 7, 14, 21 and 28 Sessions at 9:15-9:45 a.m. and 10:30-11 a.m. Short stories and familiar songs, rhymes and fingerplays, with time to wiggle and dance. For ages 1 to 3 with an adult caregiver.

Music and movement

Thursday, Feb. 2, 10:30-11:15 a.m.

Join Miss Emma as she leads

See LIBRARY on page 13

Editor/Publisher Gregory Popa gpopa@stowereporter.com

Billing inquiries Leslie Lafountain leslie@stowereporter.com

(802) 253-2101

Advertising submission deadline: Thursday at 5 p.m. advertising@otherpapersbvt.com classifieds@otherpapersbvt.com

Editorial submission deadline: Friday at 5 p.m. news@otherpapersbvt.com

Calendar submission deadline: Friday at 12 p.m. news@otherpapersbvt.com

Contact: 1340 Williston Road South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 864-6670

OPINION

House judiciary takes steps to protect reproductive health care

whelmingly approving a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.

the best medical care decisions for themselves in consultation with their health care providers.

I am honored to once again serve South Burlington in the Vermont Statehouse and I thank the voters of the Chittenden-12 district for their support. This biennium, I will be taking on additional responsibilities as the chair of the House Committee on Judiciary.

In that role, I have guided the committee in deliberations on the Legislature’s response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion overruling Roe v. Wade, which left the protection of reproductive rights to individual states. Under the reasoning of this case, the protection of other rights, such as gender-affirming health care, is also left to the states.

Vermonters understood the threat that the U.S. Supreme Court posed to reproductive liberty and wisely started work on protecting these rights over four years ago. That work culminated this past November in the voters over-

In addition to curtailing or barring access to reproductive health care, many states have attempted to limit access for LGBTQ youth to gender-affirming health care, such as puberty blockers. For example, last year the Alabama governor signed a bill into law that prohibits transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care. The bill also provides that anyone who engages in or causes a transgender minor to receive such care faces a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a fine up to $15,000.

In contrast, in a resolution last year, the Vermont Legislature condemned the actions of states that ban best practice medical care for transgender youth and prosecute parents for seeking such essential care for their children. It further committed to exploring all available options to ensure that transgender youth and their families are safe in Vermont to make

With the introduction of H.89, the House is now poised to take the next step in protecting access to reproductive health care as well as gender-affirming health care. H.89 would create a so-called shield law to protect Vermont doctors, nurses and others who provide reproductive or gender-affirming health care that is legal in Vermont. The law would also provide protections to patients receiving this health care from Vermont clinicians. States that have passed or are passing laws restricting reproductive or gender-affirming health care are creating civil sanctions against those involved in providing such health care, even criminalizing such care. They are also likely to try to use these sanctions to stop such care from happening beyond their borders. When their residents come to Vermont and receive reproductive or gender-affirming care, these states may try to hold Vermont providers crimi-

nally or civilly liable.

H.89 would check this overreach by other states. It would advance protections against abusive lawsuits against a person providing health care that is legally protected in Vermont or a patient receiving that care from a Vermont provider.

Under the bill, Vermont courts could not order anyone to give testimony or a statement or produce documents for use in connection with abusive litigation targeting legally protected health care. All public agencies in Vermont would be barred from cooperating in an interstate investigation or proceeding that tries to impose liability for obtaining or providing legally protected health care. Vermonters could sue anyone who interferes with someone obtaining or providing legally protected health care in Vermont. There would be a new misdemeanor crime for physically interfering with someone obtaining or providing legally protected health care in Vermont. The bill would also maintain the confidentiality

of the addresses of patients who receive and clinicians who provide legally protected health care.

The judiciary committee has been taking testimony on these and other provisions to understand how they uphold Vermont’s public policy of ensuring the legal right to access reproductive and gender-affirming health care services in a way that complies with the Constitution.

A separate bill to be introduced in the Senate will also ensure that medical professionals do not face punishment from licensing boards for providing abortion care that is legal in Vermont but banned in another state. The bill will also ensure that such providers do not face higher medical malpractice insurance premiums.

If you have any input or questions on this issue or others before the Judiciary Committee in Judiciary, contact me at 802-863-3086 or mlalonde@leg.state.vt.us.

Martin LaLonde, a Democrat, represents South Burlington in the Chittenden-12 House district.

Legislators shouldn’t abandon retired state employees

To the Editor

In her Jan. 19 column, Rep. Kate Nugent indicates that she may have an open mind on the Scott administration’s plan to deprive retired state employees of their Medicare coverage, replacing it with a so-called Medicare Advantage plan. Close your mind, representative. (“Potential savings to retirees’ Medicare Advantage health care could be short lived”)

Currently, retired state employees have access to health care coverage that equals the insurance benefit for active public servants. Over the age of 65, we are eligible for Medicare, plus insurance through Blue Cross/Blue Shield that makes up for gaps in coverage between Medicare and the active state employee plan.

I served the state for 32 years. A large part of the reason I stayed in state employment was the excellent health care benefit, which I was assured would continue even after retirement. The Legislature had

Stay Warm in Soya & Kyo

Letters to the Editor

promised that, enacting it as a statutory requirement. Now that I’m retired, elderly and in greater need of health care coverage, the administration’s proposal risks lessening my protection. I take this as a personal betrayal. Bait and switch, fraud and theft might aptly describe it.

Medicare Advantage plans replace traditional Medicare, a government-run program, with private insurance. The private plans are required to provide the same coverage for office and hospital visits as Medicare does. They also may cover additional services, a selling point for their advertising, but they are not required to do so. Cost savings for covering state retirees with Medicare Advantage would likely be achieved by reducing the benefits package we currently receive.

In the unlikely event that “advantage” for retirees covers services equal to active state employee benefits, it still would be a downgrade. The insurance company would replace the state as adjudicator of disputes over coverage, claim denials, prior authorizations, copays and so on. This would be

putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

Cigna, a candidate, is famous for its bureaucratic, pettifogging resistance to paying claims. Retirees, who can have freedom of choice of providers under the current system, would be limited to the advantage plan’s network.

Medicare Advantage is a scam perpetrated in 1997 by an unwise Congress colluding with private industry’s desire to horn in on the senior insurance market.

Advantage erodes Medicare, increases fragmentation and complexity in health care payment systems, reduces freedom of medical choice, prioritizes corporate profits over people’s needs and steps back from, not toward, a sensible single payer system.

Seth Steinzor South Burlington

Trapping op-ed misleads, distorts Vermont data

To the Editors:

Cherry-picking data from surveys to make your point is a common distortion tactic. Cherry-picking surveys themselves takes it to another level.

With that in mind, it is ironic that the author of a recent pro-trapping commentary complained that an earlier commentary opposing recreational trapping supposedly distorted the truth (Jerry D’Amico, “Trapping commentaries seldom right, most always distort truth,” Jan. 19, 2023).

The initial commentary claimed that according to the most recent survey on public attitudes on trapping, paid for by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and conducted by Responsive Management, 68 percent of Vermonters oppose recreational trapping.

To refute that claim, the pro-trapping author referred us all to the Responsive Management trapping survey done for the department in 2018. However, the most recent survey the first commentator cited was conducted in 2022. The 2022 survey reports exactly what the first commentator claimed: 68 percent of Vermonters oppose recreational trapping.

Compounding this error, D’Amico then attempts to undercut a second survey that showed 75 percent of Vermonters oppose recreational trapping. That study was conducted in 2017 by the University of Vermont’s Vermont Center for Rural Studies, not the Vermont Center for Rural Development, as D’Amico claimed. He followed that with two more significant errors. He claimed, contrary to available evidence, that the survey was sent mostly to Chittenden County residents and did not represent Vermont overall. The Vermont Center for Rural Studies has a long track record of professionally conducted surveys of all Vermonters.

D’Amico then asserts that the second survey is suspect because a wildlife advo-

See LETTERS on page 16

All towns in Chittenden County need plans for growth

Guest Perspective

John Bossange

With 25 percent of all Vermonters living in Chittenden County, we urgently need to update our thinking about how we plan for population growth, more housing, commercial development and work locations in light of the climate crisis already upon us, impacting our daily lives.

Clearly, we cannot continue as we thought we could just 20 years ago. Gone are the days of building clustered developments in open fields, miles from day-today amenities. Sprawl has come too easily to Chittenden County, and now we realize we need every square mile of meadow and grasslands, forest canopy and habitat buffers to mitigate the intense weather impacting our lives and worsening every year.

There is no time to delay, and we must act collectively.

Air quality and summer heat domes, algae blooms in ponds and Lake Champlain, prolonged drought and intense rainstorms with flash flooding have already become a part of yearly weather cycles. We know we need to preserve shade trees and decrease impervious surfaces to mitigate weeks of stifling heat, and we understand we need more trees, grasslands and wetlands for carbon sequestration to offset the use of gasoline-driven cars.

But conserving open space and forests is not the responsibility of just a few towns. No one commu-

continued from page 3

them and the district treats all of the drivers well. We stand behind our drivers and they all get a good amount of work,” he said.

Spengler and other drivers have stressed to the board that one of the only ways to get back to full staffing levels is to make driving for South Burlington the best driving job in the county. Bus drivers for the district have some of the lowest numbers in the county at $23 an hour — a nearly $10 difference from the neighboring district.

Since his start in November, Tim Jarvis, the senior director of operations and finance for the South Burlington district, has been working to find solutions to this critical aspect of the district in conjunction with the superintendent Violet Nichols and the school board. A problem that “has not been an easy one to solve by any stretch,” he said.

Since school started, he said that the district has done a number of things from attending career

nity should be the town to sacrifice its open space and forests for development so others can have their open space and forests to enjoy. Further, Chittenden County cannot be a housing hub either, as mentioned by others to use a bigger map for development.

We’ve seen that playbook fail before in other states because it leaves open the opportunity for more and more sprawl in those open, unpreserved spaces in surrounding towns. Across America, entire counties became fully developed because no one planned ahead, and they are suffering the tragic consequences.

What Vermonter wants that?

To prevent a rush of developers moving into surrounding towns, all the communities in Chittenden County need to do their part to preserve open space and natural areas through zoning. Only with a town-by-town commitment — a regional plan — will we collec tively gain enough climate change impact to make a difference in our own county.

Unfortunately, complicating matters is the proposed language in House bill 68 now being debated in Montpelier, which unwisely takes away the local control for individual towns and cities to do that.

Further, each town deserves its own conserved areas of forests and open space, where residents there can enjoy their natural beauty near their homes. Don’t we all deserve to reside in livable communities with natural areas nearby? Why should selected communities look

like Everywhere USA?

No one I know moved to Vermont or into Chittenden County to experience sprawl in an asphalt jungle, and having towns lose their natural areas to support tracts of dense housing developments is a terrible economic and environmental model for Vermont. Each town needs to create its own core of appropriately zoned land for any proposed housing or commercial development. This

energy standards adopted by local communities.

Such a bill sets the stage for an environmental disaster.

We cannot pretend little has changed from just 20 years ago if we are to sustain a livable, healthy environment, just as we cannot pretend that we will be driving gasoline-powered vehicles 20 years from now. Nor will we be using fossil fuels to heat our homes or provide us with electricity. Our

beyond the year 2040.

That’s the science speaking, not me. All the county’s towns need to set the stage for this transition by defining and protecting their own conserved natural spaces and defining their core housing and commercial development zones. Only then, when each town embraces this collective responsibility and takes these two steps, will we begin to mitigate the climate crisis in Chittenden County.

For the sake of our children and the generations that will follow them, we have no other choices available.

John Bossange is a board member on the South Burlington Land Trust, serves on the city’s natural resource and conservation committee, and represents South

fairs to advertising in various media sources. “It’s just really hard to find candidates who are available to take these types of positions,” he said.

In addition to efforts to recruit drivers, the district has also worked to survey parents and introduce new technology software called Transfinder that improves the communication between drivers and the parents to give them better notification of where the bus is, he explained.

“Having Transfinder helps make it a little easier because everything is inputted into that program,” said South Burlington’s LaRock. “So, we can bring up all the different routes and see what buses are closest to where we need to make some cover.”

Not only does the driver shortage affect students trying to get to school, but it has also negatively impacted busses availability for field trips and extracurricular activities.

“We’ve actually been using some private busing options with private bus companies and essentially hiring them to take the students to their after-school activities,” said Jarvis. Although he explained that this is not a cost-effective long-term solution.

“If we have more than one activity district wide, we are faced with the difficult decisions of who isn’t getting bussed,” said Nichols at the Jan. 4 South Burlington School Board meeting.

Spengler explained in his letter to the board that many drivers, including himself, are considering not returning next year.

“So, unless there is a master plan to eliminate South Burlington bussing altogether, I feel the board needs to work quickly to raise the pay to match the top driver rate in the county to retain and rebuild our ranks,” wrote Spengler in his letter to the board. “This may be the cheaper alternative compared to losing our services.”

BUS DRIVERS

Clearly, we cannot continue as we thought we could just 20 years ago. Gone are the days of building clustered developments in open fields, miles from day-to-day amenities.

Call

future home at The Pines.

Killacky’s intermedia installation at JAM is flow of radical love

On Wednesday, Feb. 1, South Burlington artist John R. Killacky will kick off Junction Arts & Media’s (JAM) month of radical Love with “Flux/Flow/Elegies.”

His intermedia installation features three recent video pieces, including the premier of one created inspired by the Fluxus movement of the 1960s that valued process-oriented art and a dialogue between artist and spectator. The other works include a collaboration with choreographer Eiko Otake speaking to their dead mothers and an abstract work with tears.

SB Rotary sponsors youth speech contest

The South Burlington Rotary Club is holding its annual speech contest at South Burlington High School on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 7 p.m.

Contestants will prepare and deliver a five-minute speech relating to the contest topic, “Why is diversity, equity and inclusion important?”

Students must register for the contest by Friday, Feb. 10. All contestants must be high school students living in South Burlington. This district-wide contest has four events. The winner of the first round in South Burlington will receive $200. The contestant who

The installation will remain on display at JAM, 5. S. Main Street, White River Junction, through Tuesday, Feb. 28. A reception with the artist will be held Saturday, Feb. 11, 7-8:30 p.m., with drinks and hors d’oeuvres.

Before serving two terms as legislator in the Vermont House of Representatives, Killacky worked as executive director, program officer and curator for a broad range of arts organizations including Flynn Center in Burlington, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the San Francisco Foundation.

Community Notes

wins each of the four rounds will win a total of $1,750.

Registration and information can be found at bit.ly/409I1dD.

SoBu student council hosts community blood drive

After a three-plus year pause, the South Burlington High School Student Council annual blood drive makes its return on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

Eligible donors, age 16 and up, may sign up throughout the week prior to the event. Sign-ups are available at school and online. Simply visit https://rcblood. org/3XK9hxI and enter “Wolves” to find an appointment.

His videos have been screened in festivals, galleries, museums, hospitals and universities worldwide and are in the collections of numerous libraries and universities.

“I am so thrilled to share my recent work at JAM — love having it in dialogue with other media makers in White River Junction,” Killacky said.

Radical Love February on Feb. 11 will be followed by Valley Improv and a shadow cast production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

More at uvjam.org.

Any former or new blood donors from the community may also schedule a walk-in appointment from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The event will take place in the high school gym, 550 Dorset St.

Pick-A-Project Club hosts community luncheon

On Saturday, Feb. 18, from noon to 2 p.m., the Infinitely PickA-Project Club will host a South Burlington Community luncheon at the University Mall. The menu includes spaghetti or corndogs with corn, vegetable, rolls, fruit, desserts, snacks, hot chocolate,

PHOTO BY JEANMARIE CROSS

Artist John Killacky with choreographer Eiko Otake.

COMMUNITY NOTES

continued from page 8

popcorn, juice or milk.

There will also be foosball, bumper pool and painting. Put your order in by Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 5 p.m.

Contact Dr. Travia Childs at dr.travia.c@gmail.com or 802-777-8080 or visit bit.ly/3JpTqAn to register.

Special Olympics hosts Vermont Penguin Plunge

The 2023 Special Olympics Vermont Penguin Plunge is coming up on Saturday, Feb. 4, but due to severe weather, the event will now be held remotely.

More than 900 individuals, including students, educators and community members were expected to take an icy dip into Lake Champlain in support of Special Olympics Vermont.

Events include the Cool Schools Penguin Plunge with students and educators, and Burlington Penguin Plunge with community members.

To learn how to participate remotely, go to bit.ly/3wIRVWd.

League of Women Voters launches climate speaker series

The League of Women Voters of Vermont, in partnership with Kellogg-Hubbard Library, presents the fourth in its 2022-

23 lecture series on the impact of climate change on Vermont.

The series looks at the effects of climate change on personal, economic and ecological levels and explores what people and communities can do fight climate change.

The program on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. presents a legislative update. Panel members are Vermont Sen. Andrew Perchlik and Rep. Gabrielle Stebbins.

The program will be hosted on Zoom. Attendance is free, but guests must register at bit.ly/3WRmQuk.

Ethan Allen Homestead Museum hosts book club discussion

On Sunday, Feb. 5 at 3 p.m., the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum will host a book club discussion of “Seven Years of Grace: The Inspired Mission of Ascha W. Sprague” by Sara Rath. The book is an historical novel based on a true story and steeped in primary source research about one of America’s bestknown spiritualists of the 19th century.

In addition to spiritualism, Sprague was active in the abolition of slavery, women’s rights and prison reform. Her muse? Another woman’s husband.

This event will be fully remote. To register or buy the book, go to bit.ly/3WD4rkI.

Call 802-863-5403 or email jdevino1791@gmail.com for further information.

Obituary

•

Island Memorial Pet Service

We

the love you have for your pets and the importance they hold in your life. Our compassionate staff is devoted to easing the difficulties at this challenging time.

Our staff is here for you 24/7 Tiger & Buster

Otto John Betz III

Otto John Betz III, 75, known as “Doppy,” Otto, John and O.J. to the many people who loved him, died on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023, from pneumonia while battling pancreatic cancer, surrounded by his wife and children.

As always, he was in contact with his nine grandkids and made sure his football bets were in before he went up.

Doppy was born May 11, 1947, in Mineola, N.Y. He was the oldest son of Ethel (Butchie) Gurney Betz and Otto John Betz Jr. He grew up in Garden City, NY, graduated from Kent School in Kent, Conn. — where he was the high scorer of the ice hockey team — and then briefly attended Boston University.

After failing out of college in grand style, he attended Paris Island. He honorably served with his beloved U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam from 1968-1969. He was wounded in action and earned two Purple Hearts. After convalescing for a year, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.

He married his favorite wife, Anna, in 1971. Doppy worked for the Bank of New York for over 15 years, four of which were spent exploring pubs and golf courses while running the Bank of New York in London. In the mid 1980s, after tiring of the commute into New York City, he made a switch to financial advising in their hometown of Garden City and retired from Morgan Stanley in 2009.

He and Anna moved to Cornwall, where he loved being able to watch college sports just down the road. He was on the board of HOPE, volunteered for SCORE and was a member of Middlebury Town and Gown.

Doppy was well-known and well-loved in the South Burlington community where many of his hockey and musician buddies live.

Doppy and Anna loved exploring the world and their most recent trip was to Costa Rica where they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary (a couple COVID-19 years late) with their entire family. Always an avid golfer, Doppy served as president of the Garden City Golf Club, his favorite golf course. In addition to golfing and traveling, he loved fly fishing, although he never caught much, boat rides at his Adirondack family camp, dump runs and giving his grandkids Doppy talks. He was also a wiz at making tacos dorado on the grill.

In addition to his wife, Anna, Doppy is survived by his children, Emily of Starksboro, Otto IV (Billie) of Holmdel, N.J., Bill (Sally) of Darien, Conn.; nine grandchildren; and two brothers, Bob of Williston and Alex of Burlington.

In lieu of flowers please make donations to Porter Medical Center in Middlebury where Doppy and his family received exceptional care. (portermedical.org/ donate)

A celebration of life will be held in the spring when the shad blooms.

Otto John Betz III

Statehouse screens documentary on online misogyny

Four years after resigning from her seat as a Vermont representative, Kiah Morris returns to tell her story in a new documentary, “Backlash: Misogyny in the Digital Age.”

The film will have its first U.S. screening at the Vermont Statehouse on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 6:30 p.m. The screening will be followed by a special panel with Morris, who is featured in the film. The panel also features co-director Guylaine Maroist, Vermont House Rep. Taylor Small and Xusana Davis, Vermont’s director of racial equity and inclusion.

The screening will be followed by a U.S. tour.

“I’m thrilled that the people of Vermont are finally able to see ‘Backlash.’ My story, as well as all the others, needs to be heard for cyberviolence to end,” said Morris, who now serves as executive director for Rights & Democracy. “Digital misogyny is a threat to women, and particularly women of color, everywhere. If we are going to build a just, equitable, and truly inclusive democracy in the U.S., we have to put a stop to this.”

“Backlash” was directed by award-winning filmmakers Lea Clermont-Dion and Guylaine Maroist. The film, from Montreal’s La Ruelle Films, probes the depths

of hatred against women.

“Backlash” has all the elements of a real-life horror movie, as four women on two continents tell their stories: Morris, who resigned from the Vermont state assembly after severe online harassment; Laura Boldrini, the former president of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies and the most harassed politician in Italy; Marion Seclin, a Paris-based actor and YouTuber, who received over 40,000 sexist messages, including rape and death threats; and Laurence Gratton, an elementary school teacher in Montreal who was anonymously harassed for five years by a man who eventually was discovered to be one of her colleagues.

The film chronicles how all four women were assailed by waves of hate, how fear crept into their private lives and how they gradually lost their sense of security in public spaces.

The screening is co-hosted by the Vermont Network and the Vermont Commission on Women, in collaboration with Rights & Democracy, the Vermont Women’s Fund and Montreal-based La Ruelle Films and is supported in part by the Vermont Humanities. The film will also be shown at Essex Cinema’s T-Rex Theatre on Feb. 9, 10 and 12.

Summer Camps

2023 GUIDE

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

Publication Dates: February 9, March 9 and April 6

Deadlines: Thursdays before each issue

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

Bronze level certification

COURTESY PHOTO

Deborah Beach, RN, and Dr. Emmanuel Saint Jean, all of the Alice Hyde Medical Center’s emergency department, in a patient room with mobility aids. The hospital’s emergency department team earned geriatric accreditation through the American College of Emergency Physicians earlier this month. To earn accreditation, a team of providers led by Saint Jean, Alice Hyde’s lead emergency department physician, and Ouimet, participated in specialized training focused on care of geriatric patients. It’s the first emergency department in the University of Vermont Health Network to achieve a geriatric accreditation.

Vermont celebrates Vermont’s Black-lived experience Feb. 25

The Black Experience 2023 is a holistic celebration of Vermont’s Black-lived experience

The free event takes place on Saturday, Feb. 25, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., at the Flynn Theatre in Burl-

ington.

Presented by nuwave, the Flynn and the city of Burlington, the event features performances from local artists and speakers and culminates in a fireside conversa-

The Secret to Your Summer Camp’s Success

tion between iconic activist and scholar Dr. Angela Davis and Dr. Tricia Rose, director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University.

The evening also includes a performance by Philadanco, the celebrated Philadelphia dance company.

The programming focuses on the three pillars of culture, community and education and features performers and participants Rajnii Eddins, Harmony Edosomwan, Jolivette Anderson-Douoning, Mikahely, Craig Mitchell and Afrofuturist Toussaint St. Negritude.

Black-led community organizations will also be highlighted.

“There is great power in representation,” said Emiliano Void of nuwave, “and we really felt that Black History Month was the perfect timing for an event that showcased the thriving Black communities present here in Vermont. The Black Experience is our small contribution to building and celebrating, a more diverse and inclusive Vermont.”

Registration is encouraged at flynnvt.org.

To learn more or reserve your space, talk to us today!

For information on sponsorships or how to help, remail Emiliano Void at emiliano@nuwaveco.com. For more information, visit blackexperiencevt.com.

From left, Kayla Ouimet, RN, nurse manager,

BUDGET

continued from page 1

tacked on a 5.75 percent increase from fiscal year 2023. That amounts to a $78.49 increase based on the city’s average condominium assessment of $292,152, and a $117.11 increase based on the city’s average single-family home assessment of $437,383.

“I think the council feels pretty strongly that this is a really appropriate and reasonable budget request,” Helen Riehle, chair of the city council, said. The tax rate increase is higher than the city typically goes, “but there’s expectations that we’ve heard for the last two years in terms of services that the public expects and wants, and I think this budget reflects that in as lean and careful a way as we could.”

Much of the increase comes from restoring positions that were cut at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the police department, the deputy chief position as well as a new police officer position are being added to the department’s budget — positions that were cut in 2020 to have the finances of the city “reflect the operational staffing realities that we were facing at the time as we struggled to recruit offi-

CITY COUNCIL

continued from page 1

protecting remaining open space and racial and class justice.”

“These are hard problems. Many solutions are needed for each,” he said in his announcement for office. “But all of them are made far worse and the solutions are all sabotaged by the 115-decibel F-35 training flights in our city.”

Two-year seat

Three candidates, meanwhile, have announced bids to replace Matt Cota, who was first elected in 2021 after beating David Kaufman but declined to run for another term. Vying for the 2-year seat are Tyler Barnes, Paul Engels and Lydia Diamond.

Engels, a resident of the Eastwoods neighborhood in the city for 35 years, has called the upcoming election “critical” in implementing the climate action plan, addressed the need for affordable housing, preserving current and additional open space “for our collective peace of mind.”

“As a city councilor, I hope to work to find solutions and improvements to these critical issues,” he said. “The conflict between preserving the environment and building affordable housing must be resolved.”

He pointed to residents in the Chamberlin neighborhood writing a report outlining their needs as a “necessary impetus for great-

cers,” Baker said.

“It wasn’t an intentional un-funding of the police department, but now we have to build that capacity back into the budget,” she added.

Similarly, the fire department will also see a position for a firefighter restored to meet the city and department’s goal of having a minimum of eight firefighters on per shift. The budget will also invest in a second ambulance for the city’s EMS.

The city is working to beef up its public safety staff as data shows that 23 percent of the city’s 911 calls are answered by professionals from other communities or organizations, Baker said.

“We really need to invest in order to make sure they are prepared to respond to our needs as a community,” council member Meghan Emery said. “It’s very difficult to find police officers and firefighters.”

Efforts to bolster city staff go beyond public safety. The city has added 20 new miles of road in the last 22 years without adding any new positions in its highway division, but new capacity will be added in 2025 as laid out in this year’s budget. While the city focused on efforts to bolster its staff, the city’s budget does not include funding for a recreation center, an item on the city’s wishlist for years, nor does it include any funding for a regional dispatch center, “although we do think we have other solutions for that,” Baker said. South Burlington’s efforts to establish a county-wide emergency dispatch center were dealt a blow this month when Colchester announced it could no longer contribute funding. City officials told The Other Paper previously that they hope to continue regional efforts in-house.

er public input and for the city’s increased knowledge of all our needs and wishes.”

Barnes, who attended the city’s school system and worked here for several years before leaving “due to lack of economic opportunity,” returned in 2012. The “initial fires” that inspired him to run was this lack of economic opportunity, specifically for middle- to low-income families in the community.

“We’re a family of means and I thought we had a lot of advantages ... (but) it’s been really, really challenging. That’s not the town, the community that I remembered,” he said. “I started to see more homogenous population sprout up as a result ... I really started thinking about how difficult it must be for families who aren’t of means to make it here.”

He hopes to make the city more affordable to live in and says the “city is increasingly becoming inaccessible to those without means.”

“I think the challenge is only going to get worse. We’re not attracting businesses to the area,

we’re pushing the tax burden on the residents, and there are fewer of us,” he said. “We’re enabling socio-economic segregation. We’re making homeownership less affordable with, potentially with new regulations. We’re promoting urban sprawl by forcing people to live further away from Chittenden County’s hub.”

Lydia Diamond, a resident for 16 years, said she was motivated to run when she discovered no people of color had ever run for council in the city.

She has a history of community engagement — she’s on a volunteer committee with the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and the Peace and Justice Center, and works with People’s Kitchen, a Burlington anti-hunger, mutual aid organization where she works against food insecurity in the area.

“People like me don’t really have a voice in South Burlington, and I want to sprinkle a little Black girl magic on South Burlington,” she said.

“People like me don’t really have a voice in South Burlington, and I want to sprinkle a little Black girl magic on South Burlington”

— Lydia Diamond

“There’s expectations that we’ve heard for the last two years ... I think this budget reflects that in as lean and careful a way as we could.”

— Helen Riehle

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Why not have a job you love?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Make

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

BUILDERS | MAKERS |

Community Bankers Chittenden County

DOERS

There is no better time to join our Team!

Northfield Savings Bank, founded in 1867, is the largest banking institution headquartered in Vermont. We are committed to providing a welcoming work environment for all. Are you looking to start or continue a career in the finance industry? Consider joining our team as a Community Banker! To see all our available positions, please visit www.NSBVT.com/careers/open-positions.

Job Responsibilities & Requirements

This frontline position is crucial in creating a positive, welcoming and inclusive experience for NSB customers. The successful candidate will have exceptional customer service and communication skills. The Community Banker will be responsible for receiving and processing customers’ financial transactions as well as opening and maintaining customer accounts and services. We are looking for someone who can develop and maintain relationships with our valued customers, protect bank and customer information, and uphold customer confidentiality. A high school diploma, general education degree (GED), or equivalent is required. If you have customer service, previous cash handling, or banking experience we encourage you to apply!

Opportunity for Growth

NSB has training opportunities to engage employees and assist with professional development within our company. The average years of service for an NSB employee is 9! If you’re looking for a career in an environment that promotes growth, join our team!

What

NSB Can Offer You

Competitive compensation based on experience. Well-rounded benefits package. Profit-Sharing opportunity. Excellent 401(k) matching retirement program. Commitment to professional development. Opportunities to volunteer and support our communities. Work-Life balance!

We understand the importance of having evenings and weekends with our friends, families, and the communities we serve!

Please send an NSB Application & your resume in confidence to: Careers@nsbvt.com or Northfield Savings Bank

Human Resources | PO Box 7180, Barre, VT 05641

Equal Opportunity Employer / Member FDIC

AD TRAFFIC & GRAPHICS/PRODUCTION

Part-time & Full-Time options

Ad Traffic/General Office Support

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

• liaison between sales and production departments

• running reports for sales reps to keep them on task

• processing tear sheets for advertisers

• general office support & customer service

• attention to detail is a MUST

• general computer skills - Microsoft Office: Word & Excel

• willingness to tackle tedious tasks when appropriate

Graphics/Production

• creating advertisements for print and web

• newspaper page layout

• loading web & social media content

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

• attention to detail is a MUST

• willingness to tackle tedious tasks when appropriate

• a team player with a positive attitude

Send a resume and cover letter to: katerina@stowereporter.com.

a career making a difference and join our team today!

LIBRARY

singing, movement and jam sessions for kids from birth to age 5.

Kids chess club

Saturdays, Feb. 4 and 18, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

For kids ages 5 and up. Preregistration required to nliuzzi@stoweburlington.gov.

Craftytown

Tuesday, Feb. 7, 14, 21 and 28, 3-4:30 p.m.

Free projects geared to kids ages 8 and up or 6 and up with an adult. Feb. 7: pinecone elf. Feb. 14: Valentine baby bunting. Feb. 21: snowflake star baby. Feb. 28: wooden bead snowman.

Lego builders

Every Wednesday, 3-4:30 p.m. Projects geared to kids ages eight and up, or ages six and up with an adult helper. Each week, builders explore, create and participate in challenges.

Cool chemistry

Thursday, Feb. 9, 3:30-5 p.m.

Cool chemistry with Rebecca Rupp. For students ages 8 and up. Space is limited and registration is required.

Friday movie

Friday, Feb. 10, 1-3 p.m. “Mulan.”

Middle school makers

Thursday, Feb. 23, 4-5:30 p.m.

For students in grades five to eight. Feb. 23: spicy cauliflower buffalo wings.

ADULTS

Knit for your neighbors

Mondays and Thursdays in January, 3-6 p.m.

Yarn, needles and crochet hooks supplied. Knit or crochet hats and scarves to help keep your neighbors warm. All finished projects will be donated to the South Burlington Food Shelf. No program on Feb. 20.

Tech help

Friday, Feb. 3 and 17, 10 a.m.-noon

The first and third Friday of every month in the digital lab for 1:1 assistance and to learn new skills.

Cookbook club

Tuesday, Feb. 7, 5:30-7 p.m.

This month’s selection is “Go-to Dinners” by Ina Garten. Choose a recipe to prepare, get a free photo-

copy and sign up to share your cooking.

Morning book group:

‘Great Circle’

Thursday, Feb. 9, 10:30-11:30 a.m.

“The Vanishing Half “by Brit Bennett. Is identity something we’re born with? Desiree and Stella are twins born in Mallard, La., a tiny town populated by light-skinned African Americans. The twins run away to New Orleans as teenagers and eventually take radically different paths. Desiree marries a darkskinned black lawyer but leaves him and returns to Mallard with their daughter, Jude, who is also much darker than the town approves of. Stella passes for white and marries a successful businessman who knows nothing of her past, eventually relocating to Los Angeles. Copies available. Both in-person and on Zoom.

Board game brunch

Saturday, Feb. 11, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Join Friendly Tabletop Gamers of Essex and Beyond in the digital lab and play some awesome games while meeting new people. This event is best suited for teens and adults over 18.

PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC HEARING SOUTH BURLINGTON DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD

The South Burlington Development Review Board will hold a public hearing in the South Burlington City Hall auditorium, 180 Market Street, South Burlington, Vermont, or online or by phone, on Wednesday February 22, 2023 at 7:00 P.M. to consider the following:

Remanded master plan application #MP-21-02A of Beta Air, LLC for a planned unit development on five lots developed with a quarry, a mixed commercial building, a warehouse, a contractor yard, and a RV sales, service, and repair facility. The master plan includes combining the five lots, resulting in one lot of 747.92 acres, and consists of a 344,000 sf manufacturing and office building, a 37,800 sf office and retail building, a 15,600 commercial building, and a 85,000 sf flight instruction and airport use building on 40.43 acres of the resulting airport lot, 3070 Williston Road.

Board members will be participating in person. Applicants and members of the public may participate in person or remotely either by interactive online meeting or by telephone:

Interactive Online Meeting (audio & video): https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82352879443

By Telephone (audio only): (929) 205 6099, Meeting ID: 823 5287 9443

A copy of the application is available for public inspection by emailing Marla Keene, Development Review Planner, mkeene@southburlingtonvt.gov.

February 2, 2023

MAKE

A

Looking for an opportunity to serve your community? The City is seeking a volunteer to fill an opening on the Development Review Board.

The Development Review Board charged with reviewing and making determinations on applications for land use and development for compliance with the City’s Land Development Regulations.

The City strives for a Board representing a variety of perspectives and backgrounds, including experience with architecture and engineering, construction, natural resources, transportation, land use law, and/or broad knowledge of the community. Experience reading engineering or architectural drawings is encouraged.

The Board generally meets twice monthly on the first and third Tuesday evenings of the month for its meetings, with occasional and modified dates.

Applications are requested by Wednesday, February 15, 2023, Attn: Andrea Leo, 180 Market Street, South Burlington, VT 05403 or by email to aleo@sburl.com for interviews to begin on February 21.

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to stop the spread of the potentially fatal disease.

Rabies is a deadly viral disease of the brain that infects mammals. It is most often seen in raccoons, skunks, foxes, and bats, but unvaccinated pets and livestock can also get rabies.The virus is spread through the bite of an infected animal or contact with its

have tested positive for rabies, and 14 of those have been raccoons.

According to wildlife officials, rabid animals often show a change in their normal behavior, but you cannot tell whether an animal has rabies simply by looking at it. People should not touch or pick up wild animals or strays – even baby animals.

Shelburne Historical Society will have a display and president Dorothea Penar will lead a cemetery tour at 1 p.m. Food vendors round out the event with everything from coffee and lemonade to burgers and creemees. Kids will enjoy meeting animals from Shelburne Farms, craft projects, and

ARIES

March 21 - April 20

Aries, it’s important to focus on progress and not necessarily on money that can be made. See what you can learn along the path you choose.

TAURUS

April 21 - May 21

You have high hopes that your efforts will be well received this week, Taurus. Before you move full speed ahead, run your ideas by a trusted group of con dantes.

GEMINI

May 22 - June 21

You don’t learn by getting things right all of the time, Gemini. A few mistakes along the way provide an opportunity to grow and gure out new ways to do the job.

CANCER

June 22 - July 22

Cancer, distractions seemingly abound this week and your head isn’t in the game. While you can get away with a few oversights here and there, too many can be problematic.

LEO

July 23 - Aug. 23

Leo, someone in your life is looking for a pep talk and you are just the person to provide one. Listen to the problem at hand and offer this person some solid solutions.

VIRGO

Aug. 24 - Sept. 22

Virgo, you could be at a crossroads in your life. You are pondering many different scenarios, and now is the time to solidify plans for the next few weeks.

LIBRA

Sept. 23 - Oct. 23

If you made a career change recently, you may be discovering that the payoff isn’t quite what you expected. Ful llment is essential, so give some thought to new pursuits.

SCORPIO

Oct. 24 - Nov. 22

Scorpio, it is not like you to feel adrift, but that could be the situation right now. Latch on to one activity or person that brings you joy. Focus on the positives in life.

SUDOKU

Here’s How It Works:

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

SAGITTARIUS

Nov. 23 - Dec. 21

Sagittarius, family members want to spend more time with you, so plan for the extra company. Have a few extra snacks on hand and make sure the house is orderly.

CAPRICORN

Dec. 22 - Jan. 20

Your tendency to want to tackle things all on your own could have you pushing others away, Capricorn. Accept others’ willingness to pitch in.

AQUARIUS

Jan. 21 - Feb. 18

Aquarius, there has been a lot on your plate and many thoughts swimming through your mind. A quick getaway could be what is needed this month.

PISCES

Feb. 19 - March 20

Pisces, you have a few offers on the table, but could be having trouble narrowing down your preference. Bring in a third party to help.

CLUES ACROSS

1. Shed tears

5. Luxury jewelry designer

10. Goddess of wisdom

12. Convert into a particular form

14. Working-class people

16. It borders Canada (abbr.)

18. A princess can detect its presence

19. Red-brown sea bream

20. Defunct retail empire

22. Vase

23. Demeter’s equivalent

25. Monetary unit of the Maldives

26. French and Belgian river

27. Small amount

28. High schoolers’ test

30. Animal’s foot

31. Some is red

33. Per __: each

35. Swedish jazz pop duo

37. Plate for Eucharist

38. Train line

40. Russian pop duo

41. Stake

42. Plant by scattering

44. Female sibling

45. City of Angels hoopsters (abbr.)

48. Popular cookie brand

50. Group of Niger-Congo languages

52. A team’s best pitcher

53. Vomits

55. 19th letter of Greek alphabet

56. Men’s fashion accessory

57. Its capital is Pierre (abbr.)

58. Expensive cut of steak

63. Popular James Cameron lm

65. A __: relating to knowledge gleaned from deduction

66. Kids’ snow toys

67. Flip side to yin

CLUES DOWN

1. Global public health agency

2. Snake-like sh

3. Midway between northeast and east

4. Dabbed

5. TV show

6. Folk singer DiFranco

7. Canadian yers

8. Of the dowry

9. Commercial

10. The act of imitating

11. Equipment used to broadcast radio or TV signals

13. Lands of an emir

15. Swiss river

17. Island

ANSWERS

18. Monetary unit of Afghanistan

21. One who surrenders under agreed conditions

23. Gar eld is one

24. A baglike structure in a plant or animal

27. Small boats used in the Black Sea

29. Small savory Spanish dishes

32. Body part

34. Touch lightly

35. Popular grilled foods on a stick

36. __ Hess: oil company

39. Antelope with a reddish coat

40. Pharaoh of Lower Egypt

43. Pink Floyd’s Roger 44. Short and thick 46. Small, sac-like cavities 47. Performer __-Lo 49. Entrails of animal used as food 51. __ King Cole, musician

Where construction is done 59. Chap 60. Investment vehicle 61. Often mixed with tonic

Holiday beverage egg __

CHILD CARE

continued from page 2

the state will pay and what they assign the family’s co-payment to be, when you combine those things, they often still don’t match our tuition rate. So, there’s this gap in funding and no one really tells the families that,” she said.

First Roots - Wild Roots — previously known as Annette’s Preschool — has been serving Hinesburg families for over 40 years.

Owner and operator Andrea Sambrook explained that COVID-19 pandemic was a trauma that overlayed many challenges with early childhood. Like the story of many other care centers, Sambrook was forced to raise tuition rates nearly 10 percent in March— something she hasn’t done in over a decade.

“Part of my wish for the new bill is that they have a streamlined birth to age eight system of delivery,” she said “Let’s Grow Kids does a really nice job of helping the community understand that a child’s brain is cognitively on fire from birth to 5 years old. The idea that funding starts at age 5 for public school is really a misalignment with what we know about brain development.”

“I really hope that in the way that they decide to increase the compensation for staff, the way that they look to reduce the cost for families and the way that they are ensuring high quality has a respect for all these diverse learning environments that are unique to what families need.”

Legislative perspective

Despite calls for historic investment in overhauling the state’s child care system, Republican Gov. Phil Scott outlined just $56 million in his initial budget proposal to invest in child care.

This was met with immediate pushback from Let’s Grow Kids, the Vermont child care reform advocacy organization that’s currently pushing legislators to make a substantial investment through lobbying, messaging and advertising.

Aly Richards, the organization’s CEO, called the RAND study the “final piece of the puzzle” in the effort her advocacy group has been working toward for a

LETTERS

continued from page 6

cacy organization that opposes trapping paid for it. That is a reasonable caution to bear in mind. However, D’Amico totally jettisons this reasonable caution when citing the surveys paid for by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which again, as an organization, supports recreational trapping.

For that reason, it is even more remarkable — and trustworthy — since it goes against bias and interest that the department’s own 2022 survey clearly shows a substantial majority of all Vermonters opposing recreational trapping.

Finally, while there is much else to chew on in D’Amico’s piece, one particular canard stood out — that animals caught in foothold traps don’t suffer but are often found simply sleeping. Exhausted and in

decade and sees this legislative session as the pivotal moment when real child care policy reform can be enacted.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a historic transformation of a sector that will help kids in Vermont in a way that they absolutely need,” Richards said. “The research is in, the testimonials of Vermont families are in. This is what our youngest children need.”

Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Williston, who represents the towns of Shelburne, Hinesburg, Charlotte and South Burlington, among others, sits on both the health and welfare and appropriations committees in the Senate, and she’s currently drafting an initial bill with other House and Senate members to put forward the Democrats’ plan for child care reform based on recommendations in the RAND study.

While she said she recognized that this was the historic moment to invest in child care reform, she also said she favored the more conservative recommendation of a single tax such as a 1 percent payroll tax rather than an expansion of child care subsidies.

“We’re looking to improve access and quality for folks while keeping our costs as low as we can, so that they can meet their needs,” Lyons said. “If we start down that road, we want to ensure that we’re not going to be taking away from this investment in the future.”

Shelburne Rep. Jessica Brumsted, Chittenden-5-2, co-chair of the House Committee on Human Services, spoke to three things that the bill will be looking to address: affordability for families, compensation for our early educators and systems oversight and leadership.

“We really are going to make some changes inside of the Agency of Education and the Department of Children and Families. We want to expand capacity and reduce bureaucracy within the childcare system while maintaining parental choice and a mixed delivery system of homebased, community-based and schoolbased programs, and refocus the role and funding for public and private entities,” she said.

deep shock after hours of struggle is more likely. The mortal threat of being caught in a trap is not likely lost on any animal. It beggars the imagination to believe any would decide it is a good time for a nap.

The subject recalls a “gentleman” of Charles Darwin’s acquaintance who was quoted in Darwin’s “Trapping Agony” regarding such traps in 1863. “I know of no sight more sorrowful than that of these unoffending animals as they are seen in the torture grip of these traps,” he writes. “They sit drawn up into a little heap, as if collecting all their force of endurance to support the agony; some sit in a half torpid state induced by intense suffering.”

Rob Mullen West Bolton