The Other Paper - 3-7-24

One smart cookie

in hit-and-run

accident

the South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977

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COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER

Mike Scanlan, Laurie Smith and Elizabeth Fitzgerald were elected to the three open seats on the South Burlington City Council Tuesday night, according to official results, capping what has been a competitive race for the five-member body.

Smith, a planning commissioner and Queen City Park resident, bested his opponent, Linda Bailey, by about 450 votes. Smith had 2,405 votes to Bailey’s 1,952.

Smith was endorsed by much of the city council, including his new colleagues, Andrew Chalnick and Tim Barritt. A Vermont resident for nearly 50 years, Smith campaigned on his experience working in municipal government, including as a member of Shelburne’s Development Review Board, an auditor for a South Burlington Fire District and as a current member of the city’s planning commission.

See CITY COUNCIL on page 11

PHOTO BY STEPHANIE MANNING

A voter checks in at the polling place Tuesday afternoon in South Burlington for Town Meeting Day. Voters shot down the school budget, narrowly passed the city’s municipal spending plan, and elected three new city councilors.

In a 2,856 to 2,072 vote, South Burlington residents shot down the district’s proposed $71 million budget — a blow to school board members and officials now faced with potentially deep cuts to spending in what has already been a historically turbulent year for school budgets across the board.

The district’s second vote, which asked residents to allocate nearly $2.27 million in

Page 4 FARM TO TABLE DINING & EVENTS BURLINGTON, VERMONT FARMHOUSETG.COM

surplus from fiscal year 2022 to the district’s capital reserve fund, passed 2,798 to 1,111.

“This has been a truly unprecedented year for school budgets with the passage of H.850, repealing the 5 percent cap of Act 127 occurring so close to Town Meeting Day. Accompanied by the drop in the common level of appraisal and a 23.25 percent tax rate increase, the budget has not passed,” said school district superintendent Violet Nichols. “As we are now in a position to revise our budget, the changes implemented by the state with

H.850 allow us to make alterations that are not as significant as originally projected but the budget will need to be reduced.” The board will evaluate options and introduce revote options to the community during a board meeting on Wednesday, March 6, she said.

The $71 million budget represented a nearly 14 percent increase in spending over last year that, in an eleventh-hour shift by

See SCHOOL BUDGET on page 11

One smart cookie: Local educator teaches treat decorating

MACY

COMMUNITY NEWS SERVICE

Laura Collins danced around the classroom, peering over her student’s shoulders, demonstrating her icing skills and explaining the cookie decorating process.

During her first class at Red Poppy Cakery in Waterbury on Feb. 13, Collins, a math teacher at Essex High School, watched her students forge friendships with fellow decorators as they stepped out of their comfort zones and into the cookie decorating world. The attendees, made up of locals wanting to try something new and Collins’ teaching colleagues, chatted and laughed with their tablemates as they shared their icing strategies.

“I teach math, and with teaching cookie decorating, people actually want to be there,” Collins said with a laugh. “I get to have more creativity with it.”

Collins started her business out of her home kitchen in 2019. She bakes and decorates cookies by hand for events like children’s birthday parties and bachelorette parties. She’s lived in South Burlington since 2021 and restarted her cookie decorating business after she temporarily stopped sales

during the pandemic. She said she’s always wanted to combine her passion for teaching with her knack for cookie decorating, and with the recent implementation of her immersive decorating

classes, she thinks she’s found the perfect way to do that.

“I’ve seen other people do this, and two or three years ago I purchased some how-to books, so I’ve been thinking about it for

a while,” she said. “It was just about finding a place to host them and finding the right materials for teaching.”

During the decorating classes, participants are given materials

including piping bags, tools, practice sheets, reference pictures and cookies. They begin by practicing drawing lines and circles on the practice sheets before moving on to the real thing. Collins said the classes are meant to be a fun experience and a way to connect with people.

“I was curious to see how she was going to do it because it’s such an individual artform,” Kristin McNamara, one of Collins’ colleagues who attended the class, said. “I was excited to see how she walked around to help all of us, and when I first sat down, I saw she had pictures and I thought that was brilliant.”

Collins hopes that decorating cookies can be a fun way to brighten gloomy winter days. “I want everyone to have fun and meet new people,” she said.

As a geometry teacher, instruction is not a new skill to Collins, but she described the experience as different from her day job. She said her time in the classroom helps with the preparation for the class.

“I know that people are different types of learners, and some

All dogs and cats, ages 6 months or older, must be registered. Why? To ensure that the necessary vaccinations are current for the protection of South Burlington citizens — complying with state law. REGISTER

— In person at the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall. We are open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

— Return form below and payment via mail or after hours in the City Hall dropbox.

— Online at www.southburlingtonvt.gov. Look for Winston and Sunny on our homepage to register.

Checks should be made payable to City of South Burlington.

Mail to City Clerk, 180 Market Street, South Burlington, VT 05403. Registration fees increase after April 1, 2024. Pet

Please

PHOTO BY CATHERINE MORRISSEY

Laura Collins explains a cookie decorating tool during her cookie decorating class held at Red Poppy Cakery in Waterbury.

Wastewater facilities help Lake Champlain, and you can help too

Clean & Green

Katherine Boyk

You may remember learning about the water cycle in school: precipitation, evaporation and condensation. Lakes and rivers and clouds.

Have you ever considered that there is a water cycle within a city as well? For most residents of South Burlington, water from Lake Champlain is pumped to the Champlain Water District, where it is treated to become our drinking water. Then this water is piped to homes and businesses. We use it, then send it down drains and toilets to the sewer system. Next the water is transported to one of the city’s two wastewater treatment facilities. Here it is treated, then returned to Lake Champlain, completing the cycle.

South Burlington has two wastewater treatment facilities. The Airport Parkway facility is the larger of the two, receiving wastewater from most of South Burlington as well as parts of Colchester. After the water undergoes a series of treatments designed to remove

COOKIE

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people need to see it explained again,” she said. “It just felt like creating another lesson plan.”

Collins has always been an avid baker. She grew up baking with her mom and treating her friends to cookies but had always been inspired by other cookie decorators who did more — balancing their regular jobs with cookie-baking businesses. Living with roommates and balancing her career as an educator made it a challenge to open her business sooner, but around four years ago Collins had the resources to make her dream a reality. Now she fulfills personal orders and leads decorating classes in the greater Burlington area.

In the age of social media, Collins said she gathers a lot of her inspiration from other cookie decorators on Instagram. The digital space offers a community of fellow business owners, but she noted it can also be extremely competitive, and has felt overwhelmed in the past by the pressure to rapidly produce content.

“I have to be confident in what I’m doing,” she said. “From there I can take the opportunities that are presented to me.”

As her business continues to expand, she is taking advantage of more opportunities in the Burl-

solid waste, excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous and pathogens, it is discharged to the Winooski River and flows to Lake Champlain.

The Bartlett Bay wastewater facility is smaller, serving about 25 percent of the city. From here, treated water is discharged to Lake Champlain’s Bartlett Bay.

We tend to think of wastewater treatment facilities as a source of pollution, like an industrial factory. In fact, the opposite is true — wastewater treatment is one of the major environmental victories of the last century. It is a very effective way of recycling the water we use and returning clean water back to lakes and rivers. The Clean Water Act holds wastewater treatment facilities to high standards.

Since this law was passed in 1972, water bodies across the U.S. have become significantly cleaner and healthier ecosystems.

Bob Fischer, South Burlington’s water quality superintendent, explains that he was a fishery biologist before becoming a wastewater treatment operator. Fischer says that in all his years as a biologist, he did not achieve as much for the health of Lake Champlain as he does every day at South Burlington’s wastewater facilities.

There are things that South Burlington residents can do to improve the city’s wastewater treatment, most importantly knowing what you can and cannot put down the drain or flush.

Still, there are things that South Burlington residents can do to improve the city’s wastewater treatment. The most important is knowing what you can and cannot

ington area like scheduling more decorating classes for the spring and partnering with local businesses to promote her product.

Collins said her first event was a huge success, and she is excited about teaching her next class at Putnam Vineyards on March 7.

Macy Isenberg reported this story on assignment from The Other Paper. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.

Police cruiser destroyed in subsequent crash

COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER

A 73-year-old man well known to the downtown Burlington community was killed on Shelburne Road Sunday night after a South Burlington resident reportedly struck him with his car and fled the scene.

According to eyewitness accounts, Joseph Byrd Allen was riding his bike around 11 p.m. near 1834 Shelburne Road, in front of Pauline’s Cafe and Restaurant, when Steven Olango, 38, of South Burlington, struck him while driving a yellow Mini Cooper. He then fled the crash scene.

Allen sustained major injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Investigators were able to track Olango’s car to the Travel Lodge, about a mile away from the scene in South Burlington and took him into custody shortly after. He was

ordered held on a $5,000 bail and was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and negligent operation.

Olango’s license to operate a motor vehicle was suspended at the time of the crash and his vehicle registration was expired, police said, adding that he has 16 previous arrests and 11 convictions.

He was last arrested by Burlington police in July and charged with driving under the influence. He was expected to be arraigned on Wednesday after press deadline.

Later, while police were on the scene at around 1 a.m., an unoccupied police cruiser at the scene was struck by a car driving southbound, police said.

The driver, Bamidele Ladipo, 51, of Shelburne, was found by police to be under the influence of alcohol and was subsequently charged.

Additional charges are pending a toxicology report — Lapido was admitted to University of Vermont Medical Center shortly after the crash — and the case is currently under investigation by the University of Vermont Police Department.

Allen is more commonly known as “Byrdman” among the downtown Burlington community and could be seen pushing decorated carts and bikes about town. A

memorial has since been set up in Burlington’s Old North End in his honor, and a GoFundMe started by Allen’s daughter, Mattie Allen, has since generated more than $11,500 from nearly 300 donations for Allen’s funeral expenses.

“While I cannot find the words that I want to say in this moment I would ask that if your heart speaks to you to consider donating towards his final expenses,” Mattie said. “We wish to hold a remembrance for him this summer but right now we are trying to process this profound loss for us and the Great-

er Burlington community.”

“It is amazing to see how much he positively impacted so many in Burlington and all over VT,” she added.

Radio Bean, a live music venue in Burlington, posted on Instagram that they would have a memorial for Allen at the bar on Wednesday, March 6 at 9 p.m.

“So many memories, epic recycling wagons and songs of his swirling around my mind right now,” reads a social media post on Radio Bean’s Instagram account. “A true eccentric.”

South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since

Joseph Allen

A

OPINION

Vermont has drug problems: addiction and prescription drug costs

From the Senate

Sen. Ginny Lyons

Has anyone not heard about drug addiction problems in Vermont? About substance use in municipalities and neighborhoods?

Residents have found used needles near local schools and friends and families are severely affected by the loss of loved ones from addiction or death. Some people are so intimidated by drug dealers that they are leaving their apartments or made to live with drugs being sold in their homes.

have been called safe injection sites or harm reduction centers and they can help save lives.

Among other services, these centers provide testing of street drugs that addicted people intend to use, immunity from prosecution when users are at the centers and ongoing counseling or referrals. The benefits of these centers are lifesaving and provide improved outcomes for those with substance use disorder.

Overdose deaths in Vermont in 2021 totaled 217. In 2022 the final count of deaths from overdose is predicted to be over 243. These are preventable deaths, and this is an unacceptable trajectory. As long as there is demand for addictive substances, these problems will persist. There is not one solution to bending the curve on addiction or the demand for opioids and other addictive substances. As reported in earlier op-eds, my legislative activity includes work on short-term and long-term intervention, prevention and treatment programs for the chronic diseases of addiction.

We will complete legislative work on S.186 and H.72 in the next few weeks. H.72 will allow for the establishment of a safe haven for those with addiction at overdose protection centers. They

Local communities also benefit from a reduction in needles or related drug paraphernalia left behind in streets or buildings. Using money from Vermont’s opioid settlement to establish these centers makes sense. Hopefully H.72 can provide critical intervention for people addicted to opioids and other drugs and help those sick with addiction move toward recovery. As we know, recovery is a lifelong process requiring long-term attention to the disease of addiction.

S.186 would establish a system of recovery. The bill helps coordinate recovery residences of different levels for patients in recovery. Different services are required for those in early stages of withdrawal, those living in recovery homes and or for those in larger community recovery centers.

Ultimately, the goal is to provide an opportunity for those in recovery to seek employment and re-enter the community.

When passed the bill will suggest appropriate licensing or certification criteria for types and levels of recovery programs and housing. The National Association of Recovery Residences and consultants are working with legislators, the administration and recovery professionals to finalize S.186.

The goal is to clarify what is needed and when and how to move people into recovery, employment and an environment or community different from the one that caused their addiction. Money and resources are needed to build recovery support services in Vermont. Opioid settlement funds should help.

Prescription drug costs

Vermonters also face increased prescription drug costs, out of pocket costs, increased insurance premiums and limited access to care. One of the cost drivers for increased school funding is health insurance premium increases for school teachers and staff. Insurers and medical providers alike identify high prescription drug costs as a reason for double digit increases

and technology rapidly evolve to produce meaningful products, society’s inability to manage the very high costs of innovation has grown commensurately. Increasingly, pharmaceutical market pricing requires significant societal and individual trade-offs to finance access to important medicines. Those trade-offs occur inside and outside of health care and become harder and harder to accept.”

Tradeoffs might be a decision to buy needed prescription drugs for chronic illness or pay rent or buy food. Cost for the introduction of a new cancer drug grew 53 percent between 2017 and 2022 to $218,000. The cost of one arthritis drug increased 60 percent over five years and provided significant corporate profits.

Prescription drugs represent 23 percent of health care premiums. This exceeds the proportion spent on hospital inpatient services. No wonder insurance companies stress that premium increases reflect increases in prescription drug costs. And no wonder prescription drug pricing drives

sells drugs in the U.S. at much higher prices than other countries. U.S. residents pay 33 percent more for prescription drugs than those in the United Kingdom and 25 percent more than those in Canada.

Reasons for higher drug costs include lack of transparency, complex pricing and lack of regulation at federal and state levels. My committee is working on S.98, which will begin to address regulation of prescription drug costs in Vermont. The bill gives the Green Mountain Care Board authority to establish upper price limits. Regulatory work in Maryland, Oregon and Colorado has paved the way to demonstrate that savings can be realized by lowering cost of drugs that patients in those states need.

We have heard concerns from patients with chronic illnesses like diabetes, cystic fibrosis or arthritis about restricted access to the highcost drugs they need to survive. They fear that a pharmaceutical company might limit sales of prescription drugs. That fear has not been realized in other states.

Sen. Ginny Lyons

Game for the future? Perhaps consider Go Fish

In Musing

Carole Vasta Folley

When I first played Old Maid as a child, I thought the old maid in question was an elderly housekeeper. That’s understandable, though it didn’t make the title of the card game any less offensive.

Obviously, I eventually learned, to my future dismay, that the Old Maid is an unmarried woman of advanced years. A pejorative term used for fun. Moreover, I got the message that to end up an old maid was shameful and to be avoided at all costs.

My childhood was laden with excessive and unrealistic messaging about love and marriage. I can’t count the number of different Cinderellas I’ve heard sing, “Some Day My Prince Will Come.” Even today’s television shows like “The Bachelor” and “Love is Blind” continue to show that the dominant cultural warning for women is still the same. Don’t be an old maid.

Getting married isn’t just the expectation, it’s somehow become an unseen, yet

imposing, yardstick to measure the viability and worth of a woman. It’s an unspoken judgment that says if you’re caught being the old maid, you lose. Not just in cards, but in the game of life.

After all, there’s an entire industry about a woman’s “one special day” to walk down the aisle. But couldn’t her happily-ever-after be earning a master’s degree? Running a business? Retiring early? Or paying off her mortgage?

A moment for a station break, please. I have nothing against marriage. In fact, I love it. I’m married to someone I’d marry again. What I am against is the marginalization of any woman for any reason. Besides, isn’t one’s relationship status nobody else’s concern or right to judge?

Of course, I didn’t always think this way. I, too, was indoctrinated, unknowingly waiting to be married because, unconsciously, wedlock was presumed. It’s probably why I got it wrong the first time. That and all the hardscrabble years sitting on an unyielding pew absorbing a limited view of matrimony, especially one that has to fulfill its procre-

ative purpose “until death do us part.”

Admittedly, I also used to believe that everybody should have children. OK, I had to get off the floor after even typing that. How ridiculous! What can I say? I was young, immature and too busy playing Milton Bradley’s Mystery Date.

All this brings me to the word spinster and how it’s used to describe an older unmarried woman. One of its synonyms is old maid. But is she?

From the late 14th century, spinster originally meant “a woman who spins, female spinner of thread.” By 1719, it was being used to describe a single woman regarded as too old for marriage.

It’s great that we live during a time where calling women spinsters is understood to be both dated and derogatory. And that’s not counting the additional aspersions the word spinster has accumulated over the years: unmarriable, prudish, unattractive and undesirable.

Just sit with that a moment while contemplating that their male counterparts are called bachelors. A word that implies

Beautiful Dresses

eligibility, bon vivant vibes and desirability.

What if we go further and don’t cast aside the word spinster and instead hold it with respect to how it was first used? “A woman who spins.” A crafter, an entrepreneur, a contributor. Likewise, let’s once and for all agree that a woman’s value is not defined by her marital status. At any age.

Now, as far as Old Maid, it can be a fun game. One which can be called whatever you like and played with any regular card deck.

Meanwhile, I’m sorry to say Old Maid cards with representations of elderly women are still being produced, sold and purchased with the same name. Online reviews assure the stigma will continue: “My grandsons love this game.” “It was easy to play with my daughters.” “We play it with our fiveyear-old and the younger kids love to watch and learn.” I’m sure they do. But what exactly are they learning?

Carole Vasta Folley is an award-winning columnist and playwright. Visit carolevf.com for more info.

South Burlington Police Blotter: Feb. 26 - March 3

Total reported incidents: 222

Foot patrols: 20

Directed patrols: 15

Public assists: 10

Field contact: 15

Animal problem: 1

Noise ordinance violation: 1

Needle pickups: 1

Overdoses: 1

Agency assists: 8

Traffic stop: 20

Motor vehicle complaint: 4

DUI: 2

Stolen vehicle: 1

Larceny from a vehicle: 3

Suspicious events: 7

Missing persons: 1

Disturbances: 11

Domestic incidents: 1

Welfare check: 15

Property damage: 4

Trespass notice: 9

Larceny: 7

Unlawful mischief: 1

Retail theft: 12

Burglary: 1

Fraud: 1

Stalking: 1

Threats: 3

Alarm: 16

911 hang up: 3

Selected incidents:

Feb. 27 at 2:33 p.m., a fraud complaint was reported to police from a business in the University Mall. The incident is under investigation.

Feb. 28 at 4:21 a.m., the Shearer Acura dealership at 1301 Shelburne Road was burglarized, police said. The incident is under investigation.

Feb. 29 at 11:13 a.m., a stalking incident was reported to police from Gregory Drive.

Arrests:

Feb. 26 at 11:06 a.m., Shawntaya R. Miles, 22, of Burlington, was arrested on Dorset

Street on an in-state warrant and was also charged with misdemeanor retail theft.

Feb. 28 at 9:17 a.m., Diane L. Wymore, 60, no address given, was arrested on Dorset Street, and charged with unlawful trespass and petit larceny.

Feb. 29 at 9:52 a.m., Geoffrey A. Gamble, 23, of Milton, was arrested on Williston Road and charged with violating conditions of release.

Feb. 29 at 1:34 p.m., Jeffrey J. Leduc, 37, no address given, was arrested on Dorset Street, and charged with misdemeanor retail theft.

March 2 at 2:04 a.m., Thomas F. Tully, 22, of Kerhonkson, N.Y., was arrested while driving on I-89 Southbound and charged with excessive speed and driving under the influence, first offense.

March 2 at 4:47 a.m., Alfonso Williams, 43, of Milton, was arrested for violating conditions of release while on Dorset Street. March 2 at 7:54 a.m., Catherine A. Teixeira, 40, of Troy, was arrested on an in-state warrant.

March 2 at 8:43 a.m., Jill M. Blouin, 35, of Colchester, was arrested on an in-state warrant.

March 2 at 9:25 a.m., Christopher J. McCarthy, 37, of Burlington, was arrested on an in-state warrant.

March 2 at 11:19 p.m., Steve N. Olango, 38, of South Burlington, was arrested on Shelburne Road and charged with leaving the scene of an accident with death resulting, and negligent operation after killing a pedestrian while driving on Shelburne Road. (See related, page 4)

March 3 at 1:15 a.m., Bamidele T. Ladipo, 51, of Shelburne, was arrested on Shelburne Road and charged with driving under the influence, first offense.

Note: Charges filed by police are subject to review by the Chittenden County State’s Attorney Office and can be amended or dropped.

CHRIS BOHJALIAN WITH MARGOT HARRISON

Book Launch Celebration

Scan for tickets!

‘Haiti to Vermont’

Saturday March 16th

6:30 PM

Lake Champlain Chocolates

750 Pine Street Burlington, VT

Vermont’s Charm

Community Notes

Scouts are looking for a few good women

BSA Troop 6110G is inviting all female youth, from ages 10 and a half to 17, to join the adventure of Scouting.

The troop meets every Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the St. John Vianney gym, 160 Hinesburg Road, South Burlington.

to support the church’s mission outreach. More at steeple.org

Knights of Columbus hosts community breakfast

For more information, email sbvtscouts@gmail.com or go to facebook. com/Troop6110VT.

Williston church holds two-day rummage sale

The Williston Federated Church, 44 North Williston Road, holds a rummage sale on Friday and Saturday, March 22 and 23.

Shop for gently worn clothing for all ages. On Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., fill a 30-gallon trash bag for $5. The hours on Sunday are from 9 a.m.-noon.

Proceeds from the clothing sale are used

Join the Knights of Columbus DeGosbriand Council # 279 on Sunday, March 10, for a community breakfast, 9-11:30 a.m., in the parish center of St. Joseph’s Cathedral, 29 Allen St., Burlington.

The feast will feature bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, home fires, blueberry pancakes, French toast and more. Coffee, juice, butter and real Vermont maple syrup are included.

The cost is $10, and the breakfast benefits seminarians or religious aspirants for books, car insurance, maintenance, travel during vacations, clerical clothing, emergency expenditures and other living expenses.

COURTESY PHOTO

South Burlington recently hosted a lively reception with artist Pievy Polyte, whose powerful and engaging works are currently on exhibition in the Public Art Gallery. Polyte treated the attendees to homemade Haitian food, generously sharing his passions with the community. “From Haiti to Vermont” is on display through March 13. From left, community development director Ilona Blanchard, Pievy Polyte and Polyte’s niece share Haitian food at the reception.

Contact David Ely, davidely1986@gmail.com or 802-8625109, for more information.

State holds public hearings on deer, moose

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board will hold public hearings on deer and moose management on March 18, 20 and 21.

The hearings will include results of Vermont’s 2023 deer seasons and prospects for deer hunting next fall and an opportunity for people to provide their observations and opinions about the deer herd’s status.

The hearings will also include a review of the 2023 moose hunting season and an opportunity for the public to provide feedback on the number of moose permits recommended for 2024.

The three in-person hearings will begin at 6:30 p.m. at these locations:

• March 18, Hazen Union High School, 126 Hazen Union Drive, Hardwick.

• March 20, Brattleboro Union High School, 131 Fairground Road.

• March 21, Enosburg Falls High School, 65 Dickinson Avenue.

Pre-recorded videos of the moose and deer presentations given at these meetings will be available on the department’s website.

Energy group, library talk tackles climate change

Join the South Burlington Energy Committee for a conversation about the book, “Ministry for the Future,” by Kim Stanley Robinson on Thursday, March 21, at 6:30 p.m. in the library community room and online. This event is co-hosted by the South Burlington Library.

“The Ministry for the Future” has been called a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us.

Chosen by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of the year, this novel from Robinson may change the way you think about the climate crisis.

Multiple copies of the book are available to borrow. Visit the library website for more details.

Student winners of annual essay contest announced

The winners of the 14th annual State of the Union Essay Contest, which gives Vermont high school

students the opportunity to propose a solution to a major issue facing the country, includes Talia Gibbs, a senior at Vermont Commons School in South Burlington.

Sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, 454 students from 27

Vermont high schools this year submitted essays. A panel of seven Vermont educators served as volunteer judges, ranking the essays and selecting 12 finalists and three winners.

Gibbs’ essay focused on steps government could take to mitigate public health and economic impacts of long Covid, and it earned her a place at the senator’s roundtable discussion, to be held on March 9 at the Vermont Statehouse.

Gibbs maintains top grades while also pursuing a passion for dance, which she has studied since she was 7. She is a past Gold Key winner in the Vermont Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and is interested in studying neuroscience when she attends college in the fall. She lives in Shelburne with her parents and sister.

Talia Gibbs

S Burlington voters approve city budget, water tank

Budget approved by just 205 votes

COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER

South Burlington residents Tuesday approved the city’s $64 million spending budget for next fiscal year and voted in favor of funding a second water tower on Dorset Street.

The city’s budget vote was surprisingly close, with 2,555 residents voting in favor of the city’s $64.9 budget, which includes a 5.82 percent municipal tax rate increase. According to official election results, 2,350 residents voted no.

The municipal tax rate increase will mean the average condominium owner and average homeowner — $296,619 and $438,050, respectively — will pay $85.85 and $125.31 more in municipal taxes.

More than half of the municipal budget is for the city’s general fund, which pays for general city operations and includes maintaining the same level of municipal services, while increasing some investments in public safety initiatives.

These include the reinstatement of the South Burlington Police Department’s youth services sergeant, the funding of a second ambulance and an additional highway department position.

The budget also increases sidewalk maintenance by $38,000; adds a part time position to the city library at a cost of $23,500; and increases funding to the city’s housing trust fund by $25,000.

The remainder of the budget includes funding for the city’s water, stormwater, and sewer systems, as well as special funds including the city’s tax increment financing (TIF) program, for example.

Utility rates across sewer, water and stormwater systems are set to increase by an average $64 more for the average city homeowner, Baker said. Those costs are driven by staffing costs, as well as capital cost for projects they are planning.

In crafting the budget, city officials hoped to begin funding some of the climate initiatives laid out in its climate action plan. The goal of the plan is to reduce local emissions from transportation, building, and other sectors.

The budget takes steps to begin implementing that plan by adding $190,000 in for the funding of a climate director to oversee climate projects and to search for grant funding for those projects, while other initiatives are funded through American Rescue Plan Act money.

Officials had originally developed a budget with a more than 8 percent tax rate increase to fund those initiatives, but later walked that back to the 5.8 percent rate hike that was approved Tuesday night.

The city, like many towns and school districts across the state, is seeing rising expenses in health insurance premiums.

“We are seeing extreme health insurance increases, as are most sectors of our society,” city manager Jessie Baker said during the city’s informational meeting Monday night.

The city also moved to share in the funding of school crossing guards in next year’s fiscal year. Both the city and school district will allocate $30,000 for that.

Capital funds to the tune of $100,000, meanwhile, will also be earmarked for infrastructure improvements on Dorset Street at the middle and high schools.

Meanwhile, in a separate ballot, the construction of an additional water tower on Dorset Street was given voter approval on Tuesday.

A $5.75 million bond was approved by voters by more than 2,000 votes —3,610 residents voted in favor and 1,227 voted against. The loan will be paid over 30 years and will allow the city to increase the city’s water storage capacity in much of the city to meet future demand.

The city’s east storage tank, located off Dorset Street, is currently at capacity, with 98 percent of the water stored in the tank either used daily, or allocated for specific needs, such as fire flow demand or water

reserved for usage during a fire.

While the city gets its water pumped from Lake Champlain by the Champlain Water District, state regulations require that the city begin planning for expanded storage after hitting 90 percent of its capacity.

New development and future growth are expected to increase the demand for drinking water and other uses. Current water users will now see an annual increase of about $38.66, officials have said.

South Burlington school board member resigns

Uncontested candidates win board seats, school board expansion passes

LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER

Alex McHenry, former chair and sevenyear veteran of the South Burlington School Board member, abruptly announced his immediate resignation, just hours after voters shot down the school budget on Town Meeting Day Tuesday night.

He cited an “enormous amount of disrespect and incivility” he says other board members have shown toward him since August.

The $71 million school budget lost 2,856 to 2,072.

“Anyone following the school board knows that the past 7 months have been difficult for me,” he wrote in a heated email to board members Tuesday night, adding that trouble began last summer when board member Kate Bailey urged the board to consider reorganization after voicing specific concerns with the way McHenry, then board chair, handled board and community relations since March of last year. (See McHenry’s letter online at otherpapersbvt.com)

McHenry was elected — with an initial nomination from Bailey — to step into the role as chair at the March 8 school board meeting following last year’s Town Meeting Day vote.

“It began when Kate Bailey staged a coup to become chair,” he wrote. “After pressing

for reasons, she claimed that I had missed meetings, citing 2 instances. One of which was when I was in California for my uncle’s funeral, and another was when I had to be with my son on short notice for important surgery. For someone to use those as reasons for a recission was incredibly offensive to me.”

This isn’t the first time the board has weathered a shake-up in the last year. Following a contentious few weeks in September as members considered McHenry’s ouster as chair, the board’s newest member, Bryan Companion, who was elected to his seat last Town Meeting Day, resigned, similarly citing a “lack of respect and civility” at board meetings for his departure.

McHenry’s more than 1,200-word email outlined a series of personal accusations against certain board members as “creepy” and “manipulative” over the last months, but claimed mostly that his decision to resign came from a recent altercation with board member Chelsea Tillinghast following the Feb. 21 board meeting when he motioned to alter the budget and postpone the Town Meeting Day vote — a decision Bailey, Tillinghast and board member Laura Williams voted against.

“I actually believe the responsibility for maintaining a ‘toxic environment’ lies with you since from my view you’ve done little or nothing to resolve the conflict between you

and Kate. I’ve seen you at meetings working to undermine her or speak over her, which is disrespectful and toxic in its own nature,”

Tillinghast wrote in her own email on Feb. 26, adding that she and Bailey also had interpersonal conflict during her first summer on the board, but the issues were later resolved.

“Returning to the topic of the vote — all that I was trying to say is that you spoke over our chair and made a motion without discussing with the rest of the board what a delayed budget vote might look like.”

Tillinghast, who has been a member of the board since 2022, ran uncontested for another term this year. Bailey, whose seat was also up this year, did not run for re-election.

McHenry cites another reason for his resignation: “I’m not going to serve on a board in which my colleagues unfairly humiliate me and get rewarded for it with an uncontested reelection,” he wrote.

“I’m not going to do volunteer work for my community if it means having to be in a toxic environment in which I get blamed and criticized for others’ inability to understand how a meeting is run, or if I get called disrespectful for placing a motion on the floor,” he wrote. “I know Kate Bailey’s term has ended, but I’m exhausted from it.”

PHOTO BY STEPHANIE MANNING

Voting was steady in South Burlington on Town Meeting Day Tuesday.

SCHOOL BUDGET

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the Legislature earlier this month and its new education funding law known as H. 850, would have resulted in a 23 percent tax increase, up from 18.26 percent under the prior Act 127 language.

Act 127, a new law that went into effect this year that adjusted the state’s previous equalized pupil weighting system and caused headaches for school officials, allowed districts a 5 percent tax increase cap to soften the blow for districts like South Burington that saw pupil weights drop dramatically. The law also allowed districts a 10 percent per-pupil spending limit — meaning that the South Burlington school district could have spent anywhere from $63 to $71.5 million with the same exact effect on tax bills.

Operationally, South Burlington school district’s base budget

SCHOOL BOARD

continued from page 10

McHenry ended his resignation letter by saying that aside from the turbulent last few months, he has enjoyed serving South Burlington for the last seven years and will fondly think back on all of the people he has met over that time.

“I’m still devoted to South Burlington, but I will find other ways to contribute that are both rewarding and appreciated,” he wrote.

School board race

Although the board must now decide how to move forward following McHenry’s unexpected resignation, the city of South Burlington voted in three school board members Tuesday night. All three

CITY COUNCIL

continued from page 1

Scanlan, meanwhile, received 2,400 votes, beating out city conservation committee member Julian Keenan (1,340 votes) and local activist Lydia Diamond (643 votes).

A former U.S. diplomat, Scanlan recently retired from a 30-year career as a diplomat in countries of the former Soviet Union “as they sought to democratize after a long, authoritarian past.”

In a statement, Scanlan thanked voters for their support and said he would “work to represent everyone” and would “listen to every community and voice.”

“We are at a critical juncture of opportunity and challenge for South Burlington. I pledge to work for fair, inclusive solutions that work for all the neighborhoods that make up this great, diverse, and

this year was $69 million — an 11 percent increase over last year — but to maximize the spending cap, the board opted in January for an additional $2 million to be allocated in the budget for the capital reserve fund.

Superintendent

Violet Nichols explained that the board would consider a mix of facility cuts and other reductions at its meeting on Wednesday night after press deadline.

But the new law, H.850, passed just weeks before Town Meeting Day, replaced that 5 percent cap with a cents discount for every percent decrease loss in the district’s taxing capacity since Act 127’s implementation, garnering an even higher tax rate increase than previously expected.

“H.850 revises the calculation that school districts used to determine budgets, so everything that we’ve been working on since September when we began evaluating student data, this is really changing how we would look at this,” superintendent Violet Nichols said Feb. 21.

Under the new law, the board also had the option to postpone the Town Meeting Day vote until April 15, but in a 3-2 vote opted

to stick with its original budget as Superintendent Nichols warned that given the news around school budgets this year, it was likely that anything the board introduced would initially get voted down.

(See related story on school board member’s resignation, page 10)

In options outlined in a presentation given by the district’s senior director of operations and finance Tim Jarvis, the board does have some flexibility to ask voters to apply the approved $2.3 in surplus for the capital reserve fund instead as revenue to offset a new budget moving forward.

“The board will have the flexibility to change that article back,” he said. “If there is a second vote on the budget, you have the authority and the flexibility to say, ‘We’re going to put a different article on this time and we’re going to apply it to an offset to revenue.’”

Should the district choose to

use those funds as revenue and nix the additional $1.9 million in spending made possible by Act 127, the base budget of $69 million would result in a tax rate increase of roughly 14 percent — although that number is subject to change as other factors in the state’s education funding formula continue to shift. That number would also result in no cuts in educational programming.

The board has two more attempts to pass a budget. Should those votes fail, the district would be forced to adopt the current year budget of $62.5 million and nearly $6.8 million worth of cuts in educational programming.

Nichols explained at a steering committee Monday night that it’s likely that the board would consider a mix of facility cuts and other reductions at its meeting on Wednesday night after press deadline.

Community Bankers

were uncontested races, with two incumbents and one new candidate vying for the open seats.

Tillinghast, who was seeking re-election to a three-year seat, netted 3,598 votes while Tim Warren, who was elected by the board to fill the seat after Companion’s resignation, garnered 3,672 votes to fulfill the remaining year left on that term.

A new candidate to the board scene, Elaine Cissi, who ran for the two-year seat vacated by board chair Bailey, garnered 3,583 votes.

A charter change to expand the school board by two seats also passed, 3,815 to 977.

The proposal was recommend-

ed by the city’s charter committee, which sought ways to increase representation and participation in local government. In August, that committee formally recommended that the school board expand to at least seven members, noting that other comparably sized districts have at least nine members, if not more.

South Burlington’s school board is currently made up of five members elected at-large — three of the seats are three-year terms and two are two-year terms — but current and previous board members have said five members is not enough to shoulder the school district’s workload.

complex city,” he said. “To that end, I commit to a process of listening and learning with my fellow councilors. Only together can we tackle the challenges and open up the opportunities that lie before us.”

While Fitzgerald ran uncontested, she still got 3,777 votes. A former school board member and a member of the city’s charter committee, she said she would work to bridge the needs of both the city and school district when elected.

“I look forward to serving South Burlington on the City Council along with my newly elected colleagues, Mike Scanlan and Laurie Smith,” she said, adding she will “appreciate the on-going leadership of Tim Barritt and Andrew Chalnick during this transition.”

The three new councilors now

join councilors Chalnick and Barritt on the council of five. It will be an entirely different council than it was just a year ago, when Chalnick won election.

Last month, long-time incumbents Helen Riehle and Meaghan Emery — who together held nearly three decades of experience on the council — announced they would not seek reelection.

Tyler Barnes, who was elected to a two-year term last March, announced in October that he would be stepping down to take a job out of state. Larry Kupferman filled in as an interim councilor after his departure.

The new council will have its first meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. to reorganize and appoint a chair and vice chair, now held by Riehle and Emery, respectively.

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SPORTS

SB boys’ hockey moves to title game against

LAUREN READ CORRESPONDENT

For most of the season, the South Burlington boys’ ice hockey team has focused on finishing the year on the ice at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

On Saturday afternoon, No. 1 South Burlington defeated No. 5 Mount Mansfield 5-1 to advance to the Division I state championship game and make that dream a reality.

“I’m pretty proud of these guys,” South Burlington coach Sean Jones said. “They bought into what we wanted to do from day one. It’s got us where we are, but we also recognize that the journey’s not complete. We started out with one mission, we’re getting there, but we still got that final goal to accomplish.”

The Wolves will take on No. 2 Rice in the final on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Gutterson on the University of Vermont campus.

“We played them three times and practice after them each day,” Jones said of the matchup with the Green Knights. “We knew early that the road to the Gut was going through Cairns. Our guys will have an added fire playing against our rink neighbors.”

First, South Burlington had to get through Mount Mansfield, and, for the first period, the lower-seeded team made it difficult.

MMU goalie Lucas Parisi made 12 of his 45 saves in the

Nordic skiers, girls’ hockey end seasons

LAUREN READ CORRESPONDENT

Girls’ hockey

No. 1 BFA-St. Albans 5, No. 4 South Burlington 1: The girls hung tough for two periods before succumbing to top-seed BFA-St. Albans in the Division I semifinals on Friday, March 2. Host BFA-St. Albans held a 1-0 lead heading into the third period but broke out for four goals in the final frame to pull away from the Wolves and book a spot in the title game.

Hadia Ahmed had the lone goal for South Burlington, scoring on a short-handed breakaway for a 3-1 score. But the Comets tacked on two late goals to put the game out of reach.

Taylor Tobrocke stopped 31 shots in goal for the Wolves, who finished the season at 16-5-1.

Nordic skiing

The South Burlington girls’ Nordic ski team raced to a sixth-place finish in the Division I state championships.

Paige Poirier paced the Wolves in both the classic and freestyle races. In the classic race on Tuesday at Rikert Outdoor Center, Poirier came in fifth. Aspen Stoll-Peitilla was the next finisher, coming in 32nd. Sydney Rumsey was 40th and teammate Molly Leavey came in 41st.

In Friday’s freestyle race at Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Poirier was again the top finisher for South Burlington, coming in fourth. Stoll-Peitilla came in 34th, Leavey was 42nd and Gisele Zuchman finished 43rd.

first frame, keeping the Wolves off the board and the game scoreless heading into period number two.

“He was unbelievable throughout the whole game,” South Burlington junior Lucas Van Mullen said. “I was taking shots from the point, and he was throwing out pads to places I couldn’t even imagine getting to.”

South

The Wolves stuck with it and in the second period broke the scoreless tie. Nick Kelly struck first less than four minutes into the frame. Kelly found himself all alone near the left side faceoff dot where Christian Butley found him. The senior beat Parisi to the blocker side to give South Burlington a 1-0 lead.

Less than a minute later, Van Mullen doubled the Wolves lead, firing a shot in from the right side on a power play.

“We were confident that we were just going to find one if we just kept going,” Van Mullen said. “I just saw the defender give me some space, so I figured I’d come in and try my luck at ripping one. It worked out.”

Will Bradley made it 3-1 after Van Mullen moved the puck down to the goal line and fed it to the senior in front for the goal. Van Mullen then kept it himself, going for a skate around the offensive zone before firing a shot that found both posts and hit the back of the net for a 4-1 lead.

“When he’s on the ice the play goes through him,” Jones said of Van Mullen.

“He’s been a dominant guy on the ice for us all year, a leader for us on the ice. He’s one of those kids that when you need somebody to step up, he’s willing to do it.”

Van Mullen finished with two goals and one assist, while Harry Poquette added a late goal for the Wolves. Jules Butler and Bradley earned the helpers on the play. James Chagnon finished with 15 saves in goal for South Burlington.

“Everyone on our team loves each other and we all trust each other,” Van Mullen said. “When that happens, you’re not going to lose. We know that we have each other’s backs out there and we’re going to give it our all every game.”

South Burlington (20-2) now turns its attention to Rice, the only team to beat them in the regular season.

“I think that both teams are who they are,” Jones said. “We will continue to play our style. I think that success will depend on which team can be consistent and take advantage of mistakes. They are sound top to bottom; we will have to play our best game to be successful.”

If the Wolves win Thursday, they will capture the program’s first state title since 2015 and the fourth overall.

“We are so fired up,” Van Mullen said. “We’ve been talking about it since before the season even started. We’re so pumped.”

Rotary All-Star Hockey Classic returns

This year’s Rotary All-Star Hockey Classic is Saturday, March 16, at the Essex Skating Facility.

Men and women in their senior years are selected from high schools across Vermont to participate in this event. The women’s game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. and the men’s game will commence at 6 p.m. Tickets for this event are $10 per person and the price includes admission to both games. Tickets can be purchased online at bit.ly/42WrICZ.

Net proceeds are used by the Essex Rotary Club to support local food pantries, provide winter coats for children in need, fund scholarships for local students and support a number of health and environmental initiatives locally and internationally.

Contact Jason Ruwet at 802-876-7147 for more information about this event.

The following girls were named to the Austin Conference All-Stars:

• Evie Mae Buford, forward, CVU/MMU Cougarhawks

The following girls were named to the Harris Conference All-Stars:

• Sabrina Brunet, forward, South Burlington High School

• Ava Hershberg, forward, South Burlington High School

• Jordan Larose, forward, South Burlington High School

• Kiley Burke, defense, South Burlington High School

• Cait Bartlett, defense, South Burlington High School

• Taylor Tobrocke, goalie, South Burlington High School

The following boys were named to the Austin Conference All-Stars, under head coaches J.P. Benoit of Champlain Valley Union High School and Jordan Stearns of Middlebury High School:

• Nic Menard, forward, Champlain Valley Union High School

• Travis Stroh, forward, Champlain Valley Union High School

• Will Bradley, forward, South Burlington High School

• Alex Zuchowski, defense, Champlain Valley Union High School

• James Bradley, goalie, South Burlington High School

• James Chagnon, goalie, South Burlington High School

• Nicholas Kelly, forward, South Burlington High School, was selected but is unable to play.

The following boys were named to the Harris Conference All-Stars:

• Colin Banks, forward, Rice Memorial High School

• Joe Rob, defense, Rice Memorial Academy

CLEAN & GREEN continued from page 3

put down the drain or flush down the toilet.

The top offender may be disposable wipes. Baby wipes, hand wipes and cleaning wipes should never be flushed down the toilet. Even products labeled “flushable” do not break down the way that toilet paper does, so they end up causing clogs in the sewer system or getting tangled in pumps. The staff time to remove clogs and the extra wear on equipment costs the city money that is ultimately passed on to all of us through sewer bills.

Wipes should always be disposed of in the trash, even if the package says they are flushable. Similarly, diapers, pads, tampons, condoms and needles should not go down the toilet. Only flush the “3 Ps:” pee, poop and toilet paper.

In the kitchen, it is important to prevent food scraps from going down the drain, even if you have a garbage disposal. The biggest problems are caused by fats, oils and grease — known collectively as FOGs. These can solidify in the sewer system, causing clogs.

Perhaps you’ve heard of “fatbergs,” giant masses of fats and non-flushable wipes that form in the sewers of large cities. A few years ago, an 800-foot, 80,000-pound fatberg in London made international news. Hopefully nothing that large will ever befall South Burlington, but public works staff do frequently have to

clear clogs in our sewer system.

Instead of pouring cooking oil and grease down the sink, dispose of it in the trash or compost. If you have a large amount of grease, such as after cooking bacon or ground beef, you can pour it into a glass container and let it solidify. Then toss the container in the trash or store the rendered fat in the fridge and use it in future recipes.

If you have a small amount of oil left in a pan or on a dish, wipe it off with a paper towel and throw this in the trash. Or, if your composting method can accommodate fats, use a compostable paper towel to wipe the oil and put both in the compost.

The city’s wastewater treatment helps keep Lake Champlain clean, and with a little care and precaution, all of us can help keep South Burlington’s sewer system and wastewater facilities running smoothly and efficiently.

Katherine Boyk is a resident of South Burlington and member of the Natural Resources and Conservation Committee. She works for the Vermont Rural Water Association. Clean & Green is a regular feature, initiated and managed by the South Burlington Energy Committee, and will feature a variety of perspectives from members of city committees and commissions, city staff and outside organizations on environmental issues facing the city.

This is your opportunity to meet with our City department representatives and apply for any of our open positions. Explore career opportunities for full-time and part-time, temporary, seasonal roles and internships.

We offer a competitive and comprehensive benet package, including health, dental, life insurance, retirement plan, FSA and much more!

We believe in promoting a culture that reveres diversity and equity. The City of Burlington is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and we are strongly committed to creating a dynamic and equitable work force.

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COURTESY

South Burlington’s wastewater treatment facilities help keep Lake Champlain clean..