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Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Residents at a special meeting of the Selectboard and Planning Commission came out strongly against a 135-foot cell tower AT&T has proposed erecting on Shag Bark Hill, and the town is waiting for the telecommunication giant's latest tweak to the plan.
The meeting, held Jan. 30 at the fire department, was concerned with AT&T's intent to petition the Public Service Board for a required Certificate of Public Good to build a “mono-pine” cell tower on land owned by Michael Mecheski at 20 Shag Bark Hill.
The installation reportedly would improve AT&T-delivered cell reception in Putney and along a stretch of nearby Interstate 91. The company also could use the infrastructure to rent transmitters to other carriers.
AT&T representatives are seeking Putney's support for the CPG, and say their firm is hoping to earn it through reasonable compromise. Nevertheless, the town's permission is not required for the application, and its protest, if any is lodged, would have little apparent weight in the state's decision.
Some two dozen residents turned out Jan. 22 for a public hearing on proposed changes to the Zoning Bylaws and Route 5/30 corridors in the Town Plan. The hearing, at the Dummerston Historical Society building, lasted approximately two hours, and was convened as the town wrestles with how to...
The time is right to get a better handle on who in the community struggles with food insecurity and marginal housing, and the Putney Foodshelf is looking to the Selectboard for guidance - and $1,000 or so - to lock down some answers. That was the message Leigh Brady,
The town's Social Services Advisory Committee is requesting level funding for the fiscal year that starts on July 2014. According to Cindy Jerome, reporting for the committee at the Dec. 11 Selectboard meeting, $10,350 is needed to help 17 requesting social service organizations meet vital needs affecting residents of Dummerston. “There are several organizations we wished to give more money to, but there were none that we were willing to recommend less be given to, in order to keep the...
The town is now armed with a lighting proposal to increase visibility and safety for workers, residents, and other visitors to the Town Office, the voting facility, and the historical society. Energy Committee member Stan “Smokey” Howe presented the Selectboard on Dec. 11 with a range of options that would, if approved as presented, replace eight existing exterior light fixtures burning 1,080 watts with 17 energy-efficient models in a new layout that would tap only 632 watts. “Before and after”
The Selectboard is asking Lane Construction why the town's recent $211,000 investment in blacktop on South Wardsboro Road is falling apart. At the Dec. 5 Selectboard meeting, Todd Lawley, who is the town's road foreman/commissioner and Selectboard vice-chair, reported that the road is “coming up where it shouldn't be.” He recalled that Fred Cheney, a paving foreman for the Northfield, Mass., company, blamed a sudden October rainstorm that “soaked all of our products” and turned paving material into a “mess.”
Selectboard member Gloria Cristelli says the work of a new committee in the businesses community, looking to develop strategies for village centers here, is on track to present its request for town recognition. Introducing the Selectboard on Dec. 5 to several of the names they'd be hearing as this work progresses, Cristelli said Newfane ANEW, which she supports, is working with Cullen Meves of the Windham Regional Commission on mapping and other legwork to position town villages to apply for...
The Windham County Sheriff's Department is proposing to double its workforce here, adding a full-time deputy who would live as well as work in the community. “We're trying to modify how we do business. While we feel we've been successful, we want to provide better service,” Sgt. Mark Anderson told the Selectboard at their Nov. 21 meeting. The need, he said, comes as the Vermont State Police are on the cusp of what he estimated at a 30 percent to...
