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.
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.
The Selectboard has blunted a spike in property replacement valuations for town buildings, but it has some work to do before the board re-signs with the town's insurance carrier.
Overall, property replacement valuations shot from roughly $400,000 to $1.1 million, selectmen recently learned when the time came to renew annual insurance coverage through the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
According to published reports, one estimate shows the town's property insurance premium, now at $8,186, rising by $6,000 had the new values taken effect.
The increase - “exorbitant,” selectmen said - sent them scrambling for answers and reductions.
Rescue Inc. says it is looking forward to health care reform leading to a reduction in its percentage of uninsured patients. Meanwhile, its fees, unchanged since 2010, are set to rise somewhat. Briefing the Selectboard at their regular meeting on Nov. 13, Drew Hazelton, Rescue's interim chief of operations,
Jack Lilly has resigned as both chair and member of the town's Development Review Board, effective immediately, citing health reasons. Lilly's letter of resignation was introduced at the Nov. 13 Selectboard meeting, where members accepted it unanimously. “Sorry for the situation,” member Steve Glabach said quietly, as the vote...
The Selectboard is not ruling out dropping the town's property insurance carrier as they scramble to hold down a sharp rise in replacement valuations meted out in October by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. Meanwhile, there is no answer from VLCT for why valuations have spiked here. Selectboard member Joe Cook said Oct. 30 that he pressed VLCT for answers at a recent meeting and didn't get anything useful in return. “Is the town of Dummerston singled out?”
Selectmen have signed an incentive agreement with Efficiency Vermont to upgrade the town's remaining mercury-vapor streetlights to energy-efficient LED lamps. Under the agreement, Efficiency Vermont will pay Green Mountain Power outstanding depreciation left on outdated fixtures here, up to $100 per fixture on average, helping defray the cost of upgrading to the next-generation lamp bulbs. According to Energy Committee Member Stan “Smokey” Howe, presenting the proposal at the Selectboard's Oct. 30 meeting, this spares the town from having to continue...
Assessments are sure to rise for member municipalities through the Windham Solid Waste Management District, with Guilford's annual contribution due to head north from the current $25,451.30. That's according to Cheryl Franklin, the town's WSWMD representative, apprising selectmen of District budget woes at the Selectboard's Oct. 28 meeting. Franklin said WSWMD is operating at a last-reported deficit of $117,000, not including capital expenditures. Revenue in June and July was down “quite a bit,” she said, owing in part to the...
The Selectboard said it is on the fence about whether to invest in a public Internet wireless “hotspot” at Broad Brook Grange, and are curious to know whether the Grange would be interested in hosting such a device. According to Town Administrator Katie Buckley, speaking at the Oct. 28 Selectboard meeting, the Grange would be a logical place to offer such a community service. “I think if it were a service people knew was available to them, you might see...
Wet weather is to blame for paving problems on South Wardsboro and Wiswall Hill roads, but the town's contractor has vowed to make it right. That's according to Fred Cheney, a paving foreman from Lane Construction of Northfield, Mass., addressing the Selectboard Oct. 17. A September “monsoon,” Cheney said, soaked the paving materials and turned them into a mess. He said his company looked forward to correcting the work early next year, pointed out that the contract included a year...
