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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.
A town-wide property value reappraisal, conducted roughly every 10 years or as the state mandates, is scheduled to begin in the Village of Bellows Falls in July.
The Vermont Department of Taxes monitors towns' property assessments annually by comparing them to real estate sales. Those statistics show how closely assessments match market sales by a measure called the Common Level of Appraisal, or CLA.
The reappraisal is considered successful if these measurements come back within the acceptable range of 20 percent. When either of those exceeds 20 percent, the town is mandated to undertake a reappraisal.
“The good news is that we're getting a head start, as the reappraisal was not mandated by the state,” Camilla Roberts, chairwoman of the Listers, told The Commons. “The real estate sale prices compared to listed values are still within an acceptable range.”...
With the Village entering the final phase of the 20-year wastewater improvement project, Trustees are set to ask voters at the annual village election on May 20 to approve a $6 million bond to fund it. Voters here approved a separate water-service bond in March. Bellows Falls voters passed...
Bellows Falls resident Matthew Trieber is finishing up his first full term in the Vermont House of Representatives, working alongside fellow Windham-3 lawmaker Carolyn Partridge, D-Windham. It's been three years since Gov. Peter Shumlin appointed Trieber to fill out the remainder of the term of longtime Bellows Falls Rep.
The Rockingham Free Public Library had its third trustee resignation in nine months when Chair David Gould accepted with regret Paige Pietrzak's resignation at the regular meeting of the Trustees on April 8. Pietrzak is the third trustee to resign from the board in less than a year. Steve Fuller and David Buckley resigned from the board in June and September 2013, respectively. Gould told The Commons that the board would discuss candidates for replacing Pietrzak at the board's next...
With temperatures barely above freezing last Saturday, sugarhouses in southern Vermont were only on their third day of boiling. But John Plummer, third-generation owner of Plummer's Sugarhouse at 2866 Townshend Rd., said this was more like normal than “normal” has been the last few years, recalling the years past when sugaring did not start until the last week in March. However, on the other extreme, he said that two years ago, the family started boiling in mid-February and the season...
When Main Street Arts (MSA) charted its course towards a $1 million renovation project to make its 1850s Odd Fellows building accessible to everyone, the leaders of the nonprofit never expected the arts community to respond so enthusiastically. Sparked by the inspiration of artists from different disciplines, MSA is collaborating, in a true community effort, on the Five Seasons Project, a fundraising and creative undertaking involving music, poetry, performance, and visual art. The whole project draws on all the arts...
Attorneys for both sides in the wrongful termination lawsuit filed by the town's former library director have agreed to postponing further legal action pending the outcome of a meeting with a mediator on April 30. In the meantime, the formal search for a replacement is still technically active but in a state of limbo. A stipulation was filed in Windham County Civil Court on March 24 to postpone the injunction hearing in the case filed by Célina Houlné, former director...
Change was the theme of the first post-election meeting of the Rockingham Free Public Library Board of Trustees on Tuesday night. With four newly elected members on the board, the six members who were present unanimously voted to oust Chair Jan Mitchell-Love and select a new leadership slate. The board named incoming Trustee David Gould as chair. Trustees also elected Carolyn Frisa vice-chair and Doreen Aldrich, secretary. Pat Fowler was re-elected as treasurer. All votes were unanimous. Tuesday's meeting was...
