Addison County Transit
Resources has announced its holiday schedule for the Christmas and New Year’s
holidays. On Monday, December 24th
all bus routes will operate on normal schedules. The ACTR office will be closed. There will be no buses Christmas Day. On Monday, December 31st bus
routes will operate on normal schedules.
The ACTR office will be closed.
The on New Year’s Day no buses will run except the Snow Bowl Shuttle
Bus, which will be in operation to accommodate skiers and snowboarders between
9:05 am and 4:35 pm, which is the regular winter Saturday/Sunday schedule. For more information, please call
388-1946 or go to www.actr-vt.org.
This week the Middlebury
Select Board adopted the proposed NFIP and FEH Regulations. The NFIP Regulations were updated in
order to correct deficiencies in the town's existing NFIP regulations as
required by FEMA in order for residents to continue to be eligible for flood
insurance through the federal program. The FEH regulations were adopted in
order to reduce erosion hazards, with the ancillary benefit of making the Town
eligible for grant funding for flood infrastructure improvements such as the
Gristmill Bridge floodwall.
At this week’s Middlebury
Select Board meeting the Addison County Economic Development Corporation FY14
Budget Request was discussed. The Executive Director shared the budget history
and current initiatives with the Board and outlined their request for increased
funding in the coming year, from $7,000 to $10,000. Meanwhile officials with Otter Creek Child Care Center reviewed
programs and the need to reach out to Towns for funding in light of inadequate
subsidies and reduced grant funding for childcare. Otter Creek plans to
petition the voters for $7,000 to support the center's need-based Tuition
Assistance Program and its mission to provide quality, affordable early care
and education to the Addison County Community.
At the Middlebury Select Board's
meeting this week, Town Manager Kathleen Ramsay and department heads outlined
net spending reductions of $81,837 toward the $200,000 target in the FY14
Budget. The spending reductions were spread over 27 different line items and
ranged from a $70 reduction in Police service contracts to $23,000 in reduced
capital improvement spending. The
Board will continue its review of the FY14 spending plan on Monday, January
7th, with the public hearing on the budget, as required by Charter, on Tuesday,
January 22nd.
This week Middlebury’s Town
Assessor Bill Benton prepared an estimate of growth in the Grand List for the
coming fiscal year. Bill estimates that there will be an anemic 0.1% increase
in the Town's Grand List, with increases in the value of real estate of about
$6M offset by the reduction in the value of personal property of $5M associated
with the phase out of the machinery and equipment tax. On a positive note, Bill
reported that the State's Division of Property Valuation & Review has set
the Town's Common Level of Assessment for the State Education Property Tax at
89.23%, up from the previous CLA of 86.8%.
The second annual
Middlebury Police Toy Drive continues.
Please drop off your donated toys to the Police Station or to any Police
Officer by December 23rd and Police Officers will deliver them to local
children on Christmas Day. Last year, gifts were delivered to 33 children.
The Rutland Board of
Aldermen met for just over five hours Wednesday before agreeing on a general
fund budget of $18,666,507. Up $735,000 from last year, the budget funds
civilians in the police department working on data analysis and evidence
control, a position in building and zoning dealing with blighted properties and
a human resources manager. The
Board of Aldermen even found a way to restore a $12,000-a-year part-time
auditor the Mayor had cut from the treasurer’s office. The City Forester however will have to
get another year out of his truck.
A misunderstanding at
Poultney Elementary School had staff not taking any chances when a 23-year-old
man on the school’s playground during recess refused to answer their questions
and walked away. The school secured
teachers and all of the students behind locked doors and called for help from
Vermont State Police. But the
incident yesterday turned out to be a misunderstanding involving a
developmentally disabled young man who was waiting on the playground for his
caretaker, who was in the school for a VIP luncheon for volunteers and parents.
The town of Moriah and
village of Port Henry will receive $1.2 million in grant funding from the
state’s Regional Economic Development Council initiative. Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the announcement
on Wednesday. Moriah will get
$249,815 for its Bulwagga Bay shoreline stabilization project and $200,000 for
a Lake Champlain non-point source pollution sub-watershed assessment and
management plan. The village of
Port Henry will get $600,000 to replace some water line and sewer line and install eight new fire hydrants. The Housing Assistance Program of Essex
County, Inc. will receive $150,000 to redevelop a building at 4316 Main St. in
Port Henry as a mixed-use property with retail on the first floor and two
senior citizen apartments on the second.
Statewide, a total of $738 million was awarded for 725 economic
development projects in every region of New York State.
The North Country SPCA is
excited to announce that Martha Gallagher, also known as the Adirondack Harper,
has generously offered to donate 10 percent of her CD sales from her current
national tour and online from now until the end of the year! Check out her
website at www.adkharper.com for
more info about the benefit, as well as upcoming performance dates. Her live
shows are a wonderful holiday event, and her CDs make fantastic holiday gifts!
With many of us vowing to
get active in the New Year what could be more fun than playing in the snow and
learning a new sport! January is
Learn to Ski and Snowboard month. Ski Vermont makes it easy-as-pie to ski.
Packages for under $50 include lessons, rentals and a beginner lift ticket. Lessons are available non-holiday while
supplies last. For participating
ski centers and to register, visit www.skivermont.com/learn.
Get set to join friends
and neighbors for community music-making at the Middlebury Congregational
Church, beginning at 2 PM on Sunday, for Middlebury's annual "Messiah
Sing". Hosted by the church
and the Middlebury College Community Chorus, everyone is welcome to come sing
choruses from Handel's "Messiah," play in the orchestra, or simply
watch and listen. This year's
reading continues the tradition of featuring soloists drawn from communities
throughout Vermont. A $5 individual contribution or $10 for a family is
requested at the door.
Vermont State Rep. Paul
Poirier is no longer running for speaker of the House. The Burlington Free
Press reports the Barre independent sent an email to House members of Wednesday
saying he has dropped his plans to challenge Democratic incumbent Speaker Shap
Smith because he says he couldn't win.
New York officials are
scrambling to negotiate the first gun control laws since the shooting incident
at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School. A deal could be enacted into law
in a special session during the holiday week or an agreement could be part of
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State speech he's scheduled to deliver on
January 9th.
A family of five is
homeless after a fire gutted their Middletown Springs home Thursday. Officials say the call came in at about
10:19 yesterday morning. Multiple
departments responded to the fire at the Blanchard home on North Street and
crews were still fighting the flames well into the afternoon. The house was
destroyed. No one was home at the
time, and no injuries were reported. A preliminary investigation found the fire
was not suspicious. It is believed to have originated near the wood stove.
Officials say an early
morning fire at a granite shed in the Vermont city of Barre was not suspicious
although the cause has not yet been determined. The fire was brought under control Thursday after
firefighters from throughout central Vermont were called to the scene. There was no immediate report of
injuries from the fire in a building at Houle Granite in the north end of Barre
that was reported at about 4:30 AM.
The fire destroyed about half the building.
A candlelight vigil will
be held in Vermont's capital of Montpelier to remember the 26 victims of the
shootings in Newtown, CT. The
vigil will take place on Friday at 4:30 PM on the Statehouse steps. The Vermont Association for Mental
Health and Addiction Recovery organized the event. It's co-sponsored by the
Vermont Federation for Families for Children's Mental Health and The National
Alliance for Mental Illness - Vermont.
Participants are asked to bring their own candles. Some will be provided.
While the numbers are not
significant, they are still going the other way, which has some people
bothered. The Census Bureau has
released a new round of statistics showing North Dakota to be growing the
fastest, in terms of population.
What was startling was the fact the only two states to lose population
between July 1st of last year, and July 1st of this year, was Rhode Island, and
Vermont. The number for Vermont
wasn't huge, only point-zero-nine percent. Still, it's going the other direction. The state with the most people is
California, while North Dakota has the fastest growing population of any state,
at two-point-17 percent.
Vermont Gas Systems is
moving ahead with plans to provide service south and west, and people living in
Monkton and Hinesburg are not happy.
On Thursday, the utility filed a petition for a state permit to begin
construction on underground pipelines, and people living on Monkton Road are
upset about it running down and underneath the residential street. Protestors gathered outside of the
South Burlington-based Vermont Gas offices to voice their opposition, while the
towns are asking the utility to find an alternative route.
New York State's
unemployment rate is on the decline.
The state Department of Labor says the unemployment rate in November
dipped to eight-point-three percent, down from eight-point-seven percent the
previous month. The state's
private sector added over 83-thousand jobs in November. New York State's rate is still higher
than the national unemployment rate of seven-point-seven percent.
Governor Andrew Cuomo's
upcoming State-of-the-State address will take place once again at a bigger
venue than in years past. Cuomo is
keeping his new tradition of holding his annual speech at the Empire State
Plaza Convention Center because it can accommodate more people who want to hear
his plans for the future.
Governors used to give the address in the Assembly chamber before a
joint session of both Legislative houses.
Cuomo's State-of-the-State address takes place January 9th.
Police say they caught
three people who likely sold hundreds of bags of heroin in the last week. And police say it probably wasn't their
first time doing it. Police say
Brian Cumberbatch, Jill Smith, and Zebulon Brinkman were busted for selling
heroin this week. "It was
very big for us. I think it was probably the biggest one we've had," says
Chief George Merkel, Vergennes Police Department. Merkel says Smith and Brinkman sold heroin from homes in
Middlebury and Leicester. Merkel
says Cumberbatch ran the drugs from New York City. "He has been to Vermont a couple of times and each time
he came to Vermont he'd sell anywhere from $9,000 to $11,000 worth of heroin,"
says Merkel. Merkel says on this
trip Cumberbatch brought 900 bags of heroin. After a couple days in the state, police say he had about
300 bags when he was arrested. Police
say while these arrests were important, they say there's a lot more work to be
done to combat the drug problem in this area. "The drug problem is out of control," says Merkel. Merkel says he's talking about pills
and heroin. He says to fix the
problem will take hard work by police, more education, and better treatment for
addicts. "Everybody is doing
the best they can but sometimes it doesn't hurt to take a step back and take a
look at it and say what can we do better?" says Merkel. The chief wants to make it clear the
drug problem affects the whole state, not just Addison County. Police say all three drug sellers are
being held in jail.
The Vermont Foodbank says
that looming fiscal cliff and low donations has it fearful for next year. The Foodbank in Barre was busy with
activity Thursday, but it might slow down. Officials say they're short about $700,000 thousand dollars
from their $1.2-million dollar goal.
On top of that, they're afraid a fiscal cliff could mean even more
people relying on them. That's why
they're hoping people like you will step up over the next couple weeks "It's a hard time for a lot of
people and we understand that and people have been very generous and what I
would ask is folks that haven't given to the food bank in the past or haven't
given this year is we could really use your gift by the end of the year,"
said Vermont Foodbank CEO John Sayles.
If the Foodbank does not reach its goal certain programs could be in
jeopardy in 2013. For more
information, click here.
