South Street will be closed to through traffic this
Saturday starting at 7 AM. The
closure will be at #3 South Street, which is the College President's home. Work
is to install a new water service and fire sprinkler line. All traffic must use Porter Field Road
from Main St / Route 30 to get to South Street. The street will be closed until the work is done, possibly
into the late afternoon.
The Middlebury Select Board completed its review of
proposed responses to comments received at the Town Plan hearing on September
18th and since. A complete summary of the proposals agreed to by the Board are
available on the Town's website on the Select Board Agenda & Meeting page. A second public hearing on the
update of the Town Plan will be held on Tuesday, November 13th.
The Middlebury Business Development Fund Advisory
Board is actively fundraising for the business contribution of the fund and
asked the Select Board this week to authorize advertising for the Business
Development Director position as it continued its fundraising efforts over the
course of the next couple of weeks. The board granted the request to advertise
the position, with the caveat that funding for the position should be in place
before interviews for the position begin.
The week the Teen Center Co-Director Colby Benjamin
reported that the Center raised $2,300 with its Ride, Roast & Rock event,
and will hold DJ Skate nights two times per month through the winter at the
Memorial Sports Center. The Middlebury Recreation Committee and Colby discussed
ways to attract new teens to its afterschool programs. Recreation Program Coordinator
Dustin Hunt reported that the winter brochure is almost ready to go. Meanwhile Planning for the Turkey Trot
is in its final stages. This year, participants that bring two or more
non-perishable canned goods will be eligible for a special drawing.
This week the Middlebury River Task Force reported
that they reviewed and approved the Request for Proposals for the engineering
analysis of the Middlebury River. Based
on the River Task Force's recommendation, the Select Board authorized the
issuance of the RFP to engineering firms for the analysis, which will be funded
by the Hazard Mitigation Planning Grant program. The Task Force also discussed
ways of increasing public outreach, including holding a Select Board Meeting in
East Middlebury with an update on river-related projects on the agenda.
In addition to funding the engineering analysis the
Hazard Mitigation Planning Grant program funding will be used to develop an “all-hazards”
mitigation plan. Hazards include drought, power failure, high winds, landslide,
flooding, lightning, hazardous materials spill, downtown structure fire,
wildfire, winter storm, earthquake, and school safety issues. As outlined in
the grant application, the Select Board will appoint a Core Planning Mitigation
Team to oversee the identification of and planning for the Town's response to
these events.
The Middlebury Gym Task Force is working on
prioritizing the list of deferred maintenance and improvement projects for gym.
The next F & F meeting will be Tuesday, November 13 at 9 AM. Meanwhile the Town Center Steering
Committee discussed setting-up informational displays about the project at the
upcoming election. The Committee will meet again on Tuesday, November 13th at
10:30 AM.
Vermont Gas Systems and the Town of Middlebury will
hold a public informational meeting on Thursday November 8th at 7:00 PM at the
VFW on Exchange Street in Middlebury.
Vermont Gas Systems will present the latest plans for construction of
the planned natural gas pipeline to Middlebury in 2014 and 2015 including the
proposed general areas of service, and routes of proposed future extensions to
Rutland and Ticonderoga. Vermont
Gas will also have information on the procedure for permitting and right of way
acquisition.
Local business owners and hiring managers are
invited to participate in a 3-hour workshop, “Hiring Right the First Time,”
which will help them establish and sharpen their process for pre-screening,
interviewing, and selecting qualified employees. Offered jointly by the Vermont
Small Business Development Center and the Addison County Economic Development
Corporation, the workshop begins at 1 PM on Tuesday, the 30th, at the A-C-E-D-C
conference room on Route-7 South in Middlebury. Workshop space is limited to 20 attendees, and the
registration fee is $49 per person for the first attendee. Organizations
registering two attendees will be charged only $69. Small business owners and
hiring managers can register online or call 802-388-7953.
Green Mountain Power will hold a Heat Pump Summit
next week as the company begins to explore the possibility of a heat pump pilot
program in the city of Rutland. Air-source heat pumps, also known as mini-split
heat pumps, work much like a refrigerator to move heat from one area to
another. Even with low
temperatures outside, heat pumps can capture the heat in the air to warm a home
or business, and automatically reverse the process in the summer to cool
interior spaces like a typical air conditioner. Manufacturers’ representatives,
potential installers, lenders, local distributors and weatherization and
efficiency experts will meet in the Franklin Conference Room at the Howe Center
at One Scale Avenue in Rutland next Thursday November 1st from 8 AM to 1 PM.
The Port Henry Fire Department Auxiliary is gearing
up for the holidays and its annual toy drive. The auxiliary has collected gifts for needy families the
past six years. People wishing to
receives gifts from the auxiliary program must apply in person either
Wednesday, November 7th from 6 to 8 PM or Sunday November 11th
from 1 to 3 PM. There are no specific income guidelines. The gift distribution
will be at the Port Henry fire house on Sunday December 16th from 6
to 8 PM. Auxiliary members are asking the public to again support the toy drive
by donating toys, money or gift certificates. Donations may also be mailed to
the Port Henry Fire Department Auxiliary, PO Box 146, Port Henry 12974.
As Ticonderoga residents look forward to the community’s
250th anniversary, they’re selling local calendars to help finance a
celebration. The First 250 Year
Committee is selling 2013 historical calendars. Proceeds from the sale will
help pay for the group’s “signature event” during the 2014 celebration. The
committee, co-sponsored by the Ticonderoga Historical Society and the Ti
Heritage Museum, has produced the calendar that looks at a particular part of
local history each month from November 2012 through December 2013. The
calendars, priced at $10 each, are on sale at the Hancock House, the
Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce and at other locations. Calendars are also
available from Ticonderoga Middle School students, who are selling them as a
fund raising project to help support their annual whale watch trip. Students
will get $2 for each calendar sold.
The Town of Jay has been awarded a $2,000 grant to
continue rebuilding youth facilities at the Grove Park in the AuSable Forks
hamlet. Tropical Storm Irene and
the flooding of the Ausable River in August 2011 wiped out the recreation park,
which serves children in both the Town of Jay and Town of Black Brook.
A special meeting will be held at 4:30 PM on
Wednesday, October 31st at the Willsboro Town Hall. The Town Council will discuss the 2013 budget and any other
business that might be brought up.
The meeting is open to the public.
Efforts to fight a dangerous synthetic drug called
bath salts appear to be paying off in the Vermont city of Barre. Officials say calls to the police
department and poison control center and visits to the emergency room have died
down after a surge in use of the drug early this summer. They attribute that to the state
issuing an emergency rule to expand the list of bath salts and other compounds
that are now illegal to sell, make or possess in Vermont.
Omya North America is
relocating a laboratory from Proctor to its company headquarters in
Cincinnati. According to the
Rutland Herald, the lab has 24 employees, and it's too early now to know how
many of those jobs will move to Ohio with the lab. The relocation process begins next year.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has
directed the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to
closely monitor the progress of Hurricane Sandy and prepare for its potential
storm impacts. Cuomo says although
the storm track is still uncertain, Hurricane Sandy has the potential to affect
many parts of the Empire State early next week with a variety of threats,
including heavy rain, high winds, flooding, tornadoes, coastal surges and
widespread power outages. He's
directed state agencies to begin preparations now for the potential impact and
urges all New Yorkers to closely track the storm's path.
The state's fuel assistance program is about to
distribute benefit payments directly to people who heat with wood. Director
Richard Moffi said that instead of payments going directly to firewood dealers,
they will go to recipients, who are now responsible for finding the best deal.
A town that lost its full-service post office when
Irene hit last year now has a privately managed one. The Valley News reports
the Village Post Office in West Hartford is staffed by a contractor and
provides scaled-back services. It operates in the West Hartford Village Store.
New York State is getting almost $40 million from
the Department of Energy. It will
help upgrade the state's electricity grid providing funding to the $75 million
dollar smart grid plan. The
project is supposed to improve the efficiency of the state's electricity
delivery system. They hope to
avoid future blackouts across the state during extreme heat or in the event of
a severe storm.
The Town of Middlebury and the Middlebury Fire
Department would like to invite the community to the ribbon cutting ceremony
for Station #2 in East Middlebury. The ceremony will be held on Saturday at
10:00 AM at the building site located on the corner of King's Row and East Main
Street.
On Saturday Vergennes will celebrate Pumpkins in
the Park and More: Big Pumpkin Fun in the Little City. This annual event has been expanded and
is now a fun-filled day for the whole family. Spooky stories at the Bixby
Memorial Library and Trick-or-Treating on Main Street will be a highlight for
the little goblins. Also new this year is The Great Pumpkin Cook off and in the
evening a kids Halloween safety presentation will be held at the Fire Station. Get a full schedule of events HERE.
The Fifth Annual Middlebury Spooktacular is coming
up! It’s a Halloween event for
kids of all ages! Hay bales, games, and costumes will decorate the town green
on Sunday from 2 - 4 in the afternoon on the Middlebury Town Green. The green
will be alive with music, dancing, costumes and games for all ages, including a
Jumpy Castle! Prizes will be given to all who take part! Festivities will kick
off at 2:00PM and will conclude with a children’s trick or treat parade along
Main Street.
Brandon Music on Country Club Road in Brandon presents
Heliand Consort’s popular Winds Take Flight program this Sunday afternoon at
3:00. The program includes a delightful potpourri of classical music for
woodwinds. Tickets are $15 and are available by calling Brandon Music at (802)
465-4071 or by emailing info@brandon-music.net.
For more information, please visit Brandon Music at www.brandon-music.net
and Heliand Consort at www.heliandconsort.org.
There’s still a bit of late season foliage left to
enjoy this season, especially here in the Champlain Valley. The Vermont Fall Foliage Report can be viewed here!
From Fox 44 and ABC 22
News – Your Voice in Vermont & New York:
Tropical Storm Irene is
still fresh in the minds of many. 14 months later, clean up isn't complete. But this time around, people are
already on high alert. We don't want you worried, just simply prepared, so I
spoke with someone from the Emergency Management Department who had some great
reminders. Thursday, the wind was
blowing, and the water was choppy... making it already feel like a storm is
brewing. "We're preparing for
everything," Mark Bosma said.
Strong winds, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, downed trees and power
outages are possible, so the Emergency Management Spokesperson Mark Bosma says
get ready this weekend; have flash lights, food and water on hand. "We encourage people to have some
sort of an evacuation plan that takes you up on higher ground," Bosma
added. Several people have already
started to prepare and are cleaning up their yards, so that all of their leaves
don't end up in the storm drain. "Something
as simple as leaves clogging a culvert can lead to a lot of damage," Bosma
said. Hurricane Sandy already
blasted through Cuba and made landfall in Jamaica, and although it's early to
predict what the impact will be on the East Coast, Sandy's wrath could be here
Tuesday. "I'm giving it about
a 70 percent chance that it will affect us in some way shape or form,"
FOX44/ABC22 Meteorologist Steve Glazier said. When I asked our very own Skytracker meteorologist about
Sandy, he said wind gusts exceeding one hundred miles per hour tore through
towns, but said Sandy should weaken if she hits us. "My primary scare and threat is the rain," Glazier
said. Governor Peter Shumlin is
also keeping a close eye on the storm and may even declare a state of emergency
as early as Friday. "We're
following it very very closely," Gov. Shumlin said. Bosma says that makes it easier to
activate the National Guard. "We may need some of their assets like high
water trucks, we may need them to undertake some sandbagging operations, things
like that." WVTK’s best
advice is to monitor FOX44 and ABC 22 closely, because our weather team will be
tracking the storm, and we'll have updated information as it becomes available. If this becomes a worst-case scenario,
the Red Cross will get involved should people need shelter.
Eleven thousand Vermonters
signed a petition, declaring their support for basing the F-35 fighter jets at
the Burlington International Airport.
People opposed say the jets are too loud and home property values will
suffer. But supporters say the new aircraft aren't louder than a siren. They want to keep the Air National
Guard strong and keep soldiers employed.
"For six minutes a day, four days a week, we get eleven hundred
jobs," Frank Cioffi, President of Good Jobs in a Clean Environment said. The Air Force is supposed to make a
decision by the beginning of the year.
If passed, the F-35's would call South Burlington home in 2018.
Governor Peter Shumlin and
State Senator Randy Brock have debated a number of times over the past few
weeks. But the most recent has one
of the candidates scratching his head.
"I was totally puzzled by his question. I had no idea what he was
getting at, what he trying to get at," said Shumlin. Brock asked Shumlin why he isn't
letting the public know about how much taxpayer money is being spent on
settlement claims ranging from discrimination to wrongful termination. "He refused [Wednesday] when I
asked him, would he comply, and then he told me to go debate with his lawyer. I
thought that was an unusual response for a governor," said Brock. Looking for answers Brock submitted a
public record's request to five state agencies, including Shumlin's office. In regards to those settlements, Brock
wants to see all checks, financial reports, emails and other documents related
to the cases from last year. The
state has ten business days to respond.
That means Brock may not get an answer until November eighth, which
happens to be two days after the election. Brock doesn't think it should take that long. "A list of that should certainly
be at somebody's fingertips," said Brock. Even though he's puzzled, Governor Shumlin says he has no
problem providing the information.
"Nothing to hide in terms of all of the public records request that
we get and we comply with them," said Shumlin. We asked Senator Brock why he's just coming out with this
now, so close to the election. He
says, someone recently came to him with information about a case and he wants
to see if it's true. We also
requested to see how many cases and how much was spent on those settlements,
but we were told it would take several days to gather all that information.
