The Middlebury Select Board will hold a Public
Hearing and Information Meeting on the Preliminary Proposed Town General Fund
Budget for FY14 this evening. This
includes Capital project Funds as well.
The meeting will begin at 7:00 PM in the Town Office Conference Room.
The total proposed budget is $8,943,097 with $6,366,592 to be funded by
property taxes. Your comments,
suggestions and input are important and appreciated. Copies of the proposed budget may be obtained from the
Town's website at the Town Manager's office or by calling 388-8100 ext 201. Committee and Project reports will also
be part of this meeting. Visit the
Town’s Website to view the complete agenda.
Other meeting’s in Middlebury this week include the
Town Offices/Community Center Steering Committee. They meet this
morning at 10:30 at the Town Offices.
Then the Middlebury Public Works Committee is meeting in the Town
Offices on Thursday afternoon at 4. Agenda Items Include the Monroe Street
Traffic Data and Road Salt Usage.
Also on Thursday at 4, the Downtown Improvement District Commission
meets. They are planning a Review
of the Status of Grants and Pending Projects also a Discussion of Downtown
Parking. Then on Friday at Noon
the Design Advisory Committee meets at Noon at the Town Offices. Agenda Items
include a Review of Middlebury College's Athletic Facility on South Main
Street. Get details on all of
these meetings by visiting the Town’s Website.
Coming up this Sunday at 6
PM, Brandon Music will present a concert by celebrated local musician Caitlin
Canty. General Admission is $15
and reservations are encouraged. A pre-show dinner package is available for
$30. The Vermont native, who now
resides in New York City, has folk-pop roots with a Western tone. Call (802) 465-4071 or email
info@brandon-music.net for reservations or information.
A broken water pipe has
suspended zumba lessons at the Ticonderoga Best Western Inn.
A frozen pipe in the hotel’s banquet room burst January 12th, flooding
the banquet room and lobby area. The pipe has been repaired, but damaged
carpet, a wall and other items are still being replaced. Zumba and several other events
scheduled for the banquet room have been canceled. The remainder of the hotel
and its restaurant, The Burgoyne Grill, are unaffected by the water damage. Officials are hopeful that Zumba can
resume by mid-February.
Crown
Point Central School is a leader in meeting New York State’s new educational
requirements. That’s why the
school was selected to make a presentation to state education commissioner John
King Jr. during his recent tour of the North Country. Common Core Learning Standards
define what students are expected to learn so that teachers and parents can
better prepare them for college or the workforce. The state adopted the Common
Core in 2011. As a result, public school districts are changing what they teach
and how they teach to align curriculum the standards.
Essex
County Sheriff Richard Cutting tentatively got his department exempted from the
county’s hiring freeze. The waiver
must still receive a majority vote at the County Board of Supervisors Ways and
Means session January 28th and the regular meeting February 7th. Sheriff
Richard Cutting told the board’s Public Safety Committee that Horace Nye
Nursing Home is already exempt from the hiring freeze and that he wants his
department to be, too. With the
freeze on, department heads need board approval to fill vacancies.
The
post office in New Russia will remain open, but with its hours greatly reduced. Officials explained that the U.S.
Postal System has experienced a decline in revenues due to many factors,
including bill-paying online, direct deposits by governments and businesses,
and purchasing through online catalogs. The retail hours for New Russia will
likely be 9 to 11 AM Monday through Friday and 8:30 to 11:45 AM Saturdays.
Seventy
volunteers from across Vermont marked the Martin Luther King holiday by taking
part in a host of different community service projects in Rutland. Volunteers started early yesterday
morning with a pancake breakfast at Grace Church and then headed to a variety
of sites across the city. A member
of the national service organization AmeriCorps organized the event. They chose Rutland partly because of
the need they knew existed there, but also because they found the local
nonprofits so progressive and welcoming.
The
town of Killington has applied for a $175,000 grant to beautify Route 4. The state grant would be used to
develop the property formerly known as Bill’s Country Store into a visitors’
center. The proposal includes plans to manage storm water runoff, invasive
plant species, move the entrance to align with Killington Road, and to build a
park-and-ride lot. In December,
the town received an $80,000 grant to build the park-and-ride facility. The town expects to receive a response
to the most recent proposal by March and hopes to break ground on the project
in the spring.
Snowmobilers
from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont who are looking for some fresh scenery
have a big opportunity coming up. Reciprocal
Snowmobile Weekend this coming Friday to Sunday allows all legally registered
Maine snowmobiles to be operated in New Hampshire and Vermont without being
registered in those states. At the
same time, snowmobiles legally registered in New Hampshire and Vermont can be
operated in Maine without a current Maine registration. In Maine alone,
snowmobilers can explore more than 13,000 miles of interconnected, groomed and
marked trails.
When
you're the subject of a new hit movie and it's the 150th anniversary of your
most famous speech, you probably want to get spruced up a bit. So a marble bust of Abraham Lincoln
that has gazed down a main hallway of the Vermont Statehouse for a century
could be getting some attention. Civil
War historian Howard Coffin says it's about time. Says Coffin of Vermont's
Lincoln, "He's discolored, he's dirty and in desperate need of
cleaning." Coffin got a
friendly hearing from the Senate Institutions Committee when he asked for more
than $11,000 to have the work done by the Williamstown Art Conservation Center
of Williamstown, MA. The bust is
the work of sculptor Larkin Goldsmith Mead. His widow gave it to the state in
1911.
The
state of Vermont's financial picture may begin to clarify by the end of the
week. Tomorrow, the Emergency
Board is to hear a report from two economists on their forecasts for how much
money the state is likely to take in during the coming year. On Thursday, Shumlin goes before
lawmakers to outline his spending priorities for the fiscal year that begins
July 1. Some Shumlin spending
moves already have come in for criticism, including his push to take $17
million from a program that gives big tax refunds to low-income people and use
the money to increase child care subsidies.
Vermont
lawmakers are going to be holding hearings on the price of gasoline in the
state. This afternoon, the House
Transportation, Commerce, and Judiciary committees have scheduled a joint
meeting from 2:30 to 4:30 at the Statehouse in Montpelier. This evening, the committees will hold
a public hearing on the same topic from 7 to 9 at Colchester High School. Members of the public interested in
testifying about gasoline pricing in the state may sign up 30 minutes prior to
the start of the evening hearing.
New
York regulators are working on a long-term plan to protect Lake George from
invasive species, possibly including mandatory boat inspections. The Lake George Park Commission had
been developing plans for inspections and washing, with a $40 fee. The
commission now says that plan is on hold while the Department of Environmental
Conservation drafts an environmental impact statement, seeks public input, and
considers alternatives. The
32-mile-long Adirondack Lake already has some invasive species such as milfoil
and Asian clams. The commission has programs to fight those species, including
spreading plastic mats to smother them.
The state has agreed to provide $50,000 to expand a boat steward
program, and $200,000 to fight Asian clams. Environmentalists say mandatory boat inspection and washing
is the best way to prevent spread of invasive species.
Former
New York City Mayor Ed Koch is feeling better, two days after entering the
hospital for having fluid in his lungs and swollen ankles. His spokesman George Arzt said yesterday
that the fluid and swelling were down. He says Koch told him he isn't in pain
but that being in the hospital is boring.
The former mayor hopes to be discharged Wednesday or Thursday, but his
doctors haven't said yet when he can go home. The 88-year-old Democrat entered
New York-Presbyterian / Columbia hospital Saturday night.
The
U.S. Department of Education says Vermont has the highest high school
graduation rate in the country. A new study finds that 91.4% of Vermont high
school freshmen go on to graduate on time. Wisconsin has the second highest
rate, while Nevada has the lowest rate.
Employers
in Vermont are facing the prospect of paying more to do business in the Green
Mountain State. The problem is,
there's a debt the state owes the federal government, and now that it's past
due, the feds are hitting employers with a penalty of 21 bucks an
employee. Three years ago, when
the unemployment fund ran out in Vermont, state leaders made a deal with the
feds to borrow nearly 78 million and agreeing to pay that back in two years,
which it failed to do. As of now,
the state has paid back 20-million, will be making another payment like that
soon, and hopes to repay the final 38 million this year or next.
Snowmen
are pretty common this time of year in New England. But a 15-foot-tall snowman is not-so-common a sight. The towering Frosty was built Sunday
afternoon alongside Route 2 in Danville.
Five friends who say they were bored did the work, which took about
three hours, using a tractor and round hay bales. They say already hundreds of motorists have stopped to
admire their work.
The
son of Rutland County Sheriff Frank Wilk is now charged with stealing his
father's gun. Sheriff Wilk
reported a burglary in his home a week ago, with the gun taken from a safe. A State Police investigation revealed
24-year-old Jason Wilk to be the prime suspect, saying he took not only the gun
but also credit cards and cash.
The younger Wilk was arrested after he reportedly confessed to stealing
the gun.
A
young man is now facing charges connected with a vandalism spree in Charlotte
and Hinesburg. Twenty-one-year-old
Jake Clark is accused of vandalizing a lot of mailboxes along with stealing
several traffic signs last week.
Police say he also used a truck to push over a parking attendant's booth
in Mount Philo State Park, causing more than a thousand dollars in damage.
Education
is expected to be a major topic of Governor Cuomo's budget blueprint unveiling
today. The governor is expected to
expand on his recently announced proposal to expand the school day for students
and implement full day pre-kindergarten across the state. Cuomo has yet to hint about how New
York might pay for such an expansion.
Governor
Cuomo is expected to continue his push for a minimum wage increase in the
coming weeks. The governor is
working on assembling a coalition of pro-business interests in the Empire State
that can help him garner support for a minimum wage hike. Such a coalition is expected to include
numerous national retailers that employ minimum wage workers.
A
new information hotline has been designed to address all question pertaining to
the New York SAFE Act. Officials
announced that they would establish this number for those with concerns last
week. If you have any questions
about the law you may call 1-855-LAW-GUNS.
Skiers
and snowboarders were left dangling in the air after one of the chair lifts
derailed at Smugglers' Notch. No one was injured, but it took about an hour to
get everyone down safely. Smuggs
was packed Monday full of riders, skiers, and working chair lifts... but
Sunday, it was a different story. The day started off calm, but around two, the
winds were whipping. "The
wind did pick up kind of suddenly and unexpectedly," Assistant Ski Patrol
Director, Eli Moore, said. Those
powerful gusts tore one of the cables off its tracks, and derailed the Madonna
two chair lift. "Nothing
fell, no one came off the lift," Moore said. But it left about 70 people hanging, between ten and 35 feet
in the air. The lift shut off automatically. "It only dropped about a couple of feet in that
particular area and actually where the derail was, there was nobody on the
chair at that time, which probably played a role into why it came off, because
there was no weight on the chair," Moore said. Andrezej Socha was skiing nearby the derailed lift. "I knew some people who were on it
and it sounded like it kind of would have been fun," he said. "Some people were a little scared,
but everybody did great, everybody was a super good sport about it," Moore
added. Fun for some, but I'd say
most people wouldn't want to see that happen again. Smuggs does monitor the
weather and shuts lifts down from time to time because of wind, but a chair
lift derailing is uncommon. "This
is the first rope evac that Smugglers' has had in 20 years," Moore said. So while it clearly doesn't happen very
often, Smugglers' Notch was prepared.
Fortunately for the skiers and riders who were stuck at the top, the
temperatures weren't too terrible... they were in the mid 20's. Eventually all of the lifts were closed
though yesterday, because the wind was just so intense.
Saint
Michael’s college kicked off a weeklong series dedicated to honoring martin Luther
King Junior. The college
held an assembly yesterday. This
year the college is holding a week long series called, "a call to
conscience: martin Luther king and the ongoing struggle for civil rights.” Several speakers will travel to the
college this week to talk about civil rights. Organizers say this day has special meaning to them. “Personally I take pride in this every
year, it means a lot to me because if it wasn't for what he's done I probably
wouldn't even be born, my mother is white and my father is black Hispanic so I
probably wouldn’t even be here, never mind at college so I just want to
celebrate what he's done for me as well.”
Tomorrow night at seven, the series continues with "a call for
action, the significance of the letter from Birmingham jail” in the McCarthy
arts center.
The
Gulliver's Doggie Daycare bus that caught fire on New Year's Day has officially
been replaced. Yesterday, the new
bus picked up four, furry four-legged friends. And after being inspected twice, it was re-checked in the
afternoon, after the first ride, just to be on the safe side. Gulliver's Doggie Daycare looks after
about a hundred dogs every day, and on average, about ten ride the bus to and
from daycare. Gulliver's is
looking at installing even more safety features.
