Monday, July 12, 2021
Hallquist will be the first executive director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, a new entity created by lawmakers to coordinate and accelerate the rollout of high-speed internet services to the 23 percent of Vermont households that lack it.
A veteran of the electric utility industry, Hallquist ran against Scott in 2018. She made history as the first transgender major party gubernatorial candidate in the country. She won just 40 percent of the vote to Scott’s 55 percent.
Hallquist made broadband a major platform in her campaign. She argued that her experience as CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative positioned her well to help expand the service. She currently works for two communications union districts rolling out broadband in Lamoille County and the Northeast Kingdom.
In a press release, Scott framed broadband as an economic equity issue and praised Hallquist for her years of work advancing the issue.
“I cannot think of a better person to lead this important effort than Christine,” Scott said. “Her experience as a cooperative executive and most recent experience with two CUDs as well as her long-standing commitment to expanding broadband in Vermont will be valuable to this work.”
Communications union districts are a type of municipal entity designed to bridge the digital divide in the state. There are now nine such districts, which can build broadband infrastructure themselves or work with private internet providers to expand service. They cover more than 200 towns and are managed mostly by volunteer boards.
The five-member Vermont Community Broadband Board was formed to help these fledgling districts design, fund and manage the rollout of broadband networks. Future state grants will flow almost exclusively through such districts. Board members have yet to be appointed.
Hallquist compares the challenge of expanding broadband to the rural electrification effort of the 1930s and 1940s that gave birth to the electric co-op that she headed from 2005 to 2018.
In an interview Monday, Hallquist said she was honored to be appointed and learned she'd been selected during a “gracious” call from Scott last week. She said she’s been impressed with Scott’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and told him so.
"I think he did a better job than I could have done,” Hallquist said.
Hallquist will work in the Department of Public Service. Her first order of business will be to get the five board members appointed and ready for the board’s first meeting on August 9, she said.
The state has set aside $150 million for broadband expansion, and Hallquist will be largely responsible for helping the board direct those dollars to fiber-optic projects serving all residents, she said.
“I’m very excited and looking to get to work helping CUDs maximize the value of those grant funds,” Hallquist said.
Tags: Christin Hallquist , Phil Scott , broadband , Web Only , Image
All public beaches in Burlington have been closed because of an extensive cyanobacteria bloom in Lake Champlain.
The algal blooms — which look like pea soup or spilled paint on the water's surface — were first spotted at 11:15 a.m. on Monday at Blanchard Beach and the Cove at Oakledge Park during a visual inspection by staff, said Deryk Roach, Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront's parks and central facilities superintendent. Minutes later, a staff member identified a bloom at North Beach. Before noon, Texaco Beach and Leddy Beach were closed because of the algae as well.
Tags: cyanobacteria , blue-green algae , Lake Champlain , North Beach , Leddy Beach , Oakledge Park , Web Only , Image
Sunday, July 11, 2021
Several flights were delayed out of Burlington International Airport on Sunday because some airlines couldn't obtain fuel due to supply problems.
Airlines generally purchase fuel from Albany, N.Y., that is stored in a tank farm at BTV owned by Heritage Aviation. The company then delivers the fuel to planes on the tarmac, according to Heritage CEO Matt Collins. The Albany facility is supplied via Hudson River barges; Collins was told a barge was late. "Obviously we can't deliver what we don't have," Collins said.
Fuel ran low on Saturday, he said.
"We've tried to cover the airlines the best we could with our own retail fuel," he added. "We're at a position now where ... I don't really have much of anything to sell. I can't even front the airlines any more fuel." Collins said he had a small reserve that could cover any emergency medical flights.
Tags: Burlington International Airport , Heritage Aviation , jet fuel , Web Only , Image
Friday, July 9, 2021
The business and its 90 employees will stay in Londonderry, said Domenic Mangano, who founded the Cottage Shop in 1995. The purchaser is Bill Silverstein, owner of WHS Homes, which produces homes under an array of brands.
Mangano declined to say how much he sold the company for. But he said the employees probably won’t see much difference in the work they are doing. They were told of the impending sale two weeks ago, said one employee who asked that his name not be used in the story.
Tags: Jamaica Cottage Shop , Domenic Mangano , WHS Homes , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Burlington International Airport aviation director Gene Richards is on administrative leave pending an investigation, Burlington city officials confirmed Tuesday.
The city's human resources office received a complaint against Richards and began investigating "immediately," a city spokesperson said in a brief email response to an inquiry by Seven Days. He was placed on paid leave June 30.
The city would not provide any information about the nature of the investigation until it concludes, said Samantha Sheehan, a spokesperson for Mayor Miro Weinberger. Richards did not return several requests for comment. A bounce-back message from his government email address said he would be out of office without access to phone or email from July 1 to July 6.
City leaders had not told members of the Burlington City Council or the Burlington Airport Commission of the ongoing investigation. Reached Tuesday afternoon, commission chair Jeff Munger said he learned of it by reading Seven Days.
Commissioner Helen Riehle, who represents South Burlington, said she would have expected the city to alert the advisory board if the director was on administrative leave, especially “if it's been a whole week.” Riehle said she “can't even guess” what the complaint might be about.
“Generally speaking, I think he's a very good administrator,” she said.
Burlington City Council President Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) said he heard of the complaint on Monday night from someone unconnected to the Weinberger administration. Tracy called the city’s Human Resources director, Kerin Durfee, on Tuesday morning and asked that she inform the rest of the council. Durfee subsequently sent a “very general” email to councilors on Tuesday afternoon, Tracy said.
Tracy criticized Weinberger for not sharing the news with councilors until prompted. He likened the situation to when the mayor chose not to tell councilors in summer 2019 that former police chief Brandon del Pozo had been placed on administrative leave for anonymously trolling a department critic on Twitter. Only his subsequent medical leave was publicized.
“The lesson I took from that was that we need to inform the council, to make sure that we all know,” Tracy said, adding that councilors should know “whenever a department head is placed on administrative leave.”
Sheehan said Tracy's criticism was "way off base." The mayor acted swiftly, she said, and councilors were notified "long before any potential Council action is required, or even anticipated." The administration will brief councilors on the investigation at the next city council meeting in executive session, she said.
Weinberger appointed Richards interim director in 2012. He became the permanent director the following year upon approval by the city council.
In addition to his role at the airport, Richards is a longtime landlord and CEO of Spruce Mortgage.
Deputy director of aviation Nic Longo is serving as acting director of the airport.
Courtney Lamdin contributed reporting.
Tags: Gene Richards , BTV , Burlington International Airport , Mayor Miro Weinberger , Web Only , Image
Monday, July 5, 2021
A grant of about $450,000 will be used to improve protection for loon nesting sites in Vermont lakes, and new mapping and education tools, said Eric Hanson, a biologist for the Vermont Center for Ecostudies who works on loon management in partnership with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Hanson said the center’s Vermont Loon Conservation Project will also use the money over the next several years to revamp the database of the volunteers who provide information about the large migratory birds and their nesting sites at lakes around the state.
“And I’ll be able to get safety gear for ice rescue,” said Hanson, noting sometimes chicks or adults are found frozen but alive on lake surfaces. “We’ll be able to capture them and give them a second chance.”
Tags: loons , Eric Hanson , Vermont Center for Ecostudies , Vermont Loon Conservation Project , Web Only , Image
Saturday, July 3, 2021
A city spokesperson confirmed the deal Saturday, which was first reported by VTDigger.org. The city's insurer will pay the settlement.
Kilburn's estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit last November, alleging that Officer Cory Campbell used excessive force when he punched Kilburn in the ambulance bay at the University of Vermont Medical Center, breaking several bones in his face. Kilburn was hospitalized, then found dead in his home a few days later.
Tags: Douglas Kilburn , Burlington Police Department , City of Burlington , Cory Campbell , excessive force lawsuit , wrongful death lawsuit , Jason Bellavance , Chadwick and Spensley , Web Only , Image
Friday, July 2, 2021
Continuing his post-session showdown with the legislature, Gov. Phil Scott on Friday vetoed a bill that aims to improve and expand the state’s rental housing stock.
The bill, S.79, would require landlords of both short- and long-term rentals to register with the state and pay a $35-per-unit annual fee to fund a new team of housing safety inspectors.
The measure didn’t get over the finish line during the regular session, but lawmakers took it up during a veto session last week. It squeaked by in the 30-member Senate, receiving the exact number of votes — 20 — needed to override the governor's veto. Three moderate Democrats joined all seven Republicans in opposition.
“Most agree we suffer from a critical housing shortage for middle income, low income and homeless Vermonters, but the solution is not more regulation,” Scott wrote.
Tags: rental registry , Vermont , Statehouse , lawmakers , Phil Scott , governor , veto , override , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Starting on Thursday, July 1, buying a box of tampons or pads in Vermont will be a slightly less costly proposition.
That's when Act 73 goes into effect. It exempts tampons, sanitary napkins, panty liners and menstrual cups from the state’s 6 percent sales tax.
“Being able to use our taxation system as a means to promote equity, I think, is incredibly important and powerful,” said Sen. Ruth Hardy (D-Addison), who sponsored the bill. Hardy said that the law supports gender and economic equity, as well as age equity: those who have the hardest time affording menstrual products are often younger.
Cary Brown, executive director of the Vermont Commission on Women, was part of a group of eight organizations, including the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Planned Parenthood and Vermont Works for Women, that advocated passage of the bill.
“This particular tax was something that hit a particular category of people and not others,” Brown said. “I think that there was a sense that we can do better than that now. Our tax policy can be better and fairer than that.”
Tags: Ruth Hardy , Vermont Commission on Women , menstrual products , period equity , Web Only , Image
An order approved Wednesday morning by a federal judge gives residents more time to get proof from their doctor that they have a disability that prevents them from working, which the state requires.
Vermont Legal Aid filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the Agency of Human Services from ending benefits many homeless receive under the General Assistance Emergency Housing Program. The plan to end housing benefits for the homeless July 1 contains exemptions for adults 60 and older, households with children, and people who are pregnant or disabled.
Tags: homeless people , hotel vouchers , Mike Smith , Vermont Legal Aid , Judge Christina Reiss , Web Only , Image