CHESTER, Vt. – The Chester Selectboard met on Wednesday, Feb. 4, beginning by hearing updates from town manager Julie Hance on several issues.
In relation to the board’s previous meeting, at which a deficit stemming from an audit of the town’s finances in 2024 was discussed, Hance said there had been no applicants for the position of finance director. Hance explained that “many, many, many towns in the State of Vermont…are seeking the same position,” and that the position as advertised is asking for a candidate with experience in government finance. This, Hance felt, could be limiting the potential applicant pool, as, she said, “There are very different principles and laws that you follow” in government finance as opposed to corporate accounting, “and it’s not necessarily an easy transfer from one to the other.”
Hance also informed that board that the town is dealing with a shortage of road salt, an issue currently faced by many municipalities nationwide. While she said that highway director Kirby Putnam is not yet concerned about running out entirely, she did say he had made the decision to salt only Chester’s main roads, while limiting treatment of “back roads” to plowing and sanding, in order to preserve salt. Hance said the town will continue to seek ways to increase its salt supply, but noted that, due to low supply and increased demand, prices are considerably inflated.
The board then took up its long-running discussion of the town’s proposed Class 4 road policy, whereupon Hance told them that town attorney Jim Carroll “has some concerns about the policy.”
According to Hance, Carroll feels that the policy should “align with the town road and bridge standards,” and suggested that the two be combined into a single document. Hance noted that the road and bridge standards have not been updated since 2019, and that this would therefore be a good time to review them as well. Hance also said Carroll wanted to caution the town to tread carefully with the policy, due to pending litigation against the town regarding Class 4 roads.
While the board generally agreed with these suggestions, board member Tim Roper expressed concern that the work required to merge the two documents would hold up a process that has already taken significant time. “It feels like this is going to extend the time before we adopt…a policy covering our Class 4 roads,” Roper said. Board Chair Lee Gustafson, on the other hand, said he feels that the slow pace of the process is “a feature, not a bug,” due to the major effects any policy changes can have on the lives of people across the town.
The board requested that Hance provide a draft document that merges the road and bridge standards with the Class 4 road policy, and Hance said she would “put pressure” on Carroll to move the process along quickly.
In the same vein, the board then turned to address a request for discontinuance of Adams Road, a Class 4 road, submitted by Chester resident Damon Tyler. A portion of Adams Road runs through a family farm operated in part by Tyler, and Tyler had raised concern at previous meetings about greater public use of the road resulting from the Class 4 policy and its potential negative impacts on said farm.
The issue before the board was whether to schedule a public hearing on the discontinuance, as is required before any road can be discontinued. However, Hance told the board that Carroll’s opinion is that the board should wait to take up the issue of discontinuance until their Class 4 road policy is finalized, whatever form that may take. “Jim’s recommendation is that you pause until the policy is in place,” she said.
Tyler responded that he will be “more than rightly dissatisfied” if the board chooses to defer action on the matter. “There is [state] statute on how to deal with discontinuance; I’d like to move forward with that process,” Tyler said, noting that if the board refuses to schedule a hearing, he has the option to gather 300 signatures on a petition to force the issue. “Others have taken other methods to move their concerns forward,” Tyler said, in an apparent reference to several landowners whose properties abut Class 4 roads who have pursued litigation against the town, adding, “I’d hate to go down that route.”
Vice Chair Arne Jonynas, who helped draft the Class 4 road policy as a member of the Chester Conservation Committee, said that many of the Class 4 roads have been town property for “hundreds of years,” and that in this time they have served different functions. “I hate to sit here and take away a section of road, and then 50 years from now…somebody is trying to do something for the village, and they can’t because they’re missing a Class 4 road,” Jonynas said. “I think it’s a huge right to give away.”
Gustafson insisted to Tyler that he did not see the discontinuance as a matter of urgency, and that he would prefer to wait until the policy is adopted before setting a hearing. The rest of the board was in agreement with Gustafson, and no hearing was scheduled, though Gustafson assured Tyler that one would be once the town’s approach to Class 4 roads has been codified.
During the ensuing portion of the meeting, during which the board signed the town’s certificate of highway milage, Jonynas noted that issues surrounding discontinuance of Bailey Hill Road, pursued by the late landowner Paul Bidgood, had taken several years to resolve, during which time the town had conducted thorough research into the history of the road, and solicited legal opinions. Jonynas cited Bailey Hill Road as an example of the lengthy process and due diligence required for any Class 4 road discontinuance request.
The Chester Selectboard will next meet on Wednesday, March 4, at 6:30 p.m., at the Chester Town Hall.