Hilltowns
Gould retains Otis selectman seat; voters reject annex debt again
OTIS — Therese Gould has retained her seat on the Board of Selectmen, beating challenger Susan Bauer-Brofman in the town election May 28. Gould received 207 votes, Brofman received 154, three ballots went to write-ins and three ballots were blank. “It’s humbling to...
Voters in Otis back short-term rental fees, inspections, reject CPA
OTIS — A capacity crowd at Town Meeting approved a short-term rental bylaw, rejected the Community Preservation Act and voted to take no action on the $4.5 million Town Hall annex proposed by selectmen. The short-term rental bylaw, which required two-thirds...
Students place flags on Blandford graves, hear from veteran
BLANDFORD — On May 21, Chester Elementary School Principal Vanna Maffucio and fourth grade teacher Mikayla Menin invited the fourth grade students and their families to meet after school at Center Cemetery in Blandford, across from the Blandford Fairgrounds, to replace the flags on graves of local veterans.
Montgomery Town Meeting rescheduled to larger hall
MONTGOMERY — With 119 registered voters signed in and more in the hallway, Town Moderator Steven Pierce said the May 20 Annual Town Meeting had exceeded the Town Hall capacity of 102 and would have to be rescheduled. “The fire code will not allow us to have the...
Tolland voters approve all articles, including culvert repairs
TOLLAND — Tolland’s Town Meeting saw 17 voters passing 17 articles, mostly with little discussion. Selectman Steve DellaGiustina, imitating a horse, cast the only “nay” vote of the night on an article putting $3,000 towards a text-based alert system.
After debate, Granville voters support meals, lodging taxes
GRANVILLE — Town Meeting agreed to adopt local taxes on meals and lodging on May 13, but unlike the rest of the articles on the warrant, it wasn’t unanimous. An extra 0.75% local meals tax passed 28-9. The proposed 6% local lodging tax passed 23-18. In both cases,...
Budgets, water-sewer management project on Huntington warrant
HUNTINGTON — Huntington will host a Special Town Meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 3, at Stanton Hall, 26 Russell Rd., to vote on transferring no more than $20,000 from the sewer reserves account into the sewer wages account. Following that at 7 p.m. will be the...
McVeigh tops Loughran in Huntington Selectboard race
HUNTINGTON — Ninety-eight registered voters out of a total of 1,700 participated in the municipal election on May 11, with a close race for the three-year open seat on the Selectboard, formerly occupied by Edward Renaud. In unofficial results, former Selectboard...
Questions remain about proposed sale of Chester electric utility
CHESTER — At an informational meeting on April 22, residents heard from Eversource why they should sell the Chester Municipal Electric Light Department to them. Earlier in the month, CMELD had given a presentation on why the electric utility should remain town-owned. Both presentations are posted at townofchester.net.
Questions raised about annex article on May 21 warrant in Otis
OTIS — The article on the May 21 Town Meeting warrant says a new town annex building would cost $4.5 million, but that number could change based on construction costs and on whether voters want a larger building. At a public information meeting on May 14, Eric...