BARRE — Despite a devastating flood in July that crippled much of the city for several months, the Granite City weathered other storms in 2023 that revealed a divided school board and City Council. The year was rife with political bickering, and some serious fiscal challenges — some of which have yet to be determined.
In January, the City Council put the historic Wheelock Building up for sale. Initially, two bidders came forward with plans for the the city-owned structure that was built as a law office in 1871, and was best known for its decades-long run as the local senior center. Two weeks after authorizing City Manager Nicolas Storellicastro to negotiate the sale of the Wheelock Building to Fox Market LLC, councilors voted, 5-2, to authorize him to sign a purchase and sales contract with Doni Cain and Olivia Dunton. That agreement contemplated a sales price of $155,000. In June, a petition that would have forced an up-or-down vote on the City Council-approved sale of the Wheelock Building was circulated. It did not garner the necessary 5% — or 301 signatures — of the city’s 6,011 registered voters. Finally, in early November, councilors accepted Fox Market’s revised offer of $110,000. The difference was traced to damage caused when floodwaters filled the building’s basement in July. The proposal contemplated allowing the city to keep up to $25,000 of a pending flood-related insurance settlement.
In January, the Development Review Board has unanimously approved plans to convert one of the city’s old neighborhood schools into affordable housing. Downstreet Housing and Community Development plans to transform the old Ward 5 School into housing for low- to moderate-income residents. Later in January, city councilors said they were not ready to write a $250,000 check to Downstreet Housing and Community Development to help finance the transformation of one of the old neighborhood schools into nine units of affordable housing. For councilors, the debate centered on whether the project really warranted $250,000 in one-time funds and, if it did, whether a long-term loan that would allow the city to further leverage the money was a viable option. In early February they ultimately consented.
Early in the year, the budget process for the Barre Unified Union School District drew fire with considerable internal debate and public pushback over a $54 million budget proposal. Board members sent Superintendent Chris Hennessey and his administrators back for a range of cuts. The contentiousness generated hard feelings throughout the community, and ultimately cost the board its first pass at the budget in March. It was so dire, board members were actively instructing the public to vote down the budget.
Meanwhile, a campaign to torpedo the school budget drew some fire on Valentines Day when some heart-shaped signs appeared around the Granite City urging voters to vote “no” on the school budget. City Councilor Michael Deering said he removed more than 100 of the posters that were plastered up and down North Main Street, including several that were taped to windows of vacant buildings. He said he also spoke with business owners about the signs in their windows.
In February, the city promoted Keith Cushman to lead the fire department. He was one of 17 applicants for the job. Cushman joined the Barre department in 2002 — filling a position that was created when former chief Doug Brent’s first tour as Barre’s fire chief ended. Brent took over as fire chief in South Burlington in 2002, Peter John was promoted to replace him, and Cushman was hired to fill out the ranks. When Brent postponed his planned retirement in favor of a second stint as Barre’s fire chief in 2018, Cushman had been a captain for nearly a decade.
A tabulator scare that potentially could have affected counting ballots for the Central Vermont Career Center School District’s first co-mingled vote was resolved easily just days before the Town Meeting Day vote. The 18-town district saw its first ballot overwhelmingly supported by central Vermont voters.
In early March, the city successfully negotiated a contract with the union that supports the public works department. The deal boosted employee wages by more than 15% during the next three years, while requiring them to pay a little bit more for their health insurance benefits. The contract covers a department, which when fully staffed includes 30 employees, whose jobs range from maintaining city equipment, streets, sidewalks and subsurface utilities to operating the city’s water and wastewater treatment plants. The bargaining unit, which was represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, also includes the cemetery foreperson.
In September, the city’s unionized clerical and custodial staff finally had a new contract — one that includes retroactive wage increases for all, and one-time bonuses for most. Recently ratified by the 14-member bargaining unit, and more recently by the City Council, the contract capped a protracted round of negotiations and replaced a labor agreement that expired July 1, 2022.
Unionized members of the city’s police department are in the final year of a three-year contract that runs through June 30, 2024. Though the contract with the city’s clerical and custodial staff was just ratified negotiating a new deal will be next up after police, given its June 30, 2025, expiration date. On June 30, 2026, a four-year contract with unionized firefighters will expire and on Dec. 31, 2026, the three-year contract negotiated with unionized employees of the public works department will lapse.
Also in the days leading up to Town Meeting Day, the city’s Board of Civil Authority ruled Girl Scouts could not sell cookies in the lobby of the Barre Municipal Auditorium as voters were coming and going. City Councilor Thomas Lauzon said while he supported the work of the scouts and the local troop’s leadership, it wasn’t hard for him to imagine organizations some would object to being allowed to sell things in the lobby of the auditorium when the polls were open and people were voting.
On Town Meeting Day itself, the school budget failed. The combined result saw 1,157 voters in Barre and Barre Town back a budget that was narrowly approved by the school board in January and 1,710 people vote against it. In Barre, Michael Boutin won a four-way race for two open board seats. Though neither of the Barre incumbents — Sarah Pregent and Tim Boltin — ran for reelection, both did in Barre Town. Alice Farrell lost her three-year seat to Emily Wheeler, 859-704, while Paul Malone narrowly defeated challenger Mindy Woodworth, 821-780.
On the city side of the ballot, the $13.7 million municipal spending plan passed 825-393. The two-to-one margin was mirrored in each of the city’s three wards. In Ward 1, Councilor Emel Cambel earned her second consecutive two-year term by beating Tim Boltin. In Ward 2, Teddy Waszazak notched his third consecutive win against Rosemary Averill. And Samn Stockwell earned her second full two-year term representing Ward 3 voters with a win over Tina Routhier. The closest vote of the day involved the proposed withdrawal from the Central Vermont Public Safety Authority. That article was approved 617-507 — narrowly passing in two of the city’s three wards.
At the end of March the Barre Unified School Board began the work to come up with another budget proposal they hoped voters in Barre and Barre Town would approve May 9. But the board remained bitterly divided, leading to continued ties, bickering and claims of “deception.” A figure was finally reached. On May 9, voters in Barre and Barre Town collectively approved the budget with the $55.6 million bottom line, 1,235-887, during a special election that featured slow, but steady-ish turnout in both communities.
In early April, the former Bonacorsi building on Prospect Street burned after two back-to-back fires at the warehouse. The first fire involved an empty refrigerated trailer parked on the south side of the warehouse. The second fire destroyed the warehouse itself a few hours later.
In mid-April, students from Norwich University pitched potential ideas for updating “The Aud.” Professor Michael Kelley and some of his engineering and architecture students presented ways to extend the building’s life, and better use some of its space. The presentation was made to the civic center committee.
In early spring, Hope Cemetery was overrun with grubs. The city’s Director of Buildings and Community Services, Jeff Bergeron, said the infestation likely began the previous summer. “We’ve had grub issues before, but, it’s usually a little patch here, or a little patch there. Nothing ever this big.” By mid-summer the lawn looked better, but Route 14 along the cemetery’s edge was then mired in massive road construction.
After 18 years at the helm, Dan Casey stepped down as executive director of the Barre Opera House. Earlier in the year, Kurt Thoma was named to lead the historic venue. (Casey went off to lead the Central Vermont Waste Management District.) “Opportunities like this do not come up often in a town this size, and it’s doing what I love,” Thoma said at the time of the announcement. “I view it as a commitment from me to the entire area,” he said. “No one wants to see uncertainty in this type of role in a space they feel they have some ownership over.”
In late May, as the state announced it would be phasing out its motel voucher program for the state’s homeless population, city councilors considered Barre’s indoor ice arena as a temporary shelter for unhoused Vermonters as early as next week. The cost? $29,025 a day to the state. Mayor Jake Hemmerick argued communities like Barre should be at the front of the line with respect to $12.5 million in funding the Legislature appropriated to help address the planned pivot from the motel program. The state passed on Storellicastro’s all-or-nothing, take-it-or-leave-it offer. The debate, however, had councilors fearing for the region’s unhoused population, and advocates for the homeless were critical of Barre and other communities for not trying to do more. In June, to the chagrin of some city leaders, Storellicastro noted that individuals who can camp under the radar in Barre won’t be rooted out by police, but if their presence is called to the city’s attention they will likely be asked to leave and “compassionately” connected with service providers.
In July, a historic flood devastated much of downtown Barre, as well as other communities around the region. The storm damaged homes and infrastructure and closed most businesses in the downtown.
By August, the city was trying to make ends meet, and leverage support. The City Council reconsidered what to do with pandemic-related federal funding they had hoped to funnel to private projects. Councilors created a “community innovation fund” with $200,000 of the $2.5 million the city received under the American Rescue Plan Act. Citing financial uncertainties facing the city, many of its residents, some downtown merchants and nonprofit organizations, councilors agreed it was not the time to award nearly $175,000 to a short list of non-flood related projects.
In late August, days before the start of the school year, the Barre Unified School Board unanimously ratified separate labor agreements with hundreds of unionized teachers and support staff. Though the new contracts were overdue — both earlier agreements expired on June 30 — the two-month lag was barely perceptible in a district where negotiations have frequently stalled in the past, often required mediation, sometimes fact-finding, and occasionally more extreme steps.
While the July flood dampened plans for the Barre Heritage Festival, the four-day event went off without a hitch in mid-September.
In early October, the contentiousness of the school board was back. After much parliamentary maneuvering, and repeated accusations of rule-breaking, a request was made to oust Chair Giuliano Cecchinelli. The effort failed, but not before rifts on the board deepened. Now, the fractious board is contemplating yet another budget cycle. The school board had a lukewarm reaction to Superintendent Chris Hennessey’s first pass at a $58.9 million budget proposal, presented in early December.
The City Council, decided against removing Raylene Meunier from her seat on the planning commission. The vote on Meunier’s removal, which was placed on the agenda by the mayor, split the council. Emel Cambel and Samn Stockwell joined Hemmerick in voting in favor of Meunier’s removal; while Councilors Thomas Lauzon and Michael Boutin were both opposed. Councilors Teddy Waszazak and Michael Deering abstained. The vote needed to be unanimous. Some councilors argued Meunier “crossed the line” with social media posts critical of city decisions, and on-air comments she made during a podcast.
In late October, Gov. Phil Scott, a Barre native, showed up at a council meeting with a presentation designed to generate local interest in revamping the north end of Barre, which was badly damaged in the July flooding. Councilors showed cautious enthusiasm for the idea, which included a promise of federal money. The City Council agreed it would be willing to work with the Scott administration to get a project underway in the Granite City before the timeline on monies lapsed.
In November, city councilors were presented with a grim fiscal forecast from Storellicastro on the eve of the budget cycle. He said the community is facing a tax rate increase — just over 19% — based on current projections. Storellicastro said those projections reflect $467,000 of “cuts” and the addition of more than $93,000 in “new, non-tax revenue” to the first draft of a budget he hasn’t yet presented. Based on the voter-approved budget of $13.7 million that’s an increase of roughly $550,000 and would push city spending close to $14.3 million.
