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Connecting Montpelier and nearby communities since 1993 | DECEMBER 13, 2012–JANUARY 9, 2013

IN THIS ISSUEDOWNTOWN PRESENTS

A quest for the best local gifts

9–11

HOLLAR SAYSThe mayor talks budget,

part two

6–7

PAYING FOR MONTPELIER

Do we borrow or do we cut?

13

SWEET STORIESBurr Morse’s new book of

Vermont tales

27

publicdomainpictures.net/Petr Kratochvil

On Friday, December 7, Nat Froth-ingham and Richard Sheir of The Bridge sat down with Montpelier

school superintendent Brian G. Ricca and Montpelier school board chair Susan Aldrich for a wide-ranging discussion of school issues with sharp attention to a new school budget that is being put together right now by the superintendent’s office in concert with the Montpelier school board. That budget, along with one or possibly two school-related bond proposals, will come before Montpelier voters at city meeting on Tuesday, March 5, 2013.

Richard: Do you have an estimate for this coming year’s new budget?

Brian: If we ran the budget as is, just roll-ing FY13 over to FY14, we would be more than $500,000 past the two-vote provision. Our increase in health care is estimated at more than 14 percent this year. Instructional assistants have been moved into the same category for contributions to health care as the teachers, to 85 percent/15 percent. Special education is up 7 percent across the state. We negotiated three-year contracts with both teachers and IAs with an increase of 4.33 percent in salaries.

Richard: The district is virtually un-changed this year from past years in terms of equalized student enrollments.

Nat: What does that mean to the layper-son?

Brian: You multiply your high school students by 1.13, your K–8 students by 1.0 and your pre-K students by 0.46. There’s also weighting for poverty, weighting for ELL.

That allows the state to come up with what’s called an equalized pupil: because we’re a state-funded system, we have to judge every-body equally. The average daily attendance is a two-year weighted average. They look at the prior two years, so if 40 new kids came into the district this year, that would not be reflected in our equalized pupils because it’s a two-year average of your ADM, which is collected October 1.

Richard: If you look at the state’s mini-mum capacities for schools, right now Union is at 96 percent of minimum; the high school is 75 percent of minimum; Main Street Mid-dle School is 45 percent of minimum. The minimum is the standard the state maintains for the smallest population. If you were con-structing a new building, this minimum is what the state would fund. If you were to keep the sixth grade at Union, you would be at 2002 levels. You would be beyond the minimum. If you were to take grades 7 and 8 and move them into the current configura-tion of [Montpelier] high school, you would be at about minimum. We do have an extra elementary school kindergarten, but we have smaller classes in the elementary school than we had in the past.

Brian: There’s no extra space at the el-ementary school. If we put the sixth grade there, that would raise class sizes substan-tially. If we hire a fifth second-grade teacher, which the board has asked us to do, we would have to take a music classroom away.

Richard: When I was at the school board meeting the other night, you were discuss-ing the need for putting more money into permanent capital spending. Do you see this

coming out of existing budgets so that it will be held revenue neutral but there will be an annual capital component? Or do you see this as an additional capital tax?

Brian: What I’ve tasked [director of facili-ties for the district] Thom Wood to do is to put more money into the capital improvement lines for each of the three buildings. I asked him to hold his costs as low as he could. We said we’d pay the city a flat rate for district heat, regardless of our consumption. Thom has also looked at the Honeywell [energy conser-vation] contract and found some ways to save there. Six years ago we signed on with Honey-well to see cost efficiency savings throughout the district with our three buildings based on our energy consumption, specifically our heat. They set certain benchmarks that they assured us we would meet in terms of efficiencies: if we did not meet those benchmarks, they would cut us a check for the difference. Every year that we have had this contract, the Honeywell folks have cut us a check. So we’re looking into efficiencies there.

Leadership at the district level means two things. You have to address the current situ-ation. But you have to look to the future so that you don’t repeat history. Going forward, we are going to be able to address the capital spending issues in each of the buildings, and beyond that. Thom has constructed a 10-year plan to get into a regular rotation of upkeep and maintenance that hasn’t existed yet in the district. Hopefully, based on the plans that we’re making, this will be the last bond.

We’ve got the column one items—things we must do so that education can continue as normal in our buildings next year. The heat

see SCHOOL BUDGET, page 4

Superintendent Brian Ricca and School Board Chair Susan Aldrich Discuss the School Budget

The Cost of Montpelier Education CO

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Students at Main Street Middle School.

PAGE 2 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

We made it! Our first year.

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30 Years in Central Vermont

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 3

Subscribe to The Bridge! For a one-year subscription, send this form and a check to The Bridge, P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601.

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HEARD ON THE

STREETPetitions to Run for City Council Due by February 4

Word floats about of conversations exploring running for City Council seats in Mont-pelier’s districts two and three. As yet, there’s no word from Anne Watson and Angela

Timpone whether they’ll seek a second term. City Clerk John Odum advises that according to Montpelier’s charter, petitions to run are due “no earlier than 40 days before, and no later than 30 days before city meeting,” which converts to no earlier than Thursday January 24, and no later than Monday February 4. (This differs from state statute, which says “no later than 5 p.m. on the sixth Monday preceding the day of the election.”) Odum anticipates that his office will be open until 5 on Monday, February 4 (as 30 days before city meeting falls on the weekend).

Stores on the Move and Starting Up

The CVS drug chain has been in touch with the town of Berlin to study the feasibility of opening a store at the former Friendly’s restaurant location in Berlin on the Barre-Mont-

pelier Road. Further up the B-M Road, Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store will be moving into the shopping center that Big Lots anchors. The Berlin Mall is soliciting interest in Jo-Ann’s soon-to-be-vacant large space at the mall. In that same Big Lots shopping center, the Panera Bread restaurant chain has permits to build a new building.

Give Nature Legal Personhood

A Vermont movement to give nature legal footing similar to corporations (oh, and people) is developing. Residents in Norwich, Strafford and Thetford are gathering signatures to

offer articles at their town meetings that propose recognition of “Vermont Rights of Nature,” similar to laws in Ecuador and Bolivia that give nature legal standing. For more information: facebook.com/vermontrightsofnature.

Union Institute & University Leaving Montpelier

Union Institute & University will close its Montpelier facilities in June, keeping its fa-cilities in Brattleboro. According to Vermont Digger, “About 15 positions in Montpelier

will be affected when the program closes next year. Most of these jobs will be moved to Brattleboro or Cincinnati. Three program adviser positions will not be filled. There will be no faculty reductions; instructors will continue to offer online courses and will participate in the Brattleboro weekend option.”

Buy a Book for Kellogg-Hubbard Through Bear Pond

Kellogg-Hubbard Library has partnered with Bear Pond Books, establishing a list for the library on Bear Pond Book’s “Wish List” web page, which enables folks to buy books

the library would like to have. It’s a way to provide books for Kellogg-Hubbard, buying them through Bear Pond Books. Check kellogghubbard.org or bearpondbooks.com for the library’s wish list, comprised now of numerous poetry books the library would like to have for Na-tional Poetry month and Poem City.

College Board Recognizes Excellence of Local High Schools

Three local high schools—U-32, Harwood Union and Stowe—have been recognized by the college board “for simultaneously increasing access to Advanced Placement (AP)

course work while increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams.” The college board maintains that an increase in both participation and scores “in-dicates that the district is successfully identifying motivated, academically prepared students who are likely to benefit most from rigorous AP course work.”

Deadline for State of the Union Essay Contest, January 8

Deadline for student entries into Senator Sanders’s state of the union essay contest is Janu-ary 8, 2013. The contest invites essays 250 to 500 words long on student perceptions

of the state of the union. Winning and finalist essays will be published in the Congressional Record and on the senator’s website, and the senator may visit the winning students’ schools. Essay authors may also be invited to participate in roundtables with Sanders. Details: sanders.senate.gov/stateoftheunion.

Daughter of Former Resident Receives Rhodes Scholarship

Rachel M. Woodlee, a senior at Wofford College, South Carolina, with family ties to Montpelier, has been selected as one of 32 Americans in the 2013 Rhodes Scholarship

competition, winning full financial support for three years of study at Oxford University, Britain. Beginning this fall, Woodlee will pursue a master’s of philosophy in modern Chinese studies. The Wofford senior majors in business economics and Chinese language and culture and is fluent in Mandarin. Woodlee’s Montpelier ties include her grandmother, mother and uncle. Her mother, Joan Zorzi Woodlee, graduated from Montpelier High School in 1978 and UVM in 1982. Rhodes scholarships honor the bequest of Cecil J. Rhodes (1853–1902), a South African businessman and diamond-mining magnate. Rhodes scholars are chosen for academic achievement, good character, commitment to others and the common good and potential to offer leadership.

—first two items by Richard Sheir; all others by Bob Nuner

P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601Phone: 802-223-5112 | Fax: 802-223-7852 montpelierbridge.com; facebook.com/montpelierbridge

Published every first and third Thursday

Editor & Publisher: Nat Frothingham

General Manager: Bob Nuner

Production Manager: Kate Mueller, pro tem

Sales Representatives: Gabriela Balboa, Carolyn Grodinsky, Rick McMahan

Graphic Design & Layout: Dana Dwinell-Yardley

Calendar Editor: Dana Dwinell-Yardley

Bookkeeper: Kathryn Leith

Distribution: Kevin Fair, Diana Koliander-Hart, Daniel Renfro

Website & Social Media Manager: Dana Dwinell-Yardley

Advertising: For information about advertising deadlines and rates, contact: 223-5112, ext. 11, carolyn@montpelierbridge.com or gabriela@montpelierbridge.com

Editorial: Contact Bob, 223-5112, ext. 14, or editorial@montpelierbridge.com.

Location: The Bridge office is located at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, on the lower level of Schulmaier Hall.

Subscriptions: You can receive The Bridge by mail for $50 a year. Make out your check to The Bridge, and mail to The Bridge, PO Box 1143, Montpelier VT 05601.

Copyright 2012 by The Montpelier Bridge

Back after weeks away, and off to the woods today, trying to pick up the threads. What is going on? All so quiet. So dormant. Not a weed or tree seed this year to

hint at a next season of growth and new life. And where are the juncos and northern tree sparrows that always spend the winter in our yard? I throw millet and cracked corn out under the rosebush where they would congregate. But days go by, and the corn molders on the ground. A few chickadees fly over to investigate. So, into the woods where ferns and mosses now rule. How green they are. And again, it’s so quiet. On the limey outcroppings just west of the Winooski River valley, mossy cedar and hemlock give way to an occasional balsam fir. It’s a pretty time in these woods, I think to myself, as I scramble back up a small cleft in the rock. On the way back home, the air feels so soft and damp, and as I come into the yard, I hear the sweet call of a northern tree sparrow.

—Nona Estrin, with thanks to Brett Engstrom for keeping Nature Watch going while I was away

Nature Watch

A New Year’s resolution you can keep:

ADVERTISE WITH US IN 2013!We have lots of great discounts, packages and spe-cial issues in store for the new year. For more informa-tion, contact our sales representatives: Carolyn, 223-5112, ext. 11, or carolyn@montpelierbridge.com, or Gabriela, 223-5112, ext. 12, or gabriela@montpelierbridge.com.

See you in 2013! This issue is our final issue of the year. Our next two issues will be published on Thursday, January 10, and Thursday, January 24. We will return to our normal first and third Thursday schedule in February.

PAGE 4 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

plant at Union Elementary School needs to be changed dramatically to hook up to dis-trict heat. Another item is roofs.

We’re also looking at items that are a little less dire: bathroom renovations; upkeep of windows at Union to make sure that our new heating system is as energy efficient as pos-sible. Potential upgrades to the auditorium. So we’ve got other items we’re going to ask the voters for.

I look at the bonds as leveling the playing field. At least at this level, which is right now at $120,000, we’re going to start looking at capital improvements on an annual basis. Maybe at some time in the not-too-distant future—I’m guessing three to five years—I’m going to come to the board and say, “Thank you, $40,000 per building was great. I’d like to increase that”—because we need to do this for maintenance and upkeep of carpets, windows, doors, that type of thing.

Richard: Will that money come out of the regular annual municipal budget, or is it an add-on?

Brian: Right now, it’s almost revenue neutral, if you just take facilities by itself. Thom’s budget is up just 1.01 percent.

Richard: How do you explain the budget to the average person, who doesn’t have a kid in the schools, that we were spending $14.022 million in 2007, and now, it’s going to be above $16.13 million for the same number of kids?

Sue: I think you explain it in terms of loss:

what it means to our current students to take away programs that we’ve always provided. What I hear from the majority of voters in this town is that they would be enraged to think that we were going to lose those programs. And enrollment is slowly coming back.

Brian: We’ve exceeded our birthrate cal-culations every year, which means right now we’re bottom heavy. We have a fifth kinder-garten right now, and those students will eventually attend high school, which will help us in terms of state calculations and equalized pupils—if we continue to exceed that birthrate.

If you want to address best practices in education, you’re going to have to continue to fund it at a decent level. If you don’t have the highest paid teachers in Washington County, which we don’t, and you want to attract people to stay here for a substantial amount of time, not make the jump to Chit-tenden County, then you’re going to have to put up a little bit more.

I fully understand that the tax rate in Montpelier is the highest in the state. I fully understand that, per capita, you’re paying more than anybody else in the state—but for city and schools combined. Montpelier public school spending is still holding to-ward the middle; we’re not identified as a high-spending district. And I will tell you for the record, the administrative team and I will not present a budget that triggers the two-vote provision.

Richard: Let me ask about efficiencies and economies. Have you guys considered cutting existing spending? Are all existing programs continuing?

Sue: We don’t know yet. We don’t want to lose music. Or ultimate Frisbee.

Nat: I actually think the Main Street Middle School building, both for historic rea-sons and because of its location, is a valuable building. But let’s say that the district sold that building, maybe to the state. After the sale, wouldn’t there be a one-year bonanza?

When I hear the enrollment figures, the equalized pupil figures, the minimum levels of student occupancy and all that, it seems that Main Street Middle School could be taken out of the mix and a plan could be adopted where grades 6, 7 and 8 go to the high school building. What prevents us from taking that step, a step that would yield an immediate financial gain with the sale pro-ceeds from the Main Street building and, over time, a gain in cut expenses?

Sue: I would say a big reason it hasn’t happened yet is that a majority of the com-munity has said they want a separate middle school for middle school kids.

Brian: Educationally, we offer something that doesn’t get offered in most other places, and that is a building specifically for middle school students. They take a team approach; there’s coteaching. You could re-create that. We could hypothetically put on a dedicated wing at the high school and literally just move the program over there. For the sake of the argument, let’s say it was cost neutral. We would get from the city all the money from the sale of the building. If you could con-vince me that educationally nothing would change, my question would then be to the community: “Is that what you want?”

Richard: Is the regionalization of services dead as hell?

Brian: Bill Kimball [U-32 district super-intendent] and I are looking for low-hanging fruit for FY14, like professional development around the common core or potentially pur-chasing co-ops. We are committed to our district but also to our students collectively. So what we’re looking at is: It’s time for the com-mon core; we all have these challenges in terms of efficiencies. What can we do together?

Richard: Which brings me to special needs. The special needs tuition jumped from $217,000 to $438,000. Do you see that trend continuing?

Brian: We have established ourselves as a district that does very well with a most vulnerable population. I can’t ever anticipate what it’s going to be because I don’t know the needs of children coming in.

Richard: We don’t have an auto shop at the high school; we have one in the region. Has there been any discussion at the super-intendent level about regionalizing special needs services? We have teachers that are specialized with the cerebral palsy kids, and we could pick up these kids all the way from Danville through to Richmond. And then send autistic kids to a teacher skilled in that. Has there ever been a rethinking fundamentally about the way we approach this? Perhaps it would be cost neutral. Per-haps it would cost more—or less. I know we wouldn’t pay the full freight.

Brian: It’s Act 156, I think, that requires supervisory unions to centralize their spe-

SCHOOL BUDGET, from page 1

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THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 5

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There are two pools of money: one for the arts and one for general agency sup-

port. The pot is $100,000. Eleven have filed for the arts for $18,692. Twenty-seven have come in for $108,575. The next meeting for the committee, which will determine alloca-tions, is Friday, January 4, 2013, at 6 p.m.

Arts FundAvi Waring: $3,066Capital City Band: $1,000Capital City Concerts: $1,000Hanna Satterlee: $1,400Kids’ Fest: $1,000Linda Hogan: $1,000Montpelier Alive: $2,071Montpelier Chamber Orchestra: $2,500Montpelier Gospel Choir: $1,400Vermont Opera Theater: $1,000Willow Wonder: $3,255

General PoolAmerican Red Cross: $2,000Central Vermont Adult Basic Ed: $6,000Central Vermont Community Action

Council: $2,000Central Vermont Community Land Trust:

$5,000Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice:

$18,000

Circle Industries: $3,075Council On Aging: $5,000Everybody Wins: $1,500Family Center: $3,500Friends of Winooski River: $500Good Beginnings of Central Vermont: $400Green Mountain Youth Symphony: $1,500Home Share: $1,000Just Business Home Delivery Services:

$5,000Kellogg Hubbard Library: $2,000Lost Nation Theater: $5,000Montpelier Veterans Council: $1,500North Branch Nature Center: $2,500OUR House of Central Vermont: $200People’s Health and Wellness Clinic: $1,250Prevent Child Abuse Vermont: $1,200RSVP: $3,000Teen Center: $15,000 TW Wood Gallery: $10,000Vermont Association for the Blind and Vi-

sually Impaired: $500Vermont Center for Independent Living:

$5,000Washington County Diversion Program:

$1,950Youth Services Bureau: $5,000

—information courtesy Sandy Gallup; compiled by Richard Sheir

Who Wants Money?A List of Outside Agency Requests

cial education services. We haven’t had this fundamental rethinking because, as a single district, our services are already centralized, unlike, for example, Washington Central. They have five elementary schools and the middle high school. They have different con-tracts for their IAs at each of those schools. They have to centralize those because they would still fall under support services. We’re exempt from that conversation. Our goal, eventually, would be to ask any of our area neighbors to come up with a system such as you describe.

Nat: What about that 4 percent raise? How do you defend that? What does an entry-level teacher get paid? What’s your top wage?

Brian: We consider ourselves one of the better districts in this area, but the reality is that some teachers look at Montpelier as a stepping-stone because Washington County pays less than Chittenden. We want to retain people in this district and not let them say, “Oh, I’ll put in a couple of years in Montpe-lier, and when I know I can get 10, 15 or 20 percent more for doing the same thing with the same level of education, I’ll move on.”

Sue: So that’s the reasoning behind the pay

increases. And believe me, it was hard fought because we want to keep it competitive so we can attract good teachers and keep them.

Brian: Bachelor’s degree, step one: $37, 268. Master’s plus 30 with 16 years or more experience: $66,633. Last year’s entry level was $36,537; master’s plus 30 with 16 or more years of experience was $65,903. We’re above the median now. We’re more towards the top of Washington County. You do your research, and you’ll see that our average sal-ary was below even the state median salary. In this district, 74 cents of every dollar spent is salary and benefits. So we can shave and whittle, if it’s worth the exercise. But it’s almost not worth the exercise. These are real human beings who look at their salary and try to figure out how they’re going to pay the bills and pay back their loans. When we look at more than a half million dollars over the two-vote provision, that’s more than a half million dollars of real people with beating hearts who are vulnerable to reductions.

Sue: And who do fantastic jobs, and par-ents and kids come out and say, “Please don’t cut this teacher. This person changed my life.” I’ve heard several teachers saying they’re already looking for jobs, out of fear that it might be them whose jobs are cut.

PAGE 6 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

In our last issue, we presented the first part (of two) of a conversation with Mayor John Hollar, Nat Frothingham

and Richard Sheir about issues of Montpelier city financing and operation. Here is the sec-ond and final part of that discussion.

Nat: Let’s keep talking about ways to cut municipal spending by reorganizing the way we deliver services.

John: I think the best option is to create a regional public safety authority, and the work on that is pretty far along. I was very encouraged by the work of the commit-tee comprised of representatives of Berlin, Barre Town, Montpelier and Barre City. We have a proposal to create a public safety authority that would cover the police, fire and ambulance services for each of those four communities. Over time, that would save us a substantial amount of money. The best option for us [is] to engage in the kind of fundamental restructuring you refer to. Otherwise, between the Matrix Report and the Budget Committee Report, there’s not a lot there. People talk about the potential for volunteer firefighters or combining fire and police in our community. I don’t see those as big, viable alternatives.

Richard: When we go through the Bud-get Committee Report, there are some real serious issues like the IT [information tech-nology] cost. Is the council going to give the budget committee people time to pres-ent themselves and to have the city depart-ments present and have the IT structure, the fee structure for recreation, assuming you take over recreation, and the senior center discussed? In other cities, the fee structure generates 75 percent and the subsidy is 25 percent.

John: Well, we are doing that. First, we’ve heard from the committee members them-selves. Now, we’re in the process of hearing from each of the city agencies. Those agencies are discussing their responses to the budget committee—their plans for next year and some of the challenges they’re facing. We’ve heard from planning and public works. At our next meeting, we’ll hear from fire. [Be-cause police were exempted], we will appoint a group from the police department and citi-zens that served on the budget committee [to review the police]. My expectation is that the city manager will incorporate those recom-mendations into the budget process.

Nat: I’m very committed to the library, but at the time the addition was built, I don’t think there was a robust discussion of what it would cost to fund it. The City Council appears to be a soft touch for outside agen-cies like the library, the senior center, the justice center. These are good things, but why should the city be carrying all the rocks? I don’t believe the surrounding communities bonded for the addition.

John: That’s an important question. We’re addressing that on three fronts.

First, the library is a treasure. We need to first make sure that we support the institu-tions that Montpelier residents value. The overwhelming message I get as mayor—and I think this is important to underscore—is that people love living here. So we’re not looking for dramatic changes in the way our city operates. We need to change some of the ways that it’s financed and the amount that we spend on it to deal with our tax problems.

That said, we do have some significant financial challenges. And here are the three ways we’re approaching [them]. The first is

to create an overall framework for our budget that limits our growth to the rate of inflation. So within that, we’re going to have to manage our spending, and that will include examin-ing all of the components—the library, po-lice, fire, public works and so on. And then within that, we have to redirect some of that money to infrastructure.

The second is the policy we’ve created to fund nonprofits. I think we need to eliminate the practice where we have 42 ballot items with different funding requests. The voters don’t have that ability to evaluate those in a voting booth. We need a more rational pro-cess. So we’ve done this; we’ve created this community board.

The library will be outside of that [pro-cess], because the amount of it would over-whelm the process. The library funding was $300,000 or $400,000. Last year, the total sum of all the others was $100,000.

But my third point relates to the library. The new policy says that to the extent that we’re providing a regional service, outside communities have to contribute a propor-tional amount for their residents. And that will apply to the library and the senior center. That’s incorporated now, and the library does have a formula that they use. We do receive contributions from each of the communi-ties who benefit and use the library. So all the agencies that provide these services to residents outside Montpelier will be required to come in and tell us how they’re meeting this policy. I am not, at this point, ready to second-guess the formula that the library has. What the fair share [of outside communities] is, I don’t know; we’ll see.

Richard: Let’s talk about the community board that’s dealing with the outer agencies, the arts funds and things like that. I saw their form, which was really well done by the way.

Are we finally going to use that form to con-tract with agencies? It does give units of ser-vice that are proposed; how many Montpelier people [an agency] estimates will get those services. Are we finally not going to give away money like a blank check and instead say this is a contractual arrangement?

John: The checks now have strings. Any organization that receives money is going to have to account for how the money is spent. We’re very fortunate to have the kind of tal-ent that we do serving on this committee: These are people who have been working in the nonprofit world and the administration of grants for a long time.

Nat: Maybe it’s time for the state of Ver-mont to take another look at its presence in the city. Maybe it’s time to look at some of the buildings that have escaped the tax rolls. I don’t have a list of those buildings, but it occurs to me that some are nonprofits, some are educational and some are churches. I don’t know what kind of a burden we’re carrying as a city for buildings that are either lightly taxed or not taxed at all. Is there a mechanism that could be employed to get some of that freight weighted and accounted for?

I’ve got one more [suggestion]. Not every-one who lives in town feels ardently about it, but there are a number of people who identify with Montpelier in a very enthusiastic way. I think if the city was to establish an in-novation fund or a community fund, people would leave a bequest to the city or some part of their estate to the city. It would have to be well managed; the goals would have to be clear. But I think that over time, people would just say, “Yeah, I’ve lived in the city all my life. I think it’s a fabulous place. I want to stick $10,000 in.” Are those ideas being explored?

Following the MoneyPart Two of an Interview with Montpelier Mayor John Hollar

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Hands-on workshops held inside warm greenhouses at Red Wagon Plants in Hinesburg. Space limited. Tuition: $100. Register at queencitysoilandstone.com.

Stone Wall Workshops

Medicine in the Microcosmosthe first course in a series of Short Courses for Self-Care

February 16 & 17 and March 2 & 3, 9am–5pmTaught by Guido Masé. At Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, 252 Main Street, Montpelier. $280 tuition, $30 deposit.

In this 28-hour course, discover how the microcosmos mirrors the world around us and the many different levels at which the environment interfaces with human beings. Examine basic chemical structures, study the funda-mentals of cell biology, and explore solubility, chemical reactions, extraction, and absorption—all to gain a more rich and nuanced understanding of the actions of what we put into our bodies.

To register, contact info@vtherbcenter.org or 224-7100. For details about this and other short courses, visit www.vtherbcenter.org

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 7

John: They really haven’t. I think the no-tion of private bequests to the community is something that has fallen to the wayside over the years. We have, of course, a great legacy in Montpelier thanks to Mr. Kellogg and Mr. Hubbard, more than 100 years ago. We think differently about government than our residents did 200 years ago. It’s obviously much less common for individuals to leave a large bequest to a governmental entity in part because those entities are so much larger now and they receive so much funding through taxes. I think people feel like they’ve given through their tax bills. But you raise a good idea—perhaps specific kinds of projects, where individuals could contribute and leave a long-term mark. Perhaps it’s something we should consider.

To your other point, we do receive about $1 million a year from the state of Vermont through PILOT [payment in lieu of taxes]. The funding that we receive is much closer to the fair market value of the buildings than it has been in the past: it’s about 80 percent. I think it would be difficult for us to ratchet that number up higher. We’re never going to receive 100 percent. And to be honest, those buildings don’t place the kind of demand on our community that other taxable entities do. They have their own security. Their employ-ees largely come from outside Montpelier, and they leave. And we benefit from having the state here. In terms of taxing nonprofits, that’s a decision that would have to be made by the state. The legislature does periodically consider that.

I don’t see a lot of options available to us in terms of new revenue, or how we collect revenue. I think we’re going to have to look at the spending side. One other thing I’ve mentioned that exacerbates the challenge we face is that Montpelier has one of the highest ratios of residential properties to the overall grand list in the state, which is one of the reasons our tax bills are the highest in the state.

Nat: Clearly we don’t have much of a manufacturing base. We have a tiny little footprint downtown. But there appear to be development opportunities that have been neglected, not pursued vigorously over 30 to 40 years—second- and third-floor spaces, virtually unused for 30 or 40 years. We could have a more vigorous downtown economy. We could exploit the space we have in a much more creative way. We could put some money into the city and have a much more robust business center and a housing sector that is more robust.

John: I do think that we have a robust downtown. We have a very vibrant com-munity. So I think we could do better on the margins, but I don’t see us having a fun-damental problem with how our economy is structured in our downtown. We have virtu-ally no vacancies downtown.

The City Council is not going to drive development. It can’t invest money to spur private growth. What we can do is set the conditions that encourage private investors to spend their money in Montpelier, invest-ing in new businesses, new infrastructure. And I think that’s what we are doing in the City Council. We have said that we support housing development. We support economic growth. We’re putting our money into infra-structure, which is important. We’re looking at our tax rate and trying to deal with that issue. So we are targeting those areas that matter to change the climate to make Mont-pelier more attractive.

We are the envy of communities in Ver-mont and nationally. When people come to Montpelier, they see the kind of place that they didn’t realize existed anymore. I think we’re very successful. But we can do better. It’s by enticing developers to see that this is a community where they can make money. And I think we’re doing that.

Nat: Is there anything we can learn from Barre? Some folks from Barre came in and talked to me, and I was impressed by how they pulled together the Barre Area Devel-opment Corporation, their Barre Partner-ship, their business community, the mayor, the city manager. This hasn’t happened all at once, but it appears that the flow-ers are blooming all at once. I don’t see that combination of energies in town here in Montpelier.

John: Well, first let me say that what Barre has done downtown is really impressive—the fact that they have pulled together and have a focus. But you have to agree Montpelier and Barre are starting from very different places. Montpelier residents aren’t looking for dra-matic changes in their downtown. We have a highly functioning, successful downtown with a very low vacancy rate.

Barre does not compare in terms of their vacancy rate, the vibrancy of their downtown, the diversity. It’s just not a fair comparison. I think that if we faced the kinds of challenges that Barre has faced in the past, you’d see the kind of unified approach in trying to address those. I don’t see that existing here. To use your metaphor, I think our flower is in bloom. Sure, there is more that we can do.

One thing I’d really love to see us do—and this is really on the margins—is create more outdoor seating space.

Richard: But what about the Zorzi prop-erty [Sabin’s pasture]? We don’t have that many new homes coming up in our city. We haven’t had that many year after year. And that is a project that kind of faded from view. What is the status of the Zorzi property right now?

John: There is a plan in place that was developed by a broad group of stakeholders that, I believe, provides a roadmap for any developer who wants to purchase that prop-erty and develop housing. And I think that a developer would likely find support in the community and from the City Council for a plan that satisfies the framework that was agreed to by that diverse stakeholder group. The property’s there, and it’s prime for devel-opment. But nothing’s going on yet.

Richard: The debt. I sat at the last school board meeting. I sat through a discussion of their bonding, and they’re talking about splitting their bonding into two. The fur-nace, the heating system for Union, is a must. And we’re going to break that off on its own. And then we’re going to have a second bond for those [other improvements] that we would like. I know that Bill [Fraser] has been discussing bonding, and there’s disagreement from VAM [Vibrant and Affordable Mont-pelier] and the budget committee and from VAM last year on the city’s capacity to bond. Are there must-haves in the city’s bonding proposal?

John: Yes, so we have a revised capi-tal plan that some members of the council have, as well as some members of the com-munity, about our bonding capacity. The plan that we’re now looking at would raise some $2.2 million over the next several years through bonding. And that bonding would be used solely for sidewalks, bridges, retain-ing walls—not streets. So I think you are going to find a consensus that will form around a capital plan that doesn’t bond for roads and that has much lower borrowing than has been discussed.

I do think that we need to work closely with the schools to assure that we’re work-ing with them in terms of the timing of the bonds and that we have a plan in place in dealing with the long-term infrastructure needs for both the school and the city that doesn’t place an undue burden on the taxpay-ers. That long-term plan does not yet exist

between the city and the schools.

Richard: What percent of the $2.2 mil-lion that’s coming due now, that we’re falling off payments now? Some of that $2.2 million bond issue will just be absorbed by bond payments that we’re making presently that just disappear—because they’ve been paid off—in the next several years.

John: Virtually all of it. I don’t think we’ll see an increase in our overall indebtedness. Over the next several years, we’re looking for a decline in our overall bond indebtedness.

Nat: I sometimes think that we ought to take a look at the way that the city is governed. As I see it, we have a system with a strong city manager. But it’s not clear to me that the council has the same sustained clout that an elected body with leadership responsibilities needs to have. I see a power base accumulating in city hall through the city manager, the department heads and the control of information. I don’t think it’s de-ceitful; I just think it’s an accumulation of information, tradition and power that puts the council in a less effective position to offer leadership.

Some years back, former councilor Grayck suggested that we take a look at governance. He suggested that the city manager and ad-ministration ought to serve an invigorated and strengthened mayor and council. So you’d have a mayor who was elected and who had a full-time responsibility, charge and pay and would go in and do things and offer lead-ership. And the city administration would be there to see that the city services are delivered effectively.

John: You’d have to have a different mayor. I don’t want to be a full-time mayor. And I feel that I have the opportunity and platform to make the kinds of changes that I think we need in Montpelier. I think our sys-tem works. I would challenge that premise. Clearly, we have a very strong city manager, based on his talent and his tenure here. But I don’t think it’s undue. He is responsive to the City Council, and I think you’re going to see that through our budget process. I think we benefit from our current structure. I think our community is too small to have an elected, strong mayor. If you had a mayor who was elected who was not able to manage the city in an effective way, the risk to the community could be very significant. Right now, we have a balanced system that, overall, works.

Winter Holiday Services

Unitarian Church of Montpelier130 Main Street • 223-7861 • unitarianchurchofmontpelier.orgRev. Mara Dowdall, Minister • Catherine Orr, Director of Music Sally Armstrong, Director of Religious Education

Winter Solstice Service, Friday, December 21 6:30 pm . . . A worship service to honor the longest night of the year and the

return of light amid darkness, with word and song.

Christmas Eve Services, Monday, December 244:30 pm Early Service . . . Especially for families with young children, but

all are welcome.6:30 pm Traditional Candlelight Service

Local Religious Holiday Services

St. Augustine Church16 Barre StreetMontpelier223-5285

December 24: 4pm and 7pm

December 25: 10am

St. Monica Church79 Summer StreetBarre479-3253

December 24: 4pm, 6:30pm and 12 Midnight

December 25: 8am and 10am

The Wise Still Seek HimChristmas Mass Schedule

North American Martyrs, Marshfield December 25: 9 am

PAGE 8 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

HOURS: Mon–Fri, 8–6; Sat 8–5

MORE GIFT IDEAS:• Leanin' Tree cards (boxed sets & singles)

• Amaryllis and paper-white bulbs

Holiday SaleHoliday SaleHoliday SaleBird feeders

& thermometers

25% off!

Pet beds & dog coats

20% off!

Happy Birthday to T&T!We made it! Our fi rst year.

T&T Repeats Thrift Store116 Main Street, Montpelier224-1360

We Carry the CompleteHair Care Line

28 School Street, Montpelier • 229-0700

Thai Yoga Bodywork & Private Yoga Sessionswith Lori Flower, RYT

Holiday Special: only $45 for one hour (valid until 1/13/13)

www.sattvayoga.wordpress.com

802.324.1737

Shop Montpelier FOR THE HOLIDAYS

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 9

Studio Zenith has Strength Training, High Intensity Interval Training, Kickboxing, Karate Interval Cross-Training, Ashtanga Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Core Conditioning Yoga, Kettlebells and MORE — something for everyone. Let’s get in the best shape of our lives! See you soon!

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$20 offclass cards and gift certifi cates

December 15–23 only!

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229-5721

Takeout and full-service restaurant

15 Barre StreetMontpelier, VTangelenospizza.comSince 1982

by Joyce Kahn

Asking me if I like to shop is like asking the pope if he’s Catholic. And so with joy in my heart and a little cash in my

pocket, I began my foray into a sampling of Montpelier’s shops with one question to pose to shopkeepers, eager to promote their wares for the holiday season: What items would you suggest are unique and affordable? Within Montpelier’s small downtown, you can find something to please the most discriminating shopper on your list. I selected a dozen stores to visit, but be advised: This is by no means an exhaustive list either of shops or of gift possibilities but rather a sampling of the vast variety of products, with a diversity of appeal, obtainable in town. I found goods from the practical to the esoteric—the gifts shop own-ers want you to know about.

For the artist or would-be artist on your list, gifts from The Drawing Board are a good choice. Liz Walsh showed me one of her favorites, the Make Your Own Music Box Kit, which works like a player piano. On the art-supply side of things, children might like a blank sketchbook with a Noah’s ark or a barnyard cover scene to color as well. A pos-sible gift for a child 4 and up is a Decorate-Your-Own Rubber Duck. For adults, you can find a treasure trove of new, compact, resource manuals on almost every topic, in-

cluding painting in most media, bookbind-ing, and cartooning. And if holiday stress is bothering you or a loved one, The Book of Zentangle, which explains how to make Zentangles, a form of artistic meditation, may interest you. This method of producing nonrepresentational art one stroke at a time was developed by a calligrapher and her Bud-dhist monk husband and is a good pick for artists and nonartists alike.

The Uncommon Market is a good stop if you want to prepare a fabulous holiday meal, grab something for takeout or find gifts for the foodies on your list. Sharon Allen and staff can provide you with pheas-ants, quails, standing rib roast, sides of fish and their own rolled and stuffed ham. They carry salmon and oysters for fish lovers. As we get closer to Christmas, those wanting to grab prepared foods can reach in the cooler for scrumptious vegetarian lasagna, shrimp cocktail, artichoke-Gouda dip, quiche and peanut noodles. The market will also make up gift baskets to meet your price level or sell you a gift card. They also have a unique wine selection and make a policy of not duplicat-ing what others are selling. But if food is not your thing, cast your eyes to the heavens (or ceiling in this case) to find a Jim Thompson hand-painted animal kite, which Thompson can make to order.

Yvonne Baab of Global Gifts carries unique home décor and gift items with a

local and international flair. She is the sole local distributor of artist Sarah Munro’s silk-scapes—small, richly colored silk paintings, often hung in windows. Montpelier artist Anna Bell’s framed prints, reminiscent of Chagall, are on the shelves, as are Burlington artist John Brickels’s whimsical clay robot sculptures. You can support fair trade prod-ucts by purchasing ornaments from Thai-land and wool hats, gloves and mittens from Nepal. If it’s silver jewelry you’re look-ing for, Global Gifts has a large selec-tion. But if you are choosing gifts for the spiritually inclined, you will find tarot cards, quartz hearts, gemstones, hand-carved stone Zen gardens, incense and burners and small meditation singing bowls with their mellifluous sound.

Botanica’s flowers and greenery provide a sensory feast for the eyes. Co-owners Sonja Grahn and Sarah McAllister showed me that besides a bountifully supplied flower cooler, they have centerpieces, local wreaths, hand-made door swags and miniature tabletop boxwood trees. People also like Norfolk pine plants, good for apartments, nursing homes or assisted-living facilities because they are small, can be decorated and are not a fire hazard. They also have many locally grown

plants, including poinsettias, cyclamen and Christmas cactus, all now in bloom. If you want a later bloom, you can purchase a pa-perwhite garden. Other unique items include velvet cardinal ornaments, greeting cards from France and local lilies in unusual colors grown right here in Post Mills, Vermont.

The Book Garden is a small, quirky, in-teresting store. Its owner, Rick Powell, boasts a large, up-to-date variety of graphic novels

for both children and adults, including the latest trend, memoirs. He also carries books on self-sufficiency and sustainable liv-ing, including gar-dening, fermentation and his best-selling

book on tiny homes. For the comic book col-lector, Powell has comics from the ’70s and ’80s. And he carries the latest young adult fiction and nonfiction, including fantasy. New to the store are action figures that relate to books, such as The Hobbit, figures for all the Marvel comics, as well as for the popular TV show and line of comics, Walking Dead. All the art on the walls was done by Powell, a professional illustrator, and his selection of art books reflects this interest. You can also find many games for the family and young

Shopping in Montpelier for the Unique and Affordable

Holidays

Montpelier Structural Integration

$85 OFFAchieve greater ease in posture through a series of body workFascialbodies.com • Irvin.Eisenberg@gmail.com • 223-7678, ext. 2

Expiration date: January 7, 2013

With the purchase of three sessions of Structural Integration Body Work

see SHOPPING, page 10

Dear Neighbors, Th e holidays are fully upon us and soon, so will the New Year, a good time for us to take stock of where we’re headed. We have thought long and hard this year about what to do for New Year’s Eve—will it be First Night as usual, or something completely diff erent?

Early this summer, we chose to discontinue the First Night model and steer towards a festival that was more community-inclusive, economically available and supportive of our downtown businesses and organizational partners. Th is development has resulted in a new festival called MontPolar Frostival, debut-ing the fi rst weekend of February, kicking off Lost Nation theater’s WinterFest 2013. In short, we chose something diff erent.

What can you expect from Montpelier Alive for New Year’s Eve celebra-tions? We are working with All Together Now Puppet Troupe for a family pup-pet show, and the disco ball will once again adorn City Hall during the evening. We are committed to promoting events that others are organizing for the 31st, such as Central Vermont Runners’ New Year’s Eve 5k race and Baroque and Blue, a fl ute/piano concert at Bethany Church. Other highlights include shows by Dave Keller at Th e Black Door and Concrete Rivals at Charlie-O’s. Th e full schedule will be on our website: MontpelierAlive.org. It will continually be updated as plans develop.

Th roughout this process, we have been working with our partners to iden-tify events for both New Year’s Eve and the MontPolar Frostival and have re-ceived a lot of support for the shift, both for easing their schedules and in pro-viding opportunities to introduce new activities to the Montpelier community.

So to be clear, there are no First Night buttons to purchase and no First Night as it has been presented. We’re planning a smaller, more intimate New Year’s Eve so that we may produce a new February event: MontPolar Frostival. It’s a lot of change for one winter. But 2013 is going to roll out full of excel-lent reasons to come downtown: Summit School’s Winter Festival, Ice on Fire, MontPolar Frostival, Lost Nation Th eater’s WinterFest, Green Mountain Film Festival, and PoemCity 2013 are all scheduled from January through April.

Th ank you for all of your support of downtown Montpelier, and especially of all the organizations that continue to off er cultural programming for the community. We look forward to our work in 2013 and we welcome your participation.

See you downtown!Best,

Phayvanh LuekhamhanExecutive Director

Check our website for information on New Year’s Eve: montpelieralive.org

PAGE 10 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

Shop Montpelier FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Mon–Fri 10–8; Sat 10–6; Sun. 10–5

24 State St. Montpelier • 223-4272

Hundreds of games to choose from. . .

people, including Magic and Dungeons and Dragons.

If kitchen goods are what you’re after, head to Capital Kitchen, where Erica Humphries showed me many new and un-usual products—practical, colorful, and sus-tainable. The Blossom Trivet shapes itself by breaking apart to make a long string, at-taches to the bottom of a hot bowl you want to carry, or just rests on the countertop. The Sodastream Machine allows you to make your own seltzer while being eco-friendly. According to Humphries, “If you drink a lot of seltzer, it’s a game changer! No more recy-cled bottles, and no more buying the bottled stuff.” In summer, you can make fizzy lem-onade or your own favorite flavored drinks by adding fruit juice. And if you are tired of watery, leaky freezer packs, you might want a PackIt personal cooler, a lunchbox and cold-pack combination. Those baking for the holidays will appreciate the large assortment of cookie cutters: snowflakes, stars of David, dinosaurs, doves, dragonflies, dogs and your favorite barnyard animals.

I was curious what unique musical item I would find at Guitar Sam, where Jay Ekis insisted a ukulele is that item. A ukulele is a four-string Hawaiian instrument, inex-pensive because of its small size. It is not a miniguitar, and the chords are formed dif-ferently from guitars. Ekis apprised me that Montpelier has a good ukulele community: 40 people attended a recent workshop. He noted that the instrument is pretty easy to play, sounds beautiful and is for little hands, too. Although the store specializes in guitars, they stock djembes, which are little African drums, as well as acoustic guitars and the didgeridoo, an instrument from Australia re-sembling a hollowed-out staff and producing an interesting hypnotic sound. Inexpensive stocking stuffers include penny whistles, re-corders, harmonicas and plastic egglike little maracas. But perhaps the most intriguing of

all is the nose flute, which you put up to your nose and blow out while using your mouth to change the pitch.

The Cheshire Cat is a feast for the eyes: Where besides this shop can you find owner-designer Lucy Ferrada’s holiday line of clothing, inspired by Willy Wonka, as well as such colorful, whimsical, local and interna-tional crafts and folk art? Ferrada remarked, “If it fits in this wonderland, then it gets to live here.” She advises customers to look up, where I saw charming mobiles adorned with sculptures of people carrying out activities in their native country. Clever clocks designed by Michelle Allen, such as a mermaid wear-ing a seashell bra with a pendulum seahorse and a cow with a pendulum tongue, adorn the wall. Ferrada just started carrying Tracy Pesche’s Tra art—three-dimensional, col-orful, whimsical, wood-and-metal wall art with suns, hearts and faces. She also carries hand knits by local artist Pam Barnes as well as Vermont-made stained-glass angels. A large assortment of Goody slippers adorned with ribbons, bows and roses will make any woman feel like a princess and her feet very happy. These are great for travel or as an indoor shoe. The store is also a gallery for na-tional artist Brian Andreus’s wall sculptures, prints, books and calendars. Ferrada noted, “His is very child-at-heart artwork, and his simply illustrated books are one-page little pieces of truth.”

Listening to Cool Jewels’s Willis Backus was as entertaining as it was informative. For the unique, Backus thinks he has the best selection of meteorites in downtown Montpelier. He buys what he loves, and he clearly loves these beautiful gray, metallic, magnetized rocks fallen from space and col-lected in Australia. Kids also love them. He also has a new shipment of affordable, color-ful, patterned glass balls and witches’ balls. Backus instructed: “They’re very functional. The witches get mesmerized by the filaments inside when they’re casting their spells, so they don’t come in your house to bewitch

SHOPPING, from page 9

PRUNING FRUIT TREESEnroll soon, both for initial late-winter pruning as well

as essential annual maintenance which can be done now.call Padma 456.7474 ~ earthwiseharmonies.com

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 11

Shop Montpelier FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Last-Minute Gift Ideas(even though there's still 2 weeks 'til Christmas!)

Vermont Calendars, Ornaments, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Picture Frames, Address Books, Puzzles, Fun Salt & Pepper Shakers, Eat More Kale Gear, Journals, Writing Instruments,Maps, Cookie Boxes . . . and a whole lot more!

223 2393, capitolstationers.com or find us on Facebook

Fun-Raisin’ Wednesdays are back!

Every Wednesday, 6–8 pm.

10% of sales from 5 p.m. to close will be donated to a rotating environmental nonprofi t.

City Center building, 89 Main Street, MontpelierHours: 8 am–9 pm, seven days a week262-CAKE | www.skinnypancake.com

The Knitting StudioLocal Products, Incredible Service, Unlimited Inspiration

Visit us at 112 Main Street, Montpelier | 802.229.2444

The Knitting Studio

Thanks for a wonderful year in 2012! Wishing you joyful holidays.

What’s in a color name?If it looks like a rose and it smells like a rose, it must be a rose, right? Well, not always. Just because the color chip says “rose,” it could look diff erent to your eye. We use words to describe colors, but each of us have our own preconceived idea of what a particular color should look like. Th ere are many paint lines and each paint line may have anywhere from 500 to 3,000 colors. Marketing departments are given the responsibility of coming up with names for each of these colors. Sometimes they will use themes, such as fl owers, fl avors, or foods, to romanticize that color. A good example of this: Ben Moore has a color named “wildfl owers #325,” which is a light yel-low color. Th ere is another Ben Moore color named “wild fl ower #2090-40,” which is a rose color. Th is is not a very accurate system, because colors and their names are entirely subjective. Seeing is believing: Go by what you see, not by the color name. At True Colors, we can help you fi nd the rose you’re looking for.

True Colors is Montpelier’s only independent, locally owned paint dealer. We have been making your colors right since 1989!

We make your colors right!

True Colors 223-1616141 River Street, Montpelier, VT

you.” Beaded necklaces from Bali and new merchandise from China are supplied by Backus’s son. You will be equally mesmerized by an abundance of wonderful rocks, includ-ing pyrite or fool’s gold, beloved by young boys. If you’re looking forward to summer and a new physical activity, you can find gold pans for local panning in Minister and Han-cock brooks in Worcester, where you might find enough gold to make your own jewelry. And if you’re looking for an activity to do with a child, or start a child on a new hobby, head over to the store’s bin of 400,000 beads, where kids can search through this trove of beads and find a satisfying treasure for as little as 15 cents.

Aubuchon Hardware could be your one-stop shop. According to Gary Law, their biggest sellers historically have been sen-sible gifts, such as fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, flashlights and lanterns using lamp oil for emergencies. He noted that the best gift is not something you necessarily want but something you need: “If there’s some-body you’re concerned about, if you buy it, the person will use it.” They also stock pok-ers and shovels for the stove or fireplace, as well as chimney brushes. Popular appliances have been toaster ovens, waffle irons and cof-fee grinders. For those optimists who believe snow is imminent, you can find a plethora of snow fun items, from small snow seats to inflatable 50-inch snow tubes and six-foot toboggans. And for the nostalgic, you can even find an old-fashioned wood sled. For those with a more romantic, less practical bent, Aubuchon’s carries a wide assortment of wind chimes, lovely to look at and pleasant to hear. And there is no limit to their sundry stocking stuffers, from pocket knives and Jumbo thermometers to small and adjustable Bungee cords.

Capitol Stationers is the stationery store equivalent to the hardware store, where there is possibly something for everyone. Co-owner Eric Bigglestone says they sell a lot of unique gifts, including many stocking stuffers. Bigglestone noted, “The commu-nity really supports locally made things,” so during the last five years the store has tried to promote and specialize in more Vermont-made products, such as notecards from Ver-mont Life, Eat More Kale T-shirts, Danforth pewter items and Lake Champlain choco-

lates. While known for their cards, they also carry unique items, such as decorative and whimsical steel angels for the holiday season. For candle lovers, you will find a bevy of colored and scented candles and accessories. Yankee ingenuity is reflected in the Red-neck line of wine glasses, drinking jars with straws and soap dispensers, all adaptations of Ball canning jars. While you may expect to find markers, journals, writing pads and datebooks, you may not know about their picture frames, always marked down 50 per-cent. Bigglestone also noted that, while pens have changed dramatically over the years, they still stock basic fountain pens, as well as calligraphy and ergonomic pens. But if you are searching for a truly unique yet local gift, you may like the beautifully crafted ballpoint pen made from the last remaining elm tree from the State House lawn.

Cindra Conison, owner of The Quirky Pet, has many unusual items for both pets and their masters. She is proud of the fact that all her products are made in the United States. One such item is her handmade bees-wax candles in the shape of dogs and cats. In the bakery case, you can find gourmet dog treats, locally made cookies that are as nutri-tious as they are fun to view. She also carries colorful, soft, round, fabric cat and dog beds. And Cindra puts together delightful gift bas-kets filled with hand-thrown pottery from Stowe and treats for the dog and human. Or you may prefer a basket in the shape of our state, filled with dog and cat products made in Vermont. She also carries catnip blankets of colorful cotton fabrics made in a Mont-pelier cottage industry. Insert the catnip in the blanket, let your cat roll in it and you will have one blissed-out cat. But I advise caution on purchasing her catnip bubbles! Other unique items are small stone Buddha animals with little sayings on the back, such as “May your life be filled with prosperity.” Best of all, you can shop while listening to the pleasant sounds of six colorful parakeets in their permanent store home.

My shopping excursion better acquainted me with many of our capital city’s gracious shop owners and the unique items they carry. There is no need to venture beyond Montpe-lier’s downtown to find unique, interesting and affordable gift items for the holidays.

Build confi dence, courage and direction in work, relation-ships, fi nances, and personal wellness. Coaching packages starting at $99. 50% off six-month Personal Wellness Coaching and/or How to Coach self and others! 229-5256 or jo@greenmountainlifecoach.com

Make 2013 an extraordinary year for you and those you love!

PAGE 12 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

Shop Montpelier FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Beautifuljewelryfor Holiday or Everyday

27 State Street, MontpelierMon–Fri 10–7, Sat 10–5, Sun 11–5

Find us on Facebook!

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 13

by Richard Sheir

The city of Montpelier has three major cost centers. Its operating budget, which funds daily city services, is paid

for by property taxes. Property taxes also pay back capital borrowing to fund building and street improvements. Our water and sewer borrowing, about $17 million, and operation is paid for by fees for water and sewer use.

Bob Giroux of the Vermont Munici-pal Bond Bank, the organization that sells Montpelier’s municipal bonds, states that the additional millions recently devoted to the wood-chip project would push our capital borrowing to the higher end for a Vermont city of our size and age, but it would not be out of the ordinary for smaller cities in other states. Technically, the city could borrow up to 10 times the total of the grand list, which no Vermont city has ever done.

The city’s long-term indebtedness has a direct effect on property taxes. As of Septem-ber 21, 2012, Montpelier’s total citywide debt was $24,732,377, or $3,148 for every resident (based on the 2010 population 7,855). The first $800,000 collected by the city in annual property taxes goes to annual debt service.

Whether this level of capital debt is pru-

dent for a town of under 8,000 depends on where you stand on long-term budget-ary flexibility. The city manager has long advocated a very aggressive borrowing path for the city, like cities in other states. Some members of the City Council, citing the city’s declining population and the need for future budgetary flexibility, have been quite vocal in opposition. The report of the Citizen Budget Review Committee states council concerns this way:

“Tom Golonka expressed reservations about adding additional long term debt, not-ing that the first $800,000 of revenues col-lected by the city currently goes to annual debt service and that number stands to rise as the City adds more debt. Tom was con-cerned that raising the annual debt service would increase the pressure on already tight municipal budgets and leave the municipal budget of Montpelier with increasingly lim-ited options.”

The city manager’s frame of reference is the debt assumed by towns our size in other states. The Citizen Budget Review Commit-tee set off to study how Montpelier’s long-term borrowing stands up to that of other Vermont cities roughly our size. They used five measures to develop a sense of where the

city stands in terms of its long-term fiscal stability (see sidebar).

The budget study committee concluded that the city’s long-term debt ranks high among its Vermont peers. They also recognize, as does the City Council and the city manager, that the city of Montpelier has significant unmet needs, such as the city’s roads. To quote the “Report of the Montpelier City Council’s Citizen Budget Review Committee”:

“This state of affairs occurred because of a combination, as Bill Fraser suggested in our interview, of years of deferred maintenance and a number of emergencies (which oc-curred mostly because of extreme weather or catastrophic failures and in areas for which the Department of Public Works is responsi-ble). The result has been that funds have been taken disproportionately from Department of Public Works budgeted projects, thereby exacerbating the situation by further delaying scheduled maintenance and repairs.”

The budget committee recommended that the city’s capital plan become a priority, and when emergencies arise, breaking from past practice, other departments other than public works be considered as a source of emergency funds.

Where the budget committee veers most directly from current city management prac-tice is how it proposes financing future capi-tal improvements. The committee recom-mends greater efficiencies to make the city’s operating budget go further, and it advocates significant restructuring as a means of paying for road repairs. In its advocacy of not using the general fund for repayment, the bud-get committee sides with council members, who advocate restraint, instead of the city manager, whose financing mechanism would boost future budgets with interest and prin-cipal payments. Again, to quote the budget committee report:

“We recommend that the council look for savings in the current budget to offset the cost of new bonds that would otherwise raise the annual debt service, taxes and the overall budget. Any monies saved could be re-directed to our most urgent needs like fix-ing our neglected infrastructure and reducing the amount of borrowing the city ultimately has to do. Additionally, we recommend not taking money from normal maintenance or repair of roads to fund any new projects or to pay for emergencies because over the long run it costs more to do so.”

Both the city manager and the budget committee accept the premise that Mont-pelier has significant and substantial capital needs that should be addressed. Their differ-ence is in how they will be paid for.

Finance Through Efficiency or Borrowing? City Council and City Manager Present Opposing Strategies

The Five MeasuresTotal Long-Term Debt per Capita (latest bond issued)

Montpelier $2,940 (2009) Middlebury $2,598 (2011) Barre City $1,903 (2011)Brattleboro $1,814 (2010)State average $753.19Winooski $340 (2011) St. Johnsbury $302 (2011)St. Albans $292 (2010)

Total Long-Term Debt as a Percentage of Total Revenue

Brattleboro 611.20% Middlebury 389.18%Montpelier 254.74%Barre City 182.39%State average 110.66%St. Albans 53.60%Winooski 53.20%St. Johnsbury 52.92%

Total Long-Term Debt as a Percentage of AGI (Adjusted Gross Income)

Middlebury 19.19%Barre City 18.42%Montpelier 15.60%Brattleboro 12.60%State average 8.71%Winooski 3.66%St. Johnsbury 2.41%St. Albans 2.10%

Annual Long-Term Debt Service as a Percentage of Total Revenue

Brattleboro 28.90%Barre City 23.72%State average 13.47%Montpelier 10.52%Middlebury 7.50%St. Albans 6.50% Winooski 5.44%St. Johnsbury 2.03%

Annual General Government Debt Service FY 2013 per Capita (based on 2010 population and responses to five-town survey)

Montpelier $107.07Middlebury $87.10Brattleboro $62.50St. Albans $49.94Winooski $32.73

Both sides have three bedrooms and a full bath (with tub and shower) upstairs; living room, dining room, and a large kitchen downstairs. One side just completely renovated with all new appliances, new tub, new toilet, new floors, in the kitchen and bathroom, etc. (see pictures). Hard-

wood floors throughout most of the unit. The renovated side will be empty until January 1, in case buyer wants to owner occupy. Seper-ate furnaces, utilites, even seperate meters. New foundation and new windows.

$219,000. Call 723-4976, 229-0670 or 917-4282 or email craynichols@me.com.

Duplex at 17 Sibley Avenue, Montpelier, VermontFor sale by owner during the month of December

QUALITY REMODELING & BUILDING

Conscientious contractingInt./ext. makeovers & paintHealthy whole-home solutionsDeep energy retrofitsKitchens, baths, additionsDoors, windows, roofs

David Diamantisph: 229-8646 fax: 454-8646

Certified Green Professional EMP/RRP • EcoStar Roof Applicator

by Steven M. Cliche

The November 28 meeting saw the unan-imous approval by the City Council to

move forward on building the entire dis-trict heating project. The decision, which passed 4–1, was applauded by many of those in attendance and assures that Montpelier will pump heat from the recently purchased wood-chip-fired boilers to the downtown business district and municipal buildings. While several businesses have already signed on to receive heat from the project, the deci-sion to extend the pipeline will mean that others, including private building owners, will have the opportunity to connect.

The proposed plan will run pipes down State Street, then left onto Elm Street, be-fore finally going back into downtown by crossing the river at Langdon Street. The $20-million project was nearly scrapped in August because of council members’ con-cerns that the lack of secured agreements from business owners to tie in would leave the city without a revenue source to run the plant. However, the project was revived, after a public outcry and a redrafting of the

proposal, which included an agreement from Montpelier to build the plant in phases.

The latest decision nullifies that proposal, however. As it stands, the project has re-ceived an $8-million federal stimulus grant and another $7 million in funds from the state. The council voted to accept the low bid of $3.5 million from Kingsbury Construc-tion of Waitsfield to build the new plant, which will replace the existing one, located behind the Department of Motor Vehicles on State Street.

It is yet to be seen if Union Elementary School, one of the city’s biggest proposed heating customers, will be able to plug in. The current estimated cost for the school district to convert the steam-heated building to hot-water heat stands at over $700,000, with another $4.5 million outlined for build-ing upgrades and repairs. City Manager Bill Fraser has warned that the project could face funding difficulties if the school ultimately pulls out due to inability to obtain these upgrades.

The project is expected to be completed, with all systems up and running, by October 2013.

District Heating Project Moves Forward

PAGE 14 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

Tiny BitesMaple Corner now has its own watering hole. The Whammy Bar, located in the Maple

Corner Store on the County Road, opened in October and has quickly established itself as a venue for local folks to enjoy live music, the big game on the big TV and weekly enter-tainment like trivia night (Tuesdays) and open mic (Wednesdays). Owners Artie and Nancy Toulis serve beer, wine and spirits; munchies, like chips and freshly made guacamole; hearty soups made daily, like corn-bacon chowder; and entrees, like spaghetti and homemade sauce or roast beef and cheese crostini with horseradish sauce. Open Tuesday through Saturday, beginning at 5 p.m. No website, but find them on Facebook or call 229-4329.

Finish your holiday shopping at the Capital City Indoor Farmers’ Market, this Saturday, December 15, at the Vermont College of Fine Arts gym, from 10 a.m. to 2

p.m. Find handcrafted gifts, farm-fresh food for holiday meals and much more. Live music and prepared foods make the market a destination for more than just shopping: chat with your neighbors and experience the four-season agricultural bounty of Vermont. The indoor market occurs twice monthly through April; January markets will be held on January 5 and 19. (montpelierfarmersmarket.com)

Kismet, the local-and-organic-themed eatery on State Street, has expanded seating at the recently relocated bar and added a shiny new espresso machine, too. Owner Crystal

Maderia reports that breakfast and brunch hours have been expanded to include Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, in addition to the weekends. Weekday brunch is served from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; panini and soup is offered from 2 to 5 p.m.; and dinner service begins at 5. Stop in for the $8 early bird breakfast special, Wednesday through Saturday, 8 to 10 a.m., or a cappuccino or dandelion latté to go. (kismetkitchens.com)

The Vermont legislature reconvenes on January 9, and the fight over the labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) will likely be a big one, as

GMO-labeling advocates believe that Vermont will be the next battleground state. To learn more about GMOs, visit the Vermont Right to Know GMOs website at vpirg.org/gmo.

And Bohemian is back! After a short hiatus, Robert Hunt and Annie Bakst have re-opened the tiny East Calais bakery for their delectable Sunday morning pastry and

coffee offerings. During the hiatus, the pair negotiated parking arrangements with their neighbors, so patrons are asked to carefully follow the parking signs. Hunt roasts the coffee himself, then brews espresso drinks in an Italian Faema-brand espresso machine that he’s “tuned up like a Maserati,” so for that kind of coffee alongside a buttery hand-rolled crois-sant, what’s a little caution with the parking? (bohemianbread.com)

The Institute for Applied Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Techni-cal College (VTC) is sponsoring a conference series focused on agriculture, education,

innovation and the future of the regional economy. The third conference in the series, Con-necting Education with Employers, will be copresented with the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Farm to Plate Network on January 15 at VTC’s Randolph campus. Registration fee is $25; visit vtc.edu/groundwork for details.

—compiled by Sylvia Fagin; follow her on Twitter: @sylviafagin

Central Vermont Food News

FOLKS TELL US THAT OUR HAMS ARE THE BEST THEY HAVE EVER EATEN.Take a pleasant two-mile ride up Hollister Hill Road in Marshfi eld and choose one of our super-delicious smoked hams. Th e pork is raised right here at our farm and custom smoked for us in Troy, VT. Sorry, we are sold out of our maple syrup, but we have lots of BEEFALO, PORK & CHICKENS, and of course our wonderful RAW JERSEY MILK!

HOLLISTER HILL FARM2193 Hollister Hill Rd.Marshfield, VT • 454-7725hollisterhillfarm.comOpen daily 9 am–5 pm

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 15

Upcoming EventsFRIDAY, DECEMBER 14Fifth Annual Holiday Sale. Thrift store open downstairs for additional shopping. 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Trinity United Method-ist Church, 137 Main Street, Montpelier. 229-9155. Sale continues Saturday, December 15.Voices of Montpelier: Oral History Project Inter-views. Seniors share life memories and stories with local teen interviewers. 3:30–6 p.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre Street, Montpelier. Sign up for a half-hour interview: 223-2518. More appointments Wednesday, December 19.22nd Annual Montpelier Cheap Art Christmas Sale. Affordable art by more than 15 local artists. 4–7 p.m. Christ Church, 64 State Street, Montpelier. Barbara, 223-0352 or baleber@gmail.com. Sale continues Saturday, December 15.Basking in the Hidden Light of Chanukah: A Weekend with Chaya and Moshe Dovid Poretsky. Shabbat service and meal with teachings, songs and stories from two teachers of Jewish mysticism. Service 5 p.m., meal and teachings 6:30–9 p.m. Service at Beth Jacob Synagogue, 10 Harrison Avenue, Montpelier; meal and teachings at Yearning for Learning Center (call for location). $75 weekend, $20 single session, services free. Tobie, 223-0583 or info@yearning4learning.org.Staying Aware of Your Fascial Web in the Winter Months. With Irvin Eisenberg, structural integrator. Learn about fascia and how it can improve your body awareness, prevent injury and cultivate joy. Hands-on activities. 5:30–7 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. $10 co-op mem-ber-owners, $12 nonmembers. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or info@hungermountain.com.Drinking Chocolate Together. Chocolatey drinks on the house at Nutty Steph’s. 5:30 p.m. Route 2, Middlesex. 229-2090 or nuttystephs.com. Event repeats Friday, December 21.Monteverdi Music School Student Recital. 6–7 p.m. Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street, Montpelier. Free; donations welcome. 229-9000.Special Show with Dave Keller. The local blues and soul musician plays a selection of new originals to celebrate his upcoming trip to Memphis. 7 p.m. Buch Spieler, 27 Langdon Street, Montpelier. davekeller.com.Open Mic Comedy Night: Stroke Your Joke V. See live stand-up as comics try seven minutes of new material in front of an audience. Sign up at 7:30 p.m.; show starts at 8 p.m. Espresso Bueno, 136 North Main Street, Barre. Free; donations welcome. Bob, 793-3884.Intermedia Performance by Double Vision: Luna Eclose. Dance performance. Doors open at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Haybarn Theatre, Goddard College, Plainfield. $10. 598-4819.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1552nd Plainfield Christmas Bird Count. Scour the greater Montpelier area, leaving no chickadee uncounted, in an attempt to census birds in central Vermont. Potluck at end of count to share results. Beginners welcome. 7:15 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Free. Call to sign up for a team or a territory: 229-6206.

Holiday Open House: Bird Is the Word. Free refresh-ments and seasonal activities, including tours of the critter room, crafts for kids and special bird-related activities to celebrate the annual bird count. 9 a.m.–noon. North Branch Nature Center, 713 Elm Street, Montpelier. Free. 229-6206.Calais Holiday Market. Celebrate the season with food, gifts, art and crafts from area artisans. 9:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Maple Corner Community Center.Basking in the Hidden Light of Chanukah: A Weekend with Chaya and Moshe Dovid Poretsky. Shabbat service, followed by sessions on Accessing the Hidden Light and Spiritual Shopping and Gift Giving from two teachers of Jewish mysticism. Service 10 a.m., meal and Hidden Light 1–3 p.m., Shopping and Gift Giving 7:30–9 p.m. Service at Beth Jacob Synagogue, 10 Harrison Avenue, Montpelier; sessions at Yearning for Learning Center (call for location). $75 weekend, $20 single session, services free. Tobie, 223-0583 or info@yearning4learning.org.Williamstown Book Talk and Signing. With author Doreen Chambers. 10 a.m.–noon. Ainsworth Public Library, Main Street, Williamstown. 433-5887, ainsworthpl@yahoo.com or ainsworthpubliclibrary.wordpress.com.Fifth Annual Holiday Sale. See Friday, December 14, for description and information.Indoor Farmers’ Market. Buy local foods and products for the holidays from more than 31 vendors. Live music by Jairo Sequeira. 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Gym, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Mont-pelier. Carolyn, 223-2958 or manager@montpelierfarmersmarket.com. Event happens every first and third Saturday through April (except February 9 and 16).Marshfield School of Weaving’s Holiday Studio Sale. Handmade, useful objects made by local artists, including baskets, pottery, glass, blacksmithing and textiles. 10 a.m.–3 p.m. 589 Eaton Cemetery Road, Marshfield. 426-3733 or marshfield schoolofweaving.blogspot.com.22nd Annual Montpelier Cheap Art Christmas Sale. See Friday, December 14, for description and information; note change in time. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Christ Church, 64 State Street, Montpelier. Barbara, 223-0352 or baleber@gmail.com. Second Annual Holiday Toy Drop and Swap. Local mamas and papas drop and swap gently used but no longer beloved toys and books for all ages. Bring toys when you arrive; no broken toys, please. 10:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Hayes Room, Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. Free. Keri, 661-8259.Recycled Arts and Crafts. Ellen Bloom gives instruction on making gifts out of household product leftovers. Kids welcome with adult. Bring safety scissors if you have them. 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Tulsi Tea Room, 34 Elm Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-0043.GRACE Holiday Open House and Sale. Check out the work of the Grass Roots Art and Community Effort, view exhibits and browse a one-day art sale. 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Old Firehouse, Hard-wick. 472-6857, grace@vtlink.net or graceart.org.Modular Origami Workshop. Local artist Elaine Martin leads kids age 9 and older in creating crafty paper structures. 1–4 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library children’s department, Montpelier. Free. Linda, 223-4665.Christmas Floral Decoration. A workshop with Yana Poulson. Learn how to make simple table decorations, a Christmas candle wreath and candle holder decorations, and share creative ideas about holiday gift wrapping. 3–5 p.m. Montpelier Senior Activity Center, 58 Barre Street, Montpelier. $10; materials and tools list available at MSAC. 223-2518.

The Green Mountain Nutcracker. Moving Light Dance Company’s perennial holiday favorite puts a close-to-home spin on the classic ballet. 6 p.m. Barre Opera House. $12–$24. Tickets at 476-8188 or barreoperahouse.org. Show repeats Sunday, December 16.Shape-Note Sing. Ian Smiley leads tunes from The Sacred Harp. All welcome; no experience necessary. 6:30–8 p.m. Tulsi Tea Room, 34 Elm Street, Montpelier. By donation. Ian, 882-8274 or vtshapenotesingers@gmail.com. Event happens every first and third Saturday.Montpelier Infoship Grand Opening Party! Check out a new, nonprofit, collectively run space for organizing, social-izing and working together. The Infoship will host a radical library, workshops and special events. Food, drinks, music and more. 7 p.m. 89 Barre Street (above the Freeride bike shop), Montpelier.Contra Dance. All dances taught; no partner necessary. All ages welcome. Bring shoes not worn outdoors. 8–11 p.m. Capital City Grange, 6612 Route 12 (Northfield Street), Berlin. $8. 744-6163 or capitalcitygrange.org. Event happens every first, third and fifth Saturday.

see UPCOMING EVENTS, page 15

Live MusicBAGITOS28 Main Street, Montpelier. 229-9212 or bagitos.com.Every WednesdayBlues jam with the Usual Suspects and friends, 6–8 p.m.Every SaturdayIrish/Celtic session, 2–5 p.m.Friday, December 14Bad Mr. Frosty presents Girls Gone Folking Wild, 6 p.m.–closeSaturday, December 15Miriam Bernardo 8 p.m.–closeSunday, December 16Will Eberle (jazz piano), 11 a.m.–1 p.m.Thursday, December 20Eric Friedman, 6–8 p.m.Friday, December 21The Light and the Laugh with Tim Fitzgerald, 6 p.m.–closeSaturday, December 22David Kraus and John LaRouche, 6 p.m.–closeSunday, December 23Jazz brunch with Jason Mallery, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.Thursday, December 27Isaiah Mayhew, 6–8 p.m.Friday, December 28A Fraction of the Whole with Bob Kinzel, 6–8 p.m.

Saturday, December 29The Well Trained Monkeys, 6 p.m.–closeSunday, December 30Will Eberle (jazz piano), 11 a.m.–1 p.m.

BIG PICTURE THEATER48 Carroll Road (just off Route 100), Waitsfield. 496-8994 or bigpicture theater.info.Wednesday, December 19Valley Night with the Karen Krajcic Trio (folk/Americana)Wednesday, December 26Valley Night with the Midnight Riders (blues/country/rock)Wednesday, January 2Valley Night with the Gulch (alt/country/rock)

THE BLACK DOOR44 Main Street, Montpelier. All shows start at 9:30 p.m. with $5 cover unless otherwise noted. 225-6479 or blackdoorvermont.com.Friday, December 14Izzy and the Catastrophics (rockabilly), Saturday, December 15Swift Technique (hip-hop/funk)Saturday, December 29Evan Crandell and the 2 Hot 2 Handle (funk/soul)Monday, December 31New Year’s Eve with the Dave Keller Band (blues/soul), $8

CHARLIE O’S70 Main Street, Montpelier. 223-6820. Every TuesdayKaraoke

Friday, December 14Murder Weapon, the Outsiders (psychobilly)Thursday, December 20DJ Crucible (metal)Friday, December 21Starline Rhythm Boys (rockabilly)Saturday, December 22Marc Piansky and the Bored of Health (rock)Thursday, December 27Bingo night (benefits the Vermont Foodbank)Friday, December 28Abby Jenne and the Enablers (rock)Monday, December 31 Concrete Rivals New Year’s Eve Beach Party Blast (surf rock)

FRESH TRACKS FARM 4373 Route 12, Berlin. 223-1151 or info@freshtracksfarm.com.Friday, December 21Dan Liptak Trio, 6–9 p.m.

NUTTY STEPH’S CHOCOLATERIERoute 2, Middlesex. All shows 7–10 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 229-2090 or nuttystephs.com.Thursday, December 20Kevin Bacon Thursday; also, world premier of the Central Vermont Schnitzelbank Society, 6 p.m.–midnightThursday, December 27Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Ball, dress like a woman and avoid $5 cover, 6 p.m.–midnight

POSITIVE PIE 222 State Street, Montpelier. 229-0453 or positivepie.com.Saturday, December 15MadMan3 (electro-reggae), 10:30 p.m., 21+, $5Saturday, December 22Funkwagon (gospel-infused funk), 10:30 p.m., 21+, $5

SKINNY PANCAKE89 Main Street, Montpelier. 262-2253 or skinnypancake.com.Every WednesdayJay Ekis (country/blues)Every SundayOld-time sessions with Katie Trautz and friends, 4–6 p.m. (intermediate to advanced players welcome to sit in)Sunday, December 23Ben Cosgrove (pop piano)Sunday, December 30Dan and Rachel (indie folk)Sunday, January 6Caitlin Canty (folk)

THE WHAMMY BARMaple Corner Café, 31 West County Road, Calais. 229-4329.Every TuesdayTrivia night, 6:30 p.m.Every WednesdayOpen mic, 6:30 p.m.Thursday, December 20Christmas carol sing-along with June Morse

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Local musician Dave Keller, who will be celebrating his upcoming trip to Memphis

with a special concert on Friday, December 14.

PAGE 16 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

Art & ExhibitsALDRICH PUBLIC LIBRARY Autumn in Vermont, group show by the Pal-etteers art club. Milne Community Room, Aldrich Public Library, Barre. Through December 14. paletteers.us.

BIGTOWN GALLERYHoliday show of small works by BigTown Gal-lery artists. Above, Lizard Gourd, by Daniel Ladd, dried gourd, 7.5" x 5". 99 North Main Street, Rochester. Through January 13. 767-9670, info@bigtowngallery.com or bigtowngallery.com.

BLINKING LIGHT GALLERYPhotographs by Theodore “Teo” Kaye, featuring highlights from his travel and work in Central Asia. 16 Main Street, Plainfield. Through January 27. Hours: Thursdays, 2–6 p.m.; Friday–Sunday,

10 a.m.–6 p.m.; extended holiday hours at blink-inglightgallery.com.

CENTRAL VERMONT MEDICAL CENTERParis/Provence, still life and landscape paint-ings by Susan Abbott. Lobby, 130 Fisher Road, Berlin. Through January 18. cvmc.org.

CHANDLER GALLERYHoliday bazaar of local artisan gifts. 71–73 Main Street, Randolph. Through December 21. Closing reception Friday, December 21, 5–7 p.m. Hours: Thursday–Friday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. 431-0204 or outreach@chandler-arts.org.

CITY CENTERArt Resource Association group show. 89 Main Street, Montpelier. Through December.

CONTEMPORARY DANCE & FITNESS STUDIOMirror, Mirror, on the Wall, mirrors in one-of-a-kind ceramic frames by Ellen Urman, followed

by Ever Moving . . . Ever Changing, digital art photos by Linda Hogan (left, an image from the show). 18 Langdon Street (third floor), Montpe-lier. Mirror through January 1, Moving January 2–February 25. 229-4676 or cdandfs.com.

GODDARD ART GALLERYAn Unfamiliar Picnic, work by sculptors Kat Clear and Torin Porter merging fantasy and reality in unlikely combinations. 54 Main Street, Montpelier. Through December. 322-1685 or goddard.edu.

GOVERNOR’S GALLERYWe Are Vermont Strong, visual art by Vermont artists, teachers and community groups in re-sponse to Tropical Storm Irene. 109 State Street (fifth floor), Montpelier. Photo ID required for admission. Thrdough December 28. 828-0749.

GRACE GALLERYGayleen Aiken: A Grand View, a selection of the artist’s work exploring Vermont’s chang-ing seasons. 59 Mill Street, Hardwick. Through December 31. 472-6857 or graceart.org.

GREEN BEAN ART GALLERYTranscend, mixed media by Athena Tasiopoulos. Capitol Grounds, 27 State Street, Montpelier. Through December. curator@capitolgrounds.com.

JAQUITH PUBLIC LIBRARYWork by Viiu Niiler. 122 School Street, Marshfield. Through December 22. 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.

KELLOGG-HUBBARD LIBRARYThe Mary Azarian Family Exhibit, works by Ethan Azarian, Melissa Knight, Jesse Azarian, Tim Azarian, Wilaiwan Phonjan and Mary Azarian in various media. 135 Main Street, Montpelier. Through December. 223-3338.

MONTPELIER SENIOR ACTIVITY CENTERHomeshare Now, photo portraits by John Lazenby exploring home sharing. 58 Barre Street, Montpe-lier. Through December 16. homesharenow.org.

RIVER ARTS CENTERFiguring It Out, group show by the open studio

figure drawing group. 74 Pleasant Street, Morris-ville. Through January 7. 888-1261 or riverartsvt.org.

SHIFTING GEARS ART GALLERYPhotography, sumie brushwork and collages by Sandra Heller Bissex. Auto Craftsmen, 326 State Street (Route 2), Montpelier. Through December. 229-0086 or shbissex@gmail.com.

STUDIO PLACE ARTSCelebrate, one-of-a-kind, local art gifts, includ-ing pottery, scarves, paintings, paper journals, hobby horses, ornaments, cards, jewelry and more. 201 North Main Street, Barre. Through December 28. Expanded gallery hours: call 479-7069 or visit studioplacearts.com for details.

SULLIVAN MUSEUMTol’ ko Po Russky, Pozhaluista (“Russian Only, Please”), chronicling the history of the Russian school at Norwich University, 1968–2000; and 1861–1862: Toward a Higher Moral Purpose, exploring the experiences of Norwich University alumni (Union and Confederate) during the Civil War. Norwich University, Northfield. Rus-sian exhibit through January; Civil War exhibit through April. 485-2183 or norwich .edu/museum.

VERMONT HERITAGE GALLERIESIcons, Oddities & Wonders, stories from the Vermont Historical Society collections; and The Emergence of the Granite City: Barre 1890 to 1940. 60 Washington Street, Barre. Through December. Free admission. 479-8500.

VERMONT HISTORY MUSEUMFreedom & Unity: One Ideal, Many Stories, expe-rience a full-sized Abenaki wigwam, a recreation of the Catamount Tavern, a railroad station complete with working telegraph, a World War II living room and more. 109 State Street, Mont-pelier. $5 adults, $12 families. 828-2291.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16Walk with the Montpelier Section of the Green Mountain Club. A moderate, 6.3-mile, early winter road walk in picture-perfect Peacham. Bring lunch. Meet at Montpelier High School. Contact leaders Reidun and Andrew Nuquist, 223-3550, for meeting time.Basking in the Hidden Light of Chanukah: A Weekend with Chaya and Moshe Dovid Poretsky. Session on Anger as a Spiritual Tool Through Writing and Art with two teachers of Jewish mysticism. 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. Yearning for Learning Center (call for location). $75 weekend, $20 single session. Tobie, 223-0583 or info@yearning4learning.org. The Green Mountain Nutcracker. See Saturday, Decem-ber 15, for description; note change in time. 2 p.m. Barre Opera House. $12–$24. Tickets at 476-8188 or barreoperahouse.org. Tara Mandala Dance Circle. Dance in praise of the divine feminine. 3–5 p.m. Plainfield Community Center (above the co-op). By donation. jwalrafen@myfairpoint.net.Dance Salon with Double Vision, Ellen Smith Ahern and Lida Winfield. An evening salon of dance and performance. Informal Q&A with the artists follows. 7 p.m. Contemporary Dance and Fitness, 18 Langdon Street (third floor), Montpelier. $10 suggested donation. 229-4676.Chandler Film Society. Watch Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), starring James Stewart and Kim Novak. 7 p.m. Chandler’s Upper Gallery, 71–73 Main Street, Randolph. $9. 431-0204 or outreach@chandler-arts.org.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 17Do-It-Yourself Gifts. With Dana Woodruff. Learn how to make affordable, handmade herbal gifts. Everyone will bring home lip balm and bath salts, along with recipes for simple, thoughtful gifts for the holidays and beyond. Kids accompanied by a grown-up welcome. 6–7:30 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. $10 co-op member-owners, $12 nonmembers, or two Onion River Exchange hours; kids half price,. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or info@hungermountain.com.Plainfield Book Club. Discuss The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, by Bill Bryson. 6:30 p.m. Cutler Memo-rial Library, Route 2, Plainfield. Free. 454-8504 or cutlerlibrary.org. Event happens every third Monday.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19Mindful Business Success Circle Networking Group. For service professionals and small-business owners working to make a difference in their communities and the world. Thirty minutes of optional sitting meditation, followed by an hour of networking and connection with peers. 10:45 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Shambhala Center, 64 Main Street (third floor), Montpelier. Free. RSVP at 225-5960. Event happens every third Wednesday.Voices of Montpelier: Oral History Project Inter-views. See Friday, December 14, for description and information.Natural Brilliance: A Buddhist System for Uncov-ering Your Strengths and Letting Them Shine. Irini Rockwell talks about her new book describing a Buddhist typology system that can enhance your self-awareness, improve relationships and boost your effectiveness at work. 5 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Li-brary, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338 or ahouston@kellogghubbard.org.Enjoy the Wonders of Fungi. With Eric Swanson of Vermush. See Swanson’s recent pictures and projects and learn how to culture and grow mycelium into fungi. Everyone will bring home their own oyster mushroom spawn. 5–7 p.m. Hunger Mountain Coop community room, Montpelier. $10 co-op mem-ber/owners, $12 nonmembers. Register at 223-8000, ext. 202, or info@hungermountain.com.Home Sharing Info Meeting. Find out what home sharing is all about. Refreshments served. 5:30–6 p.m. Home Share Now, 115 Main Street, Barre. RSVP at 479-8544 to ensure ample refresh-ments. Event happens every third Wednesday.Yerba Maté Class. Constancia Gomez shows tea lovers how to prepare the native South American herb, a natural stimulant, appetite suppressor and body cleanser. 6:30 p.m. Tulsi Tea Room, 34 Elm Street, Montpelier. $5 in advance, $8 walk-in. 223-0043.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20Pizza for the Vermont Foodbank. Grab a slice, feed the hungry: all of today’s proceeds at Montpelier Village Pizza will be donated to the Vermont Foodbank. 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Montpelier Vil-lage Pizza, 89 Main Street, Montpelier. montpeliervillagepizza.com.Meeting on Disability Issues. Share stories and concerns. 1–3 p.m. Vermont Center for Independent Living, 11 East State Street, Montpelier. 639-1522 or 229-0501 (both are also V/TTY numbers). Event happens every third Thursday.Third Thursday Travel Talks. 6:30 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, Route 2, Plainfield. Free. 454-8504 or cutlerlibrary.org. Event happens every third Thursday.Songwriters’ Meeting. Meeting of the Northern VT/NH chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association International. Bring copies of your work. 6:45 p.m. Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury. John, 633-2204. Event happens every third Thursday.Ecumenical Group. Songs of praise, Bible teaching, fellowship. 7–9 p.m. Jabbok Center for Christian Living, 8 Daniel Drive, Barre. Free. 479-0302. Event happens every first and third Thursday.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21Drinking Chocolate Together. See Friday, December 14, for description and information.Solstice Kava Night. Winter solstice divination celebration with tonic libations, indulgent confections and herbal salutations —with an apocalyptic twist. This could be your last drink! 6 p.m. Tulsi Tea Room, 34 Elm Street, Montpelier. Free entry; drinks and treats for sale. 223-0043.Winter Solstice Celebration. Orchard Valley Waldorf School students present dance, song, drama, poetry, music, com-edy and a few surprises. Bring your singing voice. 6 p.m. Montpelier High School auditorium, 5 High School Drive, Montpelier. Free. ovws.org.A Christmas Carol. The Chalice Players’ annual recital of Charles Dickens’ beloved short-story-turned-play. 7 p.m. Barre Universalist Church, 19 Church Street. By donation. 479-0114.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22Free Family Movie: Miracle on 34th Street. Watch a treasured holiday classic on the big screen and experience the magic all over again. 10 a.m. Savoy Theater, 26 Main Street. Montpelier. Free. 223-9604 or montpelieralive.org. Mad River Valley Winter Farmers’ Market. Vendors from the valley and the broader Montpelier area sell meats, cheeses, baked and canned goods, vegetables, maple products, herbs, fiber

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UPCOMING EVENTS, from page 15

The Contemporary Dance and Fitness

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and other products. Live music. 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Big Picture Theater & Cafe. bigpicturetheater.info. Event happens every last Saturday through April.Winter Solstice Storytelling. Astrologer MaryAnna Abuzahra gives a multilevel interpretation of this darkest day of the year at a time of astrological significance. For children of all ages. 6:30 p.m. Tulsi Tea Room, 34 Elm Street, Montpelier. $5–$10 sug-gested donation. Preregistration encouraged; 223-0043.A Child Is Born: Christmas Music by Michael Praetorius. The 60 voices of Montpelier’s Onion River Chorus, directed by Larry Gordon, are joined by an ensemble of brass and winds led by Steven Light. 7:30 p.m. Stowe Community Church, 137 Main Street. $12 adults, $8 students. 476-4300. Concert repeats Sunday, December 23.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23Free Family Movie: A Christmas Carol. Watch a trea-sured holiday classic on the big screen and experience the magic all over again. 10 a.m. Savoy Theater, 26 Main Street. Montpelier. Free. 223-9604 or montpelieralive.org.A Child Is Born: Christmas Music by Michael Praetorius. See Saturday, December 22, for description; note change in time and venue. Reception follows.3 p.m. Christ Church, 64 State Street, Montpelier. $12 adults, $8 students. 476-4300. Stories for a Winter’s Eve. Original Vermont stories and music with Patti Casey, Pete Sutherland and friends. 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Old Meeting House, 1620 Center Road, East Montpelier. $15 adult, $10 children under 12, $50 for four tickets. Tickets available at eventbrite.com/event/4593497274 and at the door as supplies last. 229-9593.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27Green Mountain Dog Club Monthly Meeting. Learn about the club and events. All dog lovers welcome. 7:30 p.m. Commodore’s Inn, Stowe. 479-9843 or greenmountaindogclub.org. Event happens every fourth Thursday.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29Hike with the Montpelier Section of the Green Mountain Club. Moderate, 3-mile stroll around Kettle Pond in Groton State Forest. Little elevation gain/loss; boulders and stumps to walk around. Dress for weather, including appropri-ate footwear. Contact leader Steve Lightholder, 479-2304 or steve.lightholder@yahoo.com, for meeting time and place.Contra Dance. See Saturday, December 15, for description and information.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30Concert and Montpelier Church Tour. Visit Saint Augustine, First Church of Christ Scientist and Montpelier Baptist churches and view their holiday decorations, then return to Bethany for refreshments and a concert by Arthur Zorn, Diane Huling and other local favorites, featuring Vivaldi’s Gloria. Noon–2:30 p.m. tour, 2:30–3 p.m. refreshments, 3 p.m. concert. Bethany Church, 115 Main Street, Montpelier. Concert by donation. Arthur, 223-2424, ext. 224, or arthurzorn@hotmail.com.Baroque and Blue. Flutist Laurel Ann Maurer and pianist Claire Black join forces for an exhilarating and fun-filled concert of bluesy, jazzy works and baroque pieces. 7 p.m. Stowe Community Church, 137 Main Street. Suggested donation $10 adults, $5 students and seniors. Concert repeats Monday, December 31.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 31New Year’s Eve in Montpelier. Live musical performanc-es and special dinner menus throughout downtown Montpelier, plus the annual disco ball atop City Hall. Downtown Montpelier, various locations. Free for most events; varies by venue. 223-9604 or montpelieralive.org.New Year’s Eve Dinner at NECI on Main. Champagne reception, multicourse dinner and handcrafted desserts to benefit

the NECI scholarship fund. 6:30 p.m. reception, 7 p.m. dinner. 118 Main Street, Montpelier. $100 with wine pairings, $80 without; includes tax and gratuity. Limited seating: reservations required: 223-3188 or necidining.com.Baroque and Blue. See Sunday, December 30, for descrip-tion; note change in venue. 7 p.m. Bethany Church, 115 Main Street, Montpelier. Suggested donation $10 adults, $5 students and seniors.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 1Snowshoe with the Montpelier Section of the Green Mountain Club. Moderate, 4.8-mile round -rip as-cent of White Rocks from the Middlesex trailhead. Contact leader Charlene Bohl, 229-9908 or charlenebohl@comcast.netl for meeting time and place.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2Vermont, the U.S. and the World: How Our Health Ties Together. Dr. Nils Daulaire, director of the Office of Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines how global health priorities are set and government investment in global health. 7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338. Part of the Vermont Humani-ties Council’s First Wednesdays series.Extempo: Live Original Storytelling. Tell a 5- to 7.5-minute, first-person, true story from your own life. Sign up in advance and come with your story already practiced to deliver smoothly without notes. No theme. 8 p.m. Nutty Steph’s, 961C US Route 2, Middlesex. Free to participants; $5 otherwise. 229-2090 or extempovt.com.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 3Montpelier Movement Collective Workshop: Technique, Improvisation and Composition. For in-

termediate to advanced dancers. Learn phrase work and techniques for ensemble work, and be led through improvisation. 4–5:30 p.m. Contemporary Dance and Fitness Studio, 18 Langdon Street (third floor), Montpelier. $15 or four punches on a CDFS card. 229-4676 or cdandfs.com.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 4Coffeehouse. Enjoy live music and share your own. Fellow-ship, potluck snacks and beverages. 7–9 p.m. Trinity United Meth-odist Church, 137 Main Street, Montpelier (park and enter at rear). Free. Dick, 244-5191, 472-8297 or rawilburjr@comcast.net. Event happens every first Friday.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5Indoor Farmers’ Market. See Saturday, December 15, for description and information.Sit-n-Knit Winter Crafternoon. Kids bring current projects or brainstorms for new ones and sip hot drinks with fellow stitchers. First-time knitters and crocheters welcome. For ages 5 and up; ages 9 and younger must be accompanied by an adult. 1–3 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library children’s department, Montpe-lier. Free. Linda, 223-4665.Occupy Central Vermont: General Assembly. 3–5 p.m. Guerilla garden park, next to Charlie O’s, Main Street, Montpelier. Heather, facilitation@occupycentralvt.org. Event happens every first Saturday. Monteverdi Young Singers Chorus Winter Con-cert. 4 p.m. Bethany Church, Montpelier. Free; donations welcome. 229-9000.Shape-Note Sing. See Saturday, December 15, for description and information. Contra Dance. See Saturday, December 15, for description and information.

see UPCOMING EVENTS, page 18

Holiday ServicesBARRE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH19 Church Street, Barre. 479-0114.Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. Music, performances by the choir, carol singing with the congregation and telling of the nativity story. Monday, December 24, 7 p.m.

BETH JACOB SYNAGOGUE10 Harrison Avenue, Montpelier. 229-9429 or bethjacobvt.org.Chanukah Shabbaton Services. Special Shabbat services with Chaya and Moshe Dovid Poretsky, visting teachers of Jewish mysticism. Meals follow services. Friday, December 14, 5 p.m., Saturday, December 15, 10 a.m.

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST145 State Street, Montpelier. 223-2477.Christmas Service. Featuring the Christmas story. All welcome. Sunday school and nursery care concurrent with service. Sunday, December 23, 10:30–11:30 a.m.

OLD MEETING HOUSE1620 Center Road, East Montpelier. 229-9593 or oldmeetinghouse.org.Blue Christmas Service. Thursday, December 20, 7:30 p.m.Christmas Eve Services. Monday, December 24, family service 5 p.m., candlelight service 7:30 p.m.

NORTH AMERICAN MARTYRSMarshfield.Christmas Mass. Tuesday, December 25, 9 a.m.

ST. AUGUSTINE CHURCH16 Barre Street, Montpelier. 223-5285.Christmas Mass. Monday, December 24, 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Tuesday, December 25: 10 a.m.

ST. MONICA CHURCH79 Summer Street, Barre. 479-3253.Christmas Mass. Monday, December 24, 4 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and midnight; Tuesday, Decem-ber 25, 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.

TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH137 Main Street, Montpelier. 229-9158 or trinitymethodistvt.org.The Longest Night. A service of remembrance, healing and hope for all who are struggling with grief or worry this season. Wednesday, Decem-ber 19, 7 p.m.Christmas Eve Service. Celebrate with hymns, children’s time, a Christmas message and candle-light. All welcome. Monday, December 24, 7 p.m.

Christmas Day Service. Tuesday, December 25; community meal 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.

UNITARIAN CHURCH OF MONTPELIER130 Main Street, Montpelier. 223-7861 or unitarianchurchofmontpelier.org.Winter Solstice Service. Honor the longest night of the year and the return of light with word and song. Friday, December 21, 6:30 p.m.Christmas Eve Services. Early service is especially for families with young children, but all are welcome. Monday, December 24, early service 4:30 p.m., traditional candlelight service 6:30 p.m.

WATERBURY CENTER COMMUNITY CHURCH3583 Waterbury Stowe Road. 244-6286.Silent Commmunion. Monday, December 24, come any time between 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

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Weekly EventsBICYCLINGOpen Shop Nights. Have a bike to do-nate or need help with a bike repair? Visit the volunteer-run community bike shop. Mondays and Wednesdays, 5–7 p.m.; Tuesdays, 6–8 p.m. Freeride Montpelier, 89 Barre Street, Montpelier. By donation. 552-3521 or freeridemontpelier.org.

BOOKSOngoing Reading Group. Improve your reading and share some good books. Books chosen by group. Thursdays, 9–10 a.m. Central Vermont Adult Basic Education, Montpelier Learn-ing Center, 100 State Street. 223-3403.

CRAFTSBeaders Group. All levels of beading experi-ence welcome. Free instruction available. Come with a project for creativity and community. Sat-urdays, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. The Bead Hive, Plainfield. 454-1615.

DANCEEcstatic Dance. Freestyle boogie with DJ using Gabrielle Roth’s meditative dance form, 5Rhythms. Wednesdays, 7–9 p.m. First and third Wednesdays: Worcester Town Hall, corner of Elmore Road and Calais Road; second and fourth Wednesdays: Plainfield Community Center (above the co-op). $10. Fearn, 505-8011 or fearnessence@gmail.com.

FOODFree Community Meals in Montpe-lier. All welcome.Mondays: Unitarian Church, 130 Main Street, 11 a.m.–1 p.m.Tuesdays: Bethany Church, 115 Main Street, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.Wednesdays: Christ Church, 64 State Street, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.Thursdays: Trinity Church, 137 Main Street, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.Fridays: St. Augustine Church, 18 Barre Street, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Sundays: Last Sundays only, Bethany Church, 115 Main Street (hosted by Beth Jacob Syna-gogue), 4:30–5:30 p.m.Noon Cafe. Soup, fresh bread, good company and lively conversation. Wednesdays, noon. Old Meeting House, East Montpelier. By donation. oldmeetinghouse.org.German Brunch: A Community Meal. All-you-can-eat buffet of fresh fruit, bread, salmon and local meats and cheeses. Mimosas and other drinks available for purchase. Sundays, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Nutty Steph’s, Route 2, Middlesex. $10 adult, $5 children 12 and under. nuttystephs .com.

GAMES Apollo Duplicate Bridge Club. All welcome. Partners sometimes available. Fridays, 6:45 p.m. Bethany Church, Montpelier. 485-8990 or 223-3922.

HEALTHFree HIV Testing. Vermont CARES offers fast oral testing. Thursdays, 2–5 p.m. 58 East State Street, suite 3 (entrance at the back), Montpelier. vtcares.org.

KIDS & TEENSThe Basement Teen Center. Cable TV, PlayStation 3, pool table, free eats and fun events for teenagers. Monday–Thursday, 3–6 p.m.; Friday, 3–11 p.m. Basement Teen Center, 39 Main Street, Montpelier. 229-9151.Story Time at the Waterbury Public Library. Mondays, age 18–36 months. Wednesdays, age 0–18 months. Fridays, age 3–6 years. 10 a.m. Waterbury Public Library. Free. 244-7036.Story Time at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. Tuesdays and Fridays, 10:30 a.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. Free. 223-4665.Events for Teens at the Aldrich Library. No-obligations teen book club on Mondays; game night on Wednesdays. 5 p.m. Aldrich Public Library, Barre. 476-7550.Youth Group. Games, movies, snacks and music. Mondays, 7–9 p.m. Church of the Crucified One, Route 100, Moretown. 496-4516.Story Time and Playgroup. For children age 0–6. Story, followed by art, nature and cook-ing projects, as well as creative play. Dress for the weather. Wednesdays, 10–11:30 a.m. Jaquith Public Library, 122 School Street, Marshfield. 426-3581 or jaquithpubliclibrary@gmail.com.Cub Capers Story Time and Songs. For children age 3–5 and their families. Tuesdays,

9:30 a.m. Children’s room, Bear Pond Books, 77 Main Street, Montpelier. 229-0774.Story Time at Onion River Kids. Outdoor adventure tales and childhood classics. Sundays, 10:30 a.m. 7 Langdon Street, Montpelier. 223-6025.

LANGUAGEEnglish Conversation Practice Group. For students learning English for the first time. Tuesdays, 4–5 p.m. Central Vermont Adult Basic Education, Montpelier Learning Cen-ter, 100 State Street. Sarah, 223-3403.Lunch in a Foreign Language. Bring lunch and practice your language skills with neighbors. Noon–1 p.m. Mondays, Hebrew. Tuesdays, Italian. Wednesdays, Spanish. Thurs-days, French. Fridays, German. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. 223-3338.

MUSICSing with the Barre Tones. Women’s a cappella chorus. Mondays, 6:30 p.m. Alumni Hall (second floor), near Barre Auditorium. 223-2039 or rjmorgan1956@comcast.net.Friday Night Community Drum Circle. Open drumming hosted by the Unitar-ian Universalists of Barre. Everyone welcome. Fridays, 7–9 p.m. Parish house, Barre Universalist Church, Main and Church Streets, Barre. Follow your ears, or follow the signs. Accessible venue pos-sible with advance notice: 503-724-7301.

PARENTINGMama’s Circle. Meet and connect with oth-ers experiencing the joys and challenges of new motherhood. For infants up to 1 year old and their mothers (toddler siblings welcome). Snacks, drinks and parent education materials provided. Thursdays, 10 a.m.–noon, through April 19. Good Beginnings of Central Vermont, 174 River Street, Montpelier. centralvt.goodbeginnings.net.

RECYCLINGDollar Days. Bring in odd and sundry items for reuse, upcycling and recycling, including toothbrushes, bottle caps, cassette tapes, books, textiles, batteries and more. Mondays and Fridays, 12:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m. Additional Recyclables Col-lection Center, 3 Williams Lane, Barre. $1 per car load. Complete list of accepted items at 229-9383, ext. 106, collino@cvswmd.org or cvswmd.org .

SPIRITUALITYChristian Science. God’s love meeting hu-man needs. Reading room: Tuesday–Saturday,

11 a.m.–1 p.m.; Tuesdays, 5–8 p.m.; and Wednes-days, 5–7:15 p.m. Testimony meeting: Wednesdays, 7:30–8:30 p.m., nursery available. Worship service: Sundays, 10:30–11:30 a.m., Sunday school and nursery available. 145 State Street, Montpelier. 223-2477.Deepening Our Jewish Roots. Fun, engaging text study and discussion on Jewish spirituality. Sundays, 4:45–6:15 p.m. Yearning for Learning Center, Montpelier. Rabbi Tobie Weis-man, 223-0583 or info@yearning4learning.org.Christian Meditation Group. People of all faiths welcome. Mondays, noon–1 p.m. Christ Church, Montpelier. Regis, 223-6043.Shambhala Buddhist Meditation. Instruction available. All welcome. Sundays, 10 a.m.–noon, and Wednesdays, 6–7 p.m. Program and discussion follow Wednesday meditation. Shambhala Center, 64 Main Street, Montpelier. Free. 223-5137.Zen Meditation. Wednesdays, 6:30–7:30 p.m. 174 River Street, Montpelier. Call Tom for orientation, 229-0164. With Zen Affiliate of Vermont.

SPORTSRoller Derby Open Recruitment and Recreational Practice. Central Vermont’s Wrecking Doll Society invites quad skaters age 18 and up to try out the action. No experience necessary. Equipment provided: first come, first served. Saturdays, 5–6:30 p.m. Montpelier Recre-ation Center, Barre Street. First skate free. centralvermontrollerderby.com.★ Coed Adult Floor Hockey League. Adult women and men welcome. Equipment provided. Sundays, 3–5 p.m., January 20–April 21. Montpelier Recreation Center, Barre Street. $52 for 13 weeks or $5 per week. bmfloorhockey@gmail.com or vermontfloorhockey.com.

YOGA★ Yoga with Lydia. Build strength and flex-ibility as you learn safe alignment in a nourishing, supportive and inspiring environment. Drop-ins welcome. Special yoga and meditation retreat De-cember 29. Mondays, 5:30 p.m., River House Yoga, Plainfield ($5–$20 sliding scale). Wednesdays, 4:30 p.m., Green Mountain Girls Farm, Northfield ($15). Tuesdays, noon; Thursdays, 6 p.m.; Fridays, noon, Yoga Mountain Center, Montpelier. Rates and directions at 229-6300 or saprema-yoga.com.Community Yoga. All levels welcome to this community-focused practice. Fridays, 5:30–6:30 p.m. Yoga Mountain Center, 7 Main Street (second floor), Montpelier. $5–$20 sliding scale. 223-5302 or yogamountaincenter.com.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 6Frozen Onion Winter Bike Race #1. Cold-weather riders race through Hubbard Park to benefit Mountain Moxie’s scholarship program. Registration opens at 9:30 a.m., race starts at 11 a.m. Hubbard Park, Montpelier. $20 preregistered, $25 day of race. Matt, 229-9409 or events@onionriver.com.Family Circus Sunday. A monthly gathering of folks inter-ested in unicycle riding, juggling and slack-lining. For all ages; beginners invited. Equipment provided; bring your bike helmet. 4:30–6 p.m. Montpelier Recreation Gym, 55 Barre Street. $2 indi-vidual, $5 family. 223-3456. Event happens every first Sunday.

MONDAY, JANUARY 7Classic Book Club. 6 p.m. Cutler Memorial Library, Route 2, Plainfield. Free. Daniel, 793-0418. Event happens every first Monday.Karen Engelmann Book Reading and Signing. God-dard alumna Engelmann reads from her new novel, The Stockholm Octavo. Part of the MFAW visiting writers series. 7–8:30 p.m. Haybarn Theatre, Goddard College, Plainfield. Free.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 8Medicare and You. New to Medicare? Have questions? We have answers. 3–4:30 p.m. Central Vermont Council on Aging, 59 North Main Street, Suite 200, Barre. Free. Register at 479-0531. Event happens every second and fourth Tuesday.Women’s Circle. Women and mothers discuss all things related to the childbearing years. Women only, please; children are welcome. Hosted by midwives Chelsea Hastings and Hannah Allen. 6–8 p.m. Emerge Midwifery and Family Health, 174 River Street, Montpelier. Event happens every first Tuesday.Nikky Finney Book Reading and Signing. Finney, winner of the National Book Award for Poetry, reads from her work. Part of the MFAW visiting writers series. 7–8:30 p.m. Hay-barn Theatre, Goddard College, Plainfield. Free.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9Community Cinema: The Powerbroker: Whitney Young’s Fight for Civil Rights. The film follows the journey of this black civil rights leader from segregated Kentucky to head of the National Urban League. 60 minutes; panel discussion fol-lows. 7 p.m. Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier. Free. 223-3338. Sponsored by Vermont Public Television.

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UPCOMING EVENTS, from page 17

Submit Your Event!Send listings to calendar@montpelierbridge.com. The deadline for our next issue, January 10, is Friday, January 4.

50 words or less, please. Listings may be edited for length, clarity or style.

Events happening in Montpelier have priority, then events in surrounding communities. High-resolution photos also welcome for possible use.

Have a class series you’d like to advertise? Get it in the classified section: call Carolyn or Gabriela at 223-5112, ext. 11 or 12.

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ClassesMOVEMENTHWA YU TAI CHI Winter-spring semester starts January 7 and runs 15 weeks for $150. Payment plans available. New and continuing students welcome: Mondays, 5 p.m., at 64 Main Street, third fl oor, in Mont-pelier. Instructor Ellie Hayes has been teaching

Hwa Yu Tai Chi since 1974. Preregister by Janu-ary 6: 456-1983.

ClassifiedsEMPLOYMENTDRIVERS: CDL-BGreat pay, home time. No forced dispatch! New singles from Plattsburgh, New York. Passport or enhanced license required. 888-567-4861.

FOR RENTHOLISTIC PRACTITIONER OFFICESTh ree offi ces for rent at 252 Main Street (Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism), Montpelier. $300–$400/month depending on size. All utilities (except phone) included. Shared reception area, wireless Internet, private phone line if desired. Lease to start February 1. Contact info@vtherbcenter.org or 224-7100. vtherbcenter.org.

RELIGIOUS SERVICESFIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTISTDecember 23, 10:30–11:30 a.m. Th e Christian Science church service will feature the Christmas story. All are welcome. Sunday school and

nursery care concurrent with service. 145 State Street, Montpelier. 223-2477.

SERVICESHOUSE PAINTERSince 1986. Small interior jobs ideal. Neat, prompt, friendly. Local references. Pitz Quat-trone, 229-4952.

SNOW REMOVALSmall driveways, walkways, roofs, decks. Care-ful, responsible, insured. Andy Plante, 223-5409.

STUFF TO SELL?Wish you could have a yard sale, but it’s getting too cold to hold one outside? Call us at T&T Re-peats Th rift Store. We just may be able to help you out. 224-1360.

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Membership and Outreach ManagerVermont Land TrustCome work at the Vermont Land Trust (VLT), a nationally recognized organization that protects Vermont’s farms and forests. Th is full-time position will develop and manage VLT’s marketing and events strategy; initiate and implement programs to expand our membership and connect with current members; engage with the public to promote our work; and create promotional materials.

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To learn more, visit www.vlt.org. VLT is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

This holiday season,

SHOP LOCAL

PAGE 20 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

by William Fraser, city manager

The official city budget process kicks off this week. I am presenting the city manager’s recommended bud-get to the City Council. Between now and January

24, the council will review that proposal and prepare its own recommendation for voter consideration. All budget docu-ments are available on the city’s website.

The following guidelines were used in preparing this bud-get proposal:

• The budget must reflect the City Council’s adopted goals and priorities and enable those goals to be advanced.

• The overall budget and property tax increase must be consistent with the cost of living (CPI), which was 2.2 percent as of October 31.

• The budget must incorporate increased funding for in-frastructure and capital needs based on the steady-state plan developed by the Capital Improvements Commit-tee.

• The budget must deliver responsible levels of service to the residents of Montpelier.

• The budget should continue FY13 funding levels for the community fund and community enhancements.

• The budget should minimize impact on existing employ-ees to the extent possible.

Resources utilized in budget deliberations were the coun-cil’s goals document, budget survey and workshop discussion; the council’s policies on debt service and fund balance; the city’s master plan; the 2009 citizen survey; the 2011 Matrix report; the 2012 Citizen Budget Review Committee report and recommendations from the city’s staff at all levels.

Budget NumbersFY14 general fund budget totals $11,071,806, which is

an increase of $295,753 (2.7 percent) from the comparable FY13 spending plan. When the recreation budget and ballot items are included, the overall increase is 2.2 percent. FY14 general fund nontax revenues total $3,861,288, which is an increase of $129,453 (3.5 percent) from FY13 nontax reve-nues. Grand list value is virtually flat (0.03 percent estimated increase). With the current grand list, $83,150 represents one cent on the tax rate.

Property Tax ImpactProperty tax revenues of $7,210,518 are required for the

city portion of the budget. This is an increase of $166,300 or 2.4 percent over FY13. All of this increase is for the capital plan and is the precise amount recommended by the Capital Plan Committee. A two-cent increase in the property tax rate is required. The capital/equipment plan is increased by two cents, while the remainder of the budget requires no tax increase. For the average residential property valued at

$223,000, two cents on the tax rate represents $44.60 on the tax bill.

InfrastructureTwo bonds are proposed. One bond is in the general fund

for $710,000 to be used for sidewalks, retaining walls and storm drains and culverts. The second bond is in the sewer fund for $670,000 to repair a failing sewer line on River Street.

Infrastructure bonds are planned to be part of a series, with subsequent bonds of $710,000 in FY17 and $705,000 in FY20. The capital/equipment plan anticipates additional increases of $166,300 in each of the next four budget years—FY15 through FY18—in order to bring funding levels to the projected steady state of maintenance and im-provements.

PersonnelTotal number of full-time equivalent employees (includ-

ing the senior center) is 107.56. This is a net decrease of 4.22 (3.8 percent) from the FY13 budget. We eliminated a full-time firefighter/EMT, a full-time police officer, a full-time public works street employee, a full-time administrative po-sition and a half-time GIS position and reduced a full-time zoning administrator position to half time. We have added a 0.4 clerical assistant at the senior center and a 0.25 caretaker in the parks. A 0.875 position in CJC was expanded to 1.0.

Cost-of-living allowances and step increases are built into all employee wage and salary accounts consistent with col-lective bargaining agreements and personnel policies. For this budget, that represents a 2.25 percent adjustment for fire union employees, 2 percent for police union employees and 2.2 percent (or CPI) for public works union employees. A 2 percent adjustment for nonunion employees is also in-cluded.

The budget retains funding for the assistant city manager position. This position will have three primary areas of responsibility directly related to council goals and priori-ties: (1) communications, research and policy analysis; (2) project management and overall management assistance and oversight of the district heat system; and (3) community services and economic development, including supervision of the planning and community development department, the senior center, the justice center and the parks department, while coordinating with the recreation department and cem-etery commission.

Other FundsThe budget does not assume any changes in water or sewer

rates nor sewer or CSO benefit charges. Tax funding for the senior center is increased by $49,103 (42 percent), reflecting the realities of operating new programs in a newly renovated facility. The parking fund is balanced contingent upon park-ing fee increases. Without some fee increases, the fund is out of balance by $50,000. Parking fees have not been adjusted since 2004. The district heat fund budget is included for the first time.

Community ServicesThe housing trust fund is funded at $41,000,

the same as FY13. The Montpelier commu-nity and arts fund is funded at $118,175, which is the same amount of funding for outside agencies and the arts fund in FY13. Community enhancements, in-cluding Montpelier Alive and various festivals, lighting and events, are funded at $29,500, the same as FY13. The budget does not include $40,000 funding for the GMTA circulator bus route.

Service ImpactsPolice: One fewer police officer

will result in a lot less foot and bike patrol in the downtown. Some call re-sponses will take longer, and some may be processed differently. When officers are out due to injury, illness, vacancy or leave, there will be a reduced pool of available people to fill in.

Fire: The fire department has had stable staffing levels for many years, so

the loss of one firefighter/EMT will change their operating and scheduling systems. They will have more occasions dur-ing the week when they are running with smaller numbers.

Fire Administration: Ambulance billing will be con-tracted out. Duties such as payroll and accounts payable will be shifted to existing department firefighting staff and the finance department. Phones will be automated, and there will be no walk-in greeter during the week if the duty crew is on a call.

Planning and Zoning: The reduction to a half-time zon-ing administrator means that applicants may have to wait longer to process zoning permits. The loss of the half-time GIS mapping and E-911 addressing position will require that those functions be handled by the planning assistant. Website technical work will be transferred to the technology division.

Public Works: The department has already struggled with meeting current assignments; given the increase in capital funding they will be expected to work on even more projects. We may be providing funding for some significant improvements without keeping up with funding to maintain them.

Other: In addition to reductions in service, both city staff and Matrix had identified previously existing capacity shortcomings in the areas of human resources management, facilities management and communications. Only commu-nications is addressed differently in this budget

ConclusionGiven systematic increases, such as wages and benefit

costs, operating costs and other factors, the challenge of meeting this budget’s financial targets resulted in the need to reduce about $450,000 or 4 percent from the FY13 base budget. This resulted in decisions that will change the way some services are delivered.

It is my professional opinion, though, that this budget directly reflects the goals, funding priorities and financial limits articulated by the City Council.

• The tax rate is within CPI.• Funding for infrastructure is increased.• Use of fund balance was eliminated.• Proposed bonds are within debt policy limits over the

long term.• The capacity to advance projects, including bike proj-

ects, economic/housing development, consolidation of community services and communications, are all ad-dressed.

• Impact to services is perceptible but not debilitating.• All community funding remains at FY13 levels.

I appreciate the hard work of our management team and all city employees. We all stand ready to serve the community to the best of our abilities within the resources available. I am concerned that the FY15 budget challenge will be even more difficult.

This budget was a team effort from start to fin-ish. The department heads worked diligently

to meet our budget goals. I would like to particularly recognize the efforts of Finance

Director Sandy Gallup. I look forward to the council’s discussions on all of

these budget issues and hope that the public will participate fully as well.

In addition to this week, the City Council will be discussing this budget on December 19 and January 2 (tentative), with of-

ficial public hearings on January 9 and 24. All meetings are at city hall, begin at 6:30 p.m. and are open and accessible to the pub-

lic. Meetings are also broadcast live on local cable TV and streamed live on the city’s website.

Thank you for reading this ar-ticle and for your interest in Mont-pelier city government. Please feel free to contact me at 223-9502 or wfraser@montpelier-vt.org with any questions, comments or concerns.

The Annual Budget Proposal

A Message from City HallThis page was paid for by the City of Montpelier.

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 21

The Montpelier School Page

The Montpelier City Schools: The Proposed Operating Budget

The drafting of a school budget in Vermont in any year is fraught with uncertainty because of the number of

factors that are completely out of the control of local school boards and superintendents. Many of the most important decisions on core funding lie in state hands and are made in January right before the measure has to be set in stone in order to be voted on in early March.

Vermont school superintendents draft budgets based on educated guesses and hone the budgets when final num-bers arrive in January. With the state needing to close an estimated $50-million budget shortfall, the coming year’s education allocation to school districts is anything but cer-tain. It is known that the district will have to work within a framework of budgetary restraint. In an effort to rein in local education taxes, the legislature established a system of two votes. If a school budget surpasses a certain percent, the re-maining portion is subject to a contentious second vote. The first draft of a proposed Montpelier school budget passed that threshold by a significant amount.

In a speech to Montpelier school staff, Superintendent Brian Ricca put the current budget preparations this way:

Simply put: we need to do as much as we currently do with less than we currently have.

At this time, when we carry FY13’s budget over to FY14, we are more than $500,000 over the two-vote provision. The two-vote provision is a mechanism the state legislature put into place to ensure that local municipalities were able to see very clearly the budgets coming from local school boards.

Given our current economic reality, the administrative team and I will not present a budget that would trigger a two-vote provision to the school board. What that means in plain English is that we need to reduce more than $500,000 from next year’s budget.

Even if we do reduce that amount of money and get below the two-vote provision, we are still projecting an in-crease of over 4 percent; in excess of $600,000. To put that in perspective, last year’s budget reflected a 2.74 percent increase from the previous year.

I have asked every department to bring forth ideas for potential efficiencies—no one is exempt from this task. From central office to support services, from teachers to technologies, from food services to facilities—we are all in this together. No one group will be asked to shoulder this burden alone.

In terms of a time line, our budget needs to be approved

by the school board no later than January 16, 2013, as it will be presented to Montpelier City Council on January 17, 2013. We have four scheduled board meetings between now and then. We are open to and happy to listen to feed-back, suggestions and ideas.

The Montpelier City Schools: A Plan for Repair and Maintenance

The city school budget has, for years, been very heavy on the operational side, with far less attention paid to main-

tenance and capital repair. The reality is that the district’s three school buildings are now older buildings, with Union Elementary and Main Street Middle School being quite old. Core maintenance is required for these buildings to ad-equately serve not only the present generation of students but future generations as well. Yearly attention to small problems of upkeep is a sound investment because it keeps them from becoming costly problems in the future. The school board recognizes this. Even as the board struggles to shape a sus-tainable operating budget that avoids the two-vote threshold, there is serious discussion of how to set aside a larger an-nual capital budget for repair and upkeep of our three older schools. This is not an easy challenge, as it requires long-term planning as well as achieving greater efficiencies from the current system to help defray costs.

Phase One ProjectsThe school board is considering issuing long-term bonds

to finance needed school repairs; many of which are pressing. The Phase One Projects total $1,760,000.

Union Elementary School: $1,177,000New flat membrane roof: $275,000New air handlers for auditorium and gym; new hot-water

distribution heating system hooked to the city’s proposed wood-chip generating capacity: $902,000

Main Street Middle School: $237,600Upper roof replacement: $73,975Flat EPDM membrane: $82,500Upper roof entablature flashing: $73,975Lower roof entablature flashing: $11,000Provide new fall protection and handrail for north stair:

$22,000

Montpelier High School: $286,000Repair parking lot: $90,200

Drainage, storm water basin; improve landscape, lighting, handicapped parking and access: $90,200

Roof replacement of the gym: $71,500Improve domestic hot-water system: $16,500Replace air-conditioning compressor and heat exchanger:

$44,000Repave entry drive: $63,800

Phase Two ProjectsProposed Phase Two Projects currently come in at

$2,604,000 Union Elementary School: $929,000Main Street Middle School: $474,000Montpelier High School: $965,000

Phase Three ProjectsProposed Phase Three Projects currently come in at

$863,500Union Elementary School: $490,000Main Street Middle School: $0Montpelier High School: $295,000

A Few Notes About Athletics at Montpelier High School

The Montpelier High School football team will be tran-sitioning from the varsity level to the junior varsity level

next fall. This move was made because of decreasing num-bers and a hope that having this year at a level that is more in line with the team’s experience will be beneficial in the long run. Optimally, having this extra year of seasoning and practice would allow the program to be more competitive and someday emerge at the varsity level again.

The athletic department of Montpelier High School has developed a policy of “no child left behind” for students who wish to participate in sports with insufficient student demand to field a team. This is achieved through co-op and member-to-member arrangements. The current programs are:

Softball girls to NorthfieldHockey boys to NorthfieldHockey girls co-op with U-32Indoor track going to Northfield’s club programOne wrestler to Spaulding

This page was paid for by the Montpelier Public Schools and compiled by Richard Sheir.

The Current State of the Montpelier City School DistrictProposed Budget ScheduleDecember 1, 2012: DOE reports first draft of equalized pupils; recommended base education payment announced; recommended base tax rate announced

December 5, 2012: School board and City Coun-cil to meet for preliminary budget review

December 15, 2012: Equalized pupils frozen; re-ceive estimated special ed revenues from state

December 19, 2012: Finalize and present initial FY14 budget

December 30, 2012: Receive notification of the common level of appraisal

January 2, 2013: Vermont School Boards Insur-ance Trust announces actual health insurance increase

January 2, 2013: Board and community review of budget

January 16, 2013: Board and community review of budget; board adopts FY14 operating budget

January 17, 2013: School department budget pre-sented to City Council at council meeting

March 5, 2013: Town meeting

Emily Campbell represented the MHS com-munity (and the United States) at the International Competition for Earth Sciences in Argentina.

Julia Gilbert, Devon Tomasi, Ari Markow-itz, and Rachel Ebersole have been awarded Letters of Commendation on the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

At the Vermont cross-country championships at Thetford Academy, Daniel Grosvenor took home the Division II individual title, while the boys’ team finished in fifth place. On the girls side, Laura Mears won the Division II individual title, while the girls’ team as a whole finished as well in fifth.

Adam Isaacs-Falbel and Leah Ray Sagan-Dworsky of Main Street Middle School were selected to serve as legislative pages in the first ses-sion beginning in January 2013.

Kerrin McCadden lives her love of poetry in her teaching and writing. As a recipient of a $25,000

grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, she has earned national recognition for her commit-ment to her passion.

Colleen Purcell of Montpelier High School was selected as a UVM Outstanding Teacher of the Year.

Anne Watson and Dave Bennett have run an exemplary ultimate program. Every graduating senior from last year’s ultimate program is playing college ultimate on the highest level in their fresh-man year. This includes G. Danger Sheir, playing for the 20th-ranked UVM team, and Josh Crane, who made the number-one-rated team in the country at the University of Colorado. No sport in school history has placed more students on varsity in their freshmen year.

Seventy-five students representing over a dozen ath-letic teams and school organizations led the charge in this year’s phone-a-thon, resulting in one of the largest donation drives in recent years. Over $7,500 was raised.

Kudos to the Following

PAGE 22 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

Design & Build

Custom Energy-Efficient Homes

Additions • Timber Frames

Weatherization • Remodeling

Kitchens • Bathrooms • Flooring

Tiling • Cabinetry • Fine Woodwork

This holiday season,

SHOP LOCAL

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 23

by Jeremy Lesniak

Night vision technology is certainly nothing new, but for most of us, it has always seemed to be the stuff of

movies or the realm of those that belong to antigovernment militias. I’ve been interested in night vision technology for a while, but the cost has always been prohibitive A couple of years ago, I saw the price coming down on low-quality devices marketed for children. These units were problematic and had few positive things to say about them. This holi-day season is quite different.

For anyone who has used night vision goggles, you know that you can’t see in complete and utter darkness. These devices don’t actually allow vision without light: they gather small amounts of ambient light and then amplify them, allowing you to see better than without the device. This is an old technology and was used on the oceans dur-ing World War II and heavily used during the Vietnam War.

These days, night vision goggles are avail-able at a variety of prices—from under $50 to $5,000, or more. The technology and quality vary greatly with price, as one might imagine. Surprisingly, the inexpensive units work well for children. Reviews across the web show that, while most adults find them to be flimsy and of poor quality, kids are thrilled with them—and aren’t kids’ opin-ions the ones that matter?

If you’re struggling to find a gift for a child on your list, night vision goggles will prob-ably be a hit. I’d suggest ages 8 to 12 for these items, though there are surely exceptions to that age range. I can’t think of a child I know that wouldn’t be thrilled to receive these as a gift. Just be sure to get a turn at some point!

For more information, go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_vision.

The Internet and Politics in 2012It wasn’t long ago that elections were de-

cided by decades-old technologies: newspa-per, television and radio were the major outlets for those campaigning. Like most industries, the Internet has ushered in new methods for spreading information and awareness. This past election is no excep-tion.

The presidential campaigns spent large sums of money. This election season, though, there were a large amount of Internet-centric and technology-related efforts. You could even watch the presidential debates broad-cast on YouTube. While the numbers are not clear, we know that millions of people watched the debates online.

Candidates and campaigns have taken no-tice of these numbers, too. The Romney campaign was caught in an embarrassing situation when someone discovered they were (likely) buying Twitter followers. And whether the Romney campaign was respon-sible or not, there was a virus going around forcing people’s Facebook accounts to “like” Mitt Romney’s Facebook page.

The Obama campaign wasn’t free of social media critique, however. Some argued that the president’s camp was sending out too many e-mails, tweets and the like. I find it interesting, and a bit satisfying, that brilliant marketers with near-unlimited resources have problems finding the right social media balance. It shows how new this segment is.

While we still don’t have Internet vot-ing, that may change by 2016. Estonia, a small country in eastern Europe, became the world’s first nation to allow Internet back in 2005. They have seen success through sev-eral elections, and many are now looking to them as a model for Internet voting in other parts of the world.

No matter your political views, or if you even voted, you can’t argue the increased reach that technology has given political campaigns of all sizes. We’ll certainly see further advancements and increases in future elections. That will leave the question: Does it make a difference?

For more information, go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting_in_Estonia

Jeremy Lesniak founded Vermont Comput-ing (vermontcomputing.com) in 2001, after graduating from Clark University, and opened a store on Merchants Row, in Randolph, in May of 2003. He also serves as managing editor for aNewDomain.net. He resides in Plainfield.

Night Vision Goggles for Kids!

Tech Check

PAGE 24 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

Wilderness First Responder CourseApril 6–14, 2013, 8am–5pm dailyWHAT: Taught by Peter Muckerman, WEMT. This 76-hour course offers nationally recognized Wilderness First Responder and adult CPR certificates.

WHERE: At Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, 252 Main Street, Montpelier.

COST: $865 tuition, includes texts and instruction materials. There is a $250 deposit required to hold your space—only 21 slots, register now!

REGISTRATION/INFO: To register contact info@vtherbcenter.org or 224-7100. For details, visit vtherbcenter.org

Men & Women 18+Mondays, Jan. 7 through Feb. 18 (no game Jan. 21), 7–9 p.m.Union School Gym$15 for session $3 walk-in

MONTPELIER RECREATION DEPARTMENT55 Barre St. Montpelier225-8699montpelierrec.org

ADULT DODGEBALLSIGN UP TODAY.

If you can’t take the hit ... then dodge it!

Tell them you saw it in The Bridge!

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 25

Chevy Voltthe all-new

Growing Your Businessby Lindel James

It is expensive to bring in outside consul-tants or initiate a leadership development program. This can be back breaking for

small or midsize businesses. The question to ask is whether the results of instituting such a program is worth the expense. The short answer is yes! The advantages of leader-ship development will eventually outweigh any potential disadvantages. Here are a few reasons why you should be setting up such a program to help your business grow:

1. Improves Employee Morale. One ob-vious result of having a leadership develop-ment program is improving the happiness or mood of your employees. Good leader-ship inspires employee contentment because employees trust that their employer will do the right thing for them. A bad leader or manager can be a disaster for a company. Employees need to believe that their superi-ors are looking out for their well-being and that they are competent. Bad or incompetent leaders lower confidence, ultimately wreck-ing the relationship between employees and management.

2. Lowers Employee Turnover. One of the advantages of having high employee morale is that happy employees are less likely to leave. This prevents the loss of skilled and trained workers and enables your company to work at a consistently high level of performance. Training employees and getting them up to par is expensive and time consuming; it pays to keep good, well-trained, veteran workers.

3. Improves Worker Performance. Happy employees work better. This is a fact. But hav-ing contented workers is not enough: Good leaders inspire their team members to work better and at a higher level, which ultimately benefits the company. With an inspirational person leading, employees will complain less and will be more eager to do what needs to be

done and to accomplish the goals of the orga-nization—even if they are asked to do tasks beyond their job description or pay level.

4. Keeps the Company on Track. Good leaders understand the pulse of the company; they can foresee issues before they affect the company. By heading off any problems before they begin, good leaders can keep the company focused on work and not be blindsided by petty issues or surprises. They are also better able to plan for the future and provide the company with a clear set of goals.

5. Cultivates New Innovations. Effective leaders recognize that they cannot see and do everything; they cultivate a work culture that develops talent by encouraging team mem-bers to do their part. An open environment that encourages feedback and independent thinking will foster innovations and allow prospective leaders to shine. This will help your business in the long run.

6. Costs Less Than You Think. Finally, leadership development is not as expensive as you think it is. Good books can give you the basics that you need to develop your own leadership skills. The other half of the know-how is the willingness to do it—and that costs almost next to nothing.

Leadership development is a necessary ex-pense for future organizational success, and you will be providing your company a great service to get on that the bandwagon as soon as possible.

Lindel James is a business and leadership development strategist and a Certified Guer-rilla Marketing Coach and Trainer. She spe-cializes in helping executives, business owners and entrepreneurs assess their leadership and marketing skills and competencies to improve employee morale and company profits. James lives in Montpelier and can be reached at lindeljames@centerforleadershipskills.com.

Seven Reasons to Consider Leadership Development for Your Company

PAGE 26 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

Arts

Have a Barre Merry Holiday!

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 27

by Cassandra Hemenway Brush

Burr Morse’s latest self-published book, Sugar Words: Musings from an Old Vermonter, is a collection of stories

stemming from his 60-plus years as a sev-enth-generation Vermont farmer. It’s rife with Morse’s unique fireside-chat storytelling style, combined with his keen eye for detail and history and his willingness to thought-fully adopt changes, even in a culture that too often reveres the good old days.

Sugar Words follows up Morse’s first book, Golden Times: More Tales Through the Sugar-house Window, and delivers yet more of his family history and slices of life from back in the day. Morse and his wife, Betsy, pres-ently own and operate Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks in East Montpelier, where he has worked full-time since graduating in 1971 from the University of Vermont with a bach-elor of science degree in plant and soil sci-ence.

Along with the two books Morse has man-aged to write while running a business full-time, he has overseen the growth of Morse Farm from a diver-sified vegetable/beef cow/maple farm to an internationally known tourist des-tination and cross-country ski center, visited by 450 tour buses and 60,000 people yearly (according to the Morse Farm website). That success speaks to Morse’s obvious business sense and his willingness to put in the necessary face time, while embracing the modern world of social media and cell phones.

Doubtless, his collections of old-timey stories that categorically divide the world into two groups—flatlanders and real Ver-monters—help market the business. More so, though, Morse chronicles a way of life long gone in Vermont, and his down-to-earth, conversational style brings his vignettes to life, recalling history in the form of stories. For a guy so very married to his identity as

a born-and-bred Vermonter, Morse clearly accepts change and progress (else he probably wouldn’t be counting those 60,000 visitors every year) and brings a keen eye to the nu-ances and differences between how things were done yesteryear and how they’re done now.

Morse clearly loves the old ways and de-scribes them in stunning detail. But what makes this book interesting are the moments when he considers that which is new or dif-ferent to his former perspective; when he describes a world not merely populated with those with whom he grew up but coexisting with those who have followed since.

In “Crunch Time Crunch,” a story in Sugar Words, Morse aptly describes that time of year—sugaring time—when the snow thaws and melts and creates a layer of crust on top: “When we walk home at night the crunch we make speaks with a language only a sugarmaker can understand, the language of freezing and thawing.” On snowshoes, wearing quilted Dickies, Morse heads out to tap his several thousand maples and catches

sight of the Nordic skiers in their bright, streamlined clothing, enjoying his trails. He writes, “I mused about our difference in attire and purpose but also considered

our similarities: We all thoroughly loved what we were doing and moved at a fast pace, as though we had a deadline. The skiers had waited painfully long for snow this year and needed to maximize their time before win-ter’s mood changed. It was sort of a Nordic crunch time.”

In other stories, Morse describes his en-counter tackling an alpaca and his surprise at its much more placid temperament, com-pared to beef cows, with which he is more familiar. And he observes the switch many dairy farmers have made from dry hay bales to the thousand-pound fermented “filet mi-gnon” fodder in the round bales wrapped in white plastic.

Morse also doesn’t mind getting silly, as evidenced in the story “Beans, Beans, Beans.” He shares the intimate details of his first crush—and its crushing end, as he suffered the pronounced aftereffects of his mother’s baked beans. He follows up that particular gem with a fascinating tidbit of New England bean-related history from Maine:

“Back when the log drives were going on, cooking crews traveled down river, 24 hours ahead of the log drivers. Once camped, they would prepare batches of beans in ceramic crocks, dig holes in the ground and line them with fieldstones. Then they would build up hardwood fires, lower the bean pots into the holes, shovel red-hot coals around them and cover them up with earth. By the time the log crew arrived the next day, the beans would be ready to dig up and serve.”

This dish is prepared in exactly the same manner every year at Morse Farm. Morse might help uncover the beans, but to this

day—based on his childhood trauma—he won’t eat them.

By the way, if you haven’t caught it yet, Morse is a Seventh-Generation Vermonter (capital letters intended). In case mentioning this a second time in this review seems a bit much, rest assured, it’s just a fraction of the mentions you’ll find in Sugar Words. While the book is full of lovely treasures and sweet stories, the constant, repetitive references to his “real Vermonter” pedigree grows a bit wearisome by about page 12. And the under-scoring of the pedigree by making mention of the various and sundry flatlanders who cross his path only serves to aggravate the weariness.

However, if one can overlook the one-liner inherent in this message, there is real heart, a gift for language and some fascinating insights into the world of sugaring—and life—in this little volume.

New Book from Burr MorseSugar Words: Musings from an Old Vermonter

Burr Morse. File photo by Susan Atwood-Stone.

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Review

PAGE 28 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

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THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 29

by Robert Nuner

In time for the holidays, Greening Ver-mont: The Search for a Sustainable State, a heavily illustrated, information-packed,

photo-laden paperback, offers tools for folks seeking to understand how this little part of the world functions—or does not function.

Greening Vermont, published by the Vermont Natural Resources Council and Thistle Hill Publications and designed by The Laughing Bear Associates, looks at Ver-mont’s environmental successes and failures. It’s selective, as any story must be, as authors Elizabeth Courtney and Eric Zencey ac-knowledge in their introduction.

Environmental stories by their nature employ many strands, pulling in multiple disciplines under the ecology umbrella. Among Greening Ver-mont’s themes are the numerous acts, private and public, that have made a difference in Vermont’s relationship to its environment. Another theme is an exploration of what we use for energy (fos-sil fuels and other energy sources) and how availability of that energy and Vermont’s landscape characteristics shape our environ-ment, physically and culturally.

The book examines the limits—physical, legislative and cultural—of our interaction with the environment. Noting that a sustain-able state is one that only uses “current solar income,” Greening Vermont cautions that the transition to systems that don’t borrow en-ergy from the past “won’t be easy. And with that change will come others, some of them impossible to predict.” It warns that “we will achieve sustainability either through con-scious decision or . . . sustainability will be thrust upon us by system breakdown, incre-mental collapse, and frantic patching.”

The book explores Vermont’s smallness and its preinterstate highway history as a backwater. It reminds readers how fortunate we are, highlighting lands given us by suc-cessful industrial magnates and protective laws and regulations passed by committed, passionate environmentalists. At the same time, it dissects how we get along with one another (or don’t): the collision of individual rights and the rights of the commons; the right to make a living and the right of the citizenry to protect itself from the harms—

economic or environmental—that are a con-sequence of ours and others’ actions.

Tom Slayton’s foreword sets the stage, reminding readers of the early contribu-tions of industrialist Joseph Battell and en-vironmental stalwarts like Woodstock na-tives Frederick Billings and George Perkins Marsh. Later, the book explores the forces that turned Williston into what we see today, despite enormous expenditures of energy and time to prevent that occurrence. Bill McKib-ben’s afterword addresses the consequences of our culture’s carbon addiction and of in-action and Vermont’s place in demonstrating what’s required to achieve a sustainable life in the future.

The book is salted with thumbnail profiles of individuals whose environmental passions

remind us that we are sustained by the world, not placed here to use it up. Slayton quotes Bat-tell, “People go to Europe and pay $10,000 for a paint-

ing and hang it up in their home where none but their friends can see it; I buy a mountain for that money and it is hung up where ev-eryone can see and enjoy it.”

A thematic lens that reappears throughout the book is the idea that society must move from an extractive culture that acts as if re-sources are infinite to one that acknowledges that the planet and its resources are finite—a quite different mind-set from which to make social, cultural and governmental decisions, conscious or unconscious.

Greening Vermont argues that, at our peril, we fail to effectively translate our plans into actions or strictures. Our hallmark environ-mental legislation efforts, it says, are long on carrots but short on sticks. We’ve been un-able, as a society, to effectively and directly label things or actions environmentally unac-ceptable, having, instead, to use roundabout ways to protect the environment.

From the book’s introduction, we learn that “[f]arms and forests are becoming frag-mented, falling to scattered, incoherent de-velopment in which big-picture limits—the constraints that nature imposes on culture—can find little or no way to be represented. How, and to what degree, have Vermonters acknowledged the existence of environmen-tal limits? How has Vermont’s environmental movement helped to prevent or forestall the

degradation of the state’s natural and social landscape? How have that move-ment and its challenges evolved?”

The authors more than once offer the state as an example for others to study, because of our small size and because we were late to the fossil-fuel party that radically changed the world.

In addition to numerous profiles of in-dividuals active in the trenches, the book elucidates why extractive lifestyles are un-sustainable in the long term: “Humans will never invent their way around the laws of thermodynamics, the laws that forbid per-petual motion. Energy cannot be created out of nothing (the first law) and it cannot be re-cycled (the second) . . . we have to live within the energy budget that’s available to us on the planet . . . The matter and energy avail-able to us are finite, and human ingenuity is limited by physical law . . . Available energy is a limiting factor for the human economy, as it is for ecosystems. (The human economy is also limited by the finitude of ‘sink’ ser-vices, the ability of the planet to absorb our effluents.)” In one of the sidebars, the book

quo t e s a former Exxon Norway executive, Oystein Dahle: “Socialism collapsed because it did not let prices tell the economic truth. Capi-talism will collapse if it does not let prices tell the ecological truth.”

Greening Vermont notes that the struggles are far from over. In one thumbnail, it quotes Bob Klein of The Nature Conservancy and Alec Webb, president of Shelburne Farms: “Conservation work needs to be sustained over time-generations, in fact. Vermont is our hope for the future,’ says Bob. ‘You can’t think of it as a sprint,’ Alec says. ‘And it’s not a marathon, either; it’s a relay race.’ The movement needs the continual entry of fresh energy, fresh legs, if it’s to conserve the natural and social capital on which our state depends.”

Greening Vermont: The Search for a Sus-tainable State, 176 pages, by Elizabeth Court-ney and Eric Zencey. Published by Vermont Natural Resources Council and Thistle Hill Publications, 2012.

Learning to Live SustainablyGreening Vermont: The Search for a Sustainable State

Review

PAGE 30 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

LettersA Bridge Lapse in Reporting

To the Editor:I was glad to see The Bridge give attention

to the school board meeting of November 14, in the story “Parents Petition School Board to Dismiss Teacher” (November 29 issue). In general, the story accurately portrayed the complaints of the parents and the very seri-ous issues that led to their unusually direct and public request to have Christy Bush, a fourth/fifth-grade teacher at Union Elemen-tary, removed from the classroom.

Unfortunately, the story errs in stating that the teacher’s name was “withheld from the proceedings.” The school board, presumably as part of its policy of not discussing person-nel matters in public, indeed avoided men-tioning the teacher’s name—as they always avoid naming any teacher in anything less than a flattering light.

When I spoke, however, I made an explicit point of naming Christy Bush as the teacher in question and as the source of my com-plaint. Two of the board members immedi-ately objected, saying, “We can’t use names,” and asked me not to “personalize” the issue. I objected, pointing out that our complaints and concerns were not about “a classroom” but about a particular person—one who has been the subject of grievous parental concern and complaint for several years now, but who still teaches. And whatever the board’s con-straints, it’s clearly my constitutional right to use her name.

It was a tense and significant moment, and The Bridge erred in not reporting either the name or the minicontroversy over its ut-terance. The board’s reluctance to have the teacher named speaks to the central issue being raised at the meeting, which is ac-countability. The parents who spoke, having worked for over a year now to press Ms. Bush to either improve or be removed, took their complaints public precisely because they feel that neither the board nor Ms. Bush are holding themselves accountable for the severe and well-known problems that are sharply compromising the education of the students in her classroom. In withholding her name from the story, The Bridge withheld from its readers the very sort of information it should be reporting.

—David Dobbs, Montpelier

Honor the Wishes of the Electorate

To the Editor:The front page story of the November

29 issue of The Bridge was an interview of Mayor John Hollar, headlined “Mayor John Hollar Talks About City Spending.” The first question posed to the mayor was: “Elections have consequences. You live in District 2. District 2 was perhaps the clearest choice in a decade in the way it was articulated. Was it a mandate? And, if so, what did that mandated election say to you?”

Hollar answered, in part, that the council “now feels that it has the support of the com-munity to change slightly the direction of our spending priorities.” Subsequently, dur-ing the interview, he explained that a major-ity of the council supported a plan that would level-fund most city agencies (departments?) for the next five to seven years, thus “bending the curve” of municipal budgets.

Level-funding of most city departments

for the next five to seven years is not a “slight change” in the direction of our spending pri-orities. It would constitute a major shift, with severely adverse consequences for the scope and quality of municipal services. There is no mandate for that action.

Here’s my answer to the mandate question: District 2 represents one-third of Montpe-lier’s population. That 2012 council election was about many things. When the city’s entire electorate spoke on the same day, two out of three voters approved the municipal budget and every one of the other 32 money articles, many by the same margin and de-spite an effort by some to foster a tax revolt. Those votes were about investing in our com-munity. That’s the mandate delivered by the voters in 2012.

The mayor maintains that the city budget has increased annually at a rate of 5 percent over the past five years. In fact, the budgets approved by the council have increased by less than half that rate over the past 10 years, significantly less than the rate of inflation. By approving money articles, in addition to the municipal budget presented by council, the voters have chosen to increase overall spend-ing to the rate that the mayor cites. In so doing, the voters are expressing their values about the kind of community in which they want to live. To ignore this expression is to disrespect the electorate.

Here’s the thing. It is the responsibility of the council and the mayor to represent our community values, not to change them. Some of these representatives ran unopposed; others had competition. I honor their service to the community, irrespective, but they do the community a disservice to the extent that they seek to impose their values on us on matters of import. They lack a mandate to reduce city services. Their mandate is to ensure best practices and deliver quality ser-vices efficiently.

The Montpelier electorate has spoken on this issue consistently over the last decade. Attention must be paid.

—David R. Abbott, Montpelier

Editorial

One Government for Them, One for Us

Increasingly, I am seeing the distressing pattern of one government for the “biggies”—as in the powerful utility companies, the big banks that are “too large to fail” and the bloated

needs of America’s military-industrial complex—and another for the rest of us.This may seem like ancient history, but back in late 2002 and early 2003, in the lead-up to

the war in Iraq, many thousands of people here in the United States and all across the world filled the streets in worried protests against preparations for that war.

The mantra then was that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, and though such weapons were never found, the “shock and awe” U.S. and coalition invasion followed. Many of our sons and daughters lost their lives. Many others were wounded—some in body, others in mind and spirit. Many thousands of Iraqis, military and civilian alike, lost their lives or were wounded, and thousands of civilians were driven from their homes to become displaced persons. The human cost of war is what’s most terrible. But the monetary price tag was also huge, and it was financed with borrowed money. The familiar pattern of war—lives lost, bodies and minds injured and displaced people, all paid for with borrowed money—followed in Afghanistan.

Last year in April, in the days leading up to adjournment of the Vermont legislature, there was a push by some legislators to direct the public service board to repay the $21 million that ratepayers had loaned years back to Central Vermont Public Service Corporation (CVPS) during a hard financial time. But that promise to repay in cash was “finessed” under the merger agreement approved by the public service board. Instead of a direct cash payment, the merged utility was allowed to create an efficiency fund instead. Net result: No direct cash payments to ratepayers for the money they had loaned to CVPS.

In the news of a day or two ago, I read, more with anger than disbelief, about HBSC, a very large British-based bank that has laundered millions and millions of rogue government and drug cartel money through the worldwide banking system. According to an online source HSBC was “[f]ounded as Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1865 . . . HSBC has grown into one of the world’s largest banks serving 60 million customers through some 6,900 offices in 84 countries and territories.”

The U.S. government investigation turned up what should have been judged as criminal offenses with prosecutions and punishment. Instead, HSBC was fined $1.9 billion—not an incidental amount and there were no criminal prosecutions. Why? This bank is too large either to fail or to prosecute for wrong-doing.

Now, the U.S. Air Force wants to deploy its new and nuclear-capable F-35 first-strike bomber in Burlington. And the price tag to American taxpayers is reported by the New York Times as $396 billion. That’s just the beginning. The U.S. Air Force has acknowledged that at least 1,366 Vermont homes were in a zone that would become “unsuitable for residential use.” As this paper goes to press, concerned Burlington-area citizens are seeking a face-to-face meeting with Senator Patrick J. Leahy.

Things appear to be getting away from us. We can debate the finer points of a local city or school budget. But can we get a grip on the large expenditures that are driving the state, the nation, indeed the world, off what’s been called “a fiscal cliff”?

Half Empty or Half Full?

Word received today from our bookkeeper, Kathryn Leith, is that $7,638 has now been received from readers and friends of The Bridge who have contributed to our current

campaign to benefit the paper. Is the glass half empty or half full? This year, our goal for the annual campaign is $15,000, and we are more than halfway there. In this or any other year, what it costs on a very basic, pared-down budget to publish The Bridge is more money than our advertising sales produce. At a time of immense changes in the news gathering industry, we have persevered, and the help of our readers and friends has been generous and indispensable.

Just about 19 years ago, a small group of Montpelier residents put out the first issue of The Bridge. Now, we are entering our 20th year of publication. Free, independent and local—we honor that standard.

There is an envelope in this paper addressed to The Bridge. May I once again ask you to respond. If you can’t find that envelope in the paper, please send us a contribution with a check made payable to “The Bridge” to: The Bridge, P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601. Or visit our office in the lower level of Schulmaier Hall on the Vermont College of Fine Arts campus. If you need directions, please phone us at 223-5112. We continue to be grateful for your consideration of this request for help and your timely support.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Read something you want to respond to? We welcome your letters and opinion pieces. Letters must be 300 words or fewer; opinions, 600 words or fewer. Send your piece to editorial@montpelierbridge.com.

Deadline for the January 10 issue is Monday, January 7, at 5 p.m.

Quizzical Expressions

In which we investigate the origins of cu-rious phrases and idioms in the English language.Phrase: “Get down to brass tacks.”Meaning: Engage with the basic facts or realities. Be precise.Orign: First appeared as an idiom in the Texas newspaper, The Tri-weekly Telegraph, in January 1983. Shopkeep-ers used brass tacks to measure the length of a piece of cloth. They had two brass tacks nailed on top of the shop counter. The distance between the two tacks was precisely one yard. So when a customer wanted to know how long a piece of cloth was, the shopkeeper “got down to brass tacks.” Source: hindu.com.

Bill Reinecke of Middlesex contributes Quizzical Expressions for The Bridge.

Brian Mohr and Emily Johnson of Ember Photography will present two multimedia shows titled Off Piste in the Alps, celebrating their adventures in Europe’s High Alps: Friday, December 28, at the Sugarbush Gatehouse Lodge and Saturday, January 5, at Mad River Ski Area (a benefit for the Green Mountain Club). Boths shows are at 7 p.m. Photo by Brian Mohr/Ember Photo.

THE BR IDGE DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 • PAGE 31

by Nat Frothingham

Montpelier’s Michael Arnowitt, who has just turned the page on the first 50 years of his life, is as-

sembling a full-orchestra birthday celebra-tion concert to be performed Sunday after-noon, January 6, 2 p.m., at Montpelier High School’s Smilie Auditorium.

Over the years, Arnowitt has taken on and achieved larger-than-life projects. He orga-nized a benefit concert after the devastating 1992 Montpelier flood and again in 1999, as the Balkan Wars raged on. In 2000, as the world entered a new millennium, Arnowitt worked with a host of people to stage a four-day music festival celebrating 1,000 years of music, beginning with the 1100s and proceeding to the present, with 24 separate events. The 50th birthday gala concert con-tinues the large dreams tradition.

“I love the three-dimensional sound of or-chestral music,” said Arnowitt about the full, rich sound that will fill Smilie Auditorium on January 6.

Arnowitt has performed with an orches-

tra, but typically it’s a piano concerto. “I come in and get to play for 20 minutes or so,” he said. The January 6 concert will be different. Arnowitt will be playing through-out the concert, including favorite pieces that he has never performed before. Those favorite pieces include the entire Brahms second concerto, which Arnowitt describes as “one of the very best ever written, with its uplifting French horn opening, the excep-tionally beautiful cello melody of the slow movement, and a joyous finale.”

Six months ago, when the 50th birth-day concert was an embryonic idea, Arnow-itt imagined he would need to raise some $18,000 to pay the musicians and put on the event. Inevitably, that $18,000 has now become $19,000. “So far, we have raised $14,5000 of the $19,000 we need. We’d love it if you can help us reach our fundraising goal,” he said.

Collaborating with Arnowitt on the Janu-ary 6 concert is conductor Scott Speck, who has conducted orchestras at such venues as the Kennedy Center, London’s Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and the Paris

Opera. About half the players will come from Vermont, the other half from beyond. These musicians have performed with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and also with such orchestras as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and other well-known ensembles.

In a reply to a phone message, conduc-tor Scott Speck wrote back immediately to describe Michael Arnowitt’s already tremen-dous personal achievements:

“When I first met Michael in college, he already had the reputation of a brilliant pianist, and once I got to know him, we became great friends. Though our lives have taken us on very different paths, we’ve kept up our friendship and collaboration over the years. Michael is so much more than a world-class pianist. He’s a thoughtful writer, a fascinating composer, a dedicated com-munity member, a great humanitarian and a supremely sensitive human being. Though I still marvel at the way the years have passed, I am thrilled to participate in the celebration of 50 years of a wonderful life.”

Tickets for the Michael Arnowitt 50th Birthday Concert are available in Montpelier at Bagitos and Buch Spieler Music, also at Next Chapter Bookstore in Barre and online at mapiano.com.

by Thierry Guerlain

With the city and City Council now developing the 2013/2014 mu-nicipal budget, which voters will

approve or reject in March, this is a good time to present some of the underlying bud-get challenges, especially as they relate to city infrastructure.

Many would agree that, when it comes to streets and sidewalks, our habitual under-funding of mainte-nance and repairs is painfully evident and not a pretty sight. It’s difficult to drive or bike on many of our streets. Emergency vehicles have to travel at reduced speeds on bumpy roads and crum-bling pavement. Vehicles suffer accelerated wear, and rough streets are difficult to plow, resulting in the use of excessive salt, as an alternative to plowing. Sidewalks are rough, uneven and often dangerous. Property values throughout the city are reduced.

The Capital Improvements Projects (CIP) Committee, which defines where to spend the capital improvements portion of our mu-nicipal budget, met three times this fall. With excellent support from the city, the commit-tee developed the full and true steady-state cost to maintain all city infrastructure and assets. The steady-state cost is what it costs to properly maintain all city infrastructure, such that each part lasts its full useful life cycle. It is a given that infrastructure, if not properly maintained, will not last its full life cycle, resulting in premature and excessive replacement or rehabilitation costs. The re-

sulting figure was a bit of a shock: We are un-derfunding steady-state maintenance of our infrastructure by about $900,000 per year.

Streets that don’t receive annual mainte-nance deteriorate quickly, especially in Ver-mont’s harsh environment and with the use of salt for snow and ice removal. Proper an-nual care of street surfaces include microseal-ing, crack sealing, pothole filling and mill and fill—where an inch or two of asphalt is ground away and the street then repaved

with a skim coat of fresh asphalt. Proper care also includes edge and berm main-tenance for good drainage, cleaning of storm drains, cul-vert replacement and

more. Sidewalks need similar upkeep and systematic replacement, as does all city infra-structure and equipment.

It’s important to remember that city in-frastructure includes much more than just streets and sidewalks. Also included are bridges, traffic signals and signage, retaining walls, recreation and bike paths, drains and culverts, buildings and grounds, parking lots, flood mitigation, downtown enhancements, cemeteries, parks and all city equipment, in-cluding trucks, plows, graders and backhoes at the Department of Public Works and fire and police vehicles. We own a lot of assets, and they all need to be systematically main-tained and upgraded.

When calculating total steady-state cost, the CIP committee insisted the figure also include the rehabilitation and reconstruction (R&R) of two miles of city streets per year. Here’s how that figure was derived: A well-

constructed street receiving proper annual care is assumed to have a useful life cycle of 22 years. Montpelier has 56 miles of streets: twelve miles are state highways; 44 miles are city streets. The state is responsible for R&R of their highways; the city for its 44 miles of streets. Forty-four divided by 22 equals two miles. R&R of two miles of streets per year results in all 44 miles being rebuilt at least once every 22 years.

Some have suggested bonding (borrowing) to repair and refurbish streets and sidewalks. Bonding makes sense for one-time, extraordi-nary projects with a 30- to 50-year life cycle. But to borrow money for known, predict-able, annual maintenance and rehabilitation is poor fiscal policy and not sustainable. Further, bonding is “easy” in the moment but leads to the insidious growth of our annual debt service cost, which continually erodes our pay-as-you-go capacity. Bonding may be good for lenders, but when used to pay for what should be annual maintenance, it’s a false economy. Streets and sidewalks are continuously ageing and deteriorating and so should be systematically rebuilt and refur-bished, on an annual, pay-as-you-go basis.

Please note that the needs of the city’s water plant/distribution system and wastewa-ter/sewage disposal systems are not included in any of the above. Water and sewer are managed in accounts separate from the city’s general operating budget (which encompasses all Montpelier property owners), as water and wastewater each has its own set of customers. Though tracked in separate funds, water and wastewater are still general obligations of the city, and each has significant needs and debt that, again, are not included in the discussion presented above.

Also not included in the above is other city debt, such as debt taken on years ago to cover a gap in the city’s pension obligations. The city now has on the books an interest-only bond on which we will eventually—starting in 2017—start to also pay the principal. So, we need to be cautious about taking on more debt, give the 2017 impending jump.

Then there is school debt, recreation de-partment debt, city-backed debt associated with the senior center and library and more. The takeaway here is the need to keep an eye on all debt, when considering yet more debt—as opposed to pay-as-you-go spending that does not accrue future obligations.

As we work through the budget process, we must make important choices with long-term ramifications. How much do we want versus how much can we afford? Can we afford the cost of our complex municipal government and extensive services as a small community of 7,800 residents? Will portions of city government and services have to be reduced to bolster underfunded services? Or should taxes simply go up, year after year? Is it wise to further raise our municipal tax rate, given that Montpelierites already pay the highest municipal tax bills in the state? And will ever-increasing municipal tax bills result in Montpelier being affordable to only the wealthy and the subsidized, with the middle class squeezed out?

I’m certain that all city councilors and officials welcome your input and thoughts, as we develop the municipal budget for 2013/2014.

Thierry Guerlain is the Montpelier city coun-cilor from District 2.

Serious Budget Challenges Face the City

Opinion

‘Stories for a Winter’s Eve’ at Old Meeting House, December 23In what organizers hope will become a new holiday tradition in this part of Vermont, storytellers Mark

Nash and Kathryn Blume will team up with musicians Pete Sutherland and Patti Casey (left) for two shows of “Stories for a Winter’s Eve” on Sunday afternoon and evening, at 3 and 7 p.m., at the Old Meet-ing House in East Montpelier.

By scheduling the show for the day preceding Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day, organizers hope to tap into and express the open-hearted feelings of the season. Patti Casey described the Vermont story-telling as “stories of warmth and acts of kindness.” And of the music, she said, “I will be playing guitar, singing, maybe playing a bit of flute. Pete Sutherland will be playing fiddle, mandolin and singing.”

Often in even the busiest of lives, there’s a moment or two before the holiday begins. Casey described that moment in this way, “You’ve done your shopping. You’re done with the tree. You can relax and listen with friends and family to these wonderful stories and take in the music.” Talking about the Old Meeting House, Casey said: “It’s a church. It’s a spectacular venue. A Christmas tree will be lit. We are hoping it will be an ‘ah’ moment.”

—Nat Frothingham

Gala Concert to Celebrate Michael Arnowitt’s Birthday

Michael Arnowitt. Photo by Jim Lowe; courtesy Michael Arnowitt.

PAGE 32 • DECEMBER 13, 2012– JANUARY 9, 2013 THE BR IDGE

Shop Montpelier FOR THE HOLIDAYS

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Ornaments galore! Stockings & stuff ers!

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A pianist adds such atmosphere to your

holiday event.Ron Merkin ❉ 802-249-7116

(Ask also about my CD to benefi t seniors, Michael Arnowitt, collaborator.)

A pianist adds such