Issue #7 | April 2024
Subscriber drive | WE DID IT! 🍾
We exceeded our goal of 300 Subscribers by April! 🏆📈
A big thanks to everyone who shared The Poultney Journal!
It truly does make a big difference!
Help us improve.
Have a sec? Please take our quick Reader Survey!
New here?
Have The Poultney Journal Delivered Directly To Your Inbox:
Business info & highlights
📚 Laureate Fine Books (Formerly Hermit Hill Books) Closed from March 26th through April 30th for renovations
🍺 Poultney Pub Open again! Congrats Whitney & Team!
ORG UPDATES
🏛️ Poultney Area Chamber of Commerce Poultney Area Chamber of Commerce is looking for Vendors for the Spring Town Wide Yard Sale. June 1, 2024. For information click here!
🎨 Stone Valley Arts Poultney Poetry Downtown – Take a stroll on Main Street and enjoy Poultney’s shops and poetry! Try to find all 30 poems. A complete list of poems and locations is in the window at Ace Hardware. Happy National Poetry Month!
🏫 Poultney Historical Society East Poultney Day Vendors Wanted! Saturday, August 10th, from 9 am to 3 pm. This year’s theme is “Made in Poultney.” Call 287-5252 or email info@poultneyhistoricalsociety.org for more information
🦆 The Lake Saint Catherine Conservation Fund Save the Date! First Annual Milfoil Harvest Festival | June 15th from 12 to 3. More details details about the various activities to come!
🚌 Young at Heart Senior Center Maine Bus Trip for June 4 – 7, 2024 (4 days, 3 nights) Click here for more info!
Volunteer opportunities
♻️ Green Up Day Please use this map or stop by the Town Office to sign up in person and pick up Green Up Day bags.
🌳 Local Tree Planting Efforts Join the Poultney Mettowee Natural Resources Conservation District on April 24, May 7 + 8, and May 30. Please contact sadie@pmnrcd.org 287-6606 for exact locations if you are interested in helping
🚒 Poultney Fire Department Interested individuals can learn more at the Firehouse every Tuesday at 6:30 pm
👕 Poultney Rescue Squad Thrift Store Always looking for volunteers to fill in: 287-2207
Notices
🧑🤝🧑 Town/Village Merger Steering Committee Forming Letters of interest must be received by May 6, 2024. Full details here. Next meeting is Monday, May 6 at 6:30PM with a goal to meet with the public expressing interest in joining the Committee
☣️ Here’s the hazardous waste pickup schedule for 2024
Community Calendar
💪 Essentrics Stretch and Strength | 4/18, 4/25, 5/2, 5/9, 5/16, 5/23, 5/30 | 9 AM | Stone Valley Arts
🤝 Wed 4/17 Chamber of Commerce Member Meeting | 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM | Young at Heart Senior Center
📜 Sun 4/21 Favorite Poem – Community Poetry Reading | 2 PM – 3:30 PM | Stone Valley Arts | Plan to come and enjoy hearing your friends and neighbors read their favorite poems! All Are Invited!
♻️ Sat 5/4 Green Up Vermont Day | All Day | State-wide, Vermont
🌱 Sat 5/11 Succulent Bar | 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM | The Original Vermont Store
🤝 Wed 5/15 Chamber of Commerce Member Meeting | 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM | Young at Heart Senior Center
🎨 Fri 5/24 Poultney Arts Day | All Day | Main Street | Contact: Annie Daley, poultneyartsday@gmail.com
Town/village happenings
SELECTBOARD REPORT
📺 For more information watch back the meeting recordings here on YouTube
3/25 MEETING
🚚 During the last snowstorm, a town truck got stuck on Lewis Road and needed two wreckers to get it out. There were no injuries to employees nor damage to the truck
🗑️ The road crew had to clean up significant roadside trash on Lewis Road
🛣️ Highway Dept. obtaining quotes on crack sealing on Route 140 and Thrall Road
🎉 Sarah Pelkey is seeking some volunteers to form a July 4 activities committee to organize events. poultneyeconomic@gmail.com
🎆 The 2024 fireworks display will be on July 5
📝 Mary Jo Teetor wants to put together an RFP for a town-wide reappraisal. She stated that the State changed the method of determining when reappraisals would be triggered. The last time Poultney did a reappraisal was in 2011
🍺 Liquor Control applications were approved for Shaw’s Supermarket and Toad’s Burger Bar
🌉 The State has finalized the plans for the South Street bridge rehabilitation. Construction will be 2025 – 2027
4/4 MERGER STUDY MEETING
🏛️ Jeff King appointed as the Chair of the Merger Committee, Joe DeBonis appointed as the Vice-Chair. Paul Donaldson will act as the Secretary of the Merger Committee
📊 The Committee discussed the form of the Committee and how many people should be on it and whether, and how to invite the public to participate on the Committee. Paul Donaldson will put together a Notice seeking the public participation and highlighting the areas of expertise we will need to study merger. Sarah Pelkey is working on the RFP seeking a consultant
📅 Next meeting is Monday, May 6, 2024 at 6:30PM with a goal to meet with the public expressing interest in joining the Committee. The Committee will meet on May 13, 2024, at 6:00PM to hopefully select a Consultant.
4/8 MEETING
🐶 Discussion on an updated Animal Control Ordinance with more teeth. Position and an impound area needs funding
❄️ Highway Dept.cleaning up extensively after last storm
🛤️ Lewis Road needs a new base and ditching
🏥 CPR training by the Poultney Rescue Squad will take place for Highway and other department staff 4/15
💻 Website training will commence for Sarah Pelkey and Paul Donaldson
🍺 Liquor Control application was approved for Poultney Pub
🌧️ Drainage system being designed for both sides of the East Poultney Bridge
⏳ Town continues to wait on Regenerative Land Holdings for counter proposal for tax stabilization agreement
🪧 The new Town Office sign should be completed this week!
Ongoing Projects
👭 Town / Village Merger
$10k Municipal Planning Grant Awarded – Scope of work:
Task 1: Kick-off meeting with local steering committee (put together prior by Selectboard & Village) and hired consultant to review work plan, timeline, and project goals.
Task 2: Identify requirements for municipal merger, assess available information to prepare financial impact summaries, discuss existing municipal staff roles and functions, assess scenarios for revised services under merger.
Task 3: Draft final merger feasibility report to include summary of municipal budgets, administration, department operations and assets of the town and village with the cost benefits analysis in support of future capital planning projects.
Task 4: Community presentations of findings.
Town/Village Merger Steering Committee Forming Letters of interest must be received by May 6, 2024. Full details here. Next meeting is Monday, May 6 at 6:30PM with a goal to meet with the public expressing interest in joining the Committee
⚡Municipal Energy Resilience Program (MERP)
Municipal Energy Resilience Program results delayed. Funding opens in fall, expected to be competitive
🌐 Town Website
Town has signed a contract with EcoPixel, who built the Poultney Recreation site to update the Town website. Website training will commence for Sarah Pelkey and Paul Donaldson
🏫 Bhakta Griswold Campus
Applied for Act 250 permits for 2 hotels and luxury condos. Town continues to wait on Regenerative Land Holdings for counter proposal for tax stabilization agreement
💧 Flooding Hazard Study
Requests for proposals to study mitigating flooding around the D&H Rail Trail Bridge posted
🚧 East Poultney Bridge
Drainage system being designed for both sides of the East Poultney Bridge. Bridge striping still needs to be completed
🏗️ Town Garage
Nothing new to report
🌉 Rte. 31/South St. Bridge
The State has finalized the plans for the South Street bridge rehabilitation. Construction will be 2025 – 2027
☕ New Coffee Shop
Hey Day Cafe was open for MapleFest on Saturday and Sunday March 23rd + 24th, well received. No date announced for full opening.
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH WATCH
| 🚼 | 3/14 | Black stroller reported stolen |
| 🐖 | 3/15 | Pictures posted of pigs on the loose, reportedly from the Saltis farm |
| 🐄 | 3/17 | The escaped steer from last month returned to the farm, only to run off again. |
| 🏕️ | 3/18 | If your kid is interested in joining the Cub Scouts, look into Troop 44 in Granville or Pack 120 in Rutland County |
| 🚗 | 3/19 | Video posted of swerving vehicle on Rte 30 |
| 🏃♂️ | 3/21 | Church St resident reports seeing a kid dressed in all black sprinting away from Shaws with 10-12 cans of Twisted Tea |
| 📬 | 3/21 | Member reports that a woman going into the post office told her to dress her age. How rude! |
| 🚴♂️ | 3/23 | Member urges drivers to be careful because cyclists are out in the middle of the snowstorm |
| ❄️ | 3/24 | A neighbor invites members to enjoy the snow maze she created in her front yard |
| 🛑 | 3/25 | A business owner thanks a good samaritan for making his sign visible after the snowstorm |
| 🏪 | 3/26 | Dollar General employee reports that self-checkout is no longer an option |
| 🏫 | 3/27 | Announcement that Li High will be closing at the end of the school year |
| 🥎 | 3/28 | Support the high school women’s softball team by picking up some merch https://ladybluedevils24.itemorder.com/ |
| 📱 | 3/28 | Sheriff’s office reports a phone scam alleging that victims missed jury duty and need to pay a fine to make it go away. |
| 🕹️ | 3/30 | If you’re looking for vintage video games or consoles, look into Retro Hoarders Videogames in Whitehall |
| 📞 | 4/1 | Member asks how to request a wellness check on a neighbor. Answer: call the sherrif at 802-342-0022 |
| 🚲 | 4/2 | A black mountain bike was spotted in a field outside of town |
| 🚪 | 4/2 | More reports of Fidium salespeople making unwanted visits to houses in the village |
| 🔌 | 4/4 | Member thanks GMP for working through the storm to keep the power up and running |
| 🐕 | 4/6 | First of many sightings of a husky wandering around East Poultney with a Service Dog harness |
| 📉 | 4/8 | Manager of the Dollar General asks that any customers experiencing potentially fraudulent transactions please come forward so they can be investigated |
| 🧘♀️ | 4/9 | Recommendation posted for the new Sol-Luna Yoga studio in Fair Haven |
| 🛑 | 4/10 | Member thanks the good samaritan who picked up her stranded elderly parents on Rte 30 and brought them home. |
| 🚶♂️ | 4/10 | There’s a new story walk up in the nature trail behind the Catholic church |
| 🗑️ | 4/10 | A Main St business owner requests that people not put trash in non-trashcan receptacles in front of their building. |
| 🪦 | 4/11 | The cemetary is reopen as of April. Reminder to stay on the road and off the grass. Security cameras are in use. |
Found 🐶9😺2 📦0
Lost 🐶1 😺0 📦0