the town of
Dummerston, Vermont
Dummerston Selectboard
Dummerston's five-person Selectboard handles the municipal governance issues of the town. 
The Board generally meets every other Wednesday at 7:00 PM, at the Town Office. Meeting times are always warned in the Brattleboro Reformer. You can e-mail the Board at selectboard (at) dummerston.org.
The Selectboard is comprised of the following elected officials:
| Lewis White (Chair) | white (at) dummerston.org |
| Zeke Goodband (Vice Chair) | goodband (at) dummerston.org |
| Bill Holiday (Clerk) | holiday (at) dummerston.org |
| Tom Bodett | bodett (at) dummerston.org |
| Steve Glabach | glabach (at) dummerston.org |
From the March, 2012 Town Report...
FY2011 began in one of the driest summers on record and ended in one of the wettest. Add it all up and divide by two and you get what passes for normal weather these days. There's been far worse since. This fiscal year drew to a close in a Dummerston that never worried much about hurricanes and hadn't seen a hundred year flood in 85 years. Perhaps we were due.
Although technically Hurricane Irene didn't arrive until FY2012 and should be in next year's report (spoiler alert!) Dummerston did okay. No lives or homes were lost and we had less than a hundred thousand dollars in road damage claims to FEMA. Some towns around us were not as lucky. We can thank our rivers and streams for behaving themselves as well as the many years of good planning and maintenance by our road foremen and crews that kept our roads high and mostly dry.
The Green Iron Bridge over the West River has reopened and the repairs to the wing walls of the Covered Bridge can now proceed as planned with a minimum amount of inconvenience. We expect that work to go out for bid later this spring and be completed by summer's end.
Gravel and sand are never far from the minds of your selectboard. We use nearly ten thousand yards of the stuff each year, and with storms like this past year expected to become a regular part of life in Vermont, that requirement could grow. The gravel left in the town pit on Carpenter Road good for about one more season -- a little better than estimated -- but there is sand in abundance and should carry us for another 15 to 20 years.
To keep us in gravel the financing for the proposed Dummerston/Putney/Renaud gravel pit on the land behind Hidden Acres Campground on Rt 5 was voted on and approved at last year's town meeting with the proviso that no town funds be spent until a contract with the landowner was in hand. We're happy to report that a very favorable 25 year deal with Renaud Gravel was inked last fall and the studies and neighborhood conversations necessary for permitting are underway. We thank Mike Renaud for his willingness to work with the town and allow access to this essential material under such generous terms. We also thank the neighbors to the project for their patience and open dialogue over how to make this important project for the town something they can live with.
The dangerous stretch of Rt 30 near the swimming holes at the border with Newfane is going to get a little safer this summer. The state Agency of Transportation has agreed to install parking restrictions, signage, and seasonal blinking lights after the towns of Dummerston and Newfane and the Rock River Preservation Trust urged them to do so before someone is injured or killed -- not the month after -- as is so often the case. There's still no getting around the crowding on a hot summer's day, but this should increase the odds that everybody sees that day all the way through.
The Selectboard, Planning Commission and the Rts 5&30 Corridor Study Committee have been hard at work trying to translate the 2010 Town Plan into a clear and fair Zoning Bylaw revision. It is painstaking work, as it should be. These decisions affect us all in some very personal ways and every step is being taken to insure the process is thorough, transparent, and in collaboration with the public. Thanks to those of you who have put so much volunteer time into the research and deliberations and thanks to all of you who have participated in the neighborhood meetings, public forums and hearings. This process will continue for some time and with your help it will have a happy result.
Dawn Hubbard resigned her position as Emergency Management Director after an impressive tenure. She has been succeeded by Eric Davis who is doing an outstanding job as well. Hurricane Irene did not give us the grief she could have, but it's safe to say that Eric and Asst. EMD Larry Lynch and the whole volunteer staff at the Emergency Operations Center were prepared for whatever she might have done. The West Dummerston Volunteer Fire Department and the road crew were also at their posts throughout the storm and its aftermath. We can all rest easier knowing these fine folks are watching our backs when bad things happen.
The Selectboard will be bidding farewell to Greg Brown, whose term is expiring. Along with his gentle and thoughtful nature, Greg brought a tremendous amount of professional expertise to our deliberations. He will be missed around the five-headed table, but we look forward to working with him further in whatever role he decides to play in our community.
We all have our roles to play and we thank all of you for the phone calls, and emails and for speaking up at our meetings. An essential part of doing our job well is hearing from you. We enjoy working with you as much as we enjoy working for you.