Williston
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AUGUST 8, 2024
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
WWW.WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
Still truckin’ after all these years
Poor drainage and a lack of lighting cause safety hazards at the Town Hall parking lot, according to Town Manager Erik Wells.
Town Hall parking lot back on the ballot?
OBSERVER PHOTO BY JASON STARR
BY JASON STARR Observer staff
When word came down in June that Williston’s grant application to the Vermont Downtown Development Board had been approved to the tune of $200,000 toward improvements to the Town Hall parking lot, it breathed new life into a project that failed to get voter support earlier this year. With the new funds in house,
the selectboard is set to decide on Aug. 20 whether to place a new question to borrow funds to complete the project on the General Election ballot in November. The Town Hall parking lot has been flagged for revamping for over a decade, Town Manager Erik Wells said, with pooling from poor drainage that ices over in the winter and a lack of lighting creating hazards. see PARKING page 4
Adams Farm Market celebrates its 31st year during Truckin’ Tuesday on the evening of July 30. See more photos from the event on Page 24. OBSERVER PHOTO BY AL FREY
Ransom’s rapport
Assessing an exemplary career BY JASON STARR Observer staff
Dick Ransom, longtime assistant assessor and community volunteer, retired in July. OBSERVER PHOTO BY JASON STARR
If you were doing a home renovation in Williston — perhaps refinishing a basement or adding a bathroom — you would likely get a knock on the front door from Dick Ransom.
The longtime assistant assessor would request to see the new space, and take notes so the town could recalculate the value at which it taxes your home. These visits could be fraught, with tax bills and privacy concerns as a backdrop, if not for Ransom’s affable, congenial nature. “Even in today’s supersensitive society, people are still very open,” Ransom said. “I don’t know
Thursday, August 15 The Beer Garden 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Corn-Inspired Food & Drink Specials Live Music & Cornhole
TO BENEFIT THE INTERVALE
if it’s because I was a friendly old man or what, but people were very accepting of me, and I was always very appreciative of that.” For 20 years as the town’s assistant assessor, Ransom’s good humor has smoothed resident relations with Town Hall. His supervisor for the last five years, Shirley Goodell-Lackey, credits him with improving the town’s public relasee RANSOM page 9