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November 17, 2022
Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
thecitizenvt.com
In Charlotte
‘Til next year
Town accepts $3 million garage bid Projected completion is October 2023 LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
The sun sets over Lake Champlain and Charlotte beach as winter sets in.
Charlotte has accepted a $3 million bid to build a new town garage. At the Nov. 2 special meeting regarding the town garage, the selectboard accepted a proposal from Farrington Construction. The board subsequently authorized chair Jim Faulkner to make adjustments to the design specifications of the building on site, provided that the total costs do not exceed $3 million. The bid came in at $2,957,749. The selectboard earlier rejected two bids for the town garage that far exceeded the town’s $3 million budget for the project. The first bid came from Nayler and
Breen Builders of Brandon, whose projected cost was $3,795,222. The second, Farrington Construction of Shelburne, estimated the project cost at $3,796,000. With secured funding for the project in place — a voter-approved $1.5 million bond, highway reserve funds of $500,000 and $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars — Faulkner and town administrator Dean Bloch began working to negotiate lower bids earlier this month. Without jeopardizing the efficiency of the building, Faulkner and Bloch were able to take nearly $800,000 off Farrington’s bid. “There are quite a few pieces to it, but almost everything got See GARAGE on page 7
After son’s loss, Vallee family to fund long Covid research COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
It was only after his son had died that Skip Vallee learned how much he had truly accomplished. Just 27 years old, Charlie Vallee, born in Burlington and raised in South Burlington, was
a distinguished member of the U.S. intelligence community, and throughout his young life worked at prestigious institutions like the Institute for the Study of War, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and, the United States Special Operations Command — earning its civilian
of the year award in 2021. Speaking at his memorial in May — attended by dignitaries such as Gov. Phil Scott, U.S. Congressman Peter Welch, and former Gov. Jim Douglas — Vallee, the gasoline mogul who owns Maplefields and longtime Vermont Republican donor,
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revealed he could “now relay who Charlie really worked for,” the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense’s Intelligence arm. Vallee and his wife, Denise, learned after he died that Charlie had been named head of the DIA’s chief counterterrorism group, and
discovered that Charlie’s efforts assisted in the U.S. raid on ISIS leader Hajji Abdallah in February. “I always thought he was a leader at whatever he did,” Vallee said. But after contracting COVIDSee VALLEE on page 9
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