Tree lighting
Small works
Shelburne lights up for the holidays Dec. 2
Artists exhibit at Northern Daughters gallery
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Volume 51 Number 47
shelburnenews.com
November 23, 2022
CVSD drops plan for new offices
Run for your lives!
COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY KIM POPE
This gaggle of turkeys moves swiftly across a field on Harbor Road in Shelburne.
The Champlain Valley School District walked back plans to spend nearly $200,000 to relocate its central administrative offices, saying the district was unsure of the appropriateness or timeliness of the proposal. Superintendent Rene Sanchez unveiled the plan to relocate the district’s central offices to a new location on Hurricane Lane in Williston at the school board meeting on Oct. 18. The proposal would have increased office space from the “current cramped 7,889 square feet to 17,500 square feet, allowing us to bring all staff into the office and have much needed meeting space,” Sanchez said. The need for increased office space “was identified as far back as 2006,” reads the presentation, which can be found at bit.ly/3EN2so6.
Currently, the district uses space in the Shelburne Town Offices in the village, said Bonnie Birdsall, the district’s director of communication. But the space is “too small for us to carry out work efficiently,” Sanchez said at the October meeting. “There is no space to fit all of our current staff, much less any new staff,” Sanchez said. “We currently have to share these restricted working spaces, compete for meeting rooms and if we want to host a meeting, we have to hope that there’s space on certain campuses because not all campuses have space for us to hold a meeting and, frequently, we’re unable to have meetings during the day because the spaces are being used by classrooms and by teachers and students.” The relocation would have allowed the district to “improve operations — the goal, of course, See OFFICES on page 12
Staffing changes afoot within Shelburne’s planning, zoning office LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Staffing changes remain at the forefront in Shelburne, especially in the town’ planning and zoning office following the resignation of Adele Gravitz as planning director. Although the reason for Gravitz resignation remains unclear, the town will continue to pay her
through December. A letter to Gravitz from Shelburne town manager Lee Krohn said that the, “town will continue to compensate you as an employee and provide benefits through your Dec. 31, 2022 resignation date. That said, effective upon close of business on Friday, October 28, 2022, the town will no longer require your services.”
Following her verbal resignation on Oct. 21, the town hired two full-time employees and one interim employee to assist in the planning and zoning office. The new interim position is now held by Ken Belliveau who has more than 30 years of planning experience and had previously been the town of Williston’s planning director before his retirement
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in 2018. In June 2021, when Shelburne was experiencing vacancies in the planning and zoning office, Belliveau said, “Lee Krohn had contacted me and asked if I’d be willing to help out.” From 2021 until 2022, he operated under the role of interim coordinator of the town’s development review board for a year before
leaving in June 2022. A month ago, Krohn rehired Belliveau for the current interim position. “What’s different is that this time my role is focused on training and helping the new hires get settled in,” Belliveau explained. His new responsibilities include training and overseeing the two See AUDIT on page 12
Shelburne Road, S. Burlington Maple Tree Place, Williston
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