Class act
Map quest
CVU students direct a trio of short stage productions
Charlotte maps of yore could help with planning for tomorrow
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April 10, 2025
Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
Holding the line
thecitizenvt.com
Signs of the times
Librarians grapple with uncertainty over federal fiats LIBERTY DARR & BRIANA BRADY STAFF WRITERS
On a particularly balmy spring day last week, a woman was meandering around the Charlotte library when Margaret Woodruff, the library director and friendly face around the building most days, approached her to ask if she needed any help. The woman explained that she had just gotten into town to scout a property she’s looking to buy. It seemed fitting that Woodruff was one of the first people to greet her in her new town, and that one of the first places she visited was the local library. News for librarians across the country has been far less bright in recent weeks. Woodruff and several other library directors across Chittenden County have been grappling with President Donald Trump’s recent executive order seeking to eliminate “to the maximum extent” the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the primary source of federal support for the nation’s museums and libraries. Last week, the institute placed its entire 70-person staff on administrative leave. “We have never had to think
about having to defend ourselves as an institution before,” Woodruff said. “We’ve never considered libraries to be the ‘bad guy.’ It’s really so unprecedented.” In Vermont, the institute provides roughly one-third of the state’s Department of Libraries’ funding, which in 2024, amounted to roughly $1.2 million, said Commissioner and State Librarian Catherine Delneo. Those federal funds support a slew of shared services within the state, from the interlibrary loan program — the service that moves books and other materials across the state’s libraries and libraries across the nation — to the ABLE library service for the blind and visually impaired, online databases, as well as other resources and professional development for library workers. Delneo said the state department has been using the Institute of Museum and Library Services funds to provide grants of about $680 annually to help offset local courier costs for the interlibrary loan service for 116 public libraries across the state. Without the federal See LIBRARIANS on page 12
COURTESY PHOTO
Charlotte residents with an array of messages for Donald Trump attend Shelburne’s “Hands Off” protest on Saturday.
Hinesburg sole water source might be unwell BRIANA BRADY STAFF WRITER
The filter at Hinesburg’s only operating water source has been capturing too much iron, according to concerned town officials. The selectboard and town manager Todd Odit have been consulting with different experts about the well — referred to as No. 4 and located near the intersection of Route 116 and Shelburne Falls Road — to try and find the
source of the iron and consider solutions. However, the issues at well No. 4 have compounded with a measured drop in the water table and the desire to get an additional well connected – well No. 6, which was drilled as part of the contract with the Haystack Crossing housing development and intended to expand the system. These issues have left the selectboard to weigh the costs and urgency of the projects. Sille Larsen, the Engineering
and Water Resources Program manager with the Agency of Natural Resources, tested the water this past Friday. She said that, to assess where the iron was coming from — from the aquifer or the equipment — state workers turned the pump off for a while then tested the water at intervals after it had been turned back on. They found much higher levels of iron immediately See WELL on page 16
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