STANNARD – A corridor lined with cars and a full parking lot near the town hall greeted town meeting day arrivals as 25 voters gathered, March 5. Re-elected Moderator Tom Gilbert welcomed voters. Constable Warren Nott submitted his resignation, as he was leaving Stannard as a resident. Steve Pickard ended his term on the select board and was replaced by Katy Knuth, who resigned her position as auditor to be nominated. Johanna Polsenberg was elected as auditor. Simon Cohen was voted in to serve the remainder of an open three-year term on the town’s school board.
“We had a lot of troubled water this year,” said Jan Lewandoski. A Stannard Mountain Road bridge required temporary repairs to be passable after an isolated flooding event in June. State funding covered expenses related to the repairs in a 90-10 split with the town. A permanent replacement was several years away.
The town experienced extensive damage in early July 2024 flooding. Throughout the 2024 summer, additional repairs were made in order to make roads passable again, which required the town to borrow $600,000.
$434,923.79 of expenses were listed as an approximate otherwise unbudgeted cost to the town, as it awaits federal and state reimbursement from the disaster. Treasurer Regina Troiano followed up with FEMA multiple times for reimbursement and found representatives assigned to work with the town were no longer in those positions. Additional meetings with FEMA representatives on the matter were scheduled.
Select board member Ben Hewitt reported inspections from FEMA were complete with reimbursement expected to come soon.
Rep. Chip Troiano believed the town would still be responsible for some of the expense, as a preliminary projection he viewed showed the town receiving closer to $360,000 in federal and state dollars. “At some point, it is going to cost,” he said.
Emily Finnegan from the Caledonia County Natural Resources Conservation District said the district worked to secure grants to improve water quality in Stannard Brook, a climate-resilient habitat for wild Eastern Brook Trout. Work included developing riparian buffers along the waterway, performing a road erosion inventory and identifying culverts for upgrades. One of those culverts on Hutchins Farm Road was replaced in 2023..
The municipal budget was unanimously passed by voters.
Voters unanimously approved the budget to tuition students outside of the K-6 Mountain View Union School District jurisdiction. School board member Chris Kurdek reported, despite the volatility in other towns related to property tax impacts, Stannard was able to maintain their rate with a slight overall increase. Board members credited Act 127, which adjusted the school funding formula and helped provide stability to this year’s proposed tax rate.
In April Rep. Chip Troiano (Hardwick, Stannard, Walden), of Stannard co-sponsored H.706 and voted in favor of the act relating to the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. It then moved on to be considered by the Vermont Senate.
Rep. Troiano said, “in 2018 the Neonicotinoid bill that I sponsored initially had a section to ban treated seeds that was removed before it passed. . . That bill did remove neonicotinoids from the shelves of our hardware stores,” adding, “Since then New York and Vermont have learned that there is, in fact, no increase in crop yield from treated seeds. So, a ban on treated seeds will be part of this bill.”
Select board members learned at their regular May 15 meeting that Vermont’s Agency of Transportation had advised the town that grant compliance for the temporary bridge on Stannard Mountain Road was almost complete and funds should come to the town soon. That bridge was damaged in the flood of early June 2023.
In June, Ben Hewitt said the town is all caught up on paperwork and the ARPA funds, which the town already has received, can be used for general funds expenses if desired. Katy Knuth reported that the FEMA flood documentation is all submitted.
Grader repairs totaled approximately $13,000; somewhat less than had been feared.
Stannard 4-Her Steven Werner placed ninth at the 2024 State 4-H Dairy Judging Contest held at Hillside Homestead in Albany, June 15.
Sen. Bernie Sanders returned to his old stomping grounds to hold a rally in Stannard on Saturday, July 6, at the town park.
“Bernie is a great speaker who hits hard on the important issues. Come hear him, shake hands and exchange ideas with your senior Senator,” said Rep. Troiano, adding, “All are welcome. Food will be served.”
An intense Saturday, July 6, downpour had organizers scrambling to move the gathering inside just before Sen. Sanders’ arrival. In the town hall, he rallied supporters who hung on his every word and applauded at appropriate moments as he shared his unique blend of pessimism and optimism with the enthusiastic crowd.
Sanders told tales of his time living in Stannard, remembering Rep. Troiano among his earliest local friends from 1968, naming subsequent owners of the home where he’d lived and sharing stories of Vermont winters cold enough that car tires froze to the ground. He said he was “very grateful for those who accepted us into the community.”
Referring to the “divisive reality” of our national political situation, he said he caucuses with the Democrats, but understands they are not perfect; suggesting that the Democratic elite don’t listen to voters, who feel abandoned by both parties and find a sympathetic ear in former President Donald Trump.
About what gives him hope, Sanders said, he “meets decent people everywhere he goes.”
As the skies cleared, many rally-goers filled their plates with lunch and left, or moved outside to chat with Sen. Sanders while he signed autographs and stood for photos.
Rep. Troiano, who did not run for reelection, told those who remained that, on that day, June 6, he and his wife, Regina were celebrating 52 years of owning the Stannard home they purchased in 1962.
Troiano introduced his hand-picked successor, Sabrina Morrison (D) of Hardwick, running to represent Stannard, along with neighboring Walden and Hardwick in the Caledonia-2 Vermont House District.
The National Weather Service reported five to nearly eight inches of rain fell over the region between the time a storm started Sunday, July 10, and ended Tuesday, July 12. The ground was already saturated by torrential rainfall from thunderstorms on July 4, which had triggered minor flash flooding in Stannard. Rainfall from repetitive thunderstorms in that earlier event totaled half an inch to an inch and a half.
The Orton Road bridge was completely impassable, observed an area resident.
Thursday, July 11, brought recovery and repair efforts as streams began to subside through the morning and early afternoon.
Ben Hewitt reported “Stannard Mountain Road suffered severe damage in multiple locations during last night’s flooding. It is currently impassable below and above Stannard village. The only way in and out of Stannard is via Toussant Hill and Norway Road.”
By early afternoon Hardwick Electric crews were working to restore service across the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail overpass on Stannard Mountain Road where the roadbed under the bridge was severely damaged, making the road impassable for most vehicles. The bridge at the Richard’s Road intersection with Stannard Mountain Road was severely compromised.
The election kicked off in Stannard at 7 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 5. It was a quiet morning, where 52 of 162 ballots had already been filled out and mailed in by the Monday before. That left just 111 voters, plus any registering that day, to vote over 12 hours,
“This election is a very tight race,” said one Stannard voter. “I am voting for someone who I think is overqualified for the job, and I hope everyone else votes the way their gut tells them to.”
Stannard recorded 64 votes for Sabrina Morrisson as Caledonia-2 House Rep., but it wasn’t enough to overcome winner Mike Southworth’s lead in Hardwick and Walden.
Winner of the Caledonia County Senate race Scott Beck (R) received 62 votes to Amanda Cochrane’s (D) 58 in Stannard.
In the Presidential election, 82 Stannard voters opted for Kamala Harris (D) with 40 for winner, former President Donald Trump (R), while three selected Robert F. Kennedy (We the People). In the U.S. Senate race, winner Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) received 77 votes to Gerald Malloy’s (R) 42 and, for U.S. House, winner Becca Balint had 68 votes to 41 for Mark Coester (R/Libertarian).
