Williston Observer

April 24, 2008

By Marianne Apfelbaum

Observer staff

The Williston school janitor charged earlier this month with stalking a 13-year-old Williston Central School student has been charged again, this time for allegedly stalking a former employee at the school.

Norman Croteau, 47, of South Burlington, was charged after police were notified that a 23-year-old woman who had worked at the school for a short time might have information pertinent to the ongoing investigation, according to police.

After interviewing the woman, investigating officer Justin Huizenga said Croteau was "following (the woman), saying inappropriate things, walking in bathrooms while she was in them, the same type of stuff" he is accused of doing to the WCS student. The incidents allegedly occurred at the school while Croteau was employed and working on school grounds, police said. Huizenga said the woman was a para educator at the school — one of a number of support staff that assists students and teachers.

Croteau was issued a citation on the new charges last Friday through his lawyer, Mark Kaplan, who could not be reached for comment by press deadline.

"We're still investigating. We don't know if new charges will come. We are still interviewing people," Huizenga said.

Croteau has been issued trespass notices for the school and the victims' homes, Huizenga said.

On May 27, Croteau is scheduled to be arraigned on the latest charges, which also include voyeurism, Huizenga said. At that time, there will also be a status conference regarding the previous charge of aggravated stalking, Huizenga said.

Calls to the school for comment went unanswered Wednesday morning as school vacation continues through the weekend.

[Read more...]

April 24, 2008

By Greg Elias

Observer staff

If there's a revolving door at Williston Town Hall, it spins in the planning and zoning office.

Eight employees have resigned over the past four years, including two that recently gave their notices. Carrie Deegan, the environmental planner, and D.K. Johnston, the zoning administrator, will step down in coming weeks.

Town Manager Rick McGuire said the turnover "creates a problem but is not the symptom of a problem." He explained that when employees leave it can disrupt the continuity of ongoing projects and cause gaps in staffing.

But the turnover doesn't mean the planning office is a bad place to work, McGuire said. He noted that the office is admired throughout the state for its progressive planning policies and has won awards for its efforts.

He also cited the widely varying reasons employees have left — one retired, another left because the office was restructured, yet another resigned because he found a job with better pay and more responsibilities — as evidence that there is no pattern that points to a problem.

Some past planning employees, however, have complained that staffing was inadequate in a town that has seen more than its share of development over the past few years. Lara Dumond, who resigned her position as planning assistant in 2005, told the Observer at the time that a lack of "warm bodies" and the "overwhelming number" of applications for new projects limited staff's ability to process and enforce permits.

Job responsibilities may be reshuffled to attract and keep people who will fill the openings, town officials said. They are willing to tailor the positions to fit the qualifications and career goals of new hires.

The position Johnston held will now be called development review planner. It will carry most of Johnston's duties, but Town Planner Lee Nellis will at least for the time being continue as acting zoning administrator. The other position will still be called environmental planner.

The town received about 35 applications for each position, according to Nellis. A total of five finalists have been selected for a second round of interviews. Nellis said he hopes to hire the new employees by May 1.

The new staffers will join an office that has only four employees. Not one person remains among those working there in the beginning of 2004.

As a whole, the town's municipal government has a low turnover rate. Only the Williston Police Department has seen sizeable numbers of people leave in recent years.

In fact, several municipal town employees have logged a decade or more of service. A few, such as Public Works Director Neil Boyden, have worked for Williston for more than 20 years.

Attracting and keeping employees in the planning office is related to a statewide issue: low pay and a high cost of living compared to other parts of the country, Nellis said. That limits the number of people who will apply for and stay in some positions.

"People who like Carrie's job are willing to hang around Vermont for its quality of life," Nellis said. "That's not true of the potential applicants for other jobs."

The national average for entry-level pay among those with graduate degrees working in the planning profession is $51,000, Nellis said. The town is offering between $32,968 and $47,403 for each of the two planning office openings.

"Our salaries are lower, so there are less potential applicants," Nellis said.

[Read more...]

April 24, 2008

By Tim Simard

Observer staff

A new federal government building has been proposed in Taft Corners. An application has been submitted to the Williston Planning Office for the construction of a 27,000 square-foot office building on three tax parcels between Harvest Lane and Williston Road. The building will be occupied by the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services Department, or USCIS, which many still call INS, or the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services.

The reference is confusing, because INS was dissolved in March 2003 and largely absorbed by the Department of Homeland Security as USCIS. The USCIS handles visa and naturalization petitions, as well as numerous immigration responsibilities.

Town Planner Lee Nellis said the town has been aware of the construction plans for some time, but the formal applications to the Planning Office and Williston Historical and Architectural Advisory Committee have recently started to arrive.

Williston already houses a Department of Homeland Security office, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, also created in 2003.

The new building would be built for and leased to the USCIS, Taft Corners Associates senior member Gary Lavigne said at the April 14 Williston Historic and Architectural Advisory Committee meeting. Lavigne represented Taft Corners Associates and Williston developer J.L. Davis Realty at the meeting, telling the committee the building would be built with brick in keeping with the design of nearby structures.

According to the preliminary plans for the new structure, local builders D.E.W. Construction would handle the building of the project. The Colchester architectural firm Wiemann Lamphere has designed the plans.

Plans for landscaping, outdoor lighting and runoff and erosion at the construction site are still in the works.

Lavigne told the committee the facility would be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certifications, in accordance with federal government regulations.

A major feature of the new building would be a glass etching of the Statue of Liberty above the front entrance. Lavigne told the committee this is a design requirement for all new INS buildings.

Nellis said there needs to be a closer look at the proposed etching, as well as at a sign on the building.

"(The sign) appears that it fits into the maximum size permitted, but we have not determined that yet," Nellis said.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices are located at 188 Harvest Lane, directly across   from the proposed building. Lavigne said those offices will not move into the new building.

"It's a field office," Lavigne told the Observer. "All we know is there will be very few walk-ins for the public."

Nellis said the developer wants to get started on the project as early as the beginning of July.

"Barring any unforeseen events, we'll probably be giving approval at the end of May or early June," Nellis said.

[Read more...]

April 17, 2008
By Mal Boright
Observer correspondent

“I’m being recycled,” chuckled Jim Provost during a Sunday conversation after the announcement that he has been named the new head football coach at Champlain Valley Union High School.
The Williston resident was the head football coach at Rice Memorial High for 14 years before hanging up the clipboard in 1999. Provost becomes the third head coach of the CVU program, which enters its fourth varsity level campaign this fall.
He replaces Charlie Burnett, who resigned to take over the coaching reins at Essex High this coming season. Burnett teaches at Essex and resides in that community.
Provost said the idea of returning to the high school gridiron scene became attractive because CVU has “a program on the way up.” He cited a solid number of players at the varsity and feeder levels, a supportive administration and a solid booster organization.
“They built the program the right way,” he said.
The anticipation runs both ways.
“We are excited to have him,” Athletic Director Kevin Riell said Monday.
Joining Provost as an assistant will be Kevin McCarthy, a native of southern New England who is new to coaching in Vermont. CVU and Provost are still looking for assistants for the varsity and junior varsity teams.
In his days at Rice, Provost led the Green Knights to two state titles and was head coach of the 1990 Vermont Shrine football team.
The veteran coach says his philosophy is “don’t beat yourself” with penalties and other mistakes.
“We want people to know they will have to play well to beat us that day,” he said.
Provost has been looking at film from CVU’s playoff season of 2007, and with 55 sophomores, juniors and seniors — not counting incoming freshmen — returning, he said, “We will find some players.”
He promised potential players that if they work hard in practice, “We will find a spot for you.”
Provost is planning a summer conditioning program. Whether there will be spring practice will be decided in the next few weeks.
“We do hope to have a meeting with players and parents before school lets out,” he said.

[Read more...]

Summit House students will move to other houses

The Williston School District administration made its pitch for new house structures to the Williston School Board and a large group of parents during last Wednesday’s board meeting.
Close to 40 parents attended the April 9 meeting. District Principal Walter Nardelli gave detailed descriptions of the changes parents and students should expect for the next school year. Significant changes will include the formation of a separate administration for lower houses at Williston Central School and more integrated grade level learning across houses, especially for fifth graders (see adjoining story regarding the upper houses).
“There’s a lot of logistics to meet the needs of students and families,” Nardelli said at the meeting. “We’re hoping there’s enough balance.”
Nardelli agreed everyone would not be pleased with the changes taking place, but his goal was to reach a favorable consensus of at least 75 percent of parents, faculty and students. National education consultant Raymond McNulty, a former Vermont education commissioner, delivered free advice on how to proceed with changes, Nardelli said.
“Ray believes we have an excellent (educational) model,” he said. “He understands there are weaknesses and he said our goal should be in addressing those weaknesses rather than create a completely new model.”

Lower house concerns
Some parents voiced concern over the changes, especially those with students in Allen Brook School’s Summit House, which will be dissolved at the end of the current school year. Two teachers will move to Williston Central School while two who had one-year positions will not have their contracts renewed. Nardelli said Summit House would be cut because of the one-year contracts.
Summit House students will move with friends to different houses, in an attempt to ease the transition.
“Summit comes first right now,” Nardelli said “We’ll take care of them first, then everyone else.”
Parent Christina Mead expressed frustration that parents were not involved in the reconfiguration process.
“I’m disappointed on how it was handled,” she said. “I would have liked to have been asked to be part of the discussion. A lot of (Summit House parents) would have loved to have been included.”
Cindy O’Farrell, parent of a Summit House student, thinks there may have been easier ways to accomplish their goals.
“The two (elementary) schools idea is a little wacky to me,” she said. “I think it would work more efficiently and least expensively if they were to have everything all under one roof.”
Part of the administration’s plan would move all kindergarten classes to Allen Brook School and move some lower house students to Williston Central School.
A subcommittee of the district’s Program Council, a group of faculty and staff, decided upon the configuration. Mead said Summit House has been dealing with changes and transitions for a few years. Teachers Laura Lewis and Cara Crowther, who have the one-year contracts, were brought in to replace teachers who left on extended leave or switched to a different house, she said.
Mead said she hopes the administration will support parents and children as they decide where students will go. She said her daughter would have to choose which friends to pair up with before the end of the year.
“She’s a little anxious, and maybe even a little concerned,” Mead said.
O’Farrell, who has a child in Summit House, thinks the added transitions will be hard for all students in the house, but understands the small steps the administration is making.
“They’ve done a lot of work in a short amount of time,” O’Farrell said. “After hearing the specifics, I think to make a major change right in the beginning would be foolhardy.”
 

[Read more...]