ADDISON — Longtime Addison Town Clerk Jane Grace recently announced her intention to step down after more than 40 years on the job.
Grace told the selectboard that she would stay on until the end of 2012. The board put money in its proposed 2012-2013 town budget to bring a second assistant into the town office so there will be two trained employees ready to go at the end of the year. Assistant clerk Marilla Webb has served in that capacity for many years.
Grace said she believed the time was right to step down after four decades and see more of her husband, Phil Grace, and their children and grandchildren.
“It’s time,” Grace said. “It’s time for me to retire and spend some time with Phil.”
Selectboard chairman Jeff Kauffman said summing up Grace’s contributions to Addison over the years is a difficult task.
“I don’t even know where to start. She is the town,” Kauffman said. “I know when she leaves she’ll leave the town in good shape … but you don’t replace Jane Grace.”
When Grace steps down, she will do so as the longest-serving clerk in Addison County: Vergennes City Clerk Joan Devine has been on the job for 31 years, as has Whiting Town Clerk Grace Simonds, who said this week her grandfather lived in the home that was converted into the Addison town clerk’s office.
Meanwhile in Addison, two selectboard members’ terms are up this March: those of Kauffman and Lisa Davis. Both filed petitions to run again, as did incumbent Addison Central School board members Rob Hunt (also a selectman) and Allison Martin for additional terms on that board.
Zoning issues have cropped up recently in Addison, including a recommendation by the town’s planning commission that selectmen re-hire former Addison zoning administrator Ed Hanson.
Addison did not renew Hanson’s contract a few years ago, and the most recent hire for the position in 2011 resigned. That resignation left Kauffman to take on some of the duties again, as he had in recent years. Addison officials said state law requires the selectboard head to assume that role if a town lacks a zoning administrator.
Planning commission chairman Frank Galgano said planners hope selectmen will approve Hanson when the selectboard next meets, on Feb. 7. Galgano said Hanson would do a professional and impartial job.
“I think we need someone who is up on things,” Galgano said. “I wish we hadn’t let him go.”
The planning commission also continues to work on its rewrite of Addison’s zoning laws. Galgano said there is “nothing absolutely different” in what planners are contemplating, and that many of the changes will be language updates and alterations to make the bylaws conform to state law.
The work will include clarifications to provisions for waivers that planners may grant to owners of property for setback and other dimensional requirements.
Galgano said he hopes a draft will be ready for public review by spring.
Selectmen and development review board members also talked on Jan. 23 about an issue in which residents built a barn too close to a property line. Selectmen at their Nov. 1 meeting “moved to approve the location of the barn,” according to minutes, because neighbors in letters “were giving complete approval of the location” and Kauffman had talked to members of the planning commission and heard no objection. Kauffman abstained from the otherwise unanimous vote.
It remained a topic of discussion at following selectboard meetings whether the issue should have instead gone to the planning commission or DRB. 
DRB chairman John Spencer said of the Jan. 23 meeting that officials talked in general terms about the process and the responsibilities of the boards, how similar difficult situations should be handled in the future, and how zoning violations should be enforced.
Spencer also heads a committee that is working on a proposal to rehab Addison’s former town hall on Route 22A. Spencer said the committee is waiting for estimates from its architect on a plan to replace the foundation and improve all three levels.
The basement would be raised and have some office space, the first floor would have offices for the town clerk and listers, and the second floor would be meeting space. A small addition would provide an elevator and staircase. Spencer hopes to have prices and plan details ready for review on Town Meeting Day.
In October, selectmen voted unanimously to donate to Rochester the time road foreman Bryan Nolan and town equipment had spent in that town after Tropical Storm Irene.
The following real estate sales have been recorded in Addison in the final two-thirds of 2011:
•April 11: Neil Matthews to Kondaur Capital Corp., home at 170 Cedar Drive, $140,000.
•June 16: Amos Roleau III Trustee to Gretchen Ayer and Carl Anderson, camp at 685 Tri-Town Rd., $215,000.
•June 30: Maplecroft Partners LLC to James and Susan Woloohojian, home at 302 Mountain Road Extension, $410,500.
•July 5: Gail Anderson to Department of Fish and Wildlife, development rights on 210.2 acres on Route 125/Town Line Road, $110,000.
•July 5: Gail Anderson to Correia Family Limited Partnership, 155.8 acres on Route 125/Town Line Road, $215,500.
•July 29: Kondaur Capital Corp. to Rene and Adam Paquette, home at 170 Cedar Drive, $170,000.
•Aug. 2: Millard and Joan Flint to Kevin Reed and Lindsey Rubright, home at 1859 Route 17E, $170,000.
•Oct. 17: Michael and Patricia Lepore to Harley and Christina Wheeler, camp at 74 Ten Acre Drive, $100,000.
•Dec. 9: Harold F. Doolittle Jr. Trust to James and Joy Biggart, home at 6882 Route 17W, $715,000 including $15,000 in personal property.
 
Panton officials hope to stay on
PANTON — New Panton Town Clerk Jean Miller and Selectwoman Beth Tarallo said this week they would like to be nominated again for their positions.
Miller, the former assistant clerk, was the selectboard’s pick to replace longtime clerk Sue Torrey, who moved to Florida this winter and resigned, effective Nov. 10. Miller’s appointment expires on Town Meeting Day, and she said would like to be nominated for election in March.
Tarallo is the only member of Panton’s three-member selectboard whose term expires in March. She also said she would seek nomination from the floor of town meeting to be re-elected to her post.
In earlier meetings, as reported in the Independent, selectmen decided to remove the cupola from the top of Town Hall and store it to the rear of the building, where it can await funding for restoration. That decision was made easier by an anonymous $10,000 donation to help fund the project.
The following real estate sales have been recorded in Panton in recent months:
•Sept. 29: Jeffrey and Jill Faxon to Tyler O’Leary and Sonja Slocumb, home at 462 Turkey Lane, $421,250.
•Oct. 19: Viola Luginbuhl Trust to Puneet Rikhy, home at 358 Lake Road, $1,293,750.
•Oct. 31: HUD to Karrie Beebe, home at 56 Route 22A, $133,900.
•Nov. 10: Charles Kelley to Deborah Hodge, home at 163 Pease Road, $245,000.
•Nov. 28: Dennis and Susan Torrey to David and Lorri Wolniewicz, home at 1863 Panton Road, $194,750.
 
Waltham updatesits zoning forms
WALTHAM — On Jan. 20 the joint Waltham planning commission and development review board completed its overhaul of the forms the town hands out to applicants for zoning and subdivision permits.
The final elements approved at that meeting were a new subdivision application, a summary sheet of what application processes entail, and a summary of development sketch plan requirements. Those documents were discussed on Jan. 17, when the boards also welcomed new member Gary Gaines.
In January selectmen accepted as a Town Meeting Day article a measure that, if approved, would require Waltham and the Vermont Legislature to urge the Vermont Congressional delegation to propose a constitutional amendment that would state “that money is not speech and that corporations are not persons.”
The terms of Selectman Harold Francis, Town Clerk Mary Kinson and Vergennes Union Elementary School director Kate Martin expire on Town Meeting Day. Francis and Kinson have indicated already they would like to be renominated from the floor of town meeting.
The following real estate sales were recorded in Waltham in 2011:
•Feb. 17: Clyde and Chrystal Armell to Vansant LLC, 2.5 acres on Maple Street Extension, $90,000.
•June 22: Mark and Bonnie Simmons to Steven and Melissa Flint, home at 592 Maple St., $317,500.
•June 24: Lawrence Carlson to Anna Mae Benton, mobile home on leased land at 108 High Manor Park, $42,500.
•July 21: Helga Gokey to Brian and Diantha Balch, home at 1237 Green St., $265,000.
•July 22: Anna Queenan estate to Robert Williams, 11 acres on Plank Road, $87,500.
•Aug. 16: Cecilia Telefus to Richard and Sherry Brunet, home at 61 Woodman Court, $105,000.
 
Ferrisburgh sees selectboard race
FERRISBURGH — Ferrisburgh residents will have a Town Meeting Day choice on how to fill one selectboard seat.  
Although longtime incumbent John DeVos is running unopposed for a two-year term, another incumbent, Kieran Kilbride, is being challenged by political newcomer James Benoit for a three-year term.
Kilbride, who stepped down from the town’s planning commission to join the selectboard, will be facing his first election after being appointed to the selectboard in 2011 when Bob Jenkins stepped down.
Benoit, said Town Clerk Chet Hawkins, is a lifelong Ferrisburgh resident who works as a contractor.
There will also be a race for the Ferrisburgh Central School board. Katie Boyle and Bill Clark are both seeking a one-year term. Clark is the incumbent after being appointed to fill a vacancy in 2011.
Incumbent FCS director Kurt Haigis has filed for a three-year term to represent the town on the Vergennes Union High School board; Rick Kerschner had held that seat, but did not file again.
According to town officials no one filed for two vacancies on the FCS board. Haigis did not refile for a three-year term on that board, nor did Tim Bicknell for a two-year term.
On Town Meeting Day voters will also be asked to support the town as a Property-Assessed Clean Energy district (PACE), which according to minutes “would enable property owners to do energy improvements to their property” at a low upfront cost in exchange for “an assessment on their property tax bill that would be paid back quarterly to the town.” A tax lien would be placed on the property to protect the town’s interests.
In other recent news, on Jan. 17, the selectboard agreed to spend about $5,000 from a fund leftover from construction of the new town office building and community center to help pay for window drapes in the second-level meeting space.
The drapes will soften echoes in the upstairs space, officials believe, and along with needed hardware will cost about $14,500. The remainder of the funding will come from a $5,500 grant, $2,000 from the local Grange chapter, and $1,000 apiece from the Friends of the Grange Hall and Friends of Andrew Biache.
Plans are moving forward to celebrate the town’s 250th birthday from June 22 to 24. A committee has been meeting regularly to organize festivities, which so far include a pet show; horse-drawn wagon rides; a parade; historic displays, including at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum; a Sunday breakfast hosted by the fire department; and possibly a Lions Club chicken barbecue.
Selectmen also in December appointed Rayne Herzog to the planning commission.
The following real estate sales were recently recorded in Ferrisburgh:
•June 10: Elaine Miller to Paul Bodington, home on Hawkins Road, $135,000.
•June 14: Shirley Charlestream estate to Charles Jackman, home at 393 Schoolhouse Road, $160,000.
•June 20: Stephen and Janet Smith to Camp Tony LLC, second home at 1451 Fort Cassin Road, $692,500.
•June 24: Benjamin Paquin to Stacey Stearns, home at 1499 Shellhouse Mountain Road, $92,500.
•June 30: Echo and Pond Road LLC to Henry Cartwright, 5.05 acres on Pond Road, $125,000.
•July 8: Shirley Charlestream estate to Jesse Jackman, home and outbuildings at 337 Schoolhouse Road, $180,000.
•July 14: Joseph Ploof to Carlos Basille, 0.5 acre with storage building at 6675 Route 7, $40,000.
•July 25: David Rowe to Michael Hinsdale, home at 915 Old Hollow Road, $410,000.
•July 22: Shirley Charlestream estate to Wayne Stearns, 22 acres on Schoolhouse and Kelloggs Bay roads, $120,000.
•July 22: Edward Kolanko to Wadi and Mary Sawabini, home at 593 Plank Road, $249,000.
•July 22: 66 Dove Lane LLC to Joel and Christine Van Wyck, home at 66 Dove Lane, $210,000.
•July 25: Michael Hinsdale to Aric and Mady Shichor, home at 48 South Road, $275,000.
•July 26: Larry and Connie Simino to James and Theresa Phillips, home at 3630 Schoolhouse Road, $265,000.
•July 29: Echo and Pond Road LLC to Beverly Brumheller Trust, 8.85 acres on Pond Road, $145,000.
•Aug. 30: Timothy Barrows to Vorsteveld Farm LLP, 18.8 acres on Basin Harbor Road, $41,958.50.
•Sept. 1: Norman LeBoeuf to Susan Schaefer Trust, 10.1 acres on Plank Road in New Haven and Ferrisburgh, $50,000.
•Sept. 19: Eunice and Lyle St. Jean to Frank and Kay Corkrum, second home at 78 Pleasant Bay Road, $215,000.
•Sept. 29: Paul and Karen Mendelsohn to Jeniah Johnson and Thomas Sheeran, home at 3078 Hawkins Road, $840,000.
•Oct. 7: George and Rebecca Chauvin to Sidney and Jennifer Vander Wey, home at 34 Creamery Road, $249,900.
•Oct. 7: Robert and Ann Griswold to George and Rebecca Chauvin, home at 1179 Shellhouse Mountain Road, $367, 785.
•Oct. 12: Patrick and Stephen O’Bryan to Paul and Andrea Kerin, second home at 103 O’Bryan Lane, $285,000.
•Oct. 13: Steven and June Lowther to Stephen Huffaker and Joyce Waite, home at 567 Echo Road, $449,500.
•Oct. 13: Sandra Tower to Dustin Hume, 1.3 acres with outbuildings on West Champlin Hill Road, $90,000.
•Oct. 14: Judy Langeway to Michael and Marilyn Gifford, home at 3970 Route 7, $170,000.
•Oct. 16: Laura Cromarty and Peter Walcott to John and Donna Walcott home at North Winds Road, $1.35 million.
•Oct. 20: Carleton Yoder and Maria Cook to Dan and Cheray MacFarland, home at 2114 Greenbush Road, $251,000.
•Nov. 15: Joseph and Rosemarie Provetto to Joseph and Sharon Kniper, home at 24 Old Orchard Road, $365,000.
•Nov. 17: Kevin and Belinda Haight to Sherie Alden and Erin Shoulberg, home at 91 Old Orchard Way, $449,000.
•Nov. 17: Clark and Suzanne Hinsdale to Michael Hinsdale, home with outbuildings at 3117 Fuller Mountain Road, $400,000.
•Nov. 21: David Meath and Deborah Allen to Gretchen Swift, home at 2149 Plank Road, $520,000.
•Nov. 21: David Meath and Deborah Allen to Gretchen Post LLC, 10 acres of land on Pea Ridge Road, $118,500.
•Nov. 23: Susan Murray and Karen Hubbard to Jane and G.T. Luck, home at 151 Hawkins Road, $340,000.
•Dec. 6: Crawford Trust to Jennifer Cirillo, home at 4 Four Winds Road, $282,000.
•Dec. 9: Palisades Holding LLC to Christopher and Angela Bevin, home at 77 O’Bryan Lane, $650,000.
•Dec.12: Echo and Pond Road LLC to Conrad Lowther, 7.46 acres on Ledge Lane, $135,000.
•Dec. 13: Kimball Farm LLC to Peter Welch, 3.01 acres on Kimball Dock Road, $25,075.
•Dec. 13: Kimball Farm LLC to Peter Welch, 0.82 acre on Kimball Dock Road, $4,305.
•Dec. 14: Sweeney Trust to Craig Neeley, home at 1301 Robinson Road, $450,000.
•Dec. 14: Kimball Farm LLC to Vermont Land Trust et. al., development rights on 90.64-acre farm on Kimball Dock Road, $340,000.
•Dec. 14: Kimball Farm LLC to Wayne Stearns Jr., 90.64-acre farm on Kimball Dock Road, $60,000.
•Dec. 16: Kimball Farm LLC to Kimball Point LLC, 0.7 acre on Kimball Dock Road, $290,000.
•Dec. 16: Knight and Mary Jane Washburn to Clarke Keenan Trust second home at 412 Thendara Road, $916,669.
•Dec. 20: Brady Living Trust to Reed and Vanessa Hampton, home at 1492 Button Bay Road, $985,000.
•Dec. 21: Robert Guthrie and Teiko Seki to Matthew Cooke, home at 640 Round Barn Farm Road, $350,000.
•Dec. 23: Kimball Farm LLC to Mika Frechette, 3.45 acres on Kimball Dock Road, $18,120.
•Dec. 29: Kimball Farm LLC to John Jackman, home on Kimball Dock Road, $142,500.