SALISBURY — Salisbury voters at their town meeting decided a contested race for their selectboard and voted 229 to 98 in favor of exploring the feasibility of closing their municipal landfill.
Former Selectwoman Ramona “Pedie” O’Brien beat incumbent Selectman Jonathan Blake in the race for a two-year term by a 168 to 135 tally, according to results provided by the Salisbury town clerk Wednesday morning.
The landfill referendum was non-binding, but Salisbury officials have been discussing the prospect of closing the town dump. Salisbury currently operates the only unlined landfill in the state of Vermont. Town officials believe state rules governing the Salisbury landfill will only become more rigorous and costly during the coming years, and they wanted local residents to weigh in on the notion of keeping it open or closing it. Closing the landfill would mean joining the Addison County Solid Waste Management District and establishing a trash/recycling transfer station in town.
Salisbury voted 251 to 78 in favor of joining a unified Addison Central School District with a 13-member committee that would govern all seven Middlebury-area school districts, along with Middlebury Union middle and high schools, under a single budget. Jennifer Nuceder was unopposed in her quest for Salisbury’s seat on the new ACSD panel.
There were no other contested elections on the ballot. Candidates elected unopposed included Wayne Smith, town moderator, one year; Susan Scott, town clerk, one year; Paul Vaczy, selectboard, three years; and John Nuceder, Salisbury school board, three years. A two-year spot on the Salisbury school board and a three-year term on the UD-3 school board had no takers.
Voters on Tuesday approved all other articles on their warning, including:
•  The proposed 2016-2017 general fund budget of $194,573, by a 277 to 53 tally.
•  The proposed highway budget of $443,494, by a 263 to 69 margin.
•  A proposed Salisbury Community School budget of $1,765,719 (by voice vote) for the 2016-2017 academic year.
•  Rescission of a prior community vote to eliminate the office of town auditor. That rescission was OK’d by a tally of 153 to 147.
•  A combined total of $73,015 for various charities and nonprofit programs that benefit Salisbury citizens. Around $35,000 of that total is earmarked for the Salisbury Volunteer Fire Department, and $19,000 is to be used for the Lake Dunmore/Fern Lake Association’s milfoil prevention program.