By Curt Peterson
Starting in January the Select Board will start meeting in the community room at the new public services building on Killington Road that seats 50 – 60 people safely and comfortably, according to Killington Town Manager Chet Hagenbarth.
Access will still be available virtually via Zoom. Links will continue to be posted 24 hours before the meetings start.
Asked if virtual meeting access will continue when Covid is history, Hagenbarth said, “Probably. I can’t think of a reason not to continue virtual access. More people may attend meetings if they don’t have to travel at night.”
As of this week, only the Select Board and planning commission have asked about meeting in the new facility. The recreation commission and development review board haven’t approached Hagenbarth yet.
Prior to the pandemic, the Killington Town Meeting information session was held in the Killington Elementary School gymnasium/auditorium. Last year’s meeting was virtual.
“Town Meeting is still up in the air at the moment,” Hagenbarth said. “The school has a ban on outside groups entering the building right now. At this point we don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Select Board member Jim Haff told the Mountain Times he will recommend a virtual Town Meeting again this year. He doesn’t think an in-person meeting would attract a big turnout because of the pandemic.
Killington Police Dept. chief Whit Montgomery gave the Mountain Times a tour of the 14,000 square foot combined community/fire and rescue/police building. The motif is “functionality without frills” — no clutter, clean and simple decorating, plenty of natural and artificial light, and noticeably effective housekeeping.
There is public access to the high-ceilinged 960 square foot community room, lavatories and kitchen. In the community room are folding tables, padded chairs and a very large computer-driven display screen.
Montgomery said the meeting room has already been used by Killington Fire and Rescue for CPR training, local police and state police training, and some town agency meetings.
In 2019 voters approved a $4,775,000 bond to build the facility on land the town had already purchased. At that time, Hagenbarth explained that much of the town’s debt would be retired by the time the first bond payment was due, so the new building wouldn’t increase the municipal tax rate. Proceeds from sale of the old fire station were applied to the cost of the replacement structure.
The space’s five giant bays house six trucks and a large SUV “crash” car, with plenty of room. There are men’s and women’s locker rooms with showers, equipment room, utilities room, and mechanical room, as well as small, austere offices for the chief and assistant chief.
The police department has two offices, one for Chief Montgomery, and another for the department staff, as well as a professional grade interview room, a DUI testing lab, a holding cell and a detox cell.
