More
than a year after Tropical Storm Irene devastated the state, town and state officials from Bennington to Bethel are getting questions
from residents concerned about Hurricane Sandy as it moves north from the Carribean.
The
first applications for the flood buyout program for homeowners have been
approved by FEMA. Vermont
Hazard Mitigation Officer Ray Doherty says five out of nearly 100 applications
for homeowner buyouts under the FEMA program were approved this week.
It’s that time of year when Vermont cities and towns are setting their tax
rates, and select board and city council minutes show many have increased them slightly as they enter the 2013 fiscal year.
Nearly
eight months after Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont’s Long Term Disaster
Recovery Group says it’s just beginning to distribute millions of dollars
in donations.
Vermonters value debating local issues and
interacting with their local government on Town Meeting Day in person, but many voters
increasingly expect their towns to take advantage of the digital world as well.
Residents
in Bethel say they will begin videotaping Select Board meetings
and broadcasting them via YouTube after a series of disagreements over how the
town has – or has not – responded to Tropical Storm Irene.
With
the days before winter’s first snowfall dwindling, volunteers descended on the
flood zone over the weekend to help communities and individuals clean up
Tropical Storm Irene damage.