RepoRteR The
www.essexreporter.com
essex
MARCh 3, 2016
Vol. 36, No. 9
FREE
Prsrt Std ECRWSS U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 266 Essex Junction, VT 05452 Postal Patron-Residential
Voters pass budget, elect Cook By Jason starr The Essex Reporter
Town of Essex officials claimed Monday that service consolidation with the Village of Essex Junction has so far saved taxpayers roughly $775,000. But citizens received convoluted answers when questioning how the savings have been credited. Voters nonetheless approved the town’s $13.2 million budget proposal by voice vote during Town Meeting at Essex High School. The approval was nearly unanimous in the full auditorium. The budget will increase spending over the current year by roughly $600,000 (4.7 percent) and cause an estimated increase of $36 on the annual
property tax bill of the average Essex Town homeowner — and an increase of $17 for the average Essex Junction homeowner. A $200,000 chunk of the spending increase is due to the consolidation of village and town paving services, with village paving expenses coming under the town budget for the first time. The consolidation is part of an ongoing effort to merge village and town services, with a goal being to even out property tax rates throughout the two overlapping municipalities. Municipal Manager Pat Scheidel explained that the inherent tax inequity between village and town is the reason why the benefits of consolidation savings are difficult to track. “We are not starting from an equitable
position, so it’s hard to have an equitable distribution of savings,” he said. “It’s accruing to each (municipality) relative to what their expenses are. It’s accruing equally unequal, if you will.” Selectboard chairman Max Levy said the board and its counterparts on the Board of Village Trustees “have been working well and closely together looking to find efficiencies.” In the coming year, the two public works departments and two parks and recreation departments will be considered for consolidation. The efforts have reduced the need for interns and contractors, have consolidated employee trainings, and have led to a sharing of best practices, Levy said. “We are working smarter together,” he said.
The budget adds an employee in the Public Works Department as well as increases the senior center coordinator position from part time to full time. Overall salaries are up about $221,000 (4.3 percent). Benefit costs, however, are down 8 percent as town employees move their health insurance to the State of Vermont health exchange and take on a greater share of premium costs. Other expense increases in the budget are in workers compensation insurance and vehicles/equipment, Levy said. The selectboard used $125,000 from previous budget surpluses to soften the tax impact of the spending increase. The town retains a $1.9 million emergency surplus
– See VOTERS on page 3a
Brewers leave garage behind 1st Republic to boost production in Essex By eLaIne eZerIns For The Essex Reporter
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic candidate for president, greets supporters at a rally Tuesday night at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex as election results roll in. Sanders won Vermont by a wide margin. OLIVER PARINI PHOTOGRAPHY
‘It's good to be home’ Sanders rallies at the Expo By aBBY LedoUX For The Essex Reporter Thousands of Vermonters felt the bern on Tuesday night, packing into the Champlain Valley Expo in Essex to welcome their senator home with cheers and chants. Bernie Sanders’ huge margin of victory over Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in the Vermont primary, one of 13 this Super Tuesday, only cemented their message. “It is good to be home,” Sanders told the thunderous crowd, thanking them for their prolonged support of himself and wife, Jane. “You have sustained me.” The senator spoke to ebullient supporters for 15 minutes on familiar policy points, including reforming the criminal justice
system, investing in renewable energy, expanding health care and making public colleges tuition free. “I know Secretary Clinton and many of the establishment people think that I am looking and thinking too big,” he said. “I don’t think so.” His supporters didn’t think so, either. Many who showed on Tuesday were longtime Vermonters who have backed Sanders since his early days as mayor of Burlington. “I feel as though we know him,” Middlebury resident Mark Evancho said, recalling images of Sanders in the town green or marching in local parades. Supporters said part of the senator’s appeal is his consistency; they’ve heard many of the populist refrains he delivered on Tuesday night for decades at home. “He’s never changed,” Burlington supporter Kathleen Ryan said. “I feel like you can rely on him.” At 28, Montpelier educator Laura Ballantyne credited her
– See SANDERS on page 3a
The owners of 1st Republic Brewing Co., have taken the leap and expanded production, opening a brewery, tasting room and retail shop on River Road in Essex Junction, along Route 117. A soft opening is scheduled for the end of next week, pending state inspection. Shawn Trout, of Essex, and Kevin Jarvis, of Fairfax, co-workers for four years, decided to go into business together in 2014 after discovering a mutual passion for home brewing. “My first day at work was actually Kevin’s first day of work at the same company,” Trout said. “We had some common interests and it just grew from there,” Jarvis said. “One night, had a couple beers, ideas just start flowing out.” The pair set up in Jarvis’ garage in Fairfax and began to make beer together in the evenings after work. Jarvis said they would throw a party, have people come over and offer them free beer. “We brewed initially 15 different recipes,” he said. Their friends and family offered critiques, and favorites emerged from there. “What are you going to brew?” Jarvis asked. “Things you like to drink. Those we really enjoy.” With limited production, they chose to focus on three beers: Republic pale ale, Windsor ale and the 104 porter. The pale ale is their interpretation of a classic British ale style that is clean with a distinct tropical blend. The Windsor Ale is unfiltered American Red Wheat with caramel and chocolate malts to give it a sweet, creamy traditional style ale. The porter is an unfiltered brown porter with a balance between malt sweetness and smoke malt. “It just grew from there,” Jarvis said.
– See BREWERS on page 2a
‘The Lazy Farmer’ hustles to open barbecue spot on Park Street By Jess WIsLosKI For The Essex Reporter
Chris Simard, who runs "The Lazy Farmer" food truck, plans to open a barbecue restaurant on Park Street in Essex Junction. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
A popular Burlington-area food truck with a growing base of fans will be establishing its first brick-and-mortar location in Essex Junction this month. With a name like Pork and Pickles, one can only imagine what succulent bites are in store. The restaurant will be moving to the space vacated by The Hungry Dutchman at 34 Park St., and is expected to open for lunch specials and dinner by the end of March, according to the owner and chef, Chris Simard, formerly known for The Lazy Farmer food truck and catering business. Simard, who was born and raised in Colchester, said that while the restaurant will feature some of the food truck’s favorite eats, it will also give him a chance to branch out into various types barbecue — an effort that includes installing a smoker on site. “[I] was just thinking I was going to do fusion-style tacos,” said Simard, on the beginning of his food truck effort, which came after he left a farming venture in Hinesburg. “[It] was my first business effort that was completely my own, besides selling chocolate bars at summer camp.” But his creative instincts couldn’t let him rest. The Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa-trained chef
kept feeling a need to go further. “I needed to develop that into doing sandwiches, and what else can I do with that,” Simard asked in a phone interview. “So, I started doing catering too, and doing weddings with the food truck and then doing weddings without the food truck. I got into festivals, and again took it further. It’s really evolved.” It was the food truck experience that got him into trying different styles of barbecue, he said, and that is now one of his favorite areas to delve into. “So it’s basically researching, testing recipes, bringing in local flavors, the things that you’ve seen. It’s a lot of experimentation,” he said. The biggest attraction might be his plans to bring St. Louis-style beef ribs — which are grilled before they get the sauce — to the table, as well as a buttermilk-battered fried chicken, neither of which are easily found in the area. He’ll feature the bird on sandwiches and chicken platters, and called it “a really crispy, tender and delicious chicken.” Also among his ambitions: Doing a $10 lunch special, and keeping dinners in an “affordable” range for its locally sourced cuisine, with main plates likely to range from “$12 to $17 or so.” Simard said his palate and cooking preferences run the gamut from Southern to
Midwestern, with a beef brisket, for example, in a savory Texas-style, “smoky and still juicy.” For his pulled pork, he aims for sweet and salty rub, before smoking it and then finishing with unique kind of poach. “I can maximize the smoker and still keep it really tender and moist,” he said, while retaining the smoky flavor. The restaurant also plans to live up to its name by offering a variety of house pickles — dilly beans, cauliflower, beets, standard cuke pickles, and possibly more adventurous offerings, such as watermelon rind. While he was always set on a location in the Greater Burlington area, the Winooski resident found himself focusing in on Essex, and had visited a few different locations. “I didn’t want to have to drive too far,” he said. Plans include outdoor seating on the existing porch, “and we’re building a small bar in there where people can eat, and we’re opening up the dining area a bit more,” he said. He also intends to buy as much locally as he can, while keeping the prices on the menu affordable. Finding a local source for beef ribs has been a challenge. “Nobody in Vermont does beef ribs,” he said. “Most people just do short ribs, which are cut the opposite of what you want.”