Middlebury Morning

Good Morning Middlebury! It's already been a big week. The South Street Bridge officially closed this morning and will remain closed for 18 months. If you use it at all, you're already rerouting. Meanwhile the town budget is finally taking shape after some real cutting, and tomorrow Democrats head to the polls in a party committee primary that's been months in the making. This Tuesday’s issue covers all of it.

The South Street Bridge over I-84 closed yesterday morning and will remain closed to all traffic through September 10, 2027…yes, 18 months. The proposed detour runs via Route 188 and Long Meadow Road and signs are in place. Starting Monday, March 9, expect intermittent nightly lane closures on I-84 east and westbound beneath the bridge from approximately 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. as work gets underway. The $9.6 million project includes structural repairs and full deck replacement and was awarded to Rotha Contracting Company in December.

Department heads wanted 12-plus percent more. Two rounds of cuts later, the number is down to $443,000 over last year — but some of those cuts have tradeoffs.

First Selectwoman Jennifer Mahr and CFO Seth Bernstein have spent the past several weeks working down a town budget that started at a 12.29% increase when department heads submitted their requests. By February 9, they'd cut it to 8.63%. By February 11, after a joint session with the Board of Finance, it was down to 3.29% — a total reduction of about $1.2 million from the initial ask, bringing the proposed budget to roughly $13.9 million.

Five items drove the bulk of the unavoidable increases: medical insurance ($365,000), contractual obligations ($155,038), the fire truck lease ($152,167), higher FICA taxes from salary increases ($54,476), and startup costs for the state's new Homestead Exemption program ($50,000). Those five items alone account for $776,681 of the increase before cuts.

What got cut: the town's poet laureate stipend ($750), a part-time human resources position ($27,576 plus benefits), the Homestead Exemption hire ($50,000 plus benefits), and the Code Red emergency alert service ($6,300). Mahr noted publicly she wasn't happy with all of these, particularly the HR cut — Bernstein is covering those duties on top of his own work, and there's an active HR complaint from the former position's holder that could complicate things. On the Homestead Exemption, Mahr flagged that the town may need to consider delaying or repealing it, since processing the paperwork requires a staff member whose salary partially offsets the tax relief the exemption provides.

Residents who want to weigh in before the May 6 budget referendum have several chances: the Board of Finance meets Wednesday, March 11, at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall Conference Room; there's a joint Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance session on Wednesday, March 18, also at 7 p.m. in Town Hall; and the public hearing on the final budget is scheduled for Tuesday, April 7, at 6:30 p.m. in the Larkin Room at the Middlebury Public Library.

A $581,000 proposal to overhaul the Middlebury Recreation Area comes with a side of procedural questions — no meeting minutes filed, no competitive architect bids, limited public input.

Parks and Recreation Chairwoman Carolanne Browne presented a $581,627 plan to upgrade the Middlebury Recreation Area to the Board of Selectmen on February 9, capping two years of work by a town study group. The proposal would replace the existing cottage with two covered pavilions connected to a patio, build a new garage with a first aid area, add a guard shelter with beach visibility, and create handicapped-accessible pathways to the beach and pavilion areas.

The costs break down as follows: pavilions at roughly $190,000 (versus $270,000 to bring the existing cottage up to code), a garage at $233,000, a guardhouse at $67,000, patio stairs at $39,000, and a 10% contingency built in. Browne said the project could be done in phases. Tennis courts — previously quoted at $300,000 in repairs — are not included.

Several things about the process have raised questions since the presentation. Town Clerk Brigitte Bessette confirmed the study group filed no minutes with her office during the two years it was working. The town engaged Jacunski and Humes as architect without soliciting competitive bids — the firm had just completed work on the new police headquarters. The preservation group Save Historic Middlebury is pushing back on demolition of the existing cottage before its historic value has been properly assessed. And while Browne said public comments on Facebook were considered, there was no formal public input process during the study period.

Browne said she needs the selectmen to decide next steps. If they move forward, the proposal would go to residents for a vote.

The Board of Selectmen hasn't set a follow-up meeting date on the MRA proposal. The next regular Board of Selectmen meeting is Monday, March 2, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.

Fifteen challengers — mostly members ousted in a 2024 committee takeover — are on the ballot today to retake control of the local Democratic Town Committee.

Today, enrolled Middlebury Democrats can vote in a party primary that's the latest chapter in an ongoing fight over who controls the local committee. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Shepardson Community Center, 1172 Whittemore Road.

The backstory: In 2024, 86 Democrats showed up to the Middlebury Democratic Town Committee (MDTC) caucus — an event that typically draws around 20 — and voted out 11 incumbent members, installing 25 new ones. The voters included several people who'd never previously been active in local party politics. Among those ousted were Selectman J. Paul Vance, Francis Barton Jr. (the Democratic registrar of voters), and a handful of other long-standing committee members.

Now those former members are back. Fifteen challengers, many of whom were part of the group that was removed, filed petitions in January to appear on Tuesday's primary ballot alongside the current endorsed members. The filing process itself generated controversy — questions arose over how and when the petition materials were handled by the registrar's office, and the MDTC has been pressing for transparency on the original petition pages.

The 25 current endorsed members are identified on the ballot with an asterisk. Whoever wins a majority of seats will control the committee going forward.

Registered Democrats who need to confirm their polling location can contact the Town Clerk's office at Town Hall.

Middlebury has a new website worth bookmarking: Middlebury250, the committee planning the town's events around the United States' 250th anniversary, went live last week. The U.S. Semiquincentennial is July 4, 2026 — not far off. If you want to see what the town is putting together, or get involved, search "Middlebury250" to find it (we can’t link it directly). It's one of those things that tends to sneak up on people and then suddenly everyone's talking about it.

Comments? Suggestions? We’ll take ‘em!

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