Meeting House Committee 1/9/2026
Present: Russ Stratton, Rebecca Arnold, Sarah Kjelleren, David Carter, Mary Harwood,
Paula Bagger, Carol Tremble
Date: Friday, January 9 ,2026
Time: 3:30 PM In person Town Office or via ZOOM – to join via Zoom:
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Meeting ID: 844 9768 3534
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Agenda
1. Call to Order: 3:35 pm
2. Changes to the Agenda: None
3. Public Comments: None
4. Old Business
Grants: David has been emailing with Ed McMahon, who has expressed interest in the
Meeting House and is a regular visitor to South Hero, about Main Street America about
the T Mobile request through their funding. McMahon is a former board member of Main
Street America.
Recent grants awarded:
$100,000 VHCB grant awarded for historic restoration. This grant will cover the
additional cost of restoration of all the second floor windows so that we comply
with the terms of the Bruhn grant. Mary Harwood and Jenna Lapachinski
(Preservation Trust of Vermont) attended the VHCB annual meeting where all
grants were discussed and did an impromptu presentation that was very well
received.
$25,000 State Building Communities Grant for facilities. Application was made to
the Regional Economic Development Grant Program. This grant requires one to
one matching
Project update: The contractor, Vermont Heavy Timbers, is prepping the building for
moving and working on timber framing in his shop. He sent a subcontractor to remove
all the windows and install the painted panels just before Christmas. The windows are
now being restored.
Construction approval has been received from the Assistant State Fire Marshal for
building permit. In the permit, it was specified that there will be a privy, at least
temporarily. Rebecca Arnold (architect) will check with Matthew Lathrop (Fire Marshal)
about a letter to be sent to Town with conditions. Sue should receive it.
Next steps & assign tasks
Mary will put together a list of all grants awarded and work with Sue to make sure we
know reporting etc. including how to pull down funding. To date almost all grants have
been applied for by the Town, not the Foundation.
5. New Business
Sandy and Russ met with Martha regarding DRB. She suggested meeting with them
about a change of use for the second floor. Per Rebecca there is no change of use until
the space is renovated. Martha says if changed from used to not being used is a
change of use. David requested kinds of uses from Rebecca to help educate Martha
and DRB. Studio space, art gallery still commercial. Change would be from mercantile
to business.
What about zoning permit? Russ to go back to Martha about other permits.
Schedule Build Meeting including Rebecca, Miles, John Beaulac and members of this
committee to discuss timeline of how the project will roll out:
Still waiting on the KAS report/recommendation on lead. That will dictate when we can
move forward. Rebecca to check with Jeremy at KAS on timeline and which of his
estimates are accurate. John Beaulac is certified to remove certain soils. It will need a
check with state on where he can take each load of soil.
Need a pre-construction meeting of everyone involved to go over all the things in the
spec book. Anne Zolotas is Select Board contact with Road crew and John Beaulac.
Because of lead, question arose whether KAS should be involved. Miles would like to
start as early as March. Preference to have meeting end of January beginning of
February.
Russ will meet prior with John Beaulac and will also get a sense from Miles how he
sees construction going.
6. Next Meeting Date: January 30, 3:30 PM
7. Adjourn 4:16 PM.