Current News

Vermont Business Magazine On Friday, Mayor Miro Weinberger announced a series of next steps for the Burlington Police Department, designed to address multiple facets of the department’s leadership and social media practices and lead the department forward. The most prominent of these is appointing Jennifer Morrison as interim chief beginning January 7, 2020. Morrison will become the fourth chief in less than a month. Chief Brandon del Pozo resigned following revelations that he had taunted a critic with a fake Twitter account and then lied about it. The acting chief replacing him then also admitted to a fake Facebook account. The new acting chief will serve until Morrison, the former Colchester chief of police, takes over.

Vermont Business Magazine Casella Waste Systems, Inc (Nasdaq: CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company, announced today the appointment of Michael L. Battles to Casella’s Board of Directors effective December 17, 2019.

Battles is currently the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Clean Harbors, Inc, a leading provider of environmental, energy and industrial services throughout North America. Battles joined Clean Harbors in September 2013 as Senior Vice President, Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer, and was appointed as Clean Harbors' Chief Financial Officer in January 2016.  Battles previously served in a variety of senior financial positions at PerkinElmer Inc., a global leader in human and environmental health.  

Battles holds a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Vermont and is a certified public accountant.

by Robert Zulkoski & Team As we wrap another decade, the feeling of pending change is tangible. We’re living through a unique moment in time where our loudest voices for disruption are not sitting in the White House but rather in high school math classes and on soccer fields; where the men of Wall Street are being challenged by a diverse group of women creating space to make their voices heard; where today’s business means people AND planet AND profit. While these moments are playing out internationally, we can feel the wave of change washing over us (maybe even more so) here, in Vermont. In this month’s installment, we celebrate the amazing things initiated in 2019 and propose a challenge as we enter 2020.

Vermont Business Magazine Jim Brown, President of The Bank of Bennington, announced this week that the Bank has completed its annual giving to community food cupboards and fuel funds. This year, The Bank of Bennington is donating $25,000 to more than 20 area organizations in 11 towns. Primarily supporting the good work of food cupboards and heating assistance programs, these November and December donations help low income Vermonters during the holidays and beyond into winter.

Vermont Business Magazine The EDGE in South Burlington has announced its plan to provide the first dedicated indoor Pickleball facility in Vermont. Pickleball Courts set to open officially Wednesday. The facility will feature four state-of-the-art pickleball courts with a three-color court combination matching colors used at the US Open Tennis Championships in Flushing Meadows, New York, and the Indian Wells Tennis Facility in Palm Springs, California. The EDGE Pickleball courts will not be located on tennis courts but in a newly converted space.

Vermont Business Magazine EPA has completed comprehensive reviews of site cleanups at six National Priorities List Sites (Superfund Sites) in Vermont by performing a required Five-Year Reviews of each site. The Superfund program, a federal program established by Congress in 1980, investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country and endeavors to facilitate activities to return them to productive use.

"EPA performs Five-Year Review evaluations at Superfund Sites to ensure that our implemented site remedies continue to protect public health and the environment,” said EPA New England Regional Administrator Dennis Deziel.

Vermont Business Magazine United States Attorney Christina E Nolan announced today that the District of Vermont collected $1,228,588.74 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2019. Of this amount, $574,416.22 was collected in criminal actions and $654,172.52 was collected in civil actions. The District of Vermont worked with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $39,001,889.33 in cases pursued jointly by these offices. Of this amount, $18,037.74 was collected in criminal actions and $38,983,851.59 was collected in civil actions.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott has requested a Major Disaster Declaration for two federal programs for storm damages throughout Vermont caused by wind, rain and flooding from October 31-November 1, 2019. The request is for assistance from the Public Assistance program, which seeks support for municipal infrastructure repairs, and the Individual Assistance program, which seeks aid for private homeowners and renters.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine General Fund tax revenues came up short of expectations for the month of November as personal income revenue was nearly 9 percent below its target. Personal income is the most important revenue source and is still ahead of year-to-date expectations. Meanwhile, corporate income was well above expectations. And the consumption taxes represented by rooms & meals and sales taxes finished just above expectations for the month. Rooms & meals, which largely tracks tourism, has relatively high expectations, which have been a little behind – about $1 million – for the year.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment cratered last week after two weeks of very high numbers. After a long period of very low numbers, claims have been higher over the last two months and now have entered the holiday period, which typically brings with it wild swings in claims, as retailers hire and then lay off seasonal workers. Initial claims for the week of December 14, 2019, were 539, down 438 from last week and 58 fewer than they were at this time last year. Thanksgiving was much later this year, which could have altered the timing of the usual holiday hiring/firing.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Labor reported today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate increased another tenth in November to 2.3 percent, according to household data. The rate also was up a tenth in September. All three of the major metrics were negative, as they also were in October, with the labor force and total employed down, while the number of unemployed increased, though by a small amount. However, Vermont retained its position with the lowest rate in the nation.

Vermont Business Magazine The Community Health Centers of Burlington (CHCB) and Community Health United/American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have reached their first tentative bargaining agreement as of December 17, 2019. The agreement is subject to ratification by the union’s membership. Both parties said they were committed to creating a contract that reflected the shared values of providing quality patient care and supporting the health care professionals. The parties reached agreement after a third all-day bargaining session.