The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 17

Sip urUtujt0tt Deaths 2B Money 5B Sports 8B Classifieds 1 1 Wednesday, February 2, 1 983 Mayor Sanders Eyes $500,000 For Street Work Photo by GEORGE BRADY South Burlington Police Lt. Ray Magee said. The tractor-trailer, driven by Donald Durand, 43, of Montreal, and the car were headed east about 1 0 a.m., Magee said. Close Call Calvin Page, 1 8, of South Burlington escaped serious injury Tuesday morning when his car collided with a tractor-trailer turning off Williston Road near the Brick Oven Restaurant, By SCOTT MACKAY I Free Press Staff Writer Burlington Mayor Bernard Sanders said Tuesday he will recommend spending $500,000 this year to repair the city's potholed streets and sidewalks. The money, which would come from the city's $1.9 million surplus, would be available as soon as the spring construction season starts, Sanders told reporters.

'This is the largest single appropriation in many years" for the Street Department, said Sanders, who is running for re-election against Democrat Judith Stephany and Republican James Gilson. i However, Sanders said, "no one should have any illusions" about the $500,000 curing the problems with the streets and sidewalks, which have built up for many years. Sanders said he did not "want to suggest this one-time sum of money is going to solve" the problem of the potholes and cracks in sidewalks, which make the sidewalks difficult to plow in winter. The Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission said in a study done last year that Burlington needs at least $1.2 million a year in street repairs to upgrade the streets. Of the city's 100 miles of streets, 90 are in need of varying degrees of work, according to James Ogden, city street super-intendant.

With $500,000, about eight miles of two-line roadway can be repaved, according to Ogden. The department will hire a consultant to help decide where repairs are needed most, Ogden Gilson Rejects Campaign Fund Limit BERNARD SANDERS said. Sanders said he will work with the Street Commission and also ask the Neighborhood Planning Assemblies for opinions on which streets should get fixed first. At a June 1982 special election, voters overwhemlingly turned down a proposed 32-cent tax increase for the Street Department. That tax proposal was opposed by Sanders, who wanted the repairs financed with a city gross receipts tax on restaurants.

The restaurant tax also was defeated, by 47 vo'es. Sanders said he will have recommendations soon on how he believes the rest of the surplus should be spent. The mayor has said about $600,000 should be kept in a reserve fund to keep the city's bond rating favorable. He hinted Tuesday that other spending priorities will be fixing Memorial Auditorium, and other city-owned buildings, funding improvements in the North End bicycle path, and support for daycare programs. information would make a spending limit unfair and give Sanders an edge, Gilson said.

"His point about incumbency being an advantage is true," Sanders said, adding however that Gilson's rejection had the "tone of a person who obviously can tap into large sums of money." Gilson said he had raised $11,500 as of last week, while Sanders said his campaign has attracted about $10,000. Democrat Judith Stephany has contributions or' pledges of $11,000, according to Edwin Granai, Stephany's campaign finance chairman. Under a campaign finance disclosure law enacted by the 1982 Legislature, candidates who spend more than $500 in a municipal election must report their contributors to the secretary of state. The names of all those who By SCOTT MACKAY Free Press Staff Writer Republican mayoral candidate James Gilson has rejected a call by Burlington Mayor Bernard Sanders for a campaign spending limit, saying it is a "standard political tactic for an incumbent." "My own spending will be limited by my ability to attract contributions," Gilson said. "I will not be guided by some arbitrary limit." Sanders told reporters Tuesday he would like to see a spending limit of $15,000.

In 1981, Sanders spent about $4,000 in his win over former Democratic Mayor Gordon Pa-quette. The benefits of incumbency and Sanders' ability to use city employees for campaign contribute more than $50 must be filed 10 days before and 10 days after the March 1 election. Gilson also asked Sanders to disclose who paid for two newsletters sent to Burlington residents by the mayor. The newsletters, titled "Keeping Burlington Informed," were dropped on doorsteps in October and again a few weeks ago. Sanders said he does not consider the newsletters campaign documents because they do not urge residents to "vote for anyone." Sanders said he and City Constable David Clavelle paid for the newsletters, which cost about $1,000, according to Sanders.

The mayor admitted his earlier statement about getting outspent "100 to one" was "a little bit exaggerated." Rep. Riehle Resigns House Seat, Cites Job Demands has drafted legislation that would eliminate the governor's power to appoint replacements. "I think the time has come that we should take that power away and keep it in our own assembly," he said. "The Constitution says we should keep it ourselves I don't see why we ever gave it to the governor." Valsangiacomo's proposal would require the House and the Senate to replace their own members, based on nominations by a committee from the vacant district. Some lawmakers believe the governor's appointment power was nullified by a recent Supreme Court ruling giving the House and the Senate ultimate authority to determine the qualifications of their members.

Valsangiacomo said as long as the law remains on the books, there will be a question about the appointment process. By DEBORAH SLINE Free Press Copitol Bureau MONTPELIER Rep. Theodore Riehle III of Burlington resigned his House seat Tuesday, becoming the third representative to quit in as many weeks. Riehle, 35, the first Republican to bow out, leaves after less than a month of his third term. Two Democrats, Judith Stephany of Burlington and Norris Hoyt of Norwich, announced their resignations in late January.

All three cited job considerations as their primary reasons. Riehle said the demands of his job with a Burlington brokerage firm precipitated his decision. His resignation takes effect next Tuesday. Stephany left last week to run for mayor of Burlington. Hoyt will finish out this week and then assume a new job as state' deputy tax commissioner.

Riehle said he did not believe there was any significance to the fact that three lawmakers had resigned so soon after the start of the session. "I think they were just out of coincidence, rather than any momentum of jumping ship," he said. Riehle said last spring he "felt confident that I would be able to split my time in an orderly manner." Since November, however, he said his business clients have demanded more of his time. "I've just had to make a very difficult decision because I love politics," he said. Riehle was active in environmental and energy-related matters in the House.

His priorities this year included health care cost containment, which he hoped to address as a member of the Health and Welfare Committee. The vacancies must be filled by Gov. Richard Snelling, who stirred some con troversy last week when he said he might replace Stephany with a Republican. Traditionally, governors have filled vacancies with persons from the same party as the lawmaker stepping down, using local party committee suggestions as a guideline. House Democratic leaders sent Snelling a written reminder of that tradition Tuesday.

"We wish to express our concern," said Minority Leader Ralph Wright of Bennington and Whip Paul Poirier of Barre, "that you honor the preferences expressed by the majority of the voters of these districts in the last several elections and appoint a member of the Democratic Party to fill each of these vacancies." Wright, presiding over his first party caucus as Democratic leader, vowed to fight to improve Democrats' standing in the House. Rep. Oreste Valsangiacomo, D-Barre, THEODORE RIEHLE III 4 Williston Residents Voice Opposition To Power Corridors A tv By DON MELVIN Free Press Staff Writer WILLISTON More than 50 people jammed the Planning Contmisson meeting room at the Town Hall Tuesday night to hear Vermont Electric Power Co. officials outline plant for a substation and power corridors it MM Ski Area Expansion Opposed By JIM EMMONS Free Press Correspondent WAITSFIELD The proposed expansion of Sugarbush Valley and Sugarbush North ski areas met strong opposition during Tuesday night's meeting between area residents and officials representing the ski area and the U.S. Forest Service.

The plan ranges from replacing a few lifts and widening trails to a master plan that calls for 10 new lifts and 50 new trails in the Slide Brook Area between the two resorts. The master plan, favored by the Forest Service, would accommodate 11,650 skiers, compared to a capacity of 6,150 now. The Forest Service would monitor development on the 90 acres of public land that would become part of the ski area. Those who spoke criticized the expansion and the environmental impact study for not dealing with the adverse effects. Hadley Gaylord, a service station owner, rebuked Sugarbush Valley comparing its expansionism to that of the early settlers who pressed the original landowners, the Indians, onto reservations.

He recommended to Roy Cohen, president of the Sugarbush Valley that his corporation support the volunteer fire department and ambulance Turn to SKI, Page 2B "TV i the electric bill," Beard said. Virtually every person who questioned or attacked the proposal lives on Vermont 2A, and would have the 345-kilovolt alternating-current lines behind their houses. Several advanced the theory that Vermont Electric Power plans to use the lines to transmit Canadian power south to other parts of New England, a charge vigorously denied by Beard. "The state is generation-deficient," he said, and power flows into the Burlington area from all directions. Some people asked why new lines could not be strung on existing towers in existing corridors.

Beard said such measures might help for a year or two, but, "After a while of all these rabbit tricks, there won't be any more rabbits in the hat and you have to do something meaningful." George H. Campbell III, manager of public Information for the company, stressed that Public Service Board approval of the corridors does not amount to approval of the power lines. "We still, before we put up one pole, have to come back before the Public Service Board and apply for permission to put up a pole," he said. Campbell added that Vermont Electric would be happy not to have to build the new lines if the through the HARD town. Not one of the 50 spoke in favor.

Carroll A. Beard, director of planning and engineering for Vermont Electric, braved a storm of hostile questions as be tried to explain that, although the corridors might not be used for more than 10 years, the company was actually doing Williston residents favor by planning so far in The goal is to assure Chittenden and Franklin counties reliable service in the 1990s, Beard said. By staking out the corridors early, no houses would be built there and none would have to be torn down, he said. "It help us In that we don't have to buy condominium units and tear them down and put It on the Oohs and Aahs Workmen remove a parachute-like cover as tional. It has been refurbished and now the state Senate welcomes back its chandelier resembles its original state.

The Legislature Tuesday. The chandelier, originally a gas-lit appropriated $30,000 last year to restore the gaselier, was taken down 47 years ago, fixture. Following the unveiling; lawmakers oporently because it was no longer func- held a wine and cheese reception. Turn to WILLISTON, Page 21.