The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • 17

The Burlington Free Press Friday, February 6, 2009 www.burlingtonfreepress.com 5B MAYOR: Candidates discuss personnel New England in Brief Quiet conference It- 1 1 n- r-. 1 ji I Montroll urges pension shift Mayoral candidate Andy Montroll said that to deal with a "pending catastrophe," the city should move from its current benefit pension system to a 401(k)-like system. He plans to introduce a City Council resolution to that effect. The city's pension system, after generous improvements in benefits in 2000, was underfunded by $30 million two years ago, said Montroll, D-Ward 6. "If $30 million short was a crisis, then $60-plus million short is a pending catastrophe," he said.

"We need to take strong action to prevent the current crisis from destroying the financial stability of the city." He faulted Mayor Bob Kiss for a "Band-Aid" approach to the pension system problems. Montroll's approach would apply to new employees. Current employees could retain their predictable pension or change to the new system if they chose. Montroll's change would require the acquiescence of the city-employee unions. "I'm not staging a generational takeover of city government.

Mostly, I will seek independent thinkers who will work with me to reinvent the enterprise of city government." Wright said: "I have talked to some individuals, gauging their interest. I'm not ready to give their names, because I don't think they would want me to. I don't want to make individual assessments on each (department head) during the campaign, publicly, but, clearly, in a Wright administration, there will be a lot of new people. There is no department I would give a guarantee to at this point." Kiss said he's pleased with his department heads. "There's a team in place which has done good work over the last year," he said.

Most department heads are re-appointed each June. Kiss said he meets monthly with the department leaders "as a team," but, beyond that, "day-today conversations keep things pretty relevant between the mayor and department heads." "The size of city government in Burlington allows that kind of interaction," he said. "I have a working team, and we work well together." Contact John Briggs at 660-1863 or jbriggsbfp.burlingtonfreepress To have Free Press headlines delivered free to your e-mail, sign up at www.burlingtonfreepress Continued from Page IB without explicitly naming him that he would replace Chief Administrative Officer Jonathan Leopold, the city's top financial officer. "I will have a person closely connected to me who will help me in bringing a new spirit of unity and cooperation that will extend throughout City Hall, which I think it sorely needs right now," he said. "There has been a climate of mistrust between City Hall and some departments." Montroll, a city councilor since 1994, declined to talk about the department-head changes he might make.

He said the Police and Fire departments, Burlington International Airport, the Fletcher Free Library and others are well-run departments. "Some departments are very well run," he said. "Others need help. Part of the job of the mayor is to support all of them in the best way needed. It's not about who is going to be kept on and who is going to be fired.

It's about making our city government work for the people." Montroll said that if elected he would immediately begin "top to bottom" reviews in all city departments to assess what changes might be needed. Smith, who speaks often of appealing to young professionals in the city, laughed when asked 1 filial GLENN RUSSELL, tree Press Rep. Tony Klein (left), D-East Montpelier, speaks Thursday with Richard Smith, deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service, in the Cedar Room at the Statehouse in Montpelier. U.S. 7: Opposition to project grows TV: Stations plan Feb.

17 conversion Hasty Pudding honors Zellweger CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Accompanied by Harvard men in drag, Renee Zellweger has been honored as the Hasty Pudding Theatricals woman of the year. The actress rode in the back of a silver convertible Bentley during a parade through Harvard Square on Thursday. She waved to spectators who braved frigid temperatures, all the while capturing the event on her cell phone camera. Hasty Pudding is the nation's oldest undergraduate drama troupe.

By tradition, many of its male members wear women's clothes for the parade one came dressed in a gold, sparkly dress. Maine paper mill lays off 140 workers EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine A northern Maine paper mill is temporarily laying off about 140 hourly workers and an undetermined number of salaried workers for as long as four weeks. Company officials said Thursday that the Katahdin Paper Co. mill in East Milli-nocket is implementing the furlough effective Monday in an effort to build cash flow by running machines only with orders in hand. Beginning next week, the mill will shut down its No.

5 paper machine. Human Resources Manager Rick Grunthaler said the company remains optimistic that it will land more orders. The mill employs 491 hourly workers! Animal advocates close Mass. centers BOSTON The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has announced the closing of three adoption centers citing the economic downturn. MSPCA said Thursday that the planned closures of centers in Brockton, Martha's Vineyard and Springfield will result in the elimination of 46 positions and will begin in the coming months.

MSPCA President Carter Luke said the move was necessary after the nonprofit group lost more than $11 million, or 25 percent of its endowment, in 2008. N.H. challenges Mass. tax on tires CONCORD, N.H. New Hampshire's governor and attorney general say they're getting involved in a sales tax case between Massachusetts and a tire vendor to protect New Hampshire businesses from having to collect sales taxes on behalf of Massachusetts.

Massachusetts officials say the case before its Supreme Judicial Court applies only to one company, Connecticut-based Town Fair Tire Centers and one set of circumstances. The company sold tires in New Hampshire to customers who appeared to be from Massachusetts, yet didn't collect the 5 percent sales tax that would have been levied on similar sales at one of the Town Fair's Massachusetts stores. Gov. John Lynch says he thinks it's outrageous that Massachusetts thinks it can impose its sales tax in New Hampshire. From wire reports AW it comes with lifetime for warranty! Hhristmsffrl Continued from Page IB pare for the end of analog broadcasting, we know that most of our local viewers are ready," he wrote.

Television viewers who receive signals from cable or satellite will not be affected by the conversion to digital. Owners of newer sets with built-in digital tuners will also be unaffected. Analog-only TVs that rely on antennas will require converter boxes to receive the digital signals. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt, voted Wednesday to approve the deadline extension bill, which President Barack Obama is expected to sign.

For months, Democrats have argued that the Bush administration inadequately prepared rural Americans for the switch to digital. As stations vacate their analog frequencies, opportunities for other commercial and public safety will emerge: Digital broadcasts require less bandwidth than analog. Although digital signals promise clearer, video images and better sound quality, reception on remote whether he would allow gray hair in his administration. "Of course," he said. tion, and the board denied the petition at last week's hearing.

Chairwoman Loretta Lawrence said, "Our vote had no bearing on COCO. We denied the petition because we wanted to allow it to go back to the Planning Commission to take the time that they really need to rewrite the zoning bylaws." Some petition signers said they wanted the wording changed so it would not exclude new small businesses such as an ice cream shop. Friends member Nick Patch said at the hearing, "FFRG is local residents concerned with the quality of life; we are not an anti-business group. This project is way out of scale." Champlain Oil President Tony Cairns told residents he wanted to work with the town. "I've heard a lot of comments that aren't true," he said.

"We are a local company started by my father 60 years ago in Burlington. We have 33 stores in small towns in Vermont and New Hampshire. I've heard comments that we don't employ local people. We do. We will work with the town to design architecture "that fits in." He said McDonald's was put in the application as a placeholder, but "we do not Dr.

Robert Tortolani, a Brattleboro family physician and incoming president of the society, proposed the initiative after finding increasing numbers of patients postponing care because of money problems. i "This is a small fine-tuning of our approach to over- sets might actually degrade or disappear. Teffner said Feb. 18, which he jokingly called "a brave new world," some viewers, even with the new equipment, might face disappointment. "People say it's going to be a mess in February," he said.

"Well, you know what, it's going to be a mess in June." Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission Web site devoted to the. conversion, www.dtv maintained a high-profile countdown to Feb. 17 not June 12. Stations that will no longer broadcast analog signals after Feb. 17 are: WCAX (Channel 3), WFFF (Channel 44), WNNE (Channel 31), WPTZ (Channel 5), WVNY (Channel 22), Mountain Lake PBS (Channel 57) and Vermont Public Television (Channels 33, 20, 28 and 41).

Contact Joel Banner Baird at 660-1843 or joelbairdbfp.burling-tonfreepress.com. To get Free Press headlines delivered free to your e-mail, sign up at www.burling-tonfreepress.comnewsletters. see our patients struggle with the difficult choice of paying for food, getting the medicine they need or keep-' ing the heat on in the homes," said Dr. Paula Duncan, professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont School of Medicine and vice president of the medical society. Doctors and their staff will use some simple questions to assess stresses patients might be facing and steer those in need to the Vermont 211 referral system.

Dialing 2-1-1 connects indi have a deal with McDonald's. It might be Subway or another restaurant. I see this as a nice breakfast stop." Cairns said the truck stop would not be open 24 hours a day, and truck motors would not be left to idle, as many opponents feared. Hours of operation probably would be from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Resident Judy Chaves asked the zoning board to deny the application based on its adverse effect on goals of the town plan. "We want to see small scale development that fits Ferrisburgh's character." Chaves' statements were reiterated and reinforced by about 20 residents, many of whom mentioned the effect on an existing deli, a food store and a gas station. Rux Martin said the store, Vermont Energy carries more than 50 local brands and organic products. "Consider the ripple effect if this business is forced out," she said. Ralph Miller offered a different outlook.

"I've lived here for 18 years, and my property taxes have quadrupled. Are we going to have businesses that will pay property taxes or are we going to leave things as they are? COCO wants to accommodate us and build a beautiful place." all care," Tortolani said, "but the fact that we are focusing on basic needs is a good thing. A person's ability to get and stay healthy has a lot to do with nutrition, staying warm, getting good rest and not letting stress about your economic situation exacerbate health issues." BOUQUETS VALENTINE'S DECOR 20 Off Valentine's Tableware SQ Off, MSRP mm Continued from Page IB involved in the discussion. Thursday's hearing brought five middle school students with colorful handmade posters. A poster designed by Phoebe Plank, 12, read "McBurgers are not for Fer-risburgers," and another student's, "Say No-No to COCO." The Preservation Trust of Vermont offered a matching grant of $5,000 for donations to the Friends.

Opposition has zeroed in on sections of the town plan adopted in 2006 that emphasize maintaining Ferris-burgh's rich history and small-scale businesses. The plan states, "Protecting the Route 7 corridor is critical to maintaining the rural character and quality of life Fer-risburgh residents currently enjoy." However, zoning bylaws dating frcm 1988 and amended in 2001 include trucking terminals and gasoline stations as conditional uses in the highway commercial zone, and they state, "It is the primary policy of this district to provide an area to serve highway oriented businesses and highway uses." A Selectboard hearing on the zoning change petition could not be announced in time to be held before COCO filed its full applica viduals with people who can guide them to social services. The Vermont Medical Society is the only state physician group that has launched this kind of initiative, Executive Vice President Paul Harrington said. Ctoseouts, Collectibles, Antiques At Champlain Valley Expo, Essex Jet SUNDAY- FEB STH, At Essex: 8'x10' Navy $1597. At Shelburne: Same, plus chaise (pictured) $1697.

3'x4' Table 4 Chairs Cherry stain on hardwood. $489. I mm Vt. doctors to expand questions they ask patients Lots of Love mm Free Press Staff Report MONTPELIER Patients might find their doctors asking them some new questions during their next visit. Do they have enough to eat? Have heat? A way to get to work and critical appointments? The questions reflect an initiative by the Vermont Medical Society to more broadly assess patients' well-being especially during the current economic downturn.

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