SALISBURY — The Board of Finance voted Thursday, May 5, to send the budget proposals of the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education for the 2011-12 fiscal year, as presented at public hearing, to a vote at a town meeting Wednesday, May 18.The proposed selectmen’s budget for town government is $4,948,508, an increase of $54,691 or 1.12 percent over 2010-11. The new fiscal year begins July 1.The proposed budget for Salisbury Central School (SCS) is $4,802,422, an increase of $176,262 or 3.81 percent.Salisbury’s contribution to the six-town Region One School District for 2011-12 is $2,991,037, down $31,644 (1.05 percent). The Region One budget passed at a referendum vote May 2 (see story Page A1).Total education spending for Salisbury for 2011-12, if the SCS budget is approved, will be $7,793,459 (up $144,618 or 1.89 percent).Total expenditures for the town of Salisbury, if approved, will be $12,741,967, an increase of $199,309 or 1.59 percent.At the public hearing May 4, finance board Chairman Bill Willis sketched out a “mill rate scenario” that figured on an increase in the mill rate from the current 9.5 to 10 mills.Willis said that a .5 mill increase translates into a property tax hike of between 2 and 3 percent. Because this is a revaluation year, however, taxpayers whose assessments go down 6 percent or more will experience a reduction on their taxes at the 10 mill rate, he added. Willis said approximately 65 percent of taxable properties will have a smaller tax bill, and about 35 percent will see an increase.At the finance board’s special meeting May 5, the board voted 5-0 to approve the selectmen’s budget as presented, and 4-1 on the Salisbury Central School budget, with Don Mayland casting the dissenting vote.School budgetsThe budgets were presented to taxpayers at a meeting at Town Hall May 4.SCS Principal Chris Butwill was the point man for the school budget proposal, and he began by pointing out that in the last two budget cycles the Board of Education came in with minimal increases.Anyone expecting a showdown over class sizes (as there has been in recent years) was disappointed. There was only one question: Could SCS get by with fewer teachers? Butwill replied that the Board of Education decided to go with a plan that calls for 22 classroom teachers, and a second-grade class split into three sections instead of two.Asked what the cost per pupil is, Butwill said the yearly cost is $17,657 per pupil, which works out to $98.09 per day.Salisbury resident Chris Janelli asked about line 72 in the school proposal, titled “grounds.” It is up to $24,041 from $15,145, an $8,896 increase. “Two words,” replied Butwill. “Bark mulch.” He explained that playground areas, by regulation, must have certain depths of mulch to ensure a soft landing for anyone who takes a tumble off a piece of equipment.Janelli also asked at what temperature the school buildings are kept during the winter. Butwill wasn’t exactly sure, “but in general we don’t have the school roasting.”Municipal spendingFirst Selectman Curtis Rand presented the municipal budget proposal, noting that all town employees got a 1 percent raise, except the selectmen.That statement was challenged a little later, as the spreadsheet that was handed out indicates that the first selectman’s salary is going from $63,414 to $73,316.Willis took the floor again to explain that the longstanding policy of “merit pay” for the selectmen, an unusual arrangement by which the Board of Finance could allocate a bonus (about $8,000 for the first selectman and $1,000 for each of the other two selectmen), essentially for a job well done, had been discarded.The policy had been questioned repeatedly in recent years. Willis said the Board of Finance agreed to review the policy after last year’s public hearing.“People wanted to see it in the salary line,” said Willis. “After review, we decided to take the suggestion of the public. If people vote a person in [as first selectman], that person should get that salary.”The merit pay has never been withheld, Willis continued, so while the figure in the salary line is larger there is no net increase.One alteration in policy is the shifting of money from the road work line to the capital spending line for two new Highway Department trucks. Rand said this is just a one-year change, and that roads will be paved and bridges repaired as usual.Not-for-profits that receive grants from the town — including the Scoville Memorial Library, Housatonic Youth Services Bureau, Housatonic Child Care, Salisbury Visiting Nurse Association — are receiving the same amount as last year. “That’s with some regret,” Rand commented. Later, Selectman Jim Dresser said this is the third year in a row that grants have not been increased.“We’re trying to keep taxes down, but the people who benefit most from the nonprofits are doing worse.”
Latest News
The organic runway at HVSFW puts sustainable style among the apple trees at Stone Ridge Orchard.
Jay Ballesteros
That’s the question behind Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Week[end], a two-day celebration of sustainable style, local makers and the possibilities of keeping clothing in circulation. The weekend lands at Stone Ridge Orchard, a 200-year-old working farm, on Sept. 25 and 26, pairing an evening fashion show with a new all-ages Slow Fashion Fair.
“To me, slow fashion means intentional fashion. Careful, thoughtful, human,” said Joanne Louis-Paul, the event’s communications director. “Slow fashion is the speed at which one person can sew an intricately detailed dress. It’s taking the time to go to a thrift store or clothing swap and sifting through an unknown bounty of possibilities. It’s extending the life of a piece of clothing for as long as possible.”
In everyday terms, she said, “It’s stopping to think before purchasing anything or giving anything away.”
Friday’s fourth annual Organic Runway brings Hudson Valley designers to the farm for a sunset showcase of garments made from repurposed textiles and produced locally. Designers include Clare Bare, ennui, Kacy Coyle, KNUD, la vie après l’amour, Last Night on Earth, So Vicki and Touch Threads. The evening runs from 4 to 8 p.m., giving attendees time to pick apples and sip local cider before settling in for the runway.
“We’re all about the whimsy here at HVSFW,” Louis-Paul said. “The runway is so incredibly dreamy. Being outside makes for an unpredictable, one-of-a-kind backdrop every year, and there’s just nothing like that sunset glow.”
Models walk the organic runway at HVSFW. Ilan Harel
The unlikely pairing of fashion and farming is also part of the point.
“Once you’re sitting amongst the apple trees, you realize how much sense it makes to mend the relationship between fashion and nature,” she said.
Saturday introduces the inaugural Slow Fashion Fair, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with workshops, mending, fiber art, vendors, music, eco-friendly kids’ crafts and a clothing swap. There will even be sheep.
“We wanted to have a fair so we could invite more people in the eco-friendly ecosystem into the fold,” Louis-Paul said. “We get to highlight not only designers, but makers and artisans of all kinds.”
The organizers hope the fair appeals not only to people already thinking about climate and sustainability but also to those encountering the ideas for the first time. With mending, a clothing swap and hands-on workshops, the emphasis is on showing visitors things they can actually do.
“There are so many things anyone can start doing today,” Louis-Paul said. “From something as simple as sewing a patch onto a stain or tear to hosting a mini clothing swap at your house with friends and family, there are tons of ways to engage with your wardrobe more thoughtfully.”
She speaks from experience. Before becoming involved with the event, she said, secondhand shopping held little appeal.
“As someone who never liked the idea of thrifting, I am now completely sold on circular fashion,” she said. “I recently sewed a broken strap on a dress I got at a clothing swap, and I felt so accomplished! Being in this world has shown me that conscious consumption is attainable and fun.”
But behind the fun is a serious concern about what happens to clothing once consumers decide they no longer want it.
“Just because you throw it away doesn’t mean it goes away,” she said, pointing to discarded clothing accumulating in other parts of the world and the microplastics shed by synthetic fabrics. “The planet and people are suffering because of this throwaway culture we’ve adopted. If an outfit is new but super cheap, believe there’s a high cost to someone else.”
For more information and tickets, visit hvsfw.org
Susan Schneider, owner of Shandell’s in Ashley Falls, in her studio.
Susan Schneider, owner of Shandell’s in Ashley Falls, in her studio.
She has been creating lampshades for 25 years and has settled in Ashley Falls, where she is renovating a barn behind her house for a larger studio. Her mission: “Changing the view on plain white lampshades, one at a time!”
Besides using marbled paper, she uses papyrus, silk and hand-painted papers for the shades.
Shandell’s on Main Street, offers a large selection of marbled decorative home items on its website — trays, coasters and bookends, to name a few — as well as scarves and belts. Schneider will also customize items and creates custom wallpaper, gifts and favors for weddings and special events. She offers consultations by appointment.
Schneider explained how she began making lampshades.
“I was in business as an antiques and textile dealer, needing lampshades at the time (the early 1990s). I had a dealer who used to make lampshades. She was moving and sold me everything she had in her barn for making them. Arcs, templates for lampshades, and tools.”
Schneider used the marbled paper from the endpapers of old books to make small lampshades.
“I collected those voraciously.”
The papers were too small for the larger lampshades she wanted to make. To get paper in the size she needed, she decided to learn how to marble.
That was 10 years ago. She now has 20 tanks for marbling, including one 10-foot tank that allows her to make 3 yards of fabric at a time.
As she demonstrated the marbling process, making covers for journals, it was easy to see why she “got hooked.”
Susan Schneider, owner of Shandell’s, creates a variety of products with marbleized surfaces in her Ashley Falls studio.L. Tomaino
She explained that marbling takes a couple of days of preparation. She prepares water mixed with carrageenan the night before so that it thickens and becomes a viscous liquid onto which the acrylic paints can be dropped. Paper or fabric must also be prepared with alum, which “makes the paint stick,” she said, a day or two ahead of time.
When she was ready to start, Schneider first used a level to make sure the tank was even. Then she pulled a squeegee across the surface of the carrageenan mixture to break the surface tension, followed by strips of newsprint for the same purpose. She also dipped small pieces of newsprint into the mixture.
“The hardest thing to teach people is to break the surface tension first,” she noted.
Next, she used droppers to place rows of paint onto the mixture.
“It’s a joyful process,” she said as she chose more colors. “It’s totally the pleasure of the colors.”
She explained, “The colors are stopped from spreading by the surface tension.”
Then she added newsprint around the edges of the tank to break the tension again and added another layer of color. Next, she used a marbling comb, slowly dragging it back and forth across the width of the tank to create a feather-like design.
Combs come in many sizes, with teeth spaced at different intervals and in different patterns. She chose another comb to drag through the length of the tank, making the design more intricate before laying two pieces of paper on the surface. After a second or two, she lifted them, perfectly capturing the pattern, and carried them to the sink for a rinse with water.
Once she squeegeed away the paint left in the tank, she was ready to begin the process again.
Next, she created a different type of design, dripping colors in a less ordered array, then twirling them into curving lines and circles with a thin rod.
When the surface was ready, she laid a journal cover on top, then lifted it out, covered in a vibrant pattern of swirling colors.
For observers, the process can seem magical.
Schneider loves to share the delight of marbling by teaching classes at Dewey Hall in Sheffield. Upcoming classes will be held Nov. 20, 21 and 22. Beginning in November, she will also offer private classes in her home studio. Schneider had never pictured herself having a business like Shandell’s, but she discovered a passion for creating, as she says, “things that make you smile.”
For more information about her work and upcoming classes or to contact her for a consultation, visit shandells.com.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
Muriel Stockdale, left, and judge Roger McKee during the awards announcement at the juried art show at Trinity Episcopal Church. Stockdale\u2019s \u201cKevin\u201d was the second place winner.
Patrick L. Sullivan
Organizer Theresa Kenny said the show attracted some 66 artists, 10 of whom were new to the show.
Judge Roger McKee, who recently retired as an art teacher at Salisbury School, said of the winning work, “The technical mastery here is overwhelming.”
Roger McKee naming the winners with the first place entry over his left shoulder. Patrick L. Sullivan
Hwang was unable to attend the reception, but the second- and third-place finishers were on hand.
Second place went to Muriel Stockdale’s “Kevin.” McKee said the piece “has just enough to be compelling without getting too caught up in the details.”
Muriel Stockdale’s “Kevin” took second place in the juried art show at Trinity Episcopal Church.Patrick L. Sullivan
Joan Macfarlane’s “Branching Out” was the third-place winner. McKee described the piece as “a compelling balance of realism and interpretation.”
McKee and Emily Cox served as judges. Cox could not attend the reception, but McKee said they began their work by looking at the entire show, then went through it a second time, taking photos with their phones of the standout pieces before comparing notes.
“There was a lot of overlap,” he said. “We argued a little bit and then came to an agreement.”
The show is open for viewing Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 26 and 27, from noon to 4 p.m.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
