BRIDPORT — Bridport residents at their town meeting on Tuesday morning endorsed all the money items on their warning, including a major bridge/culvert project and a new, one-ton truck for the highway department.
Article 34 on the town meeting warning asked voters for up to $400,000 to invest in some, or all, of the following projects: Replacement of the Middle Road Bridge, replacement of one culvert each on Mountain Road and Lake Street, and replacement of double culverts on Rattlin Bridge Road. Total costs of the work have been placed at $1.27 million, and the town is seeking state and federal grant money to underwrite some the expenses.
Voters agreed to amend the amount of money that Bridport residents agreed to spend back in 2018 on the culvert replacement project on Basin Harbor Road at the west end of Dead Creek. Voters had OK’d the use of $85,812 in general fund balance as the town’s share of the total $429,160 cost. Voters amended that amount to $90,000 in order to finish the project, now estimated at $450,000.
Other articles OK’d at Bridport’s 2020 town meeting included:
•  $45,000 to replace the town’s 2012 Dodge one-ton truck, a sum that could be reduced through sale of that older vehicle.
•  Creation of a Masonic/Community Hall maintenance reserve fund that will be seeded with daily rental fees of $25.
•  A combined total of $1,362,503 for the fiscal year 2020 public works and general fund budgets, of which $1,126,666 will be raised through property taxes.
•  A combined total of $58,358 in funding requests from various Addison County charitable organizations that serve Bridport residents.
There were no contested elections on this year’s town meeting ballot in Bridport. Elected unopposed included Tim Howlett, moderator, one year; Jessica Stocker, selectboard, three years; Robert Sunderland, selectboard, two years; Ernest Audet, water commissioner, one year.
Local residents helped decide two contested elections for the Addison Central School District board. One of them involved Ellie Bishop challenging Jennifer Nuceder for a three-year term representing Salisbury on the 13-member panel. The other featured Christin Gardner and incumbents Mary Gill and Victoria Jette for two available slots representing Middlebury. Nuceder topped Bishop, 1,920 to 1,289, while Gill and Jette earned 2,323 and 2,278 tallies, respectively, in their successful re-election bids. Gardner finished out of the running with 1,446 votes.
Bridport voters on March 3 joined Cornwall, Middlebury, Ripton, Salisbury, Shoreham and Weybridge folks in fielding an ACSD K-12 education budget proposal of $39,507,837 for the 2020-2021 academic year (see related story), and a proposed 2020-2021 Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center budget of $3,854,752.
In the Democratic presidential primary, Bernie Sanders topped the Bridport field with 106 votes, while Joe Biden finished second with 72 tallies. Those also receiving votes included Elizabeth Warren (33), Michael Bloomberg (28) and Pete Buttigieg (11).
In the Republican primary, President Donald Trump led the field with 106 tallies, while Bill Weld finished second with 6.