COVID-19: Dartmouth College employees get extra time off for the holidays

HANOVER — Dartmouth College has added a week to employees’ holiday break this year in appreciation of their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, its president said.

The holiday break for Dartmouth employees will now extend from Dec. 20 to Dec. 31, Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon said in a Tuesday email to college workers. That adds the week before Christmas to the college’s traditional break between Christmas and New Year’s, he said.

“The pandemic has reinforced for all of us that every role at Dartmouth is important,” Hanlon wrote. “Whether you are teaching, cleaning, creating, coaching, serving, healing, building, researching, or managing — no matter the position, you are an essential part of the mission of this institution, and I am proud to be your colleague.”

In addition, the college also is giving employees an extra, floating personal day this school year, which they can use anytime before June 30 in consultation with their supervisors.

THETFORD — The Thetford Selectboard declined to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for town employees at its meeting on Monday night, the board’s chairwoman said.

Three of the four board members in attendance in the meeting, held in person at the Thetford town office and via Zoom, spoke against such a requirement, a proposal put forward by the Thetford Elder Network.

“I just don’t see the need, given our high vaccination count right now, to cause a problem by instituting this mandate and/or testing when we don’t need it,” Sharon Harkay, the board’s chairwoman, said in an audio recording of the meeting.

Harkay said that “most if not all” of Thetford’s employees have been vaccinated. In addition, she said that the town requires masks and social distancing in town buildings, and offers free masks and hand sanitizer to people who forget theirs when they come to the town office.

MONTPELIER — The Vermont Department of Public Service is accepting applications for help with past-due utility bills through Oct. 24, according to the department’s website.

The 2021 Vermont COVID-19 Arrearage Assistance Program offers financial support to customers who may face disconnection of service because of past-due balances for their electric, landline telephone, natural gas, water or sewer/wastewater charges.

Vermonters financially impacted by COVID-19 with 30 days or more overdue charges can get help for residential and non-residential accounts.

More information is available online at publicservice.vermont.gov/content/help-past-due-utility-bills-vermont-department-public-service or by calling 833-295-8988.

Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.