Colchester Recreation Center to open Feb. 17; Town Clerk provides office updates

COLCHESTER — The Colchester Recreation Center will open its doors to the public on Monday, Feb. 17.

The recreation center has been the culmination of over two decades of community input and boasts over 29,000 square feet, with a multi-purpose gymnasium, elevated walking and running track and other features. The project’s construction was funded by the town’s local option tax and the final expense is expected to be about $160,000 under budget. The town will host a grand opening to celebrate at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16 at the recreation center.

“We are extremely proud and excited to open this facility for current and future generations,” Chair Pam Loranger said at the end of the Jan. 28 selectboard meeting. “Congratulations Colchester, on this amazing addition to the wide menu of everything Colchester has to offer.”

During the meeting, Town Clerk Julie Graeter also gave a presentation on what the town clerk’s office does and what the office’s outlook and challenges will be in the future.

The town clerk has responsibilities mandated by the state including caring for public cemeteries, elections and managing land records. The office is also responsible for collecting municipal and education taxes.

Colchester’s town clerk also provides notary services, passport processing, passport photos and provides vital record certified copies, which are services not mandated by the state.

In the past few years, the clerk’s office has worked to digitize its land records, including ones from the early 1700s.

“It’s fun to be able to show people how to find and look at Ethan and Ira Allen signatures and stuff like that,” Graeter said.

Graeter hopes to learn how to preserve paper records in the near future and is planning on seeking guidance from the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration on how to effectively care for these older documents.

“The other thing that I need to do is actually understand some of the older records that are in our vault, especially the lower vault,” she said. “We have school records and other things, I’m not exactly sure what they are for.”

The clerk’s office was also active in ensuring multiple elections ran smoothly in 2024.

The clerk has also been working with the Cemetery Advisory Committee to help restore headstones at Munson cemetery. The office also continues to record cemetery headstone information electronically, with four out of the six cemeteries completed.

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