At a regular meeting on November 18th, the Swanzey Board of Selectmen voted to have the Department of Revenue Administration set the 2020 tax rate at $25.68 per $1,000 of assessed value; this is an overall decrease of 0.3% from the 2019 rate of $25.76. Tax information will be available on the Town’s online tax kiosk soon. From the tax kiosk, taxpayers can view tax bills and  make  payments  online  (credit  card  processing  fees  apply).  For  a  property  assessed  at $100,000 the 2020 tax bill is estimated to be $2,568, a decrease of $8 from last year. 

For the full press release announcing the 2020 tax rate click here.

The Board of Trustees of the Stratton Free Library in West Swanzey announces the promotion of Becky Streeter as the new Library Director.  Streeter has been involved with the library for many years beginning as a patron when she first moved to Swanzey more than 20 years ago.  Streeter served on the Library’s Board of Trustees from 2010 until being hired as the Assistant Librarian in August of 2018.

Streeter has a bachelor's degree in Human Services from Lesley College.  She was the Assistant Children's Librarian at the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro, Vermont for 11 years before taking time off to raise her two sons. Streeter spent 4 years volunteering in the Cutler Elementary School library in Swanzey before taking the assistant position at Stratton.

Streeter is excited to take on her new role at the Library. She is thrilled that the previous director of 19 years, Carol Haley, will be staying on as Assistant Librarian. Streeter comes to the job of Library Director just as the library is beginning the task of automating the library’s collection. She looks forward to this challenge. The current pandemic has brought new hurdles for everyone, including libraries. The Stratton Free Library is open to the public at this time; however, with the ever changing landscape of the pandemic that may change. Streeter looks forward to serving the residents of Swanzey, and hopes to see many faces in the library of both current and of new patrons.

Press Release - For Immediate Release
For Additional Information Contact: William Gould, Fire Chief
603- 358-6455 ext. 150
October 22, 2020
Swanzey Fire Department Announces Reorganization of Command Structure

 The Swanzey Fire Department recently completed a reorganization of its command structure. Under the changes, a captain, supported by a lieutenant, will now directly oversee each of the Town’s three fire stations. In addition, some position titles in the Department’s administration were changed to better reflect their roles within the agency’s operations. Chief William Gould proposed and the Board of Selectmen approved these changes to better serve the Department and community with higher levels of supervision and accountability. As a result, three lieutenants are being promoted to captains and one firefighter is being promoted to lieutenant. The new station captains will oversee all the operations and duties within the stations, at training and at emergency incident scenes. The captains’ duties will include training, light vehicle and station maintenance, vehicle and equipment checks, and personnel accountability.
The following personnel changes became official on Thursday, October 22, at 0800 hours:
Deputy Chief Mick Sanchez becomes Assistant Chief, Operations
Captain Eric Mattson becomes Deputy Chief, Fire Prevention
Captain Brandon West becomes Deputy Chief, EMS Operations
Lieutenant Geoff Davis becomes Captain, Station 1
Lieutenant Keith Bell becomes Captain, Station 2
Lieutenant Tyke Frazier becomes Captain, Station 3
Firefighter Robert Herrick becomes Lieutenant, assigned to Station 3
Lieutenant Andy Fisher will remain at Station 1
Lieutenant Shawn Beal will remain at Station 2

Assistant Chief Sanchez will continue with the roles and responsibilities he had as deputy chief, including training, payroll, personnel management and scheduling. Fire Inspector Mattson and EMS Coordinator West will move from the captain rank to deputy chiefs of Fire Prevention and EMS Operations, respectively. These positions focus on administrative aspects of the department and will serve the Department better in the chief officer rank. This will also allow for Deputy Chiefs Mattson and West to serve in higher-level command positions at emergency scenes.
Swanzey Fire Department Organizational Chart Effective 10/22/2020