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MANCHESTER -- The nor'easter dumping wet, heavy snow across New England has postponed tonight's scheduled Manchester Selectboard meeting, Interim Town Manager Leslie Perra said.

A new date and time for meeting had yet to be set as of early Tuesday afternoon.

The meeting agenda includes appointing new Town Manager Scott Murphy and approving his contract, as well as reorganizing the board following last week's Town Meeting elections and presenting the Unsung Hero Award. 

Murphy has signed his end of his employment contract. It has been anticipated that Monday will be his first day on the job. 

Meanwhile, the number of power outages reported by Green Mountain Power continued to climb. 

As of 12:30 p.m., the utility was reporting 31,242 customers without power in 1,135 active incidents across 122 Vermont cities and towns.

That included 876 customers in Londonderry, 451 in Manchester, 434 in Arlington, 320 in Dorset, and 290 in Sunderland, according to GMP's website. 

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In the Southshire, 1,339 were without power in Bennington, 1,079 in Pownal, 468 in Stamford and 223 in Shaftsbury.

Forecasters expected 6 to 10 inches of snow will accumulate today on top of what already fell Monday night and early Tuesday morning.  

Two roads were reported closed this morning by Vermont State Police, including Route 7A in Arlington and Route 9 near the chain-up pull off. In both cases, trees were reported down on the roadways.

Manchester Police Lt. James Blanchard said there were power lies down in several parts of town, including West Road, Union Street and Clyde Acres, but no accidents. Most calls for service were for house alarms, which go off when there's an interruption in power. 

"Road crews have been out clearing the roads, however a long lasting storm like this one will require patience on everyone's behalf," Blanchard said in an email. "We urge people to limit any unnecessary travel, and stay home if possible while road crews continue to clear the roads."

Likewise, Fire Chief Chris Towslee said the Manchester Fire Department had yet to be called into service as of 10:30 a.m.

A number of areas businesses closed for the day rather than risk employees' safety commuting to work. 

Reach Greg Sukiennik at gsukiennik@manchesterjournal.com or at 802-447-7567, ext. 119. 

Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.


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