Selectboard Meeting Minutes – May 17, 2012

TOWN OF NEWFANE
SELECTBOARD MEETING
MAY 17, 2012

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Jon Mack, Gloria Cristelli, Priscilla Cotton, Chris Druke, Todd Lawley
OTHERS PRESENT: Gunther Garbe, Kelsang Jamkar, Keith Clark, Jessica Horton, Brian Siano, Fred Cheney, Marshall Glickman, Chris Triebert, Carol Ross, Shannon Meckle
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Jon Mack, Chair.
MINUTES
There were no minutes to approve.
ROAD BUSINESS
Todd Lawley gave the Road Foreman’s Report. Report is attached.
A motion was made by Gloria Cristelli to accept the Road Foreman’s Report. The motion was seconded by Priscilla Cotton. The motion carried unanimously.
A motion was made by Chris Druke and seconded by Priscilla Cotton to accept the offer of $600.00 for sale of the old York rake. Discussion ensued regarding what line item the income would go back into. The motion carried unanimously.
A motion was made by Chris Druke and seconded by Priscilla Cotton to ask the Treasurer to put the income back into the York Rake to defray cost of purchasing a new one, if that’s an option. The motion carried unanimously. Shannon will coordinate with Maureen.
As there was no objection, the board moved “Paving Bids” to this point in the agenda.
Gloria Cristelli made a motion to extend the bid period to 8:00 a.m. Friday, May 18, in order to check the mailbox. Priscilla Cotton seconded the motion. This is due to concerns that there may be a bid in the post office box, which is inaccessible. Any bid in the box will be picked up as soon as the post office opens in the morning and accepted.
Gloria Cristelli made a motion to authorize Todd to accept Lane Construction’s bid, if there are no other bids in the post office box. The motion was seconded by Priscilla Cotton. Upon discussion, Gloria Cristelli withdrew her motion. Priscilla Cotton withdrew her second.
A new motion was made by Gloria Cristelli and seconded by Priscilla Cotton to accept Lane’s bid if there are no other bidders. In the event a lower bid is received, the board authorizes Todd to select the low bidder as long as they are a company in good standing. The motion carried unanimously.
Lynch Bridge Alternative Project: Gloria Cristelli presented a “wish list” to the board. Items on this wish list would be purchased with the funds saved from not purchasing a new bridge on Lynch Bridge Road. Gloria went into detail on the non-highway portion of the list.
Discussion ensued. The Selectboard scheduled a special meeting to discuss this further. Priscilla noted that Cotton Design is not recommending that the building be replaced.
Chris Druke made a motion to hold a special meeting on May 31, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. for the purpose of going through the “wish list.” The motion was seconded by Todd Lawley. The motion carried unanimously.
Roadside Mowing: One bid was received from Bruce Orchitt for $6,665.00. Priscilla Cotton made a motion to authorize Todd Lawley to choose the low bidder on Roadside Mowing. Gloria Cristelli seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. Discussion ensued regarding the bid received.
Hunter Brook Permanent Bridge Design: Three bids were received for the design of the Hunter Brook Permanent Bridge. They were opened and have been available for board review. J. Mack read the bid results as follows:
Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.: $48,727.00
Southern Vermont Engineering: $33,225.00
MacFarland-Johnson: $88,900.00

Chris Druke made a motion to accept Southern Vermont Engineering’s bid for the design of the Hunter Brook Permanent Bridge at a price of $33,225.00. The motion was seconded by Priscilla Cotton. The motion carried unanimously. Shannon will inform the bidders.

SCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC:
Keith Clark of the Windham County Sheriff’s Department was present to discuss a possible contract for the coming fiscal year. He discussed with the board a new contract method, which would allow the Sheriff’s Department to respond to other calls beyond traffic enforcement.
Discussion ensued.
Kraig Laporte of the Vermont State Police was present via speaker phone to discuss contracting. He answered questions. He will present further information via email. He noted that he’s enjoyed working with the Town of Newfane, as he’ll be transferring to another barracks, soon.
Marshall Glickman, Collector of Delinquent Taxes, was present to speak to the board regarding exceptions to penalty rules. He noted that it’s very difficult to make a decision on waiving interest and penalties, based on different reasons. He requested that the board make decisions to waive or not waive penalties, when requests come in.
Discussion ensued.
The board discussed whether they were comfortable with the situation or not. The board was split in their opinions. Marshall will draw up a proposed set of rules and present it to the board.
Dover Road: The agenda was amended to allow Chris Triebert and Carol Ross to speak about the possibility of a Dover Road Parade, as a way of raising money for the South Newfane/Williamsville Fire Department. This would be held on the last Sunday of August, August 26, (near the anniversary of Tropical Storm Irene.) They would go from the Village of South Newfane to the Village of Williamsville.
A motion was made by Gloria Cristelli to allow the Rock River Revival Committee to hold a parade on the Dover Road on August 26, 2012 beginning at 12:00 noon, with the understanding that alternate routes and traffic plan will need to be presented. The motion was seconded by Priscilla Cotton. Discussion ensued regarding traffic enforcement, etc. The motion carried unanimously.
NEW BUSINESS:
Personnel Policy: The board reviewed the Personnel Policy and was not prepared to make any changes at this time. Discussion ensued regarding elimination of positions, and whether it violates any state laws, or policies. Discussion also ensued regarding supervision of positions with no direct supervision.
Bidding Policy: The Bidding Policy will be reviewed at the next meeting.

Planning Commission Meeting: J. Mack reported that Windham Regional Commission will be meeting with the Planning Commission soon, and the board discussed whether they should attend as a board, or authorize a board member to attend. Shannon will warn the meeting.

Jon Mack announced a meeting to be held at the Latchis regarding Federal Funds. The state is requesting these funds from the federal government, which would allow extra dollars to come to Newfane in relation to the buyouts on Dover Road.

The board had a three minute break and reconvened at 9:04 p.m.

OLD BUSINESS:

Hazard Mitigation Grant Program: There was no update.

Rock River Shack: Shannon reported that a letter was sent via Certified Mail, and the receipt was signed. No response has been received to date.

Wage/Benefit Comparison: Priscilla and Chris gave an update on their work. They will keep the board informed.

Emergency Watershed Protection: Gloria reported that one property owner has dropped from the program. Work cannot begin in the river until July 1.

CORRESPONDENCE:

A letter was received from Andy Harkness regarding work still not complete on Deer Hill Road. Discussion ensued. Todd Lawley will follow up.

A letter was received from Maureen Albert-Piascik, accepting Board’s proposal for easement. Discussion ensued regarding clarification Maureen requested. The board agreed that all affected property would be cleaned up. Shannon will draft the appropriate response.

Copy of Zoning Permit: A zoning permit was granted for a fence, which was in the town right of way. Shannon will draft a letter to the homeowner informing them that the town will not be responsible for damage done to the fence.

Windham Solid Waste Management Bill: Discussion ensued. The board chose to pay the bill and put it under Windham Solid Waste Management, even if it puts it over budget.

EXECUTIVE SESSION: A motion was made by Gloria Cristelli and seconded by Chris Druke to enter into Executive Session at 9:29 p.m. The motion carried unanimously. Shannon Meckle, Administrative Assistant was invited to attend the session.

A motion was made by Gloria Cristelli and seconded by Priscilla Cotton to authorize Chris Druke and Shannon Meckle to draft a letter regarding the Personnel issue. The motion carried unanimously.

A motion was made by Priscilla Cotton and seconded by Gloria Cristelli to submit an offer to the Lynch Bridge property owner. The motion carried with four in favor. Chris Druke recused herself.

Shannon requested that the Selectboard review a letter she drafted thanking Dan Hull for his work. The board reviewed the letter and authorized Jon Mack to sign as chair.

PAY ORDERS:
A motion was made by Gloria Cristelli to approve Pay Orders. The motion was seconded by Priscilla Cotton. The motion carried unanimously.

ADJOURN:
A motion was made by Chris Druke to adjourn at 10:10 p.m. The motion was seconded by Gloria Cristelli. The motion carried unanimously.

Respectfully Submitted,
Shannon Meckle

May 17th 2012
Road Foreman’s/Road Commissioner’s Report

1] Roads; The roads need grading with all the rain we have had lately. We are out grading now to get caught up. We have been hauling quite a bit of gravel on Baker Brook rd for FEMA work trying to get the FEMA Work done. The covered bridge signs and reflectors on Dover have been put up and a number of 911 signs on Dover have been straightened up. That was done as Federal highway work for Dover road.
2] Equipment; Nortrax was down and worked on the grader. It had several things wrong with it. Cat was down to replace the hydraulic packing’s on a stabilizer on the back hoe. It is still leaking which means we will have to replace the piston in the stabilizer. All the trucks have had the plow frames taken off for the summer and the 07 F350 has had the studded snow tires changed to summer tires. The 06 sterling has been to DJ’S truck service for a VSI. And several trucks have had an oil change.
3] Flood work ; we are almost done with Baker Brook we have a day or two left hauling gravel then it will be done. FEMA will pay for 750 ft of band rail on Penner Road. Otherwise, that road is done.
Hickey Road bridge and river work still needs to be done and Dan is working on that. Bridge #45 second bridge up on Hunter Brook road may not be covered under FEMA money as they are not convinced that the damage to the bridge was caused by Irene. I have had several email conversations with Pam Thurber from VTRANS about the bridge and I have asked that they send an inspector down to look at it. She has talked to the inspector who looked at it after Irene when all the trees were on it and he did not think there was any damage to the deck. I don’t think he saw the big week spot on the deck. He did say that there was a beam that had a bow in it and the rail system was in need of replacement but not the deck.
4] I did talk to Marcos Miller from VTRANS about looking at the signs on Depot and Dover rd. I told him about the concern with the speed limit going from 45 to 25 mph in South Newfane he said he will look at that as well. He did say that Depot rd and Dover rd. are federal connecting highways and VTRANS keeps a sign inventory on film so he should be able to see what signs are missing since the flood. I will meet with him on Wed. 23rd at 9am.
5] John Snow is still out at this time. I should be hearing something from him soon.
6] Radio grant; I talked to our radio repair shop about the narrow band radio grants. We are on low band and low band does not have to go to narrow band. They said even if we had to go to narrow band it would be very expensive even if we got the grant because we would have to have all the radios switched and have to pay the labor to have all new radios installed.
7] Green up Day: We picked up approx 107 bags of trash, 27 tires, and assorted metal. It took all day to pick it up then go to the Windham solid waste and unload it again.
8] I have met again with Andy Harkness but still have not got together with Mike Fitzpatrick. Andy is getting up set that Mike has not done the work yet. I will call him again but if that does not work I don’t know what to do at this point. Mike has told me that he is going to get it done.

Thank You
Todd Lawley/Road Foreman
Christopher Williams/Road Commissioner