Selectboard Meeting Minutes – Sept. 19, 2012

 NEWFANE SELECTBOARD
MEETING MINUTES
September 19, 2012 Video

Board Members Present: Jon Mack, Priscilla Cotton, Gloria Cristelli, Chris Druke

Absent:  Todd Lawley was absent due to illness.

Others Present:  Patricia Grace, Rich Melanson (BCTV), Christina Moore, Judith Perry, Meredith Perry, Matt Schreyer and Ted Schreyer

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Jon Mack, Chair.

MINUTES:

A motion was made by Priscilla Cotton, and it was seconded by Chris Druke to approve the minutes of the September 5, 2012 meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

ROAD BUSINESS:

Todd Lawley ‘s Road Foreman’s Report was read by Jon Mack.  Jon reported that the road signs have arrived, but came in with no posts. Report is attached.

The motion carried unanimously to accept the Road Foreman’s Report.

Public Works Expo:

Todd requested approval of the Selectboard to allow the road crew to attend the Expo in Fitchburg, MA on either September 26 or 27.  Gloria Cristelli made a motion and it was seconded by Priscilla Cotton, to allow the road crew to attend the Expo on either September 26 or 27, with the condition that someone be available to handle emergencies.  The motion passed unanimously.

Project Bids:

Stratton Hill Road – Slope Stabilization Project  Bid

Fitzpatrick Excavating – $43,000.00

Saluzny Excavating – $123,000.00

Jon reported that Todd Lawley suggested that we forward the Stratton Hill bids to John Alexander, of VTrans, for final approval on this bid because the State of Vermont is paying for this project.  A discussion ensued.  Chris Druke made a motion, and it was seconded by Priscilla Cotton, that Fitzpatrick Excavating bid be accepted as the lower of the two bids, as long as the bid is sent to John Alexander for final approval with the specs required.  The motion carried unanimously.  Pat Grace will send the two bids to John Alexander.

Winter Sand Bids

Cold River – $20.70 Unit Price

Zaluzny Excavating – $12.50 per cubic yard

Cersosimo Industries – $11.25 per cubic yard

Fitzpatrick Excavating – $10.00 per yard

Priscilla Cotton made a motion, and it was seconded by Gloria Cristelli, to accept the lowest bid, in contingent with Todd Lawley’s final approval.  The motion passed unanimously.

SCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC:

Judith Perry Property:  Meredith Perry requested that the Selectboard help her to determine where their property boundaries begin and the active road boundaries are.  She also wants to be able to protect their property from road traffic.  Ted Schreyer, a Newfane fence viewer, felt that this was not a fence issue but a road issue.  Jon Mack asked Ted where the owner’s property ends and where does the town’s right-of-way begin.  Ted stated that he told Meredith that 25 feet from the center of the road is the end of the town’s right-of-way.  A discussion ensued.

Jon will talk with Todd to come up with a practical solution to protect the property and enable the snowplow drivers to maintain the roads, with a possible site visit to the property before the next selectboard meeting.  Ted suggested that the property owner hire a surveyor to determine property lines.

FEMA Update:  Christina Moore reported that most of the large projects from Hurricane Irene have been billed to the state.  Jon asked how the payment comes in from the federal government and the state.  Christina stated that the payments are coming from the State Treasury and the final 10% is being withheld until closeout.  A discussion ensued.  Christina stated that payments should be coming into the town within the next six weeks for $1.2 million.

Alternate Project:  Jon asked Christina Moore to take on the check list for the alternate project.  Jon stated that the town has until October 5th to submit the application to the state.  Jon questioned whether or not Williamsville Hall was registered as a historical building.  Gloria will check on that to be sure.  Jon stated that the preliminary alternate project list has been sent into the state.

Single Audit:  Chris Druke asked Christina for information on single audits.  Christina reported that our options are full town audit or single scope audit. Chris stated that we have hired Sullivan and Powers to do our annual audit and the contract gives us single audit authority and we shouldn’t need to bid out for the audit.  We are under contract.  A discussion ensued.  Jon will discuss the single audit with Coleen Krauss, Financial Manager for the state.

NEW BUSINESS:

Trash/Town Ordinance Enforcement:  Gloria Cristelli drafted a letter to the property owner to inform her that she is in violation of our town junk ordinance.  Jon requested that the Town Ordinance be sent along with the letter.  A discussion ensued.

Cellular Coverage/VTel/Cell Tower:  Gloria reported that someone came into her office and told her that a 150 foot tower would be installed at the Sheriff’s Department.  Gloria stated that the Sheriff’s office is a historical building in a historical section of town.  Jon has also spoken with someone from VTel on a tower for the Sheriff’s Department.  Stephan Morse, of the State Commission, told Jon that he had not been successful in negotiating roaming issues with AT&T and Verizon.  Jon also reported that Coverage Co. pay be installing non-visible units on telephone pole on Dover Road and Route 30 in 2013.  Jon will be contacting Stephan Morse to get information on the state requirements for tower service for the Selectboard meeting on October 4th.

Newfane Conservation Commission:  A request was made from a member of the Conservation Commission to have the Selectboard lower the number of required members to five, instead of seven.  There are only five members currently listed on the 2013 list.

A motion was made by Priscilla Cotton, and seconded by Chris Druke, to reduce the amount of members on the Conservation Commission from seven to five members.  The motion passed unanimously.

Traffic Ordinance:  Gloria Cristelli report that the Traffic Ordinance was not updated nor was the Traffic Ordinance given to the town clerk for the town record book.  The amendment to the ordinance will be set up as a general section.  Gloria also reported that the Jake Brakes change was not made to a previous ordinance amendment.  A discussion ensued. Pat Grace will make the change and a copy will be given to the town clerk.

Reconciliations – Questions from Treasurer:  Jon stated that Maureen Albert-Piascik, Town Treasurer, inquired about a line item for Neil Pelsue to assist in the reconciliation.  It was decided that the line item for Neil should be listed as miscellaneous under budget expenses.  Chris Druke stated that Neil should be paid in accordance with what the tax payers have agreed to at the annual meeting.  A discussion ensued.  A motion was made by Priscilla Cotton, and seconded by Gloria Cristelli, to hire Neil Pelsue to do the checkbook statements and offer him $13.50 per hour and that we instruct the treasurer to take the money out of the line item of miscellaneous #21 of the general ledger.  The motion passed unanimously.

Rate Pay Increases:  Jon stated that the last Selectboard agreed to a 5% rate pay increases in both the town employees and town officers.  There was a separate increase for the listers and did not deal with some town employees on the road crew; it only applies to one part-time person.  Gloria Cristelli explained that a document was created for the pay increase to start at the new fiscal year, starting as of July 1 and the current selectboard would need to sign the new pay increases to take affect.  Jon stated that Todd Lawley would not be signing the document because he would have been included in the pay increase on the document.  A discussion ensued.  A motion was made by Chris Druke, and seconded by Priscilla Cotton, to add the part-time employee, to receive the same percentage increase as everyone else on the document for this current year.  The motion passed, with one abstaining.  Pat Grace will draw up a new document, that will include the part-time employee, and the selectboard will sign the new rate pay increase.

Board of Civil Authority: 

Gloria received a letter from Attorney Robin Stern, stating that they are appealing the decision of the Board of Civil Authority decision of Fieldstone Lodge with a check being included.  The town clerk delivered the notice and the decision and the site visit reports of the Board of Civil Authority to the Windham Superior Court.  Jon received a note from Doris Knechtel, Chairman of the Board of Listers, stating that an agreement to negotiate was determined.  A discussion ensued.

Jon suggested that an attorney should be hired to handle the matter.

Pat Grace will contact Fitts, Olson & Giddings to inquire if they would represent the town on this matter.

Newbrook Elementary 5K Race:   Caryl DeFelice requested approval to close a portion of the River Road and Brook Street from 9:45 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. on October 13th for the NewBrook Fit & Fun 5K Race.

A motion was made by Gloria Cristelli, and seconded by Priscilla Cotton, to approve the closing of the roads for the NewBrook event on October 13th with the stipulation that they notify the property owners and residents.  The motion passed unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS:

Alternate Project:  Jon stated that we have approximately $200,000.00 of town money and town approval is needed as to how the money should be spent, with approximately $450,000.00 to benefit the town.

Issues to determine are whether we should use the surplus to move the project forward.  It is clear, from the documentation from FEMA, that if our total matches to total funds of $455,000.00.  Jon urged the selectboard to determine the list and create a back up documentation of costs.  The decision needs to be submitted to the state by September 30th.  A discussion ensued.

A motion was made by Gloria Cristelli, and it was seconded by Priscilla Cotton, to go forward with the alternate project and to get a project worksheet ready by the end of September.  The motion passed unanimously.

Chris Druke made a motion, and it was seconded by Gloria, to set up a special town meeting for the purpose of informing the residence and taxpayers of Newfane, with regard to this project and request that they approve purchase of the Monroe property.  The motion passed unanimously.

The alternate project list was discussed.

A motion was made by Priscilla Cotton, and it was seconded by Gloria Cristelli, to change the list for the alternate projects as replacing the Mack for $217,000, purchasing gravel at $35,000, Town office renovations for $175,000, Williamsville Hall renovations for $45,000. The motion passed unanimously.

Priscilla will contact a general contractor to get quotes on the building renovations by September 28th.

Bond Bridge #14:  Gloria Cristelli reported that she, Pat Grace, and Maureen Albert-Piascik had a conference call with Bob Giroux, Executive Director for the bond application this week to go over the lengthy application form requirements.  We are working on completing it as soon as possible for submission.

CDBG Meeting:  Jon reported that he is pursuing this project.  Susan McMann will be sending someone out to look to see what can be done to be turned into green spaces.  Jon also stated that there is money available through Windham Regional for free trees.

Dover Road Construction Debris:  Jon reported that there is money available for debris removal from the CDBG.

Park & Ride Parking Lot:  A grant agreement application of $25,000.00 was sent to us for our signature by AOT.

Lister Application:  Gloria reported she has posted the notice on the Newfane website and bulletin board notices to fill the position.  Alane Perkins will be resigning from her position by September 28th.

CORRESPONDENCE:

Jon read the letter submitted by Nancy Rysz in response to our letter to her to remove the reflectors in the town’s right-of-way on Baker Brook Road.  Gloria will call Nancy to discuss the issue.

A letter of resignation has been submitted by Alane Perkins as a town lister.

Rescue Inc. sent an invitation letter for a meeting scheduled for September 26, 2012 at the Marlboro Technical Center in Brattleboro, VT.  The meeting will cover healthcare.

Gloria reported that a resident called her office to discuss a fence dispute with a neighbor.  Chris Druke requested that this issue should have been turned over to the administrative assistant to find out how this issue should proceed.

EXECUTIVE SESSION:

A motion was made by Gloria Cristelli and seconded by Priscilla Cotton to enter into Executive Session at 10:08 p.m.  The motion passed unanimously.

A motion to come out of executive session made by Chris Druke and seconded by Priscilla Cotton at 10:30 p.m.  The motion passed unanimously.

PAY ORDERS:

A motion was made by Gloria Cristelli, and it was seconded by Priscilla Cotton to approve the pay orders.  The motion passed unanimously.

Payroll                                                                                  Total Pay Orders:

$4,846.40 – September 10, 2012                                $585,182.89

$4,842.34 – September 17, 2012

ADJOURN:

A motion was made by Gloria Cristelli and seconded by Priscilla Cotton to adjourn.  The motion passed unanimously.  The meeting adjourned at 10:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Patricia Grace, Administrative Assistant

                                    September 19th 2012

                                    Road Foreman’s/Road Commissioner’s Report

1] Roads: The roads are in good shape right now. We have been grading and raking. The crew has been hauling crushed gravel on some of the roads. We have also been out with the backhoe cleaning culverts and ditches. We have been out before the rain storm last night (Sept. 18) and checked and cleaned culverts and man holes.

2] Equipment: The 06 sterling is at Tenco having some dump body work done on it. The new Mack is also at Tenco waiting to have the dump body, plow, and wing installed. I have talked to Nortrax about the bill on the grader they are looking into it so we will not pay that until we hear back from them.

The 09 sterling has been to Patriot truck service for some warranty work and had the computer reset.

3] Signs: The signs on our list for Dover Road and Depot Road have been ordered. They should be here soon.

4] FEMA bids: I have been working with Dan on getting bids out for the remainder of the flood work. He put a bid out for work on Adams Hill Road. Todd Brown got that bid. We will be doing a bid on Hunter Brook Road work next Monday.  We also have talked to Barry Calhoun about the river work that had been done with our projects. FEMA needed a statement from him saying that we had permits or had talked to him about the river work that had been done . He is going to email Dan with the list of work we did and a note that we did have permits from him to do the work.

5] Stratton Hill Road: The bids for Stratton Hill should be opened tonight and then copies of the bids need to be emailed to John Alexander for his review.

6] Winter sand bids:  We need to open winter sand bids tonight as well.

7] Road side mowing: The road side mowing is done. It looks ok but I think maybe we should check into renting a machine next year. Steve, John, and Mike all run tractors, haying in the summer. I think if we rent it for a month, we could get the grass and brush mowed back a lot further.

8] Public Works Expo: The New England Public Works Expo is September 26th and 27th in Fitchburg, Mass. I would like to have the crew go and see what new equipment is out there to use and maybe different ways of doing things. I am asking for the board’s approval to have the road crew go down on one of those days, as long as the weather is good.

Thank You

Todd Lawley/ Road Foreman

Christopher Williams/ Road Commissioner