Selectboard Meeting August 5, 2019

 

 TOWN OF NEWFANE  

SELECTBOARD MEETING

MINUTES August 5, 2019

 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:  Hendrik van Loon, Christopher Williams and Angela Sanborn.

Absent: Michael Fitzpatrick and Shelly Huber

OTHERS PRESENT:  Jay Wilson, Doris Knechtel, Ken McFadden, Joe Castellano, Michael Mayer, Ken Estey and Wannetta Powling.

CALL TO ORDER:

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Chair Hendrik van Loon.

MINUTES: 

A motion was made by Mr. Williams and seconded by Ms. Sanborn to accept the minutes for the

Selectboard’s July 15, 2019 Regular Meeting

The motion carried 3-0.

ROAD BUSINESS:

Road Foreman’s & Road Commissioner’s Report:

See attached report.

Mr. Williams made the motion to accept the proposal for under coating the fleet of highway trucks at the cost of $2230. This cost compares well with what the cost to have the crew do the work and would be better quality.  It was seconded by Ms. Sanborn

The motion carried 3-0.

It was asked of the Selectboard to award the Hunter Brook Job, The Chair reread the bids:

A.S Clark $24,800,   Fitzpatrick Excavating $ 9,800,   BELLCO $63,400, MT3 LLC $73,175    ,

A motion was made by Mr. Williams to award the Bid to A.S. Clark, Ms. Sanborn second the motion.

The motion carried 3-0.

 ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT’S REPORT:

See attached report.

A motion to accept the Administrative Assistant’s report was made by Mr. Williams and seconded by

Ms. Sanborn, The motion carried 3-0

SCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC:

 Joe Castellano from the state of VT Right of Way came to make a presentation regarding the upcoming work on the ARCH Bridge #12, to be started in May-October 2021.  It was a brief explanation of the Right of Way needed during construction and the detour, Grimes Hill to Route 30.

Mr. Williams made a motion to authorize the chair to accept and sign the purposed Easement, on behalf of the Board Ms. Sanborn Second the motion.

The motion carried 3-0

Mr. Mayer spoke about the Green Burial, having gathered signatures on a petition to change the town bylaws. Mr. van Loon and Mr. Fisher both explained to Mr. Mayer that both the request and the petition need to be presented to the Planning Commission.  The Selectboard would wait to hear from the Planning Commission on there decision.  Mr. Fisher agreed to work with the Planning Commission if they needed assistance.

 Ms. Knechtel had three Errors and Omissions: appraisal set by the State Appraiser in 2017& 2018 did not get carried over properly for 2019 on two of the properties and the third property was received during tax sale, and would be considered tax exempt.

Mr. Williams made a motion to certify the report, Ms. Sanborn second the motion.

The motion carried 3-0

 UNSCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC:

None

OLD BUSINESS:

South Newfane General Store, after speaking with Vermont State Troopers it was recommend that the Town of Newfane should send Lisa Murch a certified letter letting her know of the recent activities, in and around her property and to put her on notice that she could be held accountable for activities in her absence.  We would hope that she could have an agent secure the premises to avoid any dangerous activities.   Mr. William made a motion to postpone sending any mail until we had a confirmed address. Ms. Sanborn Seconded the motion.

The motion Passed 3-0

NEW BUSINESS:

None

CORRESPONDENCE:

A Letter from the newly appointed Sheriff Mark Anderson outlining his plan for serving the public,  it was suggested that we should invite Sheriff Anderson to come and speak directly to the board at an upcoming meeting.

Henriette Mantel sent an email asking for help with fixing the stone wall near the Cemetery on Newfane Hill Road as some rocks have fallen into the ditch. It was agreed that Jay would take a look to see it he and the Road crew could help do some of the repair.

 

 PAY ORDERS:

 

  • Payroll Warrant 11407 in the amount of  $4,292.83
  • Payroll Warrant 11408 in the amount of  $5,506.34
  • Payroll Warrant  11409 in the amount of  $6,207.43
  • Accounts Payable No. 20003 in the amount of $ 46,603.71

 

A motion was made by Ms. Sanborn and seconded Mr. Williams to approve the pay orders.

The motion Passed 3-0

 

ADJOURN:

A motion was made by Ms. Sanborn and seconded Mr. Williams to adjourn the meeting.

The motion Passed 3-0

Meeting Adjourned at 7:00 pm

 Respectfully Submitted,

Wannetta Powling

 

ROAD FOREMAN’S AND ROAD COMMISSIONER’S REPORT

August 5, 2019

The lower section of Sunset Lake Rd. ditching and culvert replacement has been completed.

  1. The narrow cement culvert on Sunset Lake Rd. has been extended by Renaud Bros. and that culvert has been completed.
  2. We were awarded other Grants in Aid grant for $22,820 for ditching and culverts, I have a meeting this week with Emily from WRC to figure out the highest priority road to work on.
  3. We have received the Monroe Bridge signed structure grant agreement. We will be working towards getting that out to bid.
  4. The Road Erosion Inventory is covering 700 hydrologically connected segments they have complete 300 at this point. (That is 43 miles of road that are included and they have finished 18 ½ miles).
  5. The roadside mowing is awaiting a part after a breakdown.
  6. We have a proposal to undercoat all the trucks.
  7. Underground fuel tanks passed the corrosion testing.
  8. The Hunter Brook Rd. bid still needs to be awarded.
  9. The Traffic study is almost complete; they will need to redo Newfane Village. Once completed WRC will send us a recap of all the data.

 

Thank You,

Jay Wilson Road Foreman

Christopher Williams Road Commissioner

 

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT’S REPORT

August 5, 2019

  • Jay and I met with Jason Borne and Michael Lapointe from Natural Resources Conservation Service on July 22nd at #65 Baker Brook Road, regarding the repairs funded by the Emergency Watershed Projection. There was good communications between all parties. In order to better understand the hydraulics that models the water surface profile of a channel. There was a 2 Person Crew out last week doing field tests of how the rock installed in 2011 is affecting the water surface of the stream. I have not gotten any reports back yet. And it was stated at the visit that in all likely hood nothing would be physically done to the site until next spring or early summer. Because of the timing of the year, and need to do the research and study the original plans.
  • I did a Follow up with Sarah Morrissey at Green Lantern regarding the Lease Payment for Browns Road Solar; we should be getting that very shortly.
  • There is a meeting scheduled for Thursday afternoon @ 1:30 pm with David Cotton, to proceed with floor plans for the 3 office spaces, it is round table style with Merle, Melissa, Carol, Doris, Myself and any Board member that would like to attend.

Respectfully,

Wannetta Powling