| Any and
all corrections to the following minutes will be made at the 03/18/04
Board of Selectmen's meeting and are considered unapproved until then.
Corrections will be noted in the minutes of that meeting.
MINUTES -
REGULAR MEETING - BOARD OF SELECTMEN
FEBRUARY 19th, 2004
NEWFANE TOWN OFFICE
PRESENT:
Selectmen: Piet van Loon, Priscilla Cotton, Gary Katz, Michael Rohan,
and Christopher Williams.
Also Present: Roger Whitcomb and Tom Lackey of VTrans, Kurt Bostrom, Road
Foreman and Doris Knechtel as Administrative Assistant.
1. CALL TO ORDER
The regular meeting was called to order by Chairman van Loon at 6:30 p.m.
Board members welcomed Mike Rohan who will be serving until March Town
Meeting.
2. ROAD BUSINESS
A. ROAD COMMISSIONER'S REPORT - (See attached report)
(1) Item #3. B. - G. Katz reported that the landowner on Bensch Road (TH#13)
is okay with the proposed improvements to the turn-around.
(2) Item # 1. - The removal of roadside trees is coming along well. K.
Shrader is a pro and a valuable asset to the town for tree work that is
needed. Newfane borrowed a chipper from Dover for the tree removal process.
(3) Item #4. - The Board members support the idea of the weekly monthly
meetings of area Road Foreman in Dummerston.
(4) Item #2. - It was mentioned by C. Williams that there are some lines
buried in conduit in the area of the Scott Heller/David King residence
on Upper Spring Hill Road (TH#23).
(5) Item #6. - Motion was made by G. Katz and seconded by P. Cotton to
approve and sign the Petition and Order for Pole and Wire Locations on
Newfane Hill Road (TH#20) near Lane Drive. Unanimous.
(6) Motion was made by G. Katz and seconded by P. Cotton to approve of
Kurt Bostrom's attendance on the Management of Local Road System course.
Unanimous.
B. ROAD FOREMAN'S REPORT - (See attached report)
(1) K. Bostrom commented about K. Shrader being an asset to the town,
especially in the area of tree removal.
(2) Item #2. - Sand Screen - Motion was made by G. Katz and seconded by
P. Cotton to approve of the purchase of some steel in the amount not to
exceed $1,600 to complete the sand screen project. Unanimous.
(3) Item #5. - K. Bostrom and P. Jones went to Grafton to try out their
John Deere Loader. Both of them liked the way it handled. They are going
to Putney to try our the brand that they have there sometime in the near
future.
(4) Item #6. - Vermont Local Roads Workshops - Two workshops are coming
up that will be beneficial for some of the employees to attend, Work Zones
and Flagging and Overview of the Air Brake Systems. Motion was made by
G. Katz and seconded by P. Cotton to approve of sending employees to the
Work Zones and Flagging workshop on April 1st in Manchester at the rate
of $10.00/person. Unanimous.
Motion was made by G. Katz and seconded by C. Williams to approve of K.
Shrader's attendance at the workshop on Overview of the Air Brake Systems
on March 24th in Hartford, VT for the amount of $25.00. Unanimous.
(5) Item #7. - The Class II Town Highway Structures Grant should be prepared
and sent in. The stone arch bridge by Newell's on Dover Road should be
replaced with a culvert. An hydraulic study is in the works.
2. C. EXCESS WEIGHT PERMITS
No excess weight limit permits were presented to the Board for action.
2. D. ACCESS/RIGHT OF WAY PERMITS
No Access/Right of Way permits were presented to the Board for action.
2. E. ENGINEER - SOUTH WARDSBORO ROAD (TH#1) PROJECT
K. Brostrom indicated that the plans for the project seem more complicated
than it should be. The plans call for another pole to be moved. There
needs to be an agreement with the landowners for slope rights. M. Rohan
asked about whatever happened to the proposal to shave off a few feet
and remove about four trees? The Board will look at this project and make
a decision on the project at the second meeting in March.
2. F. OTHER ROAD BUSINESS
(1) K. Bostrom asked about the possibility of stockpiling some quarry
material to have on hand from the Cersosimo River Road Pit in Chesterfield
for $10/yard delivered. C. Williams knows of the supply material that
K. Bostrom is talking about and he doesn't recommend getting the material
from that pit as it doesn't pack.
3. SCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
A. ROGER WHITCOMB - VTRANS - BRIDGE #14 - SOUTH NEWFANE
Roger Whitcomb, VTrans Project Manager and Tom Lackey, VTrans Engineer,
were present to review and discuss with the Selectboard the proposed plans
for the reconstruction of Bridge #14 in South Newfane. The current pier
on the bridge has scour potential which is the reason for reconstruction
of the bridge. There will be a new alignment of the bridge toward the
northerly side of the road by a few feet. The property owners affected
on that side are F. Lawrence and P. Lilienthal. The plans call for a temporary
bridge on the northerly side to be used during the construction of the
new bridge. The realignment will improve the turning radius onto Auger
Hole Road. (TH#5) The bridge will be four feet wider. No sidewalk is included
in the reconstruction plans. On the South Newfane Store side there will
be more room for patrons to enter and exit the parking area without backing
out into traffic. There is a septic pipe that crosses the bridge to the
Brown's property. The cost to put the pipe on the new bridge will be the
responsibility of the property owners. It is not expected that the bridge
will be built until 2007, which is the same year for that the covered
bridge rehabilitation is scheduled.
Motion was by G. Katz and seconded by P. Cotton that the Board will send
a letter to Roger Whitcomb to indicate that the preference of the Board
is for Alternate C1 plan for the reconstruction of Bridge #14 on Dover
Road (TH#2) in South Newfane. Unanimous.
The state will meet with the individual involved property owners to review
the plans and to discuss the various aspects of the bridge construction
and how it will effect each parcel. New trees may need to be planted in
some areas. The town may also meet with the property owners to review
the plans with them. R. Whitcomb and T. Lackey were thanked for attending
the meeting.
3. B. OPENING OF BIDS - CULHANE CORNER
The following bids were received for the design and construction of a
retaining wall on Dover Road (TH#2) known as Culhane Corner.
DuBois & King,
Inc. Letter received that they would not be submitting a bid.
Nasirvik, Inc. $64,500 4 weeks to complete
Holombo Construction $41,460 Flagging included
SVE Associates $40,500 Engineering only; town to do traffic control
4. UNSCHEDULED MEMBERS
OF THE PUBLIC
No one was present that wished to discuss any matters with the Selectboard.
5. OLD BUSINESS
A. ACCESS/RIGHT OF WAY POLICY DISCUSSION
The Board members discussed the updated changes to the Access/Right of
Way Policy, in particular, the permit fee amount. The application fee
reads A the fee of $25.00 for all temporary logging access permit requests
and $50.00 for new permanent requests. The application fee shall be $100.00
for any work that has commenced on an access before a permit is issued@.
Motion was made by G. Katz and seconded by C. Williams to approve and
sign the Newfane Policy on Highway Access and Work in Right of Way as
presented. Discussion: Some felt that the fee was too harsh. It was considered
that the Board could waive the fee for special circumstances. The fee
helps to cover the cost of having the Road Commissioner and Road Foreman
inspect the property before and after the installation of the access or
the work within the right of way. The application will need to be revised
to include a fee section. Vote on the motion. Unanimous.
B. DOG ORDINANCE
The Dog Ordinance has not been revised as yet for the Board to review.
C. PERSONNEL POLICY
No updates to the Personnel Policy have been made for the Board's review.
6. NEW BUSINESS
A. APPOINTMENTS
No appointments need to be made at this time.
B. SCHEDULE MEETINGS WITH BOARDS, TOWNS AND AGENCIES
The Board will begin a new schedule of meetings with various town Boards,
Agencies and surrounding communities after Town Meeting.
C. TOWN MEETING INFORMATION
Board members were given a packet of information regarding the articles
to be voted on at the Town Meeting. The information pertaining to the
articles to be covered by the Selectboard were discussed. G. Katz will
be the main spokesperson for the Board. Articles 19, 20 and 21 concern
the town's working Capital Budget. Information was provided for an amendment
to Article 22, the Town and Operational budget amount if Article 3, dealing
with increases for the Town Clerk and Treasurer, Article 11 for Windham
County Reads and Article 12 for the South Newfane Schoolhouse, are approved.
6. D. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
G. Katz wished to express his thanks to the Board members for their cooperation
and energy during this past year. It was a good working Selectboard.
7. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT'S REPORT - (See attached
report)
None of the items required any action by the Board.
8. MINUTES
Minutes of 02/09/04 - Motion was made by C. Williams and seconded by P.
Cotton to approve the minutes of the 02/09/04 meeting, as written. Unanimous.
No quorum was present at the meeting of 02/09/04.
9. CORRESPONDENCE - (cont.)
A. The Vermont League of Cities and Towns will be conducting a ALets Communicate
Tour@ as an educational initiative to raise awareness of the programs
and services available to the VLCT members. The closest one to Newfane
will be in Dover on April 8th at 9:00 a.m.
10. PAY ORDERS
Motion was made by P. Cotton and seconded by G. Katz to approve the Newfane
Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrants for the following amounts:
02/07/04 Payroll $ 4,876.16
02/14/04 Payroll $ 4,123.97
02/17/04 Acct.'s Payable #17 $ 551.87
02/20/04 Acct.'s Payable #18 $ 8,731.87 Unanimous.
IRS Electronic Federal Payroll Tax Payments
02/11/04 $ 1,264.91
02/18/04 $ 2,026.58
11. EXECUTIVE SESSION
No matters came before the Selectboard that required Executive Session.
12. ADJOURNMENT
Motion was made by C. Williams and seconded by M. Rohan to adjourn the
Regular Meeting of the Board at 9:44 p.m. Unanimous.
Doris A. Knechtel
Administrative Assistant
Newfane Board of Selectmen
Posted: Town Clerk's
Office, Newfane Store, Williamsville General Store, and South Newfane
General Store & Deli.
www.newfanevt.com
ROAD
COMMISSIONER'S REPORT - 02/19/04
1. Roadside Trees
The Road Crew has begun removing roadside trees in accordance with the
agreements among property owners, the Tree Warden, and the Selectboard.
About a of the trees have been worked on so far.
2. Upper Spring Hill Road
Kurt and I met with Scott Heller about drainage concerns on Upper Spring
Hill Road and discussed some practical possibilities for improvements.
Kurt will review the road in the Spring and develop specific approaches.
In the meantime, we will need written agreements from potentially affected
property owners concerning water that would be directed into their land
as a result of drainage, ditching, and culvert improvements.
3. Improved Turn-Arounds
A. Kurt suggests improving the turn-arounds for Town plow trucks at both
ends of New Road. All work would be done within the Town Right-of-Way.
Kurt will check with affected property owners. I agree with his suggestions.
B. In addition, Bob and Lois Barnard have offered to allow the Town trucks
to use a turn-around on their property at the end of Bensch Road. This
is consistent with an interest the Road Crew has discussed.
4. Monthly Road Foreman Meetings
Wayne Emery, the Dummerston Road Foreman, has suggested regular monthly
meetings of the Road Foreman of surrounding towns. The sessions would
serve to as a forum to discuss common issues, concerns, and ideas, and
exchange information. The plan would also be to import Vermont Local Roads
and other courses to be put on for the road crews locally. I agree with
Kurt that this is an excellent idea that we should support with our active
participation.
5. Class 2 Roadway Grants
Kurt will call Floyd Roberts and think about and discuss possibilities
for Class 2 Roadway grants for the Town.
6. Verizon Request
Kurt has done the site visit related to the Verizon request about poles
on Newfane Hill Road at Lane Drive. No problem. We recommend approval
of the request.
7. Other Items
A. Kurt has spoken with Paul Gould and confirmed that it is okay to wash
vehicles in the Town Garage as long as there are no floor drains.
B. Kurt will be prepared to discuss at the Selectboard Meeting his ideas
about a wing for the Loader and the possible purchase and use of equipment
other than the Caterpillar brand.
C. He has also begun to focus on training course needs for the crew, including
the legally required work zone and flagging training (requiring recertification
every two years).
Gary Katz, Road Commissioner
ROAD FOREMAN'S REPORT 02/19/04
TOWN OF NEWFANE HIGHWAY
1. Many trees have
been removed from Newfane Hill Road (TH#20), Timson Hill Road (TH#41),
Baker Brook Road (TH#19) and Chapin Road (TH#39).
2. Sand screen or
Grizzly has been started with free material but we need to buy some steel
to finish the project.
3. Once a month there
will be a meeting of the local Road Foreman's to have a tech talk and
meet with the State's District Rider.
4. Gary and I meet
with Mr. Keller about his problem on Upper Spring Hill (TH#23).
5. Paul Jones and
I went to Grafton and met with John Gregory (Road Foreman). We used his
loader (John Deere) and we both agreed it would be a huge asset to have
a machine as such.
6. Vermont Local Roads
is putting on a class on Work Zones and Flagging and Overview of Air Brakes.
7. Class II Grant
- The State said to apply for the culvert replacement on Dover Road (TH#2)
and maybe we might receive one.
Kurt P. Bostrom, Road
Foreman
To:
Newfane Selectboard MEMORANDUM
From: Doris A. Knechtel
Subject: Administrative Assistant's Report
Date: February 19, 2004
1. Gary and I went
to the Local Government Day in Montpelier on February 11th. It was a very
worthwhile day. Quite interesting to see how the state government is supposed
to work.
2. The Town Reports
(729) were mailed on Tuesday to registered voters, one per household.
The Newfane PO returned about 80 of them as undeliverable. Some have moved
and items mailed bulk rate cannot be forwarded. I found four in the trash
at the South Newfane/Williamsville PO. I need to think of another way
to get them to the legal voters without having so many returned. The current
law requires that the reports Abe mailed or otherwise distributed to the
legal voters of the town at least ten days before the annual meeting.@
(See attached)
3. I have distributed
to the Board the information on the Articles for discussion by the School
and Selectboard for Town Meeting. (Agenda Item 6.C.) |
