Any and all corrections to the following minutes will be made at the 07/06/00 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

JUNE 15th, 2000 NEWFANE TOWN OFFICE

PRESENT:
Selectmen: Michael Rohan, Jesse Anderson, Lynn Bedell, Richard Dowley and Carter Van Iderstine.
Also Present: Edward Druke, June Williams, Greg Andrews, Lee Anne Nopper of Williamsville Hall Committee, James O. Gray, Road Foreman, and Doris Knechtel, Administrative Assistant.

1. CALL TO ORDER
Chairman M. Rohan called the Regular Meeting of the Board to order at 7:02 p.m.

2. SCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

A. OPENING OF BIDS - ROADSIDE MOWING
One bids was received for the mowing of the roadsides throughout Newfane. Don Elliott's bid for $2,825 includes the roadsides, town office field and landfill. Motion was made by R. Dowley and seconded by J. Anderson to award the bid for the mowing of the roadsides to Don Elliott for the amount of $2,825. Unanimous.

B. OPENING OF BIDS - CUTTING OF LARGE WHITE PINES
The following bids were received for the cutting of the two large white pine trees.

	Alternate #1	Alternate #1 Alternate #2
	Cut Trees, Chip branches	Cut trees, Chip and Remove trees
Bartlett Tree Experts	$7,000	$9,200
D & E Tree Company, Inc	$2,100
Keene Tree Service	$4,500	$6,000
Mayotte's Tree Service	$3,000	3,400
Turner & Renaud, Inc.	$2,315	$2,815
Vinton Tree Company	$3,925	$4,820

After reviewing and double checking the bids submitted, motion was made by C. Van Iderstine and seconded by R. Dowley to award the bid for the cutting and removal of the two large pine trees at the corner of West Street (TH#1) and Cross Street (TH#14) to D & E Tree Company, Inc. for the total cost of $2,100. Unanimous.

3. UNSCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
E. Druke was present to review with the Board some of the discussion held during the Village Enhancement Committee meetings. Some of the time is being spent on ways to slow down traffic by means of rumble strips, not maintaining the road, and speed bumps. The town would lose their state aid for the road if it is not maintained properly. Enforcement is the key to slowing down traffic. M. Rohan will contact the Windham County Sheriff's Department. The committee has planted some trees recently in South Newfane.

4. ROAD BUSINESS
A. ROAD COMMISSIONER'S REPORT - (See attached report) No action required.

B. ROAD FOREMAN'S REPORT - (See attached report)
(1) Item #4 - J. Gray reported that the Benedetto situation has not improved. J. Anderson went to the site and found that there are materials crowding the town right of way. Mr. Benedetto needs to remove materials from the town right of way so as not to interfere with the maintenance of the highway. Items are also encroaching on the stream bed which could interfere with the bridge should high water result at any time. A letter was written to which the Benedetto's indicated that they will be removing the items in question. (06/05) M. Rohan will contact the Windham County Sheriff's Department.

C. EXCESS WEIGHT PERMITS
No excess weight vehicle permits were presented that required any action by the Board.

D. ACCESS/RIGHT OF WAY PERMITS
No Access/Right of Way permits were presented that required any action by the Board.

F. OTHER ROAD BUSINESS
(1) L. Bedell had a conversation with Gorty Baldwin regarding an abutting property owner who wants to exercise the use of a right of way through the Four Columns property to gain additional access to his property off of Brookside Lane. This matter is outside of the towns jurisdiction, except for any access, if needed, onto a town road.
(2) Harland Van Ness called and spoke with the AA and some Board members about a drainage problem associated with his property and the C. LaRose property. J. Gray indicated that about 16 years ago a culvert was installed in front of the LaRose garage which created a sediment area outside of the town right of way. The drainage used to be behind the garage. At the time of the culvert installation, all parties agreed to the change. The outlet end of the culvert is outside of the town right of way & should be cleaned by the owners. Last year J. Gray dug out the culvert by hand.
The installation of a swale within the town right of way may work. J. Anderson and R. Dowley have looked at the area of discussion on Jones Road (TH#52).
(3) M. Rohan received a call from George Paquette who owns property on Station Road (TH#66) asking that there be additional "No Parking" signs installed on the road to keep people from parking on the road at all hours of the night and day. Motion was made by L. Bedell and seconded J. Anderson to have the highway department install two or more "No Parking Tow-Away" signs on Station Road (TH#66). Unanimous.

C. Van Iderstine had to leave the meeting at 8:40 p.m.

(4) J. Gray has reviewed the Brookline/Newfane (BR#19) conceptual plans and questioned why the walkway was located on the upstream side of the bridge rather than on the downstream side, as the pull off area is on the lower side. M. Rohan indicated that in his conversations with C. Ballou, the reason is that the northern side is shorter and it also has something to do with the abutment. J. Gray also questioned who would be cleaning the walkway grate in the winter and how horses will be accommodated. Motion was made by J. Anderson and seconded by L. Bedell to approve of the conceptual plans and to send a letter inquiring about the accommodation for horses crossing. Unanimous.
(5) The River Road (TH#15) project has been completed, including the band rail installed by F.R. Lafayette. The total cost of the project is expected to be between $35,000 - $37,000.
(6) Wm. Noyes did indicate at a recent meeting on River Road (TH#15) on 05/09 that he would prepare plans for the intersection of River Road (TH#15) with Radway Hill Road (TH#4). A letter will be written to him to ask that he prepare the plans at his earliest convenience.
(7) The conceptual plans for the new-covered bridge (CB#17) have been received from Roger Whitcomb, VAOT Project Engineer. He has agreed to meet with the Board and interested parties on Thursday, July 6th beginning at 6:30 p.m. The town will warn the meeting and notify all interested parties.
(8) Now that the utility poles are being moved back on South Wardsboro Road (TH#1) near the former August (Anderson) property, the town should move ahead with cutting the corner back with the grader and removing the trees involved. The property owners involved will be contacted before the process begins.

5. OLD BUSINESS
A. APPOINTMENT - CONSERVATION COMMISSION - (2003) - No action taken.

B. APPOINTMENT - PLANNING COMMISSION (1) - Term until 2003 - No action was taken.

C. APPOINTMENT - VCDP - LOAN REVIEW COMMITTEE
The VCDP Loan Review Committee needs another member to replace R. Hesse who moved out of Newfane. Motion was made by L. Bedell and seconded by R. Dowley to contact Carleton "Red" Chaffee to see if he is interested in serving to assist in representing Newfane along with current members, Sandra Dowley and Fred Jenness, on the Loan Review Committee. Unanimous. There are three members from Dummerston on the committee. The group has just recently become more active.

D. WILLIAMSVILLE HALL UPDATE
Lee Anne Nopper was present to review with the Board the recent meeting of the Williamsville Hall Committee and to check on the progress of the electrical and plumbing improvements to the hall. G. Andrews went to Stan's in Westmoreland to check on the price of a used three-bay sink, which he found to be between $600 - $900. When DAK called, they quoted a somewhat lower price. Motion was made by L. Bedell and seconded by R. Dowley for the purchase a used three-bay SS sink from Stan's in Westmoreland for between $400 - $600. Unanimous. The town highway crew can assist in the transportation and delivery.
M. Rohan explained the areas of electrical upgrade to the hall to be done by Art Campbell, who expects to start this next week. (6/19) M. Rohan has also tried to contact someone to get a proposal for replacing the front steps and sidewalk leading to the hall, but has been unsuccessful thus far. A couple of names were suggested that he might contact.
G. Andrews would like to hold an auction at the Williamsville Hall on July 22nd in conjunction with the Rock River Art Walk. He would like to sell his own items as well as the items set aside from the hall. He would need the hall for two days before the auction to set up and one day after the auction to clean up. He would like to have the fee waived for the extra days in consideration of the funds raised from the sale of the hall items. The committee will also be having a food concession during that time. There was a lot of discussion about where the funds raised from the auction and from the food concession would go and how they are to be spent.
An estimate will be obtained by M. Fassler of the Williamsville Hall Committee for the painting of the inside of the hall, particularly the kitchen and dining areas.

E. COPIER COMPARISONS
DAK prepared another comparison of the purchase of a new copier after receiving additional information for Toshiba and from questions asked of the company representatives. After review of the information and some discussion, motion was made by J. Anderson and seconded by L. Bedell to purchase a new Canon imageRunner 330 from SymQuest for the total purchase price of $6,515.35, including the trade-in of the current Selex-2580 copier. Unanimous.

F. MILLER V. TOWN OF NEWFANE
The Board has received a letter from Ted Schreyer, chairman of the Listers, that indicates that the Listers do not agree with the agreement reached between the attorneys for the Millers and for the Town of Newfane regarding the Vermont Supreme Court Case filed by the Millers. The Board has also received the original and three copies each of a Stipulation to dismiss the pending Vermont Supreme Court action and an Agreement of Settlement. The settlement offer agreed to by the Millers and the Board of Selectmen was $221,415, the amount of the assessment set by the Listers, appealed to the BCA by the Millers and agreed to by the BCA in the appeal process. The assessment should have remained at that level as the Millers did not allow an interior inspection of their property by the BCA inspection committee. (32 V.S.A. S4404(c).) The Millers then appealed the BCA decision to the state, which was not objected to by any town officials. The state assessment of $294,800 was then appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court by the Millers. The state appraiser's value would not be final as it is under appeal and could have been reversed by the Supreme Court, as the matter should have ended at the BCA level. Motion was made by L. Bedell and seconded by J. Anderson to sign the Stipulation to dismiss the pending Vermont Supreme Court action with prejudice and to sign the Agreement of Settlement of $221,415 with the Millers to pay the legal fees incurred by the Town of Newfane. Unanimous. A copy will be given to the Listers, the Town Treasurer and the Town Clerk.

G. OTHER OLD BUSINESS

(1) J. Anderson asked about the status of the paving bids for FY 2000. DAK has not received them from J. Gray who is waiting for further information from Larry Underwood of Lane Construction Corp.
(2) The Board members review the draft letter to be sent to Todd Lawley, Forest Fire Warden. Motion was made by J. Anderson and seconded by R. Dowley to have Chairman M. Rohan sign the letter on behalf of the board. Unanimous. The letter indicates that the Board supports T. Lawley decision to not issue a burn permit to J. Wright at this time.
(3) The draft letter to WW Building regarding vehicles and materials being stored on town property will be rewritten for the next meeting to be held on July 6th.

6. NEW BUSINESS - A. REVIEW OF MAY FINANCIAL REPORTS - Not available.

7. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT'S REPORT - (See attached report)

A. Item #2 - Judy Bastain of Copeland will be contacted about possibly coming to the meeting of July 20th to discuss the savings/investment benefits of the Vermont Deferred Compensation program.

B. Item #5 - Without the May financials, the Board was reluctant to encumber the full anticipated cost of $10,000 for the village drainage improvements as proposed by Stevens & Associates. The amount in the budget was for $7,500 of which $2,000 was spent for engineering, leaving $5,500. Motion was made by M. Rohan and seconded by J. Anderson to encumber a minimum of $5,500 and an additional $4,500 depending of projected surplus funds for FY 2000. Unanimous. Board members will be contacted when those numbers are obtained before June 24th.

8. MINUTES
The minutes of the Regular Meeting of 06/01/00 were reviewed by the Board. Motion was made by M. Rohan and seconded by R. Dowley to approve the minutes of the Regular meeting of 06/01/00, as written. Unanimous.

9. PAY ORDERS
A. Motion was made by M. Rohan and seconded by J. Anderson to approve the Newfane Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrants, as signed, for the following amounts:
06/07/00 Payroll $ 2,694.61
06/10/00 Payroll $ 2,644.01
06/15/00 Payroll $ 1,624.27
06/16/00 Acct's Payable #27 $ 39,623.77
Unanimous

B. IRS Electronic Federal Payroll Tax Payments
06/06/00 $ 1,477.68
06/13/00 $ 908.55

10. CORRESPONDENCE
A. Correspondence has been received from Susan Scriber of VAOT outlining the required annual maintenance tasks for the Brookline/Newfane Bridge # 19 & Bridge #49 (Green Iron Bridge). Both bridges are part of the Historic Bridge Preservation Program. It has been suggested by Chris Ballou of Brookline that the towns alternate every other year on the maintenance of Bridge #19.
B. An E-mail was received from Lee Anne Nopper regarding the noise created from vehicles crossing the covered bridge on the loose boards on the deck. J. Anderson suggested that glue dipped spikes may work now that there is additional support under the bridge.
C. Appraisal notices have been received from the Listers on the Williamsville Hall property (Tax Map #F083), value $60,000 and the property also in Williamsville including the former dam and water rights (Tax Map #F085), value $25,000. Values were put onto all tax exempt properties that did not have a value listed.
D. Notice of a Road Surface Management System to be held at the Bellows Falls Fire Station on Thursday, July 13 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The cost is $25 per person and is sponsored by the Vermont Local Roads Program.
E. The Activity Reports have been received form the Windham County Sheriff's Department for the period from 04/30/00 to 05/13/00.
F. The Village Enhancement Committee met on Wednesday, June 14 at the Old South Newfane Schoolhouse to review the South Newfane Plantings, accounting and future plans.

11. EXECUTIVE SESSION - An Executive Session was not required.

12. ADJOURNMENT
Motion was made by R. Dowley and seconded by L. Bedell to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Newfane Board of Selectmen at 10:25 p.m. Unanimous.



Doris A. Knechtel
Administrative Assistant
Newfane Board of Selectmen


Posted: Town Clerk's Office, Newfane Store, Patsy's County Seat Market, Lessing's Family General Store and South Newfane General Store & Deli. www.newfanevt.com

ROAD COMMISSIONER'S REPORT 06/15/00

1. There is very little to report on in the last two weeks. I has a phone call from Neal Carter about the little ditch by his house. No rush but sometime when the road crew is going by with the backhoe, he would like it a little deeper. Jim and I have discussed it with him before.
2. The River Road (TH#15) has been completed with bandrail and all. I think it looks great. I have had a lot of comments about how great it is. Most of the people think more should be done along the rest of the road.
Dick Dowley

ROAD FOREMAN'S REPORT 06/15/00
TOWN OF NEWFANE HIGHWAY


1. The following roads were worked on since the last Board of Selectmen's meeting: Sunset Lake Road (TH#42) by Bristol's, River Road (TH#15), Baker Brook Road (TH#19) to Van Kirk's Bridge (BR#41), Wheeler Hill Road (TH#26), Newfane Hill Road (TH#20), Lost Mile Road (TH#43), South Wardsboro Road (TH#1), and Joseph Lane (TH#78).
2. The River Road (TH#15) construction along the West River was completed by Fitzpatrick Crushing and Excavating Co. Lafayette installed the bandrail that was needed for safety.
3. Equipment: A. The '90 Mack is at Twin State to repair front wheel seal and front spring. B. The F-550 brakes have been repaired at Rountree Ford, all work under warranty.
4. The mess along Bridge #42 on Stratton Hill Road (TH#35) continues.
5. The line clearing on South Wardsboro Road (TH#1) by the former August (Anderson) property is being done. Utility poles have been set.

Respectfully submitted,
James O. Gray

T0: Newfane Board of Selectmen
Memorandum From:
Doris A. Knechtel
Subject: Administrative Assistant's Report
Date: June 15, 2000

1. Art Campbell expects to start the electrical upgrade at the Williamsville Hall this next week. The cost for a used three-bay sink from Stan's in Westmoreland is approximately $500. Someone would have to go and pick it up if that is what the Board wants.
2. Judy Bastain of Copeland would like to discuss savings/investment benefits of the Vermont Deferred Compensation Plan for interested employees This plan is at no cost to the employer.
3. Roger Whitcomb would like have a public meeting on the conceptual covered bridge plans. He had asked for comments from the Board by July 3rd, but I called and told him the upcoming meting schedule. He will be able to attend the meeting of Thursday, July 6th at 6:30 p.m. Otherwise, he would not be able to attend until a meeting in August.
4. Bill Noyes will have a meeting of the contractors for the Village Drainage as soon as additional plans are received from Stevens & Associates.
5. This is the last meeting of this fiscal year, unless the Board decides to have a special meeting. The amount for the village drainage project should be encumbered for that purpose.
6. Also, if a decision is not made this evening on the purchase of a copier, the funds should be accrued for that purchase from this years budget.
7. The Loan Review Committee for the VCDP is in need of a member to replace Randy Hesse, who has moved out of town. Dummerston has three members and the two members for Newfane are Fred Jenness and Sandra Dowley. Charlton "Red" Chaffee's name was suggested as a possible member.
8. I will be on vacation the last week of June. Happy Independence Day !!!

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