MINUTES - SPECIAL REGULAR MEETING - BOARD OF SELECTMEN
JULY 11th, 2002
NEWFANE TOWN OFFICE

PRESENT:
Selectmen: Richard Marek, Jesse Anderson, Lynn Bedell, and Piet van Loon.
Absent: Gary Katz.
Also Present: John Spicer of Village Enhancement Committee, James Gray as Road Foreman and Doris A. Knechtel, Administrative Assistant.

1. CALL TO ORDER
The regular meeting was called to order by Chairman Richard Marek at 7:05 p.m.

2. SCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
A. VILLAGE ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE - JOHN SPICER
John Spicer was present to update the Board on the activities of the Village Enhancement Committee. There will be meeting on July 18th at 6:30 p.m. at the town trail parking area to walk along Depot Road (TH#2) to locate a possible site for the planting of a tree for the entrance to the Williamsville Village. J. Anderson will join the VEC for the 6:30 p.m. portion of their meeting. There was also discussion about the possibility of planting shrubs along the cemetery fence. After the VEC decides on a tree placement, the members will prune some of the trees planted six years ago in the villages of Williamsville and South Newfane. The style or design for the village entrance signs was also discussed. A recent sign has been erected in Townshend. Sign locations and designs will be decided upon at a later date.

4. A. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
(1) Williamsville Hall Steps - P. van Loon spoke with D. Cotton regarding the plans that Mr. Cotton is working on for the design of the replacement of the Williamsville Hall steps. D. Cotton suggested to P. van Loon that the town may want to have an engineer look at the plans before an RFP is prepared and sent to perspective contractors.
(2) Road Project - The Upper River Road (TH#15) project was discussed. The questions arose about staying within the town highway right of way and away from the river if a contractor could be hired to do the work by the hour. Blasting may be involved on the Route 30 side. If that is the case, Wm. A. Noyes needs to be involved in the planning and process. The other road project discussed was the Parish Hill Road (TH#26) section that the Board received a petition about. The road may be able to be widened a foot or two in the narrow spot. There is ledge involved if the crown of the road is to be lowered. There is $25,000 in the Capital Budget for this year for a road project. L. Bedell mentioned that Depot Road (TH#2) appears to have some erosion problems again. J. Gray indicated that the grader will be going in for repairs in August.
(3) Williamsville Hall - The suggestion was made that the Williamsville Hall be power washed on the outside as it looks very "grubby". L. Bedell will research having the building power washed. The building should also be painted at some time in the future.

4. B. DISCUSSION OF SCHEDULE FOR FUTURE MEETINGS WITH VARIOUS OTHER TOWN COMMITTEES AND ABUTTING COMMUNITIES
The Board discussed a schedule for meeting with other towns and town committees. The following schedule was suggested: August 1st, Brookline Selectboard; September 5th, Newfane Elementary School Board; October 3rd, Sheriff, State Police, Emergency Management and services; and November 7th, Townshend.

4. C. OTHER OLD BUSINESS
R. Marek indicated that he and Archer Mayor had drafted a letter to the father of a member of the community that has had several dog infractions. A fence has been built to keep the dogs on their own property, so the problem may have been solved.

3. UNSCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
No additional members of the public had any issues to bring before the Board.

5. ROAD BUSINESS
A. ROAD COMMISSIONER'S REPORT - (No report was submitted)

5. B. ROAD FOREMAN'S REPORT - (See attached report)
(1) Item #3 - The Road Foreman indicated that the paving project on Dover Road (TH#2), from Stratton Hill Road (TH#35) to Monroe Bridge (BR#46), will begin tomorrow by Bazin Brothers Construction.
5. C. EXCESS WEIGHT PERMITS
No Excess Weight Permits were submitted for the Board to consider
5. D. ACCESS/RIGHT OF WAY PERMITS
(1) Motion was made by P. van Loon and seconded by J. Anderson to approve Access Permit #A02-06 submitted by Ken Robinson for a new residential access onto PID#E074.5 on Jenness Drive (TH#80). Access is to be built to B71 standards. The culvert requirement is waived. Unanimous.
(2) Motion was made by J. Anderson and seconded by R. Marek to approve Access Permit #A02-04 submitted by David Boyer for a secondary access to install a septic mound onto PID#A052 on South Wardsboro Road (TH#1). Access to be built B71 Standards. 15" culvert to be installed 1½ times the length of the access required. Unanimous.

5. F. FLOOD AUDIT STATUS
The flood audit on the Steep Way (TH#21) large project has been completed and sent to FEMA. The other large project, South Wardsboro Road (TH#1) has not been completed. There are a few questions regarding the project. There are change orders that should have been filed during the process, and that was not done. Wm. Noyes knows the reasons behind most of the changes. The Board discussed whether or not to have a small project audit, which had been approved at a previous meeting. What it would mean is that FEMA would look at each of the small projects that the town has been paid for by both FEMA and the State. The total overage/under cost comes to an overage of approximately $5,240. Through the audit process, FEMA may not approve of extra expenses. Motion was made by L. Bedell and seconded by J. Anderson to not have a small audit done on the small projects. After further discussion the motion was withdrawn by L. Bedell and J. Anderson to be reconsidered at a future meeting.
5. G. OTHER ROAD BUSINESS

(1) Board members were given a copy 2002 Bridge Inspections Report performed by the Vermont Transportation Agency. All town bridges exceeding 20 feet in length are inspected on a Minutes - Newfane Board of Selectmen's Special Regular Meeting - 07/11/02 Page #3

5. G. OTHER ROAD BUSINESS - (cont.)
two-year cycle. Several of the bridges were discussed as needing to be looked at. Bridge #49, the Green Iron Bridge deck; Bridge #41 (Parish Hill Road (TH#26) outside I-beams are deteriorated; the deck is loose again on the covered bridge (CB#17) and Bridge #41 on Wiswall Hill Road (TH#11) that was to have been repaired by Gurney Brothers.
(2) Several street signs, both public and private, have been taken. The Board discussed if there was any way to fasten the signs so they would not be removable. The question was raised also about the private road signs. The town purchased the original signs and the property owners are then responsible for replacing any lost, damaged or stolen private street signs. Concern was expressed that signs may not conform or be legible.
(3) Town Road Project - The Board again discussed the Parish Hill Road (TH#26) project and the Upper River Road (TH#15) project. On TH#26 the narrowest part is about 17½ feet wide. There is ledge involved if the road is to be lowered and a house next to the road. TH#15 needs to be coordinated with the state as VT Route 30 is adjacent to the project. ($25,000 in the Capital Budget for road projects).
(4) The Road Commissioner and the Road Foreman will look into other roads to be considered for discontinuance along with Carrol Road which goes into Dover. Other roads to be considered are Pike's Road (TH#83), Nichols Road (TH#8), and Penner Road (TH#31). The RC and the RF will make a recommendation at the next meeting.
(5) L. Bedell mentioned that George Parquette, property owner on Station Road (TH#66) called her regarding the town trail beyond his property. P van Loon suggested that Mr. Parquette come to a full Board meeting to discuss the matter with everyone.

5. E. DISCUSSION OF BRIDGE #32 DESIGN STATUS
The town has not heard from FEMA regarding the acceptance of the Bazin Brothers Construction Bridge #32 plan for replacement of the bridge. FEMA will be contacted. Time is running out for getting the project done during this construction season. The town has received a permit for any bridge work in the stream from Fred Nicholson from Water Quality Division . The permit expires on October 1st.

6. NEW BUSINESS
A. APPOINTMENTS
(1) AUDITORS - (3) - No one has submitted their name for appointment as Auditor.
(2) ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
The Board expressed their desire to keep the Zoning Board of Adjustment as a seven member Board and not to reduce it to five members.
7. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT'S REPORT
A. Item #2 - The Board reminded DAK about the need to order a sign to be placed at the recycling roll-off. DAK will ask J. Gray about ordering a sign.
B. Item #5 - The Board will need to plan a demolition plan for removing the building, either by having the NBFD to a controlled burn or having the building be razed by the road crew.
Through the Hazard Mitigation program, the property is not to be used for a dwelling.
C. D. Knechtel requested the Board in writing, to be allowed a temporary or partial leave of absence from the position of Administrative Assistant during the time served as a Representative in the Legislature, if elected as the Representative for Windham-6 on November 5th, 2002. The Board will take the matter under advisement.

8. MINUTES
Minutes of 06/25/02, 06/26/02 (notes), and 07/08/02 - CORRECTIONS: Special Meeting OF 07/08 & 09/02. Item #2, Page 1, midway through second paragraph. Change sentence to read - "The focus of the Planning Commission would then be on planning; town plan updates, zoning bylaw amendments and other associated planning and regulatory bylaws or ordinances." Item #2, Page 1, third paragraph, first sentence, delete the word Design and replace it with the word Development. Motion was made by R. Marek and seconded by J. Anderson to approve the minutes of the Special Meetings of 006/25/02 and notes of 06/26/02 as written and the minutes of the Special Meeting of 07/08 &09/02 as corrected. Unanimous.

9. PAY ORDERS
Motion was made by J. Anderson and seconded by R. Marek to approve the Newfane Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrants for the following amounts:
06/22/02 Payroll $ 2,883.24
06/29/02 Payroll $ 3,082.87
07/06/02 Payroll $ 2,933.45
07/01/02 Payroll $ 4,693.19
07/12/02 Acct's Payable #1 $ 37,047.42 Unanimous.
IRS Electronic Federal Payroll Tax Payments
06/26/02 $ 1,304.22
07/03/02 $ 895.17
07/10/02 $ 944.53

10. CORRESPONDENCE
A. Any correspondence that required action, was discussed under the topics that they pertain to.

11. EXECUTIVE SESSION
No matters came before the Board that required the necessity of an Executive Session.

12. ADJOURNMENT
Motion was made by R. Marek and seconded by L. Bedell to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board at 9:30 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

No report was submitted.

ROAD FOREMAN'S REPORT 07/11/02
TOWN OF NEWFANE HIGHWAY

1. The following roads were worked on since the last Board of Selectmen's Regular meeting: Hunter Brook Road (TH#32), South Wardsboro Road (TH#1), Newfane Hill Road (TH#20), from Steep Way (TH#21) to Grout Road (TH#19), Timson Hill Road (TH#41) from Dover Road (TH#2) to Fawcetts, Sunset Lake Road (TH#42), Lost Mile Road (TH#43), Steep Way (TH#21), Deer Hill Road (TH#37), and Sears Road (TH#44). Bensch Road (TH#13) wash outs are being repaired along with culvert at Bill Guenther's driveway. Washouts on edge of blacktop and gravel roads to be repaired.

2. Band rail has been installed on Auger Hole Road (TH#3), Adams Hill Road (TH#27) and repair of damaged rail on Jack Hill (TH#2) by G & P Construction.

3. Bazin Brothers will be moving in today to pave Dover Road (TH#2) project.

4. The audit of flood work has been started by Fred Costello, FEMA representative.

5. Bridge #32 project is awaiting FEMA and State of Vermont approval.

6. Signs: Four town highway street signs and three private signs have been stolen recently.

7. The former Williams property has been posted and boarded up.

8. Equipment is all operational.

Respectfully submitted,
James O. Gray, Road Foreman

To: Newfane Selectboard MEMORANDUM
From: Doris A. Knechtel
Subject: Administrative Assistant's Report
Date: July 11, 2002

1. Grievance is over and now property owners are requesting to appear before the BCA. To date there are 27, 13 of which are through Attorney T. O'Connor. In your information you will see that there has been a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 17th at 6:00 p.m. for the BCA in preparation for the tax appeal hearings.

2. I have spoken with Cindy Sterling of the WSWMD and she may be able to install a surveillance camera for the town through a grant to monitor the recycling containers.

3. I received a call from Mark Thompson of Daniels Construction regarding Bridge #32. He was very understanding about the bridge changes with regard to FEMA requirements and will only be asking that the town consider Daniels Construction for other bridge projects.

4. Jim and I met with FEMA and VAOT representatives on Monday, July 1st to go over the audit for the large flood projects. The audit for Steep Way (TH#21) was completed. South Wardsboro Road (TH#1) still has some questions which Jim, VAOT and I are working on. There is also a question of the request for a small project audit.

5. I spoke with Attorney Jane Krochmalny regarding the removal of items from the Williams property. She indicated that the letter sent from the Board stated that the items could be removed "as long as the items are removed before the final closing of the property." She sent a copy of that letter to Dick Gale to remind him. J. Gray has secured the dwelling.

6. A copy of the 2002 Bridge Inspection Reports have been received from the Agency of Transportation. A copy in included with your information.

Please send all comments, suggestions and questions to info@newfanevt.com