MINUTES -REGULAR MEETING - BOARD OF SELECTMEN
SPECIAL MEETING OF NEWFANE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
SEPTEMBER 5th, 2002
NEWFANE TOWN OFFICE

PRESENT:
Selectmen: Richard Marek, Jesse Anderson, Lynn Bedell and Gary Katz.
Absent: H. W. Piet van Loon
Also Present: Tom Redden and Katrina Wilson of the Newfane Elementary School Board, Bruce Garrow, Principal of the Elementary School, Linda Decker, Emily Long, Bob Lyons and Robin Maguire of the Leland & Gray Union High School Board, Larry Kraft of Townshend, Chris Petrak, Henry Pickney, Ben R. Soghigian, Gunther Garbe of Planning Commission, James Gray as Road Foreman and Doris A. Knechtel as Administrative Assistant.

1. CALL TO ORDER
The regular meeting was called to order by Chairman Richard Marek at 7:00 p.m.

2. SCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
A. NEWFANE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BOARD, PRINCIPAL B. GARROW & NEWFANE LELAND & GRAY SCHOOL BOARD REPRESENTATIVES
Chairman R. Marek welcomed the Newfane and Leland & Gray School Board members and Principal B. Garrow to the meeting. He first spoke of items that the Selectboard has been dealing with this past year. The Board has enacted a Litter Ordinance to help take care of the trash that is left out by the roll-off recycling containers. The Board also enacted a Cell Tower Ordinance and a Junk & Junk Vehicle Ordinance. The State has laws for dealing with junk vehicles, but no money for enforcement. The Windham County Sheriff's Department has been working on traffic calming and speed enforcement in a consistent manner which has increased our revenue stream. The town will also be working with the State Police for enforcement on Route 30. A town wide reappraisal was done and the town is currently involved in the BCA Appeal process.
Tom Redden, Chairman of the School Board, thanked the Board for inviting them to the meeting. He spoke of the strong leadership and consistency that there has been for the past five year under the leadership of Bruce Garrow. The Board is working to reach out more effectively to the community. The Budget is an ongoing battle as there is not much flexibility. The Special Education costs, which are mandated by the Federal Government, are substantial and unpredictable from year to year. The Feds only pay 10% of that cost, instead of the 40% as originally expected, so the burden is shifted to the State and to the towns. There was also discussion about Act 60. A good piece of the Act 60 legislation is the Action Plan that helps to identify the "weak areas" of the school and involves community members, parents and teachers. It was suggested that the block grant per puple from the state may need to be increased. Act 60 is a very complex issue.

The next topic that was discussed is the upcoming bond vote for the addition and renovations project at Leland & Gray. The total anticipated cost of the project is $4.5 million, of which $1.55 million will be the amount of the bond to be voted on. The other funds are to be raised privately ($1.2 million with a professional grant writer) and are to come from the state ($1.15 million).
It was suggested that with the current tax rates and the amount that is used for the schools (80%) that at the informational meetings, it should be articulated to the voters what saves money at the school, such as the $150,000 in grants and the amount that is saved on the heating L & G with wood chips. It was projected that the bond would cost a person $0.16.5 cents per day. At this juncture, they do not have a Plan B if the vote fails in November.
The informational meeting for the proposed Bond vote for Leland & Gray will be held on Wednesday, September 18th at 7:00 p.m. at the Newfane Elementary School. There will be another meeting on October 29th before the vote on November 5th.

3. UNSCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
A. Chris Petrak - South Newfane - Mr. Petrak wanted to thank the Board for the speed enforcement on Dover Road (TH#2). There seems to be more enforcement during the winter and spring and less during the summer. Hew feels that thee should be more enforcement during rush-hour. There also seems to be more traffic due to the Route 9 construction. It was noted that the Board is kept informed of the progress of the WCSD through monthly reports.
The second item that he wanted to know about how some of the traffic calming issues and change in speed zones is progressing within South Newfane and Williamsville. Nothing has been implemented to date. There has been talk of having uniform traffic control measures used in S. Newfane and Williamsville patterned after Route 30 Traffic Calming study. However that study will not be completed for about two years. J. Anderson suggested that the white lines could be painted if the budget allows. The VEC is looking into tree or scrub planting for the entrance to the Williamsville Village. Mr. Petrak indicated that when the Dover Road (TH#2) is paved through the village, he does not want the pavement to be any wider.

2. B. HENRY PINCKNEY
Mr. Pinckney came before the Selectboard to discuss his access permit application.

4. D. ACCESS/RIGHT OF WAY PERMITS
Access Permit #A02-11 submitted by Henry Pinckney has been reviewed by the RC and the RF. There was some discussion about the access being on the deeded right of way into Mr. Pinckney's property. Motion was made by J. Anderson and seconded by R. Marek to approve the access permit #A02-11 submitted by Henry Pinckney to change an existing access on Upper Eager Road to Tax Map # 178.3. Some ditching is to be done to carry the water to the left side of the access. Unanimous.

3. UNSCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
B. H. Pinckney asked about the possibility of putting up an 8' fence, as allowed for junkyard screening. A type of hedge could also be used if there is a junkyard. It was suggested that he work through alternatives with P. van Loon to come up with a solution.

4. ROAD BUSINESS
4. B. ROAD FOREMAN'S REPORT - (See attached report)
(1) Item #4 - J. Gray expressed his concern regarding the use of overweight trucks on the town roads that do not have current permits. An action plan was suggested that the Sheriff's Department should be contacted, that a formal complaint be filed with Department of Motor Vehicles, and scales should be located for on site enforcement. If it is known that there is enforcement and the offenders are being fined, than it may help to resolve the problem.

4. A. ROAD COMMISSIONER'S REPORT - (See attached report)
(1) Item #7 - J. Anderson reviewed the items that need to be taken care of for the FEMA reports to be completed. Some of the information needs to come from Southern Vermont Engineering and some questions need to be answered by Bill Noyes. J. Anderson will write a letter to Wm. Noyes about the questions to be answered.
(2) Item #4 - A letter is to be written to Floyd Roberts of District #2 requesting that the center lines of the town's class two roads be painted by the state.
(3) Item #5 - Only one of the bridge proposals prepared by Daniels has been received so far for the repair of Bridge 41 & Bridge #42. The other proposal should be available in the next day or two. Motion was made by L. Bedell and seconded by G. Katz to send bid proposals for both Bridge #41 on Parish Hill Road and Bridge #42 on Stratton Hill Road for bids to be received on September 19th at 7:00 p.m. with work to be completed by December 1st of 2002. Unanimous.
(4) Item #6 - Bid requests will also be sent out for 2,500 cubic yards of Winter Sand. Bid will be due on September 19th at 7:00 p.m.

4. C. EXCESS WEIGHT PERMITS
No Excess Weight Permits were submitted that would require any action by the Board.

5. B. OTHER OLD BUSINESS
(1) There was some discussion between G. Katz and R. Marek exactly when Newfane was chartered. One of the dates mentioned, 1753 would make 2003 the 250th anniversary.

6. NEW BUSINESS
A. APPOINTMENTS
(1) AUDITORS - 3
Ben Soghigian of Dover Road was present to express his interest in serving as an Auditor for the town. He currently works at Cheshire Hospital in Keene. Motion was made by R. Marek and seconded by G. Katz to appoint Ben Soghigian to serve as an Auditor for the Town of Newfane until the Town Meeting in March of 2003. Unanimous. R. Marek will contact Neil Pelsue to see if he may also be willing to serve now that there is another person who has come forward.

(3) PLANNING COMMISSION
A letter has been received from Joan Weir to indicate that she will be resigning as a member of the Newfane Planning Commission in mid-October. There is a resident that has expressed an interest in serving on the Planning Commission. Motion was made by L. Bedell and seconded by J. Anderson to appoint Carolyn Katz to serve as a member of the Newfane Planning Commission from Mid-October until March of 2003. In favor: R. Marek, J. Anderson and L. Bedell. G. Katz recused himself from the vote. Motion passes.

6. C. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
R. Marek would like the Selectboard to support a uniform speed limit of 30 mph through the village areas along Route 30 (Newfane, Townshend, West Townshend, Jamaica) as part of the Route 30 traffic calming plan. Motion was made by L. Bedell and seconded by G. Katz to have a letter written to the State Transportation Engineering Division in support a uniform speed limit of 30 mph through the village areas along Route 30. Unanimous. R. Marek will sign the letter.
L. Bedell left the meeting at 9:45 p.m.

7. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT'S REPORT
A. Item #1 - R. Marek contacted the Brown family about working out a different deadline for the removal of the junk vehicles after D. Brown broke his leg. No word has been received from the LaFlamme/Van Dyke property with the collapsed trailer. Motion was made by R. Marek and seconded by G. Katz to write contact the Sheriff's Department about the issuance of a ticket and follow up with a letter the they are to contact the town within 15 days of the receipt of the ticket to inform the Board of their plan to remediate the violation. Unanimous.

B. Item #8 - The Board reviewed the status report for the Williams Property Demolition Project. When the project is complete and all of the costs have been determined, the final accounting requests will be made to FEMA. It is anticipated that the project will be completed by the 13th of September. The taxes assessed on the property for 2002 will also have to be abated at a tax abatement hearing.

8. MINUTES
The minutes of the Regular Meetings of 08/01/02 and 08/15/02 and the Special Meeting of 08/29/02 were reviewed by the Board. Motion was made by R. Marek and seconded by G. Katz to approve the minutes of the regular meetings of 08/01/02 and 08/15/02 and the Special Meeting of 08/29/02, as written. Unanimous.

9. PAY ORDERS
The Town Treasurer prepared a transfer of funds sheet for the Board to approve.
Transfer from the Capital Fund to the General Cash Fund $21,170.72
Transfer from the Village Tree Fund to General Cash Account 2,067.34
Transfer from Williamsville Remembers project fund to Gen'l Fund 1,726.41
Transfer from Reappraisal Fund to General Cash Fund 32,906.99
TOTAL $57,871.46
Motion was made by J. Anderson and seconded by G. Katz to approve of the transfer of funds as stated by the Town Treasurer. Unanimous.

Motion was made by G. Katz and seconded by R. Marek to approve the Newfane Payroll and Accounts Payable Warrants for the following amounts:
08/17/02 Payroll $ 3,015.59
08/24/02 Payroll $ 2,940.58
08/31/02 Payroll $ 3,086.04
09/01/02 Payroll $ 3,222.83
09/06/02 Acct's Payable #6 $ 382,342.65 Unanimous.
IRS Electronic Federal Payroll Tax Payments
08/21/02 $ 931.24
08/28/02 $ 938.13
09/04/02 $ 922.36

10. CORRESPONDENCE
A. Notification has been received from the new owner of the Newfane County Store that a large diseased maple tree in front of their business is to be removed. The Tree Warden was sent a copy of the notice.
B. The Calls for Service reports from the Windham County Sheriff's Department for 06/09 to 06/22 and 07/07 to 07/20 have been received.
C. A copy of a letter from Ted Schreyer to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. regarding transfer of property. No action was required by the Board.
D. The August 2002 VLCT News has been received.
E. Notice and program for the VLCT Town Fair to be held on Thursday, September 26th in Killington, VT has been received. D. Knechtel will attend.

11. EXECUTIVE SESSION
No matters pertaining to Executive Session topics came before the Selectboard for discussion.

12. ADJOURNMENT
Motion was made by J. Anderson and seconded by G. Katz to adjourn the Regular Meeting of the Board at 10:25 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 - 09/05/02

PERMITS
1. One access permit on Blueberry Circle Extension was reviewed. This is on a private road and the applicants need to be informed that they do not need a permit from the town for this. We can neither approve nor disapprove the permit..

2. One access permit for Mr. Pinckney was reviewed. It is at the high spot on a dead end road. The sight distances are good and no culvert is required. Some ditching should be done along the left side of the driveway to carry the modest amount of water out off the road beyond the new access.

EQUIPMENT
3. We should expect to take delivery of the new truck soon. Our financing (loans) need to be in place for accepting the truck. The low interest State loans are limited to $50,000? (Correction - Maximum of $75,000)

YELLOW LINE PAINTING
4. Bill Noyes continues to be out of the office for different reasons - vacation and health problems. We cannot depend on our verbal request for State line painting. A written request should go to the District (Floyd).

BRIDGES
5. Daniels has promised faxed repair plans and estimated for the bridge over the Baker Brook on Parish Hill Road (Crushing steel beam ends). Daniels is doing the same for the needed repairs on the wooden railing system on the Stratton Hill Bridge. Thee were expected a week ago but have been promised in time for tonight's meeting.

BIDS
6. We will be going out for bids on winter sand (easy) and guardrail (requires planning with rail contractor) sometime before October.

FLOOD AUDIT
7. A copy of the Memo from F. Costello of FEMA to R. Tetrault of VTAOT is attached. Mr. Costello raises several items to be resolved:

A. List of prospective bidders for Phase II. Jim believes that Bill Noyes approached several prospective bidders who were all booked up. They had also been badly outbid by Fitzpatrick in Phase I. Nobody bid (except Fitzpatrick). During the earlier meeting Jim was asked if he could attest to this which he could not because he is not Bill. Apparently Bill has not been asked to attest to the fact that multiple prospective bidders were approached. I am not sure if this would even be sufficient.

Action: We should find out from FEMA or VTAOT the allowable ways to address this item. Hopefully one of them will be achievable. We should obtain from Bill a list of prospective bidders for Phase II in the hopes that this is enough. We will need it anyway. A letter to Bill should be sent with a list of candidate bidders. He should then indicate in writing to use which of them he contacted. He may not be very well at this time so we should make this as easy for him as possible. The request should maybe go through Floyd at the District who could take care of the matter over the phone with Bill and sign for Bill.

B. $21,962 worth of gravel was added to the project, apparently without prior approval (change request). SVE required this gravel to achieve a proper grade for the road. The approvals were obtained verbally through Bill Noyes. Mr. Tetrault is checking with SVE (Thad Betts) to see if the gravel expenditure was appropriate.

Action: Find out from Mr. Tetrault if communicating with SVE will be sufficient to resolve this item and expedite it.

C. $4,171 was spent on a culvert that was not in the plan. The plan only addressed the uphill side of the road that washed out. One of the enlarged culverts emptied into a very narrow ditch on the downhill side in an obviously ridiculous way. In consultation with Bill, Fitzpatrick and the Town designed a culvert that extended the new culvert down to a point where it could empty out the drain away from the road. This expense is being challenged. I suspect that this is a case of a recognized problem but FEMA simply drew a line and said that the scope of work does not include it. Because the overall project was under budget and because the new culvert was enlarged (making the old ditch untenable) I would think that this expense could reasonably be reimbursed. Apparently Mr. Tetrault is checking the validity of this expense also. We should not let this one hang up the whole audit.

Action: Find out from Mr. Tetrault if communicating with SVE will be sufficient to resolve this item and expedite.

D. $2,935 worth of headwalls were installed because the plastic volutes that were specified could not be made to fit. This was due to problems encountered in the field and again decisions were made verbally through Bill Noyes (and SVE, etc) to install laid up stone headwalls for the culverts instead. Apparently Mr. Tetrault is checking the validity of this expense with SVE also.

Action: Find out from Mr. Tetrault if communicating with SVE will be sufficient to resolve this item and expedite it.

This five way interaction between FEMA, VTAOT, the District, the Town and SVE is complex to say the east.

ROAD FOREMAN'S REPORT 09/05/02
TOWN OF NEWFANE HIGHWAY

1. The following roads were worked on since the last BOS meeting: South Wardsboro Road (TH#1), Beetlestone Drive (TH#25), Wiswall Hill Road (TH#11), Parish Hill Road (TH#26), Baker Brook Road (TH#19) to bridge at Parish Hill Road (TH#26), Beetlestone Hill Road (TH#47), Spring Hill Road (TH#51) and rough spots on River Road (TH#15), Grout Road (TH#19), and Upper River Road (TH#15). Roadside mowing is done.

2. The septic system at the former Donny Williams residence was drained and filled in per FEMA requirement.

3. Equipment: A. The new International truck is at Vermont Municipal being outfitted with dump body, wing, and plow frame. B. The F-550 frontend was repaired at Rountree Ford. Warranty paid for repairs. C. All other equipment is operational.

4. Overweight trucks continue to use town highways and bridges without overweight permits. Damage to bridges that are posted for weight limits will result. Without over weight permits proof of insurance is not available.

5. Trash is being dumped on River Road. The latest was a dog house.

Respectfully submitted,
James O. Gray, Road Foreman

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