Newfane, Vermont - Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes

Any and all corrections to the following minutes will be made at the next regular 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
OCTOBER 19th, 2006
NEWFANE TOWN OFFICE

PRESENT:
Selectmen: Patricia Halloran, Joseph Mandell, Christopher Williams and Hendrik APiet@ van Loon.
Absent: Daniel DeWalt
Also Present: Edward Druke, Sr., Gary Katz, Gunther Garbe for Planning Commission, Todd Lawley as Road Foreman and Doris Knechtel as Administrative Assistant.

1. CALL TO ORDER
The regular meeting was called to order by Chairman P. van Loon at 6:30 p.m.

2. ROAD BUSINESS
A. ROAD COMMISSIONER'S REPORT
(1) C. Williams has gone over the roads. The crew has been putting up stakes at the culvert locations and cleaning ditches.
(2) It was suggested that there be some sur-pac put on the Jack Hill (Dover Road #2) shoulders to help stabilize them.
(3) The crew also continues to cut brush along the roadsides.
2. B. ROAD FOREMAN'S REPORT - (See attached report)
T. Lawley reviewed his report with the Board members present. Discussion took place on the following items.
(1) Item #2 - It was suggested that Vermont Local Roads be contacted about the problem of the broken rims. T. Lawley has been in contact with area communities and with the dealer. Various reasons for the broken rims have been given; trucks with plow wings, chains, and the like. The L4900 does not use a plow wing. T. Lawley will continue to gather information, looking toward to a potential claim.
(2) Item #5 - At the 10/05 meeting of the Board, a motion was made to consider posting the Arch Bridge (B#12) to divert excess weight vehicles. The idea will be put on hold until the most recent inspection report is received from the state. J. Alexander indicated that the state didn't think there were any structural problems.
(3) Item #6 - and 2.F. Stratton Hill Bridge (B#42) - P. van Loon spoke with Thad Betts of SVE about the repair of the bridge in question. He prepared a concept diagram with huge girders for the Board to review. The estimated cost is between $75,000 and $100,000. P. van Loon also called Dopp & Dopp about their bridge designs. They will need more specifics before they can give an estimated cost. There may be structures monies available through the state highway program. 2. G. OTHER ROAD BUSINESS
(1) Delineators - One of the delineators being used in Williamsville Village has been removed to the Town Garage as it was left out at night and the agreement was to bring the Acones@ in at night. It was also noted that some of the reflective letters are missing and those that do exist are hard to see. The idea of painting A25 MPH@ on the road surface was suggested. T. Lawley will contact W. Joyce from Townshend about the Aprice for each@ before determining how much many different locations will be painted.

2. G. OTHER ROAD BUSINESS - (cont.)
(2) The town has not received an estimate for the repairs to the Timson Hill Road culvert from Courtney Nau as yet. The abutting property owners have agreed to the project.
(3) Old Newfane Common - The culvert has been put in by the Road Crew as well as a newly seeded lawn at the Aold Newfane Common@ area. The culvert headers were built by E. Druke and Bud Keller. Nice job! E. Druke asked permission to place some rocks that would discourage people from driving across the newly placed culvert area. Permission granted.
(4) VT Route 30 Committee - A letter has been received from John Bennett, Senior Planner at Windham Regional Commission, asking the town to support the traffic monitoring program developed by Stratton's traffic consultant. The plan is part of the traffic mitigation requirements under Stratton's Act 250 Master Plan permit. Motion was made P. Halloran and seconded by J. Mandell to have Chairman van Loon sign the letter on behalf of the town of Newfane to indicate its endorsement of the revised September 20, 2006 VT Route 30 traffic monitoring proposal from Stratton. Unanimous.
2. C. EXCESS WEIGHT LIMIT PERMIT - No action
2. D. ACCESS/RIGHT OF WAY PERMITS - No action
2. E. CULHANE CORNER UPDATE
Richard Perra, attorney for the town, has prepared a draft letter and incorporated the Board's suggested changes to the Settlement Agreement between the town and the Culhanes, to be sent to Thomas Costello, attorney for the Culhane's. The Board reviewed the documents. No changes were made. Mr. Perra will be notified to go ahead and send the correspondence, as proposed.

3. SCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC - No one scheduled

4. UNSCHEDULED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
A. The question was raised about the status of the update of the Rapid Response Plan and the Emergency Operations Plan. Windham Regional Commission is available to assist the Emergency Management Committee in the completion of the documents. When the information is completed, the Selectboard has to approve the final plans. The town EMC will be meeting in the near future to work on the plans.
B. Revolt & Repeal - G. Katz was present to encourage the Selectboard to endorse the recent VLCT efforts to ask that the governor and the legislature repeal the current legislative funding laws and enact a new law. The Board just received the recommendations from VLCT and has not had a chance to review them. At a previous meeting, a letter was received from a group of state representatives asking towns to ARevolt & Repeal@ asking towns to join them, other representatives and other towns in the effort to repeal the current statewide education property tax. The rising cost of the education tax is becoming a burden for some property owners. E. Druke indicated that part of the higher costs is associated with the Federal unfunded mandates for Special Education and No Child Left Behind. The Selectboard will discuss this matter further at the November 2nd meeting after they have had a chance to review the information that has been received.
C. G. Garbe, Planning Commission, indicated that he has circulated a copy of a proposed Zoning Bylaw from a few years ago. The PC would appreciate any comments and assistance that they can get from the Selectboard and others. They will know about the results of their grant request by November 30. There was mention of a professional planner who is living in town.
5. OLD BUSINESS
A. DISCUSSION OF STATUS (1) PERSONNEL POLICY
The Selectboard agreed to meet on Thursday, October 26th at 6:30 p.m. to work on the revisions of the proposed Newfane Personnel Policy.

5. OLD BUSINESS - (cont.)
A. DISCUSSION OF STATUS
(2) WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES BYLAW - No action.
(3) HEALTH ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS
P. van Loon spoke with someone in the state health department regarding the new law that will come into effect on July 1st, 2007 regarding the septic system inspections that are to be done by state personnel. Currently the state does not have the personnel to review the work so the town will stay with the existing system of having John Feifel, Septic Control Officer, do the inspections. No money was budgeted for sewage control for this year as it understood during the budget process that the state would be doing the required work. Engineers will do the design and inspections. The property owner will file the information in the land records.
5. B. RESOLUTION - BRATTLEBORO AREA COMMUNITY LAND TRUST, INC. The town received a letter and resolution the Brattleboro Area Community Land Trust, Inc. asking the town designate the BACLT as a Nonprofit Community Development Organization (NCDO) to set up and operate the Revolving Loan Fund. Newfane has been the lead town for the Newfane/Dummerston revolving loan fund. At the September 21st meeting, the Selectboard approved a Memorandum of Agreement to commit the assets of the fund to BACLT. Motion was made by J. Mandell and seconded by P. Halloran to sign the Resolution to Designate BACLT a Nonprofit Community Development Organization. Unanimous.
5. C. DECISION ON TOWN OFFICE PAINT BIDS
P. van Loon indicated that he contacted the references for Pam Goulet for the exterior painting of the Town Office and he received some very favorable responses. P. Goulet has asked for $1,800, about one-third of accepted bid amount ($5,600), to be paid up front. The Board will approve the amount during the pay order precess later in the meeting.
5. D. DISCUSSION OF HEATING FUEL BIDS
The elementary school and the NewBrook Fire Department backed out of the prepaid heating fuel amount that the town had requested for gallonage. The Board has also decided to close the Williamsville Hall for the month of November through the end of February. Motion was made by J. Mandell and seconded by C. Williams to continue with our current provider, Barrows and Fisher Oil Co. for heating fuel for this upcoming winter season. Unanimous.
5. E. OTHER OLD BUSINESS
(1) P. van Loon met with a WCSD Deputy today regarding the LaFlamme trailer on South Wardsboro Road (TH#1). A letter will be mailed tomorrow to go with a ticket that has been issued from the WCSD.
(2) P. van Loon has spoken with the owner of the property on Lost Mile Road regarding the recent fire at a trailer that is condemned. The occupants were back in the next day. They are not renters, but squatters. They are to be off the property no later than November 1st. The property owner will then clean-up the property and remove the trailer.
(3) P. van Loon has spoken with Ernie Saunders of NEMRC about the training for the Town Treasurer. Maureen will receive training from a representative from NEMRC for 2 days on an agreed upon schedule. Most of the training will be on the General Ledger program.
6. NEW BUSINESS
A. APPOINTMENTS - No action was taken. The town has received notice from the State Health Department that the town Health Officer's terms is up on November 30 of 2006. They would like a recommendation from the Board. Dr. Shafer has been asked to notify DAK if he is interested in continuing in that position.

6. B. AUGUST FINANCIAL REPORTS
The question about the source of the $50,000 in miscellaneous revenue is from the loan proceeds. The status of the cash flow was also discussed. The budget process will be starting soon for the Board with the first meeting on November 14th. It was suggested that it would be a good idea to have DAK, Todd, Maureen and Piet to go over the budget line items to review the coding of the various items so that each department can get used to the codes to be placed on invoices for payment. 6. C. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
(1) The new light fixtures for the Town Office have been delivered. Norm LaMoria has been notified.
(2) There are some election day things that need to be reviewed by the Board of Civil Authority before November 7, Election Day. The Town Clerk may be calling a meeting for November 2nd at 5:30 p.m., before the Selectboard meeting, to go over items pertaining to election procedures. For instance, the ballots for the Leland & Gray bond vote will need to be transferred by two BCA members to Townshend for co-mingled counting.
(3) One of the questions arising from the renewal of the VLCT insurance is the replacement values of the Williamsville Hall (seems too high) and the Newfane Town Office (seems too low). Board members agreed to have someone look at the buildings to figure replacement costs. VLCT will also be contacted to determine how they came up with their amounts.

7. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT'S REPORT - (See attached report)
A. Item #2 - DAK explained the process and rules regarding a Municipal Equipment Loan through the state treasurer's office. A copy of the rules was given to the Board members. There are three applications being submitted. For those that the town does not get funds for, the town may need to borrow the funds and/or wait for the next application process in April. Cash flow needs to be reviewed with the treasurer.
B. Other items were reviewed or discussed during other portions of the meeting. No further action was required.

8. MINUTES
Minutes 10/05/06 - Page #8, 8. Minutes, second motion, change Mundell to Mandell. 9. B. Clarification - the Board will write a letter to H. Pinckney to say thanks for your letter, no action will be taken by the Board. Motion was made by P. Halloran and seconded by J. Mandell to approve the minutes of the Regular Selectboard meeting of October 5, 2006, as corrected. Unanimous.

9. CORRESPONDENCE
A. The Board has received a letter from ANR regarding FEMA preliminary Digital Flood Rate Maps for Windham County. There were Afinal community public@ meetings in February of 2006. Then FEMA initiated a 90-day appeal period in April 2006 which ended in July of 2006. Newfane does not remember receiving any notice of this. The next step will involve FEMA releasing a Letter of Final Determination (January 2007) which provides new flood maps to communities for adoption. All of this should become effective in July of 2007.
B. Notice has been received regarding two Flood Mitigation Workshops. One will be on Thursday, November 9 in Ascutney at 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the other will be on Tuesday, November 28 in Lyndonville from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
C. There will be a Planning for Ancient Highways workshop on Tuesday, November 14 via Vermont Interactive Television from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. There is a location in Brattleboro.
D. The report for the first quarter totals (July through September) has been received from Lieutenant Rick Hopkins of the Vermont State Police for their services to Newfane.

9. CORRESPONDENCE - (cont.)
E. The VLCT Calendar of Training and Events has been received.
F. The September Patrol Hours reports have been received from the Windham County Sheriff's Department.
G. Notification has been received from ANR regarding two items. One, Robert Goldenhill's request to convert an existing store/deli to a 30-seat restaurant serving two meals on Dover Road and two, Anthony Fratino, Jr. wanting to subdivide 7.4 acres into 2 lots, lot 2 - 3.3? acres with a proposed 3 bedroom home and lot 2 - 4.0? acres with proposed 3 bedroom home located on VT Route 30.
H. Notification has been received from Vermont Local Roads identifying the various workshops that our highway crew members have attended. Keep up the good work!

10. PAY ORDERS
Motion was made by P. Halloran and seconded by J. Mandell to approve the Newfane Payroll Warrants and the Accounts Payable Warrant for the following amounts:
10/11/06 Payroll $ 3,276.79
10/18/06 Payroll $ 3,102.37
10/20/06 Payroll $ 206.38
10/20/06 AP Warrant #8 $ 78,207.78 Unanimous.
(AP Warrant #8 includes an additional $1,800.00 to be paid to Pam Goulet for the first third of the bid to paint the exterior of the Town Office.)
IRS Electronic Federal Payroll Tax Payments
10/11/06 - 10/18/06 $ 1,408.56
10/17/06 - 10/25/06 $ 1,098.94

11. EXECUTIVE SESSION - IF NEEDED
No matters came before the Board that required the need of an Executive Session.

12. ADJOURNMENT
Motion was made by P. Halloran and seconded by C. Williams to adjourn the Regular meeting at 9:15 p.m. Unanimous.

Respectfully submitted,

Posted: Town Clerk's Office, Newfane Store, Williamsville General Store, and South Newfane General Store & Deli. www.newfanevt.com

ROAD FOREMAN'S REPORT
October 19, 2006

1. Roads: The crew has been doing some more ditch work on Vic Benjamin Road (TH#64). They have stone lined the ditch. We have had a lot of problems over the years with that ditch line washing out the road so we put 2" stone in the ditch and made a rounded ditch line with the backhoe. We also cut the brush and ditched Culhane corner. Hopefully we will not have ice on the corner all winter. Upper Baker Brook Road (TH#19) has also been ditched and graded. We have graded South Wardsboro Road (TH#1), River Road (TH#15), Upper River Road (TH#15) and part of Grout Road (TH#19). The crew has been out putting up culvert posts and cleaning leaves out of ditches and culverts. Brush cutting behind the band rail is going on also.
2. Equipment: The 4 X 4 Mack is at DJ's Truck service having a broken spring fixed and getting state inspected. The L 4900 has been inspected as well, and has had 4 winter tires put on. We have another broken rim on the L4900, that makes 5 rims in the last year that we have found on the trucks. The Backhoe has had the new tires put on. I got four prices on tires and Pete's Tire Barn was the cheapest. They are a new tire company on Old Ferry Road in Brattleboro. Nortrax has been down to fix the hydraulic leak on the grader as well.
3. Roadside Mowing: Chris Lowe is done now and he has done a really nice job. He got back a long ways this year and it looks good. We need to call him and get put on his list for next year.
4. Line Striping: The AOT started doing the lines several weeks ago and has not finished. I have called three times over the last few weeks to see if they are going to finish and they say they will. They left Depot Road (TH#2), Dover Road (TH#2) from the Arch Bridge (B#12) to the South Newfane General Store, Grimes Hill Road (TH#5) and Brook Street (TH#83). I called the other day and I am waiting to hear back again.
5. Arch Bridge (B#12): I received a call from John Alexander the day after the last meeting and he said the inspectors came down and looked at it again and they see no structural problems with the bridge and see no need to reduce the weight limit at this time. He was going to see if anyone in AOT had anymore ideas of who the town could get to do the cement work on the bridge.
6. Stratton Hill Bridge (B#42): I received a phone call from Thad Betts of Southern Vermont Engineering. He had been called by Mike Renaud to take a look at the bridge to see what could be done. I referred him to Piet as they were talking some where around 75K to 100K dollars and Piet will give you the details.
7. Newfane Hill Common project: We installed a culvert and took two loads of loam up there. They had a work detail up there last week-end and smoothed up the loam and made headers on the culvert ends and it looks nice.
8. Winter Sand: Cersosimo is scheduled to deliver the sand soon.
9. Crack Sealing: I also called NiCom to see what their schedule is as far as doing the rest of the crack sealing. I haven't had a phone call back yet, but I will stay on them to finish it.

Thank you,

Todd Lawley
Road Foreman

To: Newfane Selectboard MEMORANDUM
From: Doris A. Knechtel
Subject: Administrative Assistant's Report
Date: October 25, 2006

1. Peter Welch, stone mason (not the politician), has called about the status of the Culhane Corner wall reconstruction.

2. I have completed three loan applications for municipal equipment totaling $184,958 at 2% interest. However, the maximum annual amount shall be $110,000, the amount for the grader. They are going to review all three before a final decision is made. Applications are held on file for a period of one year. The next application review is in April of 2007. The town may need to borrow additional funds for the Capital Fund. I have included a copy of the rules regarding the Municipal Equipment Loan Fund.

3. Bea MacFarland will be in to discuss the recent VT Route 30 Committee meeting.

4. A Resolution to designate the Brattleboro Area Community Land Trust, Inc. as a Nonprofit Community Development Organization to oversee the revolving loan fund program.

5. The annual VLCT PACIF insurance application is nearly completed and needs to be sent out by October 20th, tomorrow.

6. Pam Goulet would like to start the painting of the Newfane Town Office this next week and would like to request about one-third payment of the bid price ($5,600), in the amount of $1,800, to be added to this evenings pay orders.