Town of Craftsbury Selectboard Minutes
~ APPROVED ~
October 17, 2006
The Selectboard met at the Craftsbury Town Hall on Tuesday, October 17th at 7:30 PM. Selectboard present were Bruce Urie, Jim Jones and Susan Houston. Yvette Brown (Town Clerk), June Cook (Hardwick Gazette), Michelle Warren (Clerk of Selectboard) and Conservation Committee members Steve Wright, Ann Ingersol, Robert Linck and Ken Menard were also present.
Approve Minutes of Last Meeting:
Regarding the October 3, 2006 minutes, Mr. Urie said the Urban Oil should be Irving Oil and the Ancient Roads deadline should be 2015 not 2013. Ms. Houston made a motion to approve the October 3, 2006 Selectboard minutes with corrections, Mr. Jones seconded. The October 3, 2006 minutes were approved with corrections.
Conservation Committee:
Steve Wright, Ann Ingersol, Robert Linck and Ken Menard were present for the newly formed Conservation Committee. Mr. Urie explained that the Planning Commission created a priority list of recommendations from the Town Plan and a Conservation Commission/Committee was a priority. Mr. Urie said that the Selectboard would like this Conservation Committee to analyze and recommend if a Conservation Commission would be a valuable resource for this town. The deadline for this recommendation would be January 1, 2006 but could be extended as late as January 20th if needed. This deadline is necessary because the Selectboard needs to know if this is going to be an agenda item at Town Meeting. Some Conservation Commissions/Committees require funding and others do not. Mr. Urie explained that's a question this group will need to look at because the Selectboard will need to know that. Out of the ten people who received a letter asking them to be on this Conservation Committee, no one has declined. Ms. Brown said that Diane Morgan would be unable to attend the meeting tonight but wanted to be part of this Conservation Committee. Mr. Urie thought Mark Dunbar and Randi Calderwood would still be interested in being on this committee, they just had farming obligations tonight. Ms. Houston had spoken to Farley Brown who would like to be on this Committee, or at least as a resource for the group. Ms. Houston handed the group a general fact sheet about Conservation Commissions and also a resource page. She also showed a variety of books and magazines that could also offer information as well. Along with Farley Brown as a resource, Walt Gutzmann from Craftsbury Academy and Rob Libby from the Forestry Committee were also suggested along with other names on the resource page. Mr. Urie will get out these materials and a follow up letter out to the rest of the people in the group not present tonight and find out if they want to be on the Committee. Mr. Urie said this group represents a varied cross-section of the town. Mr. Urie clarified to Mr. Wright that the Selectboard wants this committee to decide if a conservation commission fits in with the future of the town. Mr. Jones said that if this group recommends a conservation commission, it would then get voted on at Town Meeting. When Ann Ingersol asked would this group have any role to play explaining it to the town on Town Meeting Day if recommended to be put on a warning, the Selectboard said yes. Information to the community could be given via handouts and newspaper articles Mr. Jones explained. The Selectboard said that many people just don't know what a conservation committee is. Ms. Houston explained that this Conservation Committee is checking the feasibility of a Conservation Commission. The Next Conservation Committee meeting will be Wednesday, Oct 25th at 7:30 PM at the Town Hall. The Selectboard agreed to add Farley Brown to the group if she would like to be included.
Municipal Officers Conference Update:
Ms. Houston said that the conference was very informative and interesting. She had gone to Ancient Road, Current Use, Municipal Law Basics and Getting Your Message Across sessions and enjoyed them. She also noticed the speed bumps at Johnson State College and spoke to their maintenance department about them. She said that Williston is using temporary speed bump which can be glued/screwed on and taken off before winter starts. She will look into the statistics and will research the speed bumps further and feasibility in Craftsbury. Ms. Brown thought that the roads need to be posted under a certain speed, such as 25 miles per hour then legal signage needs to be in place before speed bumps are implemented. Mr. Urie said that Woodbury noticed a notable decrease in speeding when they had the radar machine set up. Mr. Jones said that we need to look into getting the radar machine for next summer, more often than in the past. The radar machine is free to use, but would need someone like Danny Locke to program the machine.
Emergency Rapid Response Plan:
Mr. Urie said he had met with Bill Bartlett, who is working with regional planning through a federal grant regarding the Emergency Rapid Response Plan. They are trying to move the Emergency Rapid Response Plan one step further to involve planning for a pandemic. The CD needs to be filled out and then uploaded to their website. Mr. Urie is working his way through the detailed pandemic information on the CD.
Renewal Pacif Insurance:
Mr. Urie had spoken to Walt Gutzmann regarding the Craftsbury Fire Department equipment insurance. Mr. Gutzmann suggested increasing the Craftsbury Fire Department equipment insurance on Pacif Insurance from $20,000 to $60,000 to cover miscellaneous items. Mr. Urie changed the insurance coverage on the form to $60,000 for the Fire Department. Mr. Jones then signed the Pacif Insurance form. Ms. Brown will send along the Town Report budget to cover the financial information they requested, like done in the past.
Road Foreman Report:
Mr. Jones said Steve Marckres would not be present at the Selectboard meeting tonight. Mr. Marckres had told Mr. Jones that he was asked to tear up the blacktop on the Common to get to Bonnie Strong's house. Mr. Marckres said that they would have to do it right away though. Mr. Urie said that he had recently spoken to Phyllis Harrington who wanted to make sure that an engineer was present during digging because she wasn't positive where her septic field was. There is a chance that the septic field is located under the Old Academy Lane. Mr. Urie asked Ms. Brown to mention to Laura Brown at the Electric Department that the Selectboard would like their engineer to talk with Ms. Harrington and be present while digging the line that runs down through.
Mr. Jones and Ms. Brown said that although there was some concern about the delay in response from Bournes, they are now all set for the fuel.
Clerk's Report:
Ms. Brown didn't have any news for the Clerk's Report.
Other Business:
Mr. Urie mentioned that VLCT & VRPC would be hosting a Planning for Ancient Highways Workshop on November 14, 2006. Although he would be unable to attend, other Selectboard members are welcome to attend. He already forwarded the information to Wayne Mutrux.
Mr. Urie said that Dave Stoner is working hard on the Broadband Grant application that is due Oct. 20th. Ms. Warren said that she had recently emailed Mr. Stoner and that 50 people signed up online already for broadband. Mr. Urie said Charlie Krammer has looked over the application and felt Craftsbury has a good chance of receiving the grant because the survey, provider details, and location of antennae sites are well thought out. Mr. Urie is confident that Craftsbury broadband plans will continue, with or without the grant if needed. The committee is working diligently finding investors for Island Pond Wireless to help fund the broadband project. Mr. Urie said that Island Pond Wireless might be a little ahead of schedule, with starting possibly early winter instead of springtime with the academy site and they maybe 3 other sites at once.
Mr. Jones mentioned to keep in mind that when Willie Ryan was listing on Colburn Hill, Mr. Ryan thought the Mission New England gate was locked. People did open the gate immediately, however.
Mr. Urie said that they had to starting thinking about the budgeting process and setting up a budgeting schedule for December. Ms. Brown said she plans to sit down with Mr. Marckres ahead of time to work on the budget like last year and then present the information to the Selectboard. It helped make the budget process more time efficient.
Mr. Urie explained to Ms. Cooke that the executive session was just an information session. Their current attorney will no longer be able to represent the town because he will be a judge. They met with their new attorney from the same law firm.
Meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM. The next Selectboard meeting is tentatively scheduled at the Craftsbury Town Hall Tuesday, November 28th at 7:30 PM. The Selectboard will make a decision on November 7th that if there is considerable items on the agenda, they may reschedule to an earlier date of November 14th. Mr. Urie will be unable to attend November 14th.
Respectfully submitted,
Michelle Warren, Clerk of the Selectboard