SelectBoard Minutes - April 28, 2009



Vershire Selectboard Minutes
For April 28th, 2009
Unapproved

In Attendance: Vern Stone, Gene Craft, Marc McKee, Rita French, Dani Sweet, Louie Cadwell, Debra Kingsbury, Jean McDonald, Deidre Ordway, Neal Hochstedler, Tina Stout, and John Smith.

Vern called the meeting to order at 7:10pm.

Gene asked the selectboard to approve the T.A.N. line of credit from Mascoma Savings Bank, sign the note where necessary, in case the line of credit was ever needed, for future use. The board and Gene signed the papers and Gene will submit them to the bank.

Vern and Rita signed the note for the backhoe financing. Gene reported the backhoe would be arriving 4/30/09.

Dani presented the board with a job description for the recycling coordinator position, courtesy of Doug Shane. The board had a few additions to the job description, Marc moved to accept the job description as amended, Rita seconded, all were in favor and the motion passed. Dani will get the revised copy to Phil Yacavella.

Marc moved to accept "with regret" Bobby Hodge's resignation as road foreman, Vern seconded, all were in favor, and the motion passed. Many people at the meeting were in agreement that Bobby had done a wonderful job as road foreman, and were very sorry to see him leaving the position. John Smith asked the board about an application for the position; Marc replied that a revised job description was still in the works. Debra mentioned that the Vermont League of Cities and Towns had a job description for road foreman's that could be used. Marc suggested advertising for the position in two local papers as well as posting the position around town as soon as possible, with the hopes this position could be filled in a timely manner.

Tina Stout and Deidre Ordway were present to express their interests in using the town center ball field for softball. Marc said there had been some concerns in the past with poor spectator behavior at games. Tina responded that her team would abide by any rules of use for the field, and would volunteer time and labor to help with field improvements. The board has Gary Goodrich receiving bids for proposed ball field work, and upon selection of a bid, the volunteer labor from the softball team would be appreciated. The board suggested exploring the possibility of installing a permanent sign at the entrance of the ball field expressing no alcohol be allowed beyond the parking lot.

Louie Cadwell was present to express his strong feelings about the poor state of the town center building upon his renting it the previous weekend for a family function. Louie said it was very clear the building hadn't been properly cleaned for some time. He said his wife had to spend the whole day, prior to their engagement, cleaning the building, just to make it suitable for use. Louie commented the current situation for cleaning the building was obviously not working and needed to be rectified immediately. Marc apologized for the condition of the building, offered Louie and his wife a complete refund, and agreed with Louie that the situation couldn't be allowed to continue. Rita said that the board would get a new job description finalized and advertise for the position as soon as possible. Louie also expressed distaste with the fact that Vershire residents had to pay rent for use of the building. His feeling was that residents "own" the building through the payment of their taxes, therefore should not have to pay additionally for its use. Louie suggested the board charge use for the building "only to non-residents." A discussion followed about the high costs associated with maintaining the building, and the hopes that rentals of the space would pay for future maintenance. The board will consider changing their policy regarding the rental of the town center to reflect a lower rate for Vershire residents versus non-residents.

Neil reported the new pump for the town center building had been replaced; Roger completed the work, and all looked good. The board approved Roger's bill and Gene will issue a check for the work. Neil reminded the board that grab bars needed to be installed in the bathrooms of the town center and town office buildings. Neil and Marc will install grab bars in both buildings. Neil also reported one outlet needs to be wired to meet code requirements, and he will contact Ben Tilden to complete this work.

Rita moved to make Marc McKee the emergency contact person for the town center building, Vern seconded, all were in favor and the motion passed.

A state employee assessed Eagle Hollow road and gave the town an estimate for repairs to bring the dirt portion of the road up to standard, the estimate did not include any paving repairs. Grant monies could be used for the repairs, but the town would still be responsible for 20% of the total cost.

Vern moved to accept the minutes of the previous meeting, Marc seconded, all were in favor and the motion passed.

The selectboard signed orders, followed by Vern officially adjourning the meeting at 9:35pm.