SelectBoard Minutes - September 30, 2008



SELECTBOARD MEETING 9/30/08

Present: Vern Stone, Marc McKee, Dana Baltz

Guests: John Lapierre, Bill Baylis, John Roy, Jean MacDonald, Fred Crowley, Neil Hochstedler, John Zimmer, Dave Muscavita, Rita French, Sebastian Lousada, Debra Kingsbury, David Hooke

The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by Vern.

John Roy brought 5 large binders concerning ECFiber. One copy is to be kept at the Town Office, one is for Paul Gillies, the town lawyer, and three are for the Selectboard members. John pointed out that there is a 3 page resolution that must be attested to and signed by the Town Clerk. See Tab 7 in the above mentioned manual. Oppenheimer, the underwriter, will begin soliciting funds beginning 11/15/08. John also pointed out a 4 page resolution that must be included in the minutes of a Selectboard Meeting which authorizes the Selectboard and the Chairperson of ECFiber to sign the papers by midnight on 10/24/08. After this is signed it will be given to John Roy who will see that it gets to ECFiber. 10' X 10' cinderblock buildings will need to be constructed on town owned land for storage of fiber optic equipment. Vershire will see if it can have a building on some of its land. 10 - 12 of these buildings will be needed in total within the ECFiber towns. A generator will be used to test the fiber optic equipment monthly. There is another meeting of the ECFiber group on 10/8/08 at 7 p.m. at VT Law School. Vern and Marc are planning to attend. They will meet John Roy at the Town Office. Anyone who would like to attend is welcome to join them at the Town Office at 6:15 p.m. on the 8th.

Dave Muscavita and Vern signed the contract so Dave can begin work on the Town Center building on Oct 15, 2008. Marc asked about the prep work which needs to be done. A work day has been scheduled for 10/13/08 to do the prep work. Work will begin in the morning. Anyone interested in helping may come to the Town Center on 10/13/08 to help or call John Zimmer.

Bill Baylis asked John Zimmer about the boarded up window at the Town Center. He didn't realize the windows would be boarded up during the restoration process and was concerned about the building's appearance. Dave Richards asked for 3 windows at a time as this is the most efficient way for him to work. John explained that the window opening needed to be closed up somehow when the window was removed.

Marc brought up the clean up project at the Town Center. A date will be determined to chip the brush at the Town Center.

The Selectboard acknowledged that 2 people were present who were interested in the vacant Selectboard position and gave each a chance to speak and/or answer questions. Both candidates had sent/brought a letter of interest to the Selectboard. Vern and Marc read the letters. Each candidate was invited to make a statement. Rita said she had grown up in Vershire. She said she hadn't planned to be on the Selectboard again, but that people in town had asked her to submit a letter of interest. John Lapierre said he likes to work with people and attached 2 certificates to his letter of interest: one for completing a course on radiological monitoring and one for serving 5 years on the Thetford Volunteer Fire Dept. He said he has lived in Vershire many years. Marc Pointed out that Harry Black attended the last Selectboard meeting to clarify how soon a new member could be appointed and they could appoint someone as soon as this meeting. The Selectboard decided to go into executive session at this meeting to appoint a new Selectboard member.

David Hooke attended the meeting to discuss the covered bridge which is in the conceptual stage. He said with the passing of Earnest Parker he thought about building the bridge in his honor. Dave has talked with the head of the Timber framers Guild. The Guild can engineer the bridge, plan an event to bring Timber framers Guild members to Vershire from all over, build the bridge and install it. The Guild members donate their time. They need meals and lodging while here. He mentioned the Mt. School as a possible place to house people if it was during the summer. He asked if there was any money in the budget for planning this project. He didn't know if getting money from the state would obligate Vershire to follow state guidelines. Block grants can't be used as the town isn't 'poor enough' to qualify. Dave wants to get people together who are interested and he asked if the Selectboard (town) would endorse this project. The Guild recommends building a short bridge while 2 Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission recommends building a long bridge in order to keep the abutments out of the banks of the stream. Dave estimates the bridge would be about 90' long. The abutments will be the biggest expense/problem. The Mt. School paid $18,000 when the Guild raised a barn there. This included insurance. Dave estimated it would cost $100 - 200,000. There would be fund-raising. Debra Kingsbury, who has also been working on this idea, will talk with Dave and bring him up-to-date on what information she has. She described the bridge installation in Tunbridge in 2000. She said people in town want the bridge and have offered help. John Roy, the President of Vershare, has said it would be OK to use Vershare property for one end of the bridge. Vern said the Selectboard would support this project, but eventually the Selectboard would need to have numbers and those won't be available until a lot more work is done. The bridge could have both Earnest Parker's and Sally Drew's names on it. It was decided an informational meeting would be good and will probably occur at the end of October. An announcement could be posted on the bulletin board for October 11, 2008, the October Festival. A date of October 26, 2008, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (Sunday) was set for the meeting. Dave said he would put a notice in the Vershare newsletter which goes out tomorrow. Vern asked if there was a video of the Tunbridge bride being installed.

Marc brought up the 'Button-Up VT' notice and wondered if it was something the town should sponsor. Bill Baylis said he knows the man who is the head of it. He said the suggestions are common sense things people do to tighten up their homes for winter.

Vern brought up the beaver problem on Taylor Valley Rd on the class 4 section.

Vern will sign the Unifirst letter to cancel the contract at the next meeting.

Marc moved to approve the orders; he and Vern voted yes and signed the orders.

Marc made one change to the 9/16/08 Selectboard minutes. He moved to approve the minutes, he and Vern voted yes and the minutes were approved.

The Selectboard appointed John Lapierre to fill the Selectboard vacancy.

The signed contract from Pyrofax can't be found. Dana will get another one from Steve Garrow and Vern will sign it.

Marc moved to adjourn. Vern seconded and both voted yes.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m.