Fairfax Selectboard Minutes of 04/21/08

Selectboard Members present: Judy Cleary, Charlie Swanson, Randy DeVine, and Bob Horr. Staff Members present: Don Pigeon, Road Foreman, Donna Meunier, Town Clerk, and Erin McSweeney, Administrative Assistant to the Selectboard. Public Present: Tom Wyckoff

1.Call to Order

Judy Cleary, Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 7:00PM.

2. Minutes

Bob motioned to accept the minutes from the meeting on April 14, 2008, as written. Randy seconded. Randy offered one amendment; line 80 should read, "…1/4 of a mile of water line…" All board members voted in favor of accepting the minutes as amended.

3. Items on the Agenda

A. Don Pigeon - Don informed the board that he applied for a grant from VTrans in March to resurface a portion of Fletcher Road; Don, Donna Meunier, and members of the board met with Randy Reed of VTrans on Friday morning to discuss Don's anticipated paving schedule. Randy informed those in attendance that there may be grant money available for Fletcher Road, as other Towns did not apply for grants. The Town will not know if the grant has been awarded until after the end of the State's fiscal year, which ends on June 30th.

Don informed the board that he has ordered the jackhammer for the backhoe. He also informed the board that the 2004 tandem truck is being serviced again.

Don and the board discussed Household Hazardous Waste Day, which will take place on Saturday, April 26th, between 8:00AM-Noon at the Town Garage on Fletcher Road. All-Cycle will be providing dumpsters for Household Hazardous Waste Day and Green Up Day, which will take place on Thursday, May 1st for students (with a rain date of May 2nd), and Saturday, May 3rd for residents in Town.

Judy informed the board that Donna Meunier would like the board to reconsider the decision to have the Fire Department use the fuel tanks at the Town Garage instead of purchasing it from an outside vendor as Don suggested a couple of weeks ago. Don suggested this because he believed this would be a cost saving measure, as he stated that it is more expensive to purchase fuel at the pump than it is to purchase it in bulk.

Donna indicated that it is difficult to track how much should be charged to the Fire Department for fuel when it is coming out of one tank as the price of fuel fluctuates daily.

Don indicated that the fuel in the tanks at the Town Garage is treated with an anti-gelling additive; the fuel from outside vendors is not necessarily treated.

Bob asked if the Town could purchase another tank for the Town Garage for the Fire Department; both tanks would be filled by the same vendor. Donna indicated that the amount of fuel that the Fire Department uses varies, but it is a fraction of what the Road Crew uses. Charlie asked Donna whether the Fire Department could be charged a percentage of the cost of the fuel based on their usage.

Donna informed Don that there are only about 60 hours left in the Highway Department's budget for Stan Jenkins. Stan has been helping the Highway Crew during mud season, and Don anticipates that he will help while the Highway Crew draws winter sand in the summer.

Judy informed Don that Erin will be meeting with Janet Franklin on Tuesday regarding the discontinuance of a portion of Comette Road. In 2004, the Town commissioned a study of the intersection of Comette Road and Fletcher Road. In light of the study's findings, the intersection was realigned. The portion of Comette Road that is no longer in use should have been discontinued.

Don will be meeting with Sam Hudson and Skip Taylor to walk the 100 acre Town Forest in North Fairfax on Tuesday morning.

B. Randy DeVine - Randy has put up signs that he made all over town advertising Household Hazardous Waste Day. He reviewed a summary of activities for last week, including, but not limited to: updating the April Sewer Status Report, reviewed the prints for the easements for the Fairfax Green Senior Housing building, discussed how the high-low flow meter works at the Senior Housing building with Amy Sears of the Utility Department, reviewed the Utility Department funds with Judy, met with Don regarding raising the sewer manhole on Hunt Street in preparation for paving, and met with Alan Boissoneault regarding community service work, (Alan worked for Randy for 4 hours last week). Randy and Bob located a property pin for Lot 1C on Old Academy Street. This lot is now the access lot for Rich Street. Randy also worked on the lawnmower and backwashed the filtering system at the Water Control Building. He informed the board that Dave Chevalier did contact him regarding a static level meter for the Town well. Randy will follow up with him.

C. Tom Wyckoff - Tom has applied for sewer allocations for 8 single-family homes on Butler Road. Tom was unaware that the minimum lot size in the village has increased from 1/3 acre to ½ acre. As a result of the change, Tom's buildable acreage can only accommodate 3 homes instead of 8.

Charlie recommended that applicants who apply for a preliminary sewer allocation should have a project application on file in the Zoning Office before applying for a sewer allocation to ensure that there is enough property for their proposed project.

Tom would like to amend his current application to reflect the change from 8 single family homes to 3 single family homes. Erin amended the application and Tom signed it.

D. Skip Taylor, Zoning Administrator - Skip reviewed the Zoning Administrator's Activity Report for March 18th-April 21, 2008. Charlie asked what the status of the 1st draft of the Town Plan is; Skip indicated that Greta Brunswick of the Northwest Regional Planning Commission will be meeting with the Planning Commission next Tuesday to work on the draft. Skip will ask Cathy Raymond to forward copies of the draft to the board.

Skip recently completed a course that is necessary for him to become a Tree Steward. One of the requirements of the course is a group project; his group will be making some recommendations to the board about the 100 acre Town Forest located in North Fairfax.

4. Other Business

A. Charlie clarified that no grant funds have been dispersed to the Town from the Safe Routes to School program.

B. The board reviewed an e-mail from Peter King, the Town Health Officer. Peter would like to put a notice in the Fairfax News regarding the importance of notifying the proper Town Official promptly when a person has been bitten by a dog. Randy stressed that dog bites need to be reported to the Town immediately. Randy and Peter would like to put together a protocol for addressing dog bites. Randy explained that a specific timeline needs to be followed to determine if the dog is healthy and whether a dog needs to be impounded. The board suggested a few revisions; Peter will revise it and re-submit it to Erin.

C. The board completed an Act 250 Municipal Impact Questionnaire for the proposed Dragonfly Valley subdivision. Erin will submit the completed questionnaire to O-Leary-Burke Civil Associates.

D. The board reviewed the completed Fair Housing Survey.

E. Erin will schedule the 3 candidates for the Back-Up Water Operator position for interviews on April 28th.

F. The board will work on a proposed amendment to the Sewer Allocation and Connection Ordinance regarding sewer allocation applications next week.

G. Donna has expressed concern that the Highway Department budget may run a deficit due to the escalating cost of fuel.

As a cost saving measure, Bob asked if the board should consider finding out whether Pat Pigeon would be interested in taking extended time off during the summer. Bob indicated that Pat does take time off to tend to his crops. Randy would like to see some financial figures for the Highway Department.

H. Judy asked the board whether the Fire Department should purchase fuel at Joyal Fuels rather than using the fuel at the Town Garage. Judy will ask Donna for fuel invoices over the course of the year to determine approximately how much fuel the Fire Department uses.

Randy indicated that he believes the Fire Department should continue to use the fuel at the Town Garage instead of buying it at the pump because it will be cheaper in the long run. Randy indicated that Don buys fuel in bulk every two months or so. Since the cost of fuel rises almost daily, it would be cheaper to use the fuel at the Town Garage.

Bob suggested that once the board determines the approximate amount of fuel the Fire Department uses, the Town should purchase a fuel tank and fill it up once a year.

I. Randy discussed Access Permit applications. He indicated that there needs to be a system of checks and balances in place to ensure that all of the requirements of the permit are met. Randy indicated that Don often requires that brush be cut. When Skip issues a Certificate of Occupancy, there is nothing on his checklist to make sure the requirements of the Access Permit are met. Randy would like the board to revise the form and the procedure to ensure that Access Permit requirements are satisfied before a Certificate of Occupancy is issued.

J. Randy reviewed the Water Status Report, which is dated April 9, 2003. He would like to discuss this report at a future meeting.

5. Public Input

There was no public input this evening.

6. Executive Session

Charlie motioned to enter Executive Session at 9:37PM to discuss a Personnel issue. Randy seconded. The board entered Executive Session at 9:37PM.

The board returned to public session at 10:05PM.

7. Adjournment

Randy motioned to adjourn the meeting at 10:10PM. Charlie seconded. All board members voted in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 10:10PM.

________________________________
Erin McSweeney, Administrative Assistant to the Selectboard