Fairfax Selectboard Minutes of 06/23/08

Selectboard Members present: Judy Cleary, Bill Ormerod, Charlie Swanson, Randy DeVine, and Bob Horr. Staff Members present: Dean Potter, Fire Chief, and Erin McSweeney, Administrative Assistant to the Selectboard. Public Present: Carolyn Powers and Bill Rowell.

1.Call to Order

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

2. Minutes

Charlie motioned to accept the minutes from the meeting on June 23, 2008. Bill seconded. Bill offered an amendment to line #152; Bob motioned to adjourn the meeting. Bill clarified that VLCT's Attorney, Jim Carroll, is not exploring mediation; he is coming up to speed on the facts of the case. 4 board members voted in favor of accepting the minutes as amended, and one board member abstained.

3. Items on the Agenda

A. Bill Rowell and Carolyn Powers- Bill Rowell and Carolyn Powers attended tonight's meeting on behalf of their parents, Willard and Mary Rowell, to discuss the trees that were trimmed on their parents' property. Don Pigeon trimmed the trees to increase site distance after he had 2 near-collisions while he was operating the backhoe.

Bill Rowell stated that his parents expressed concern that Don did not ask permission to trim the trees. As a resolution, Bill Rowell proposed that the Town could take down a failing maple tree located on Mr. and Mrs. Rowell's property.

Bill Ormerod asked Bill if Don explained to him and Carolyn why he trimmed the trees; Bill Rowell indicated that he did speak with Don. Carolyn stated that she was home when Don trimmed the trees, and she noted that he could have stopped by and asked permission.

Bill Ormerod acknowledged, as did all of the board members, that Don should have communicated with Mr. and Mrs. Rowell before he trimmed the trees. Bill stated that the trees are in the Town's right of way; according to the access permit that was issued, the recipient of the access permit is responsible for the maintenance of the access, including de-brushing, snow removal, and culvert maintenance. Don was within his right to keep the area clean.

Bob informed Bill Rowell that Don is attempting to contact a Tree Service to give him an estimate for taking down the maple tree. Bob would like to obtain an estimate before the discussion proceeds.

Bill Rowell proposed that the Town could pay for the first $1,000 for the tree removal, and the Rowell's would pay for the rest. Charlie asked Bill if the Town could donate a tree for their property.

B.Randy DeVine - Randy reviewed the following reports for the month of May: Phosphorus Monitoring Report, Permit Monitoring Information, Operations Report, and the Sewer Discharge Report. Randy noted that the High figure on the Sewer Discharge Report for May of 2007 should be 60,000 gallons discharged, and not 600,000 gallons discharged.

Judy discussed the delinquent sewer account list; Erin will contact Secretary of State Deb Markowitz to find out if there are options for publishing the delinquent sewer account list in a local newspaper.

Randy gave a summary of activities for the week, including, but not limited to: continued to pump down Lagoon #1 to continue working on the air line header repair. He was able to repair the header in about 40 minutes. He informed the board that all 3 lagoons are back on-line, and he began discharging on Sunday. He also prepared two requests for quotes for Liquid Engineering. He would like pricing on having Liquid Engineering inspect and clean the tank, and pricing on having Liquid Engineering drain the tank, which Randy would clean, and then Liquid Engineering would inspect it.

Randy received two more manhole risers from Ferguson's; these were the wrong size. He went to Ferguson's and found one that is the right size. Ferguson's will order two more.

Randy is working on the revisions of the Consumer Confidence Report, which has to be distributed to water system users by July 1, 2008. Erin has received a copy of this via e-mail; Randy and Erin will work on this. Randy has reviewed the comments he received from the State regarding the Sanitary Survey that was conducted on the water system. He will draft responses to the comments from the State.

C. Dean Potter, Fire Chief- Dean attended tonight's meeting to update the board on the Fire Department's activities for the first half of the year; he distributed a summary of activities. He indicated that the Fire Department has used fewer hours than last year. Dean and the board discussed putting a fuel tank at the Town Garage for the Fire Department. Dean indicated that the Fire Department uses a relatively small amount of fuel. The Fire Department will continue to draw fuel from the tank at the Town Garage.

Bob asked Dean if he is willing to obtain an estimate for insulating the Fire Department building. Dean indicated that he still would like Efficiency Vermont to conduct an energy audit.

Dean indicated that he has allocated $10,000 in his budget for 2 new furnaces. He asked the board if he should use the money allocated for the furnaces to pay for fuel, as he anticipates going over the amount he budgeted for fuel.

4. Other Business

A. The board will review the Profit & Loss statements from the Utility Department at next week's meeting.

B. Bill reminded Erin and Judy that a Community Advisory Board meeting will take place on Tuesday, June 24th, at the State Police barracks in St. Albans.

C. Erin distributed a draft of the Hazard Mitigation Plan. Copies of the plan are available at the Town Office. Comments on the plan should be forwarded to the Selectboard no later than July 9th.

D. The Selectboard will hold public hearings regarding the Town Plan on Monday, August 25th, and September 22nd.

E. Judy opened a bid from Clean Green Sanitation for recycling and trash service in Town; the cost per household is $22.55, with a 2% fuel surcharge for each $.50 over $5.50 that the price of fuel increases. All-Cycle proposed a cost of $21.306 per household with no fuel surcharge.

F. Bob motioned to award the trash contract to Casella All-Cycle. Randy seconded. Bob noted that the motion should include the date of the amendment to the current contract. All board members were opposed to this motion. The motion did not pass.

G. Randy would like Paul Langelier to do the maintenance on all of the fire hydrants in Town. Randy estimated that it is about 40 hours of work; Paul could work on this 3-4 hours a week.

H. Randy will be hand delivering the Consumer Confidence Report on the water system to all of the water system's users. Randy hand delivers them to ensure that all of the users receive a copy.

I. Randy would like the board to review the feedback from the State regarding the Sanitary Survey of the water system and Randy's responses to the feedback; the board will review this on July 7th.

J. Bob motioned to allow Paul Langelier to maintain the fire hydrants. Bill seconded. All board members voted in favor.

K. Bill informed the board that Jon Bondy, Chairperson of the Fletcher Selectboard, will be attending next week's meeting to discuss Fletcher's efforts to bring high speed internet to the area.

L. Bill spoke with Paul Legassey, Executive Director of Northwest Access TV, who is attempting to provide public access for Fairfax out of St. Albans, as opposed to out of Colchester, as proposed by Comcast. Bill asked the board if they would like to continue to pursue public access out of St. Albans; the board could write a letter to the Vermont Public Service Board. Erin will submit the correspondence between the Selectboard and Comcast for publication in the Fairfax News.

M. Judy indicated that she will be going into the 100 acre woods with Sam and Don on Tuesday. She suggested that the Town should request bids for the removal of timber. Bill suggested that the board should set a scope of work for the management of the timber.

5. Public Input

None.

6. Adjournment

Bill motioned to adjourn the meeting at 9:43PM. Randy seconded. All board members voted in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 9:43PM.

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Erin McSweeney, Administrative Assistant to the Selectboard