Select Board Meeting: 7/13/15
/Select board (SB) meetings are recorded by LPC-TV and are available at their website and on Comcast Television. Written minutes are available at the town’s website. Monday night’s meeting included the following::
A. Bridge Projects
• Depot Street Bridge: Updated motion from the June SB meeting for the Accelerated Bridge Program to include several elements: replacement of entire bridge; single span replacement; and closure of bridge during construction requiring a detour for approximately 12 weeks.
• Davis Rd Bridge: While the bridge is now open, grating, mulching, seeding etc. remain to be done to the town manager’s, Rich Svec, satisfaction. Final payment will be made once completed. This is not only an esthetic issue, but one that is important to abutting property owners. Please note that the picnic table and trashcan are not town property, rather they were provided by the construction company for their employees.
B. VELCO: Notification has been received that in August VELCO will submit a certificate of Public Good to the VT Public Service board regarding the Connecticut River Valley Project (discussed at the May SB Meeting). VELCO proposes to upgrade the existing transmission line between the Coolidge (located in Cavendish) and Ascutney substations to resolve the overloading and voltage violations. FMI http://www.velco.com/our-work/projects/project-crvp
C. Tax Rate: Set at the July 8 meeting, taxes are down slightly, with the exception of Proctorsville non-residents, which went up slightly, bills have been sent out. School taxes have also gone down.
D. Cemeteries: A new Husqvarna riding mower has been purchased to replace the one stolen. There are now two riding and two zero turn mowers, which are sufficient to do the job. There is a problem with orange lichen on some of the gravestones, particularly in Cavendish High Street. Efforts will be made to start cleaning these stones. Bids have been received to complete the Twenty Mile Stream cemetery expansion. Svec and Bruce McEnaney will be making the decision about which company in the next few days.
E. Recreation: Baseball season is over. There will be no summer camp this year but the director is working on some special activities.
F. Water Department: Well cleaning has taken place and $1,200 worth of tests have been done on Well # 2. Results have not been received, but these are required by the state in order for the town to bring this well on-line.
G. Sustainability
• Solar: The town’s solar project, is right on target with projections, and to date has generated approximately $20,000 worth of credit. You can track the solar energy being produced at the Cavendish Municipal Solar Array site. An extended payment plan has been worked out for the next year, which significantly helps to reduce costs of the principal, thereby lowering the amount of money needed to borrowed by floating a bond.
• Composting: The Transfer station now has new yard waste recycling in place. Guidelines are available on-line and have been also been posted to the Cavendish Update and on Cavendish Pinterest Energy and Conservation site. Both the special post and the Pinterest site on composting are being used.
H. Transfer Station: In view of all the changes at the transfer station, a new resource guide is being developed for users. While the facility is in compliance with state regulations, they were concerned about two areas.
1) The building being used to store electronic waste should be replaced due to its deteriorating condition.
2) The state wants to see the cost of municipal solid waste (MSW) born by those who are using it. Currently, Cavendish’s tipping fees are about half the price of Ludlow. Svec and McEnaney will be looking at fee schedules.
The SB voted to make some improvements in the existing electronic waste building and begin to set aside money in the FY 16-17 budget to cover replacement costs. The goal is to replace the building in about five years.
I. Waste Water System Tax Rate: The tax rate has gone up this year, primarily because the positions for both the Operator and Asst. Operator are now full time. In the past, there was a part time Operator and full time assistant. The new rates for wastewater will be as follows per quarter
• Inactive $29 (increase of $1)
• Up to 10,000 gallons $82.23 (increase of $3.90) + $1.85 for every 1,000 gallons over the limit.