SELECT BOARD MEETING 7/11/16

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.  

Among the activities discussed and dealt with at the meeting were the following:

A. Public Hearing on the Cavendish Municipal Water System Bylaws: No public comments were made at the hearing and the board unanimously adopted the Bylaws, which hadn’t been updated in a number of years. The Bylaws will soon be posted to the town’s website. 

B. Replacement of Town Manager: With Rich Svec, town manager, retiring in September, the question was raised whether the SB had formed a search committee or if they already had someone in mind. The SB said they will be dealing with this in August but did go into executive session to discuss it.

C. Report from the Telecommunications Committee

• Cavendish is still in the running for grant funding from the state for the town’s underserved areas. However, the grant applications are being delayed due to one of the Internet providers questioning 40,000 of the identified underserved addresses in the state.

• EC-Fiber  may now be an option the town should consider. New legislation has made them a “Communications Union District,” allowing them to provide service to abutting towns. EC Fiber is in Reading.

• TDS has installed the 10 G “Ring” Calix E7 fiber system for the town (exception being the Knapp Pond area, which is served by Fair Point). Now that the “Ring” has been built, TDS will be performing "cut overs" meaning that the local service team will be transferring the different junction boxes from the old system to the fiber one. As the cut overs are made, users will notice an improvement in their connections, with better connectivity by the end of July beginning of August. Depending on location, some users may notice it quicker if they are among the first to be switched over. 

• There are five new E-7 boxes going in as follows: Perkinsville, Proctorsville, Twenty Mile Stream, Cavendish Pointe and Tarbell Hill.  For the first time, those on Tarbell Hill with dial up will have DSL.

• The "maintenance" period for TDS is considered 12 am-6 am, which is when the cut overs are taking place. TDS does not generally notify customers when they are doing maintenance work.

D. FY 2017 Taxes: The tax rate for the coming year is close to last year as the increase in the town budget was offset by a decrease in the school budget. The tax rates will be as follows:

- Fire District 1 (Proctorsville): Resident 1.8533; Non-resident 1.8712

- Fire District 2 (Cavendish): Resident 1.8181; Non-resident 1.8360

For a PDF copy of the tax sheet, go to The Dish. 

E.  Changes in Library Board: Mary McCallum has resigned from the Cavendish Library Board. The SB approved the replacement of McCallum with Cheryl Liener.

F.  Cavendish Flood Hazard Area Regulations Hearing: The SB set the date of August 15 (Monday) for the public hearing on the Regulations.

G.  Change of Date for August SB Meeting: The August SB meeting will take place on the third Monday of the month, August 15.