CAVENDISH SELECT BOARD MEETING 9/11/17

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.  The following action was discussed/taken at Monday night’s meeting:

A. Town Garage Location: Rolf van Schaik raised the issue of moving the town garage to the sandpit across from the Waste Water treatment plant or to another location. He and Stephen Plunkard, a landscape architect living in Cavendish village, noted that this building will be here a long time-50 years- and it is prudent to make sure the building is capable of not only meeting today’s needs but trends and changes in the coming decades. The current location does not lend itself for expansion. Plunkard also noted that a metal building with big doors does not fit with the esthetics of the village and could in fact detract from the appeal of the village.

In May, the town manager, Brendan McNamara and assistant town manager, Bruce McEnaney, did consider other sites, which were discussed by the SB as well as the town crew. At that time, the existing location was considered to be the best option as the “sandpit” location could pose a problem entering and exiting route 131.

There are various pros and cons to changing location. However, one of the over riding concerns is time, with the hope that the garage would be built before snow flies. Because of all the delays with the project, McNamara has met with the current owners of the old Black River Produce building in Proctorsville and it would be possible for the town to rent bays for the winter season if need be.

In order to make an accurate assessment, including costs, the SB will take the next week to make a site visit. Plunkard would be willing to do a site analysis for free of both sites.

A vote on whether the town should spend up to $400,000 to replace the garage will take place on Sept. 26 at CTES from 10-7. Where the building would be located is not specified in the warning. An informational meeting will be held on Monday, Sept 25, 7 pm at Cavendish Elementary School. A copy of the legal warning is available on-line.

Note that this discussion took almost an hour of the SB meeting and it is recommended that anyone interested in this topic watch the meeting at the LPCTV website or on Comcast TV.

B. Road Crossing Agreement with Coolidge Solar I, LLC. (Crossing on Quent Phelan Road): The SB approved the agreement.  

C. Assessment Appeals: Diane McNamara, Town Clerk updated SB on the scheduled hearing on September 14th, 2017 regarding Castle Hill and Cavendish Pointe Condominiums property assessment appeals. The listers reduced the assessment in 2016 by about 10%, which reduced tax revenue to the town by about $1.9 million. The condo owners appealed to the Board of Civil Authorities for further reductions, who, after various site visits, agreed with the listers. The condo owners than appealed to the state, which is what the hearing will be about on Sept.14.

A contract starts in July for a town wide appraisal, which will take several years. D. McNamara pointed out that the task of lister has become so specialized and complicated that it really needs to be done by people who are trained to do this job

D. Construction Postponement of Aeration System Replacement: Weston and Sampson have suggested postponement of this project because there isn’t a chief wastewater operator due to Randy Shimp’s leave of absence. Nate Rose, who is working seven days a week, is doing an excellent job, but this construction project would be just more than he can handle at this time. They recommend waiting for next construction season. Funding will not be impacted by the postponement. The board voted to postpone until next year.

E. Other projects

• Hydrant flushing is underway this week

• Paving project on Bont’s Hill is complete

• Site visit with interested contractors for the bridge construction projects on East Rd and Greenbrier took place with 21 contractors attending.  Bids are due Oct. 10 with an award to be made at the November SB meeting.

• Electronics building at transfer station being torn down this week and will be replaced with a prefab building from LaValley’s.

• 53 Depot St complaint filed by North Country Condo. Site visited by McNamara and health officer, Doris Eddy, did not find rats to be coming from this building as reported by the condo association. They thought the source of the rats was a nearby chicken coop. The condo association would like to see the building removed. However, this appears to be a civil matter.

• Leak in valve on Maple St. If it were fixed now, water would need to be shut off in all of Proctorsville. Basically are looking into the best way to repair this  problem, with minimal impact on the community, as well as how to manage the situation if it should occur again.