Danville Vermont             

~DRAFT~

                                        Town of Danville

                                    Selectboard Minutes of

                           June 16th, 2011 Meeting

Chairman, Douglas Pastula called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. Selectboard present were,  Douglas Pastula, Angelo Incerpi, Marvin Withers and Michael Walsh. Also present were: Town Clerk Wendy Somers, Kevin Gadapee, Merton Leonard, and Visitors, Barb and Gary Fontaine, Ken Linsley, Pam Hebert, and FEMA representative. Michael K Walsh moved to accept the minutes of the June 16th, 2011 meeting as corrected, Angelo Incerpi seconded the motion, which was approved by the Board.  

            Pam Hebert member of the Joes Pond Association was present to discuss the invasive aquatic water species program established at the pond in 2000. She advised it was once again a successful summer staffing of greeters/educators at Joe's Pond’s State Fishing Access. The program began the end of June and continued through Labor Day with the inspecting of boats launched at the fishing access. The greeters have been trained as to what to look for, if they find something they have not seen, they remove it all and save it for state inspection. The program is partially funded by a grant from the Department of Environmental Conservation as well as donations from the towns of Danville and Cabot. Lycott Environmental, Inc., who conducted an aquatic vegetation survey in 2009, will conduct a follow-up survey in 2011. No Eurasian Milfoil or other invasive aquatic plants were found during their original survey. The Vermont Aquatic Invasive Species Program Update reported that in 2010 the only new Eurasian Milfoil confirmation was at Ticklenaked Pond in Ryegate. This transfer of contamination, carries a $1,000 fine if detected. Vermont has over 800 lakes, and only 45 have been found to have Eurasian Milfoil. One of the best lines of defense is an informed and alert community. They are all very proud of the commitment to the water quality at Joe's Pond.  

            The U S Dept of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service administers the Emergency Watershed Protection Program, which responds to emergencies created by natural disasters. The EWP Program is a recovery effort aimed at relieving imminent hazards to life and property caused by floods, fires, windstorms, and other natural occurrences. This program may bear 75% of the construction cost of emergency measures, the balance of the costs must come from local sources and can be in the form of cash or in-kind services, furnished by the land owner. Each project must have a sponsor which is a legal subdivision of state such as, a county, city, town, conservation district, etc. There are two land owners in town that have erosion damage that may qualify them for this program. If the town chooses to sponsor these projects and the land owners choose to participate, this program will stabilized the riverbank at these two locations. After some discussion, Michael K Walsh moved to sponsor the two projects provided the land owners paid the 25% of the cost as required by the program, up front and to designate Douglas Pastula to sign all documents required for this project, Marvin Withers seconded the motion which was approved.           

            An executive session was requested on a motion by Marvin Withers at 6:15pm, Michael K Walsh seconded the motion to discuss personnel which was approved. The Board returned at 8:10pm with no action taken. The purchasing policy had been discussed May 16th and had a couple revisions proposed; one to add Town of Danville to all Capital Funds; and one to add major purchases only have to meet one of the three requirements. After some discussion, Michael K Welsh moved to adopt the purchasing policy as revised, Angelo Incerpi seconded the motion which was approved. Wendy Somers had advertised for proposals to audit the towns books, and had received four responses. Ralph Chase of Lyndonville declined to bid at this time; Bruce Corrette and Associates of St Johnsbury bid $12,600; Sullivan and Powers of Montpelier bid $11,400; and RHR Smith and Co of Buxton Maine bid $6950. After some discussion, Michael K Walsh moved to hire RHR Smith Co of Buxton Maine to do the Town Audit if their references check out; Marvin Withers seconded the motion which was approved.  

Kevin’s road report noted that they have continued to work to get back to some roads that remained one way from the May rains and floods. There has not been any FEMA disaster declaration yet so no reimbursement received. He noted that every repair is not a FEMA job, each location has to have damage over $1,000 to qualify. The Bruce Badger Highway and North Danville Road, listed as a Federal Connector Highway will take longer to receive reimbursement, so the town might want to consider a line of credit just for this area of reconstruction, the reimbursement will include any interest paid. At this time he is considering using one contractor for all the multi repair sights. He is still waiting word on the Water Andric Bridge, the Covered Bridge, and the Webster Hill boiler tube culvert inspections. Kevin cautioned that while the roads are being repaired and are passable, motorist must be aware that washouts and damage does still exist on many roads.

 Merton reported the town has insurance to cover town buildings, equipment, and operation, it does not cover any bridges, roads, or individuals private property. Contrary to several circulating rumors, flood insurance is available in Danville. Several years ago the Town was qualified for flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program. As Michael had resigned from Assistant Emergency Director, the general consensus was that it was a position of the Board Chair, so Douglas should take the position. The Joes Pond Beach water test scored a 9 out of a maximum allowable of 77. This would seem to be very good for the amount of runoff from the rain events. The torrents of rain we received pointed out our concerns of having the 2ft culvert remain in the drainage system by Highland and Mountain View Ave, as considerable amount of washing was done onto Route #2.  The State has agreed to install the 4ft culvert that comes from the North, paralleling Highland Avenue, on condition that the town supply and install the South culvert across Mountain Avenue. The general consensus of the Board was in agreement with this solution. We received notice that we would be getting the official grant notice from Vtrans, for the paving and the bridge repair. However since we canceled the paving bids as it didn't appear we will get to the paving this year, VTrans is requesting that we relinquish the paving grant so it could be used in another application this year. Marvin Withers moved to relinquish the paving grant for this year, Michael Walsh seconded the motion, which was approved. We will retain the bridge grant as we plan on repairing bridge 6 as directed by the bridge inspectors. It was noted at an NVDA TAC meeting that by Jan 02 2012 we are required to have a sign inventory and plan of action as to how to get all our signs compliant with the MUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices) regulations by January of 2015 for reflectivity, and stop signs and speed limit signs for size. By 2018 all street name signs must be compliant as well.

The Board reviewed the budgets and signed the orders.

With no further business, the Board voted to adjourn at 9:40pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Merton Leonard

Clerk of the Selectboard

Send mail to Mert.Leonard@DanvilleVt.com with questions or comments about this web site.