Town of Danville

Selectboard Minutes of

May 6th, 2010 Meeting

Chair Michael K Walsh called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. Selectboard present were, Michael K Walsh, Marvin Withers, Steven Larrabee, Denise Briggs and Douglas Pastula. Also present were: Wendy Somers, and Merton Leonard; Fire Wardens Jason Crocker and Jeremy Withers; Fire Chief Troy Cochran; VLCT-PACIF Insurance Trust representatives Tanya Chambers, Cindy Bouchard, and Joseph Damiata; visitors Barb and Gary Fontaine; politician Charles Bucknam; and reporter Sally Cook.

Douglas Pastula moved to accept the minutes of the April 15th meeting, Marvin Withers seconded the motion. Barb Fontaine pointed out that on line 60, her information presented on the Australian ballot included information on amending a town charter not adopting it. The minutes were approved as changed. Steven Larrabee moved to accept the minutes of the April 29th Special Selectboard Meeting as written. Marvin Withers seconded the motion, the minutes were approved as written.

Fire Warden Jason Crocker and Deputy Fire Warden Jeremy Withers were present to discuss a complaint on a permitted burn at 116 Hill St. The complaint was that disallowed items such as tires, plastic, tar paper, asphalt roofing, etc were being burned in an open fire. When they went to investigate the complaint soon after they were called, neither of the wardens found anything at that time that was not allowed to be burned in the fire. However, witnesses at and around the scene insisted that the smoke smelled as if some of the banned items were in the fire. The Fire Wardens had suspended all burning permits in town, until the question was settled. The discussion turned to burning in general in the village areas and concern of densely populated areas that exist there. After further discussion Marvin Withers moved to institute a temporary ban on all burning permits in the former design control areas of Danville Village, North Danville Village, and West Danville Village, until the Burning Ordinance could be readdressed to better define burning in these areas. The motion was seconded by Steven Larrabee and was approved. Merton will post this ban notice in the newspaper and the Wardens will resume issuing burning permits in other areas of the town.

The VLCT Property and Casualty Intermunicipal Fund (PCIF) representatives were present to present a proposal to the Board for town property, liability, and worker's compensation coverage. The fund is owned by the participating municipalities and only insures municipalities. They left plenty of information that the Board will sort through, and will be able to discuss it again with them before making any decision. Charlie Bucknam was also present, a candidate for the state senate from the area. He wanted to introduce himself to the Board and let the Board know that he is available to answer questions that they may have.

Request for mowing bids to mow the Green had been advertised in the local paper for approximately ten days. Wendy received 12 bids. They ranged from a high of $2880 to a low of $680. The low bid belonged to Don Woods of Danville, and included the necessary Insurance form. After some discussion, the Board awarded the mowing of the Green to Don Woods for $680 for the season, on a motion by Douglas Pastula that was seconded by Marvin Withers.

Wendy informed the Board that the town hall phone system controller has failed and is not repairable. The system is a few years old, and since it was installed the manufacturer has gone out of business. D&K Enterprises of Barre has a local repair man that supplies fast response and great service when called. He replaced the controller with a backup unit he had, to keep the office going until a replacement system can be obtained. He recommended a new phone system manufactured by Samsung for a replacement with additional features including voice mail and caller ID for a replacement. Their price for the complete system replacement is $4303.12. After some discussion, Denise Briggs moved to replace the Town Hall phone system with the new Samsung unit for a price of $4303.12 from D&K Enterprises. Steven Larrabee seconded the motion which was approved. The Board signed the line of credit borrowing form, from the Passumpsic Bank that was approved at an earlier meeting.

Kevin's written report stated that the road crew had to return to winter work with the up to a foot deep snow storm that hit in late April. This also returned many of the roads to "spring" conditions again. The grader has been working to get them back in shape. They have installed more drainage on Hill Street also, working around the water and sewer pipes also under the road. They will continue working on culverts on Hill St, as well as keeping up with events that occur on other locations. They will also attend their annual MSHA training for the whole department, now required to enter quarries and gravel pits. On May 18th the Local Roads Grader training will be held here at the town garage. Kevin is waiting for Larrabee's to estimate replacing the old garage roof with wooden trusses as possibly a less expensive better solution to the roof problem. J P Carrara is working on the bridge drawings for the North Danville Bridge #7 project. There will be a special meeting to open the bids for removing the old bridge on May 12th. After the deck is removed, the extent of the masonry work on the abutments will be determined. There was one Curbcut application, a renewal of an expired permit for Marvin Withers. Steven Larrabee moved to approve Marvin's Curbcut renewal on Hill St, Douglas Pastula seconded the motion which was approved, Marvin did not vote.

Merton will revise the open burning ordinance as discussed, for the next meeting. He noted that the bank foreclosure notice for 116 Hill St house was in the paper, so the bank is progressing on getting ownership to that property. Two structural engineers have inspected the Town Hall porch and roof situation, Merton is waiting for a quote from one of them. He sent out bid notices of the work required on the North Danville Bridge #7, to the bridge contractors that bid on the Harvey's Hollow Bridge as well as posted it in the paper. Merton has been working with Kevin and Bob Briggs to get the radio license's changed to narrow banding per the FCC's mandate for the Northeast. Their intention is to double the number of users in this busy corridor. Most radios we have in use will be able to be reprogrammed; there may be a few older ones that will have to be replaced. Merton also reported thought the efforts of Jeff Frampton, Jeremy McMullen, and Peter McAlenney, a grant application to eVermont was filed on behalf of the town for the new broadband project.

The Board reviewed the budgets and the expenditures and signed the orders.

With no further business, the Board voted to adjourn at 9:27pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Merton Leonard

Clerk of the Selectboard

Town of Danville

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