Selectboard Meeting 7/20/16 Unapproved Minutes

TOWN OF PEACHAM

SELECTBOARD MEETING MINUTES

Town Hall Meeting Room

Wednesday June 20, 2016 6:30PM

Present:

Selectboard: Annette Lorraine, Tim Scott, and David Jacobs

Clerk to the Selectboard: Melissa Laurita Kohl

Public: Road Foreman Jeremy Withers, Town Clerk Tom Galinat, Mike Bruton, Marty Cavanaugh, Ed Vilandre

The meeting was called to order by Annette Lorraine at 6:36PM.

1. Additions to Agenda
1. Town Website Update

2. Review and Approve Minutes
1. David moves to approve the minutes of 6/1/16 as amended. Annette seconds. All in favor. So moved.
2. Tim moves to approve the minutes from 6/15/16 as amended. Annette seconds. All in favor. So moved.
3. David moves to approve the minutes of the 7/6/16 hearing with one amendment. Tim seconds. All in favor. So moved.

3. Town Clerk Update
1. Quarterly Status Report
1. Tom reviewed highlights from the quarterly status report for the budget. Highlights included:
2. The town has not had to borrow any money yet.
3. Tax bills will go out next week.
4. Sheriff’s department are listening to the wishes of the town and have issued 11 speeding tickets.
5. Financially, the transfer station is way down.
6. Elections line item is going to go over budget this year as there are three elections this year.
7. The Selectboard took the quarterly status report home to read thoroughly.
8. Tom gave the Selectboard the suggested municipal tax rate based - Annette moves to accept the town municipal tax rate of 0.3674. Tim seconds. All in favor. So moved.

4. Town website update
1. Melissa reviewed options concerning website based searches so that all PDF documents of minutes and agendas could be searched. The Selectboard chose to pay the additional $49 a year to use a product that allowed PDFs on the website to be searched but did not allow web based search engines to access the information.

5. Updates on projects: Roller barn and electrical service
1. The additional wiring outside of town hall will be completed before PAMFest.
2. The Roller Barn was finished before July 4th. Dick Hovey looked happy. Jeremy did the staymat up there for the ramp.
3. Grant about cellular and internet connectivity was denied. In September the grant providers will meet with Annette to show her where the town has room for improvement. This will be useful if the town wants to apply again next year. Annette thinks the town may be able to find grant money for a similar project elsewhere.

6. Village Pathway
1. Tim has a conflict of interest so he recused himself. That leaves Annette and David who do not agree on what to do. Without a decision nothing is happening with the path, but Annette would like a couple of alterations they could agree on to be looked into. David will look into the following:
1. Pruning or moving the shrub in the middle of the path. David will work with the landowners.
2. David had suggested signage to make it clear that it’s a path. He will come up with a plan for signage.
3. David is going to look at the path and see if it is possible to relocate the crosswalk, as it is not in the best location due to the grade of the hill leading down to it. Annette will look into what it takes to move it from a legal perspective.

7. Vilandre-Cavanaugh donation discussion
1. The Selectboard and the Vilandre-Cavanaughs discussed the donation agreement.
2. David wanted to include traffic calming in that area. He wants the site plan to include it as he heard a lot of comments about safety at the hearing. The town would be responsible for any traffic calming measures in the road. Annette added a line to reflect this in the “Pledge Agreement”.
3. Ed Vilandre and Marty Cavanaugh initialed and signed the “Pledge Agreement” and Annette notarized it.

8. Orders reclassifying Taylor Road TH18 and Legal Trail 1
1. Annette reviewed the “Notice and Order: Discontinuing Legal Trail #1” with David and Tim. The Selectboard already voted on this so the Selectboard signed it.
2. The Selectboard signed the “Notice and Order: Discontinuing T.H. 18 Taylor Road”

9. Discuss Mill Terrace classification and maintenance
1. The Selectboard discussed their findings and discussed a letter by the owner of the house requesting that the bridge be maintained as a Class 3 road but the driveway section of the road be reclassified. This keeps the bridge available for FEMA grants and keeps the most level access open. The town does not need to maintain it in the winter as it is not used.
2. The Selectboard will have a hearing and site visit to discuss the matter on 9/7/16 at 6pm at the Mill Terrace bridge.

10. Highway Department update including Better Roads grants
1. Jeremy said road crew is busy with the storms and has the grader out non-stop repairing roads.
2. Peacham received the better roads grant. The coordinator stopped at the garage yesterday and they went out and looked at washed out roads. Cemetery road right from the library down to the fields is a problem area. Jeremy wanted to apply for a grant to resolve it. The coordinator said that it’s impossible as he looked into it before. Due to water and telephone lines you can’t get deep enough to make it effective. There is also ledge there. Jeremy thinks that maybe the town should pave from the library down to field so no material going down there just water, but impervious surfaces increase water velocity and might cause trouble down below. Tomorrow the road crew is trying a different material there - something smaller that can be packed into it. They will see how that holds up.
3. The East Peacham Rd project may happen in the second week in August.
4. Mowing is happening right now.
5. Peacham got Category A and B better back road grants. Green Bay loop will be done in fall.
6. Annette said that when Peacham had tropical storm Irene and another in 2011, the way the town recovered so fast is because Selectboard member Andy Cochran called everyone at 3am and locked them in at low prices. They were there the next day and not available for Danville, etc. She thinks the Selectboard should give Jeremy authority to do that. The Selectboard authorized Jeremy to do that if the storm looks really bad - for example, even if there are more trees down than the road crew can handle.
7. Jeremy requested an Executive Session to discuss private and confidential information concerning personnel.
1. Annette moves to go into executive session at 8:04pm. Tim seconds. All in favor. So moved.
2. David moves to come out of executive session at 8:25pm. Tim seconds. All in favor. So moved.
3. No action taken.

11. David and the Selectboard discussed upcoming schedules - David will be gone from December through March but will be available by email and will skype into meetings. In October, Annette will be absent one meeting. Melissa will not be here at the next meeting. The town clerk will record the first weekend in August so Melissa can listen to it and take the minutes..
12. Review and approve bills
1. The Selectboard reviewed and approved bills.

13. Review correspondence
1. The Selectboard reviewed and approved correspondence.

David moves to adjourn at 8:35pm. Annette seconds. All in favor. So moved.