Select Board Minutes
Groton Community Building
April 19, 2007
Present:
Select Board: Leonard Doscinski, Debra Tinkham and David Spencer
2nd
Constable: Jim Downing Jr.
Building Committee
Chair: Warren Tripp
Tree Warden: Harry Chandler
Guest: Paul Berlejung (Groton General Store Ad Hoc Committee),
Cheryl Boucher,
Brad
Houghton & Christle Brooks, Donald Schmidt
Page 1 of 3
Leonard called the meeting to order at
7:00 PM.
Mail was reviewed.
Harry Chandler gave an up date
concerning the hazard trees across from the Baptist Church. Harry has contacted
Green Mountain Power and will need to check with the landowners for their
permission to remove the trees.
Dave: there is a tree down in Veteran’s
Park that is broken down can this be cleaned up? This was discussed along with
the trees in the town’s gravel pit.
There isn’t a right of way to the Boy
Scout camp as far as the State is concerned except for a footpath.
Dave: Leonard, should the dart helicopter
landing pad be plowed in the winter at the old gravel pit?
Leonard: if it needs to be used it
doesn’t take long to plow it as it takes the helicopter a few minutes to get
here.
Warren Tripp: there are six voting and
two non-voting members on the building committee at this time. We would like to
make a recommendation to appoint Kent Haskell and Harold Puffer to the
committee. Harold Puffer is not a registered voter in the Town of Groton but he
does own land and buildings in town.
Debra and Leonard are in favor of
appointing them to the Building Committee.
Leonard made the motion to add Kent
Haskell and Harold Puffer to the Building Committee. Debra seconded the motion and Dave agreed. So moved.
Warren: handed copies of the written
proposals that the building committee would like to send out to engineers. One
for the Fire Station and one for the Community Building.
The proposals were read and discussed.
Debra made the motion to accept the
remodeling proposals for the Fire Station and the Community Building. Dave
seconded the motion. Leonard obstained
as he is with the Fire Department.
Jim: there is a chance the police
cruiser I spoke about at last meeting is fully equipped with more then the
light bar.
Dave: what is the reason you think a
police cruiser would be an asset to the town and your job?
Jim: Insurance for one thing and the
blue light wouldn’t be up so high that people have difficulty seeing it.
Leonard: The Fire Department has talked
of purchasing a pickup truck to carry some of their equipment in when they
attend fires. Would this be something that might work for both uses? It
wouldn’t be in use all the time for the fire department, only for fire calls.
Jim: this would depend on the weight
and the use of two different color light bars on the same vehicle. This would
need to be checked into.
Dave: I have spoke with Paul Keenen
regarding the purchase of the radar system from Ryegate.
Paul: updated the Selectboard on the
Historical Society, benefit with Willem Lange, Author, Storyteller and
contributor to the Vermont Public Radio.
Paul: sometime in June hope to do fund
raiser with the Fire Department.
Paul: I have e-mailed the Recreation
Committee by-laws to Linda today.
Paul: The Ad Hoc Committee is a
sub-committee to the recreation committee.
Leonard: a letter from the Planning
Commission, (Wade Johnson) with a recommendation that Cheryl Boucher be
appointed Zoning Administrator and William Putnam as Assistant Zoning
Administrator.
Leonard made the motion to appoint
Cheryl Boucher as Zoning Administrator and William Putnam as assistant Zoning
Administrator.
Dave seconded the motion.
Linda Nunn handed papers concerning
barking dog issue to the Selectboard explaining she had spoke with the legal
department of VLCT concerning this issue.
Leonard made the motion to go into
executive session on a legal issue. Dave agreed.
The Selectboard entered into executive
session at 7:55 p.m.
The Selectboard exited executive
session at 8:10 p.m.
Brad spoke with the Selectboard
concerning the dog issues.
Leonard: if this issue continues the
animal control person will be contacted to meet with both of you to see if this
can be taken care of. We aren’t going to take your dog.
Donald Schmidt: where does the
Selectboard stand concerning the letter from the State on Seyon Ranch?
Selectboard: we are just seeing the
letter for the first time right now.
Dave explained that he and Debra were
at the meeting at Seyon Ranch. The meeting was to talk about setting up a
committee with names of people that would represent the town. There would be
people that would represent the highways, businesses and recreation.
Donald: have you seen the letter from
Betty Eastman? Just now we are seeing
it.
There was much discussion on the issues
of how Seyon Ranch plans to operate Seyon and what happens to the privately
owned land of the people living on Seyon road.
Donald was to be appointed to the
committee that will work on the town and state issues.
Leonard: Wants this committee to look
at the whole picture and not just the neighbors and Seyon.
Leonard is there a problem with Donald
being on the committee?
Dave: not as long as we look at the
whole picture and don’t get stuck on Seyon Ranch.
Leonard made the motion to add Donald
Schmidt to the Town & State Committee. Dave seconded the motion.
Leonard said they needed to keep the
committee small if it’s to large nothing gets done.
Leonard read a request from Donald
Bliss concerning the grant money being lent out again.
Linda: said there was a message on the
answering machine saying thank you for considering it but he didn’t need it
right now.
Letter from Patricia Bouley letting the
Selectboard know the tax sale date is set for July 18th, 2007.
Milt had requested additional wage and
mileage pay for attending a constable-training seminar. Discussion of a mileage
increase and hourly wage will be reviewed at the next meeting.
Leonard: spoke with VLCT Attorney
concerning a letter of possible sexual harassment by one of the FAST Squad
members.
Leonard: VLCT Attorney discussed other
issues concerning chain of command between Fire and FAST and the Selectboard.
Also policies of Fire and FAST were discussed.
D& S trash removal and recycling
was discussed concerning the town paying $75.00 a ton for them to do recycling
from the area that they now setup.
Dave: don’t feel the town has the money
to pay for the extra as they can already use the East Ryegate site. If the
people want to use D&S trash removal for recycling and their services then
the people should pay for the service.
Dave filled Leonard in on Patricia
Bouley’s call about becoming very sick after working at the town offices the
other day. She said the Listers are having signs of being sick also. We need to
look into having this checked out. The
issue of black mold was discussed and maybe having the rugs pulled up to see if
this would help dry things out. Different ideas were discussed.
Leonard: doesn’t feel this will help as
it could go deeper then the rugs. This will be discussed at the next meeting
and will be looked into more.
Orders were signed in the amount of $ 3,144.94.
Leonard made the motion to adjourn;
Dave seconded the motion.
Meeting adjourned at 9:40 PM.
Groton Board of Selectmen
_______________________
Leonard
Doscinski
___________________________
___________________________
Dave
Spencer
Respectfully submitted by Linda Nunn
Not Valid Until Signed By The Selectboard