Town of Halifax, Vermont

REGULAR MEETING MINUTES
July 22, 2013

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 1:04 pm at the town office. Board members in attendance were Edee Edwards, Earl Holtz, and Lewis Sumner. Others in attendance were Jessica Bruno, and Brad Rafus.

New Business

Review of Highway Orders

There were discussions regarding electric usage at the town garage, training, and brush removal at the old dump site. The highway orders were signed.

Hearing of Visitors

Rafus discussed replacing culverts on the lower section of Green River Road. He will need to close Green River Road from Moss Hollow Rd to the Guilford town line/Deer Park Bridge from July 25-26 from 8am-3pm. Bruno will post on the town website.

Paving is scheduled the second week of August. It is uncertain whether the state is painting road lines for Halifax this year. The road will not be closed during paving.

Rafus expressed his concern about getting mail in a timely manner. The Selectboard will review the mail at their Monday and Tuesday meetings and route appropriately.

The group discussed a computer for the town garage. The Selectboard advised that a laptop may be more practical. Rafus will start the process of looking into purchasing a computer for the town garage.

Holtz reported that Hale Road Bridge is open for traffic. Barriers are up, and the guardrails are scheduled to be put on this week.

Edwards shared a news article regarding libraries participating in a new trend: offering communities the opportunity to check out tools, instruments, fishing poles and more from the library. A library in CA offered tools for check out following a firestorm and received a community block development grant for expansion of that service. Edwards suggested contacting Kristine Sweeter from the Whitingham Library as they are currently working on their 5 year visioning plan.

There was a discussion regarding FEMA reimbursements. The Selectboard would like an update on how much is still left to come in.

There was a brief discussion regarding the town’s abandoned car ordinance. There is a challenge going out and inventorying. It was noted that it’s expensive to get rid of junk and they need to be respectful to residents and fair when enforcing an ordinance like that. If many residents are concerned about it, Edwards suggests that perhaps a beautification committee should be formed to deal with it.

The Selectboard noted that if people have concerns about Selectboard discussions/decisions, they should come to Selectboard meetings and voice their concerns to the Selectboard directly.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 1:57 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Jessica Bruno

Selectboard Secretary