June 8, 2012

Call to Order

An emergency meeting of the Halifax Selectboard was held at the intersection of Green River Road and Thurber Lane, called to order at 12:45 pm.  Present were Selectboard members Lewis Sumner, Earl Holtz, and Edee Edwards, as well as Brad Rafus.

Hearing of Visitors

•          None present

Green River Road Irene Recovery Project & General Paving Project

Christina Moore had notified the Selectboard members individually of concerns about the closeout of the Green River Road paving, which Lane is scheduled to complete Monday.  Lewis Sumner called a special emergency meeting to discuss this unforeseen and time-critical issue.

A small portion of road at the end of Ballou Mountain Road was Irene-damaged.  However, this abuts a portion of road that under our regular maintenance and paving schedule is going to be reclaimed this year, and paved next year.

With the removal of Lane’s equipment due on Monday, the question about whether to go ahead and pave this now, leaving additional seams that will likely be an ongoing challenge for maintenance and plowing, or whether delaying it is feasible and advisable with complications of FEMA project management, was discussed.

Options included:

1) Paving the small bit near Ballou Mtn Rd now and including it in the FEMA PW (Project worksheet) for Green River Road.

-or-

2) Removing this section from the current scope of work and closing the PW without this short section. This puts the cost of paving this on the taxpayers of Halifax, but would make for a better long term road.

Christina had noted that requesting an extension for this work would likely create additional oversight as well as delaying paperwork wrap up and final payments for another year on this project.

Brad Rafus estimated that the amount of paving material for that section of road was 150 tons, at $75/ton, which totals $11,250.

Lewis Sumner made a motion to leave the end of Ballou Mountain Road unpaved and consider the Green River Road Irene paving complete.  Earl Holtz seconded it.

Additional discussion was held discussion about the likelihood of receiving paving grants for this project next year from the state.  It was confirmed that this decision means that this section will be paved next year with the regular Halifax paving project, as planned before Irene hit us.

We had some unanswered questions about how easy it would be to slightly reduce the scope of work for Green River project with FEMA, but noted that Christina Moore had proposed this as an option.

The vote was taken, and the motion passed 3-0.

Lewis Sumner will follow up with Christina Moore to notify her of the decision.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Edee Edwards, Selectboard Vice Chair