Town of Halifax, Vermont
MINUTES
October 6, 2009
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM. Board members in attendance were John LaFlamme, Mitchell Green, and Lewis Sumner. Others in attendance were Margo Avakian, Susan Kelly, Christina Moore, Andrew Rice, Merrill Mundell Jr., and Board Secretary Phyllis Evanuk.
Approval of Minutes
Mr. Sumner moved to accept the minutes of the September 15, 2009 meeting as written.
Mr. Green seconded the motion.
The motion carried 3-0, and the minutes were approved.
New Business
Ø Merrill Mundell Jr.
Mr. Mundell was in attendance to advise the Board about a surveying project he is working on for Philip and Regina Hardgrove. The property is on Brook Road and includes multiple lots. He advised that some lot line adjustments are necessary due to encroachments of structures and septic and well sites onto adjoining lots. He further advised that during his research he found that the 1.3+/- acre lot that was sold to Scott Ashcraft in 2003, as nearly as can be determined from old records, actually includes a small portion of land that was assumed to belong to the Town of Halifax, along the adjoining side of the former Town Garage property. He advised that he was presenting these preliminary findings to the Board as a matter of information and for their review. He asked to be informed if the Board does not agree with the conclusions he has drawn from his research. He advised that he still needs to have state review and he will come before the Planning Commission and/or Zoning Board of Adjustment before final approval is granted.
Hearing of Visitors
Ø Susan M. Kelly, DVM
Ms. Kelly was in attendance to withdraw her request for a Health Order.
She advised that she had sent notice to the property owner and he had responded. He advised that the problem would be taken care of and when she inspected the site it had been dealt with. She advised that she will monitor the site as needed to insure that the situation does not reoccur.
Ø Christina Moore
Mrs. Moore advised that now that new road signs (with 6” letters) are going to be installed she would like to request that signs for all of the split roads such as Old County Road be marked on the signs such as Old County Road North and Old County Road South, and the same for other non-contiguous roads in town. She advised this would eliminate confusion for emergency services when being dispatched if the dispatchers also had the designations.
Mr. LaFlamme noted that if they change the names that would trigger renumbering for E911 purposes.
Mr. Green advised that if they just add north or south as a locater it would not need renumbering, but if they changed it to North Old County Road that would be considered a name change and could present legal issues.
Ø Andrew Rice
Mr. Rice advised that he feels that they really need to work on educating people to call 911 instead of calling a fireman when there is a fire or other emergency. Also using street numbers instead of owner names or property names would be better.
Mr. Rice advised that on his way to this meeting he had visited a resident regarding some dishwashers that had been dumped on Butterfield Road. He had been advised that they will be gone in the morning.
Mr. Rice advised that people are getting a little better about calling the pager rather than home phones. They still seem to not realize that when He is out of town that Roy Richardson has the pager and can respond.
Mr. Rice submitted papers regarding the grant he had been awarded, and some invoices for equipment he ordered.
Mr. Rice advised that he has been in conversation with officials in Guilford regarding a reciprocal agreement because their constable also is certified.
The last item he suggested was regarding traffic cones or something to alert traffic on Route 112 for the Stone funeral in the morning.
Old Business
None
Other Business
Ø Mr. LaFlamme advised they had received a request from the Squiers’ to
lower the speed limit on their road to 15 miles per hour.
Mr. Sumner advised that state law will not allow anything under 25 miles per hour. If they were to petition the state there would have to be a traffic study and all sorts of other documentation, and probably still would not allow it.
Other types of signs were suggested by Mr. Green such as ‘slow, children ahead’ or ‘handicapped children’ or some other statement referring to the loading and unloading of children would be more effective in controlling speed and raising awareness of drivers.
Mr. LaFlamme advised he would put it on the next agenda for discussion and invite the Squiers’ to attend.
Ø Mr. LaFlamme gave an update on the Reed Hill Road bridge project.
He advised that the concrete is curing. He advised that one of the problems they discovered was that when they removed the deck they discovered that adjustments had to be made to insure that the new deck will be positioned on solid supports. He noted that they had saved money by not hiring an engineer to do a study before the project started but they a now having to address the issues that the preliminary study would have uncovered. The slabs have been ordered and will be on schedule for placement once the concrete is cured.
Communications and Mail
Ø Listers request
The Listers requested that the Board approve an adjustment to the Grand List to correct an error in the percentage of completion for a property.
Mr. Green moved to approve an adjustment to the Grand List to reflect the correction on parcel #cln.1385 owned by Leonard Boyd III and Jennifer Derby, from 100% complete valued at $89,360 to 75% complete valued at $82,260.
Mr. Sumner seconded the motion which carried 3-0.
Selectmen’s Order to Town Treasurer for bill payment
The order for payment of bills was completed and signed.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Phyllis H. Evanuk
Secretary