Town of Halifax, Vermont
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
April 12, 2012
Call to Order
The special meeting was called to order at 2:02 PM. Board members in attendance were Lewis Sumner, Edee Edwards and Earl Holtz. Others in attendance were Bob Bass, Christina Moore, and Jessica Bruno.
Irene Recovery
Bob Bass started the meeting by going over the FEMA Public Assistance Status Report that he prepared (see Attachment 1). Bass also submitted an updated Applicant Status Report (ASR) (see Attachment 2).
Bass reported the following updates:
FEMA increased their work hours to 10 hours Monday through Friday and to 4 hours on Saturday. This week, they extended the Saturday hours to 8 hours. He reported that he and Christina Moore have been able to communicate really well, and with the help of her spreadsheets, he is able to get numbers quickly into his Project Worksheets (PW’s). He noted that some of the numbers reported on the Public Assistance Status Report are solid, but some are still estimates.
Green River Rd project- the project is in final review at the JFO (Joint Field Office) in Burlington. Moore reported that there may still be some confusion from Ken Pinkham who is doing the final review of the project. Bass and Moore have communicated with him to clear up some of the confusion.
Stowe Mt. Rd project- the project had to have a CEF (Cost Estimate Format), which has been done. If the to be completed work exceeds 10% of the total cost of the project, a CEF has to be completed. The stone ditches value caused the CEF to need to be prepared.
Brook Rd project- CEF is completed and submitted for review.
Collins Rd project- Originally there were three Cat B PW’s written for this project. Now they have instead created a whole new PW as if the old ones didn’t exist. They will then take those three original PW’s as a deduction at the bottom of the new one. All the work on the Cat B’s was permanent work. Bass explained that usually Cat B only allows overtime and equipment time, however, as the work was all permanent, he can write it as Cat C. Therefore, we can recover the regular time spent and not paid on the original PW’s. The labor rates will increase by about 4% as we will get fringe benefits such as employer portions of Medicare and Social Security tax.
Bass reported that there are issues with GPS coordinates reported. Due to the older equipment that was used, the results do not quite match up with Google Earth or Streets and Crypts coordinates that Bass uses for plotting. We may have the opportunity to buy one or two GPS tracking units for the town as part of one of the larger projects direct administrative costs. Moore reported that she now has a cell phone that has the capability to do topographical mapping with four decimal digits which can track and capture the way points, put a photograph on a GPS location, write comments on there, and then upload directly into Google Earth.
Amidon Rd project- This project should be completed by Bass by the end of the weekend.
Reed Hill Rd project- Moore is working on putting together a book for this project. This is last of the large road projects.
Emergency Protective Measures project- Moore reported that this number is lower than before because some of the cones are barriers expense was allocated to Green River Rd where it was used. We are still being reimbursed, but it will just be under a different project. The project is in the queue for obligation.
Hale Rd Bridge- the engineer came out to review today, and will write the PW’s in about a day or two.
There are 11 small Cat C’s and one Cat A for the debris for Green River Rd. Moore is preparing the project binders.
The goal for completion is May 3, 2012.
Moore requested that she work overtime on Saturdays on these projects and that this time will be recaptured by FEMA. The Selectboard agreed that this would be worthwhile to keep everything going. Bass reported they hoped to shut down the office by June 1st.
Patty Dow reported on upcoming expenditures and cumulative line of credit borrowings. Edwards prepared a cash flow analysis that Patty Dow will update with actual numbers where applicable.
Bass reported that FEMA does not pay to remove trees from the waterways, but the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) may do that. The NRCS is involved now and started a list with three waterways that need to be looked at (Hinesburg Brook, Green River, and North Branch). Edwards reported that Maggie Bartenhagen e-mailed with contact info for USDA Emergency Watershed Protection funding programs. One of the contacts for this USDA funding is Rob Allen from NRCS. Moore offered to help do some of the documentation of the rivers and areas of concern using her cell phone GPS tool. Bass will inquire how FEMA may interact with NRCS and what the procedures might be etc. Edwards will let Maggie Bartenhagen know there are people interested in helping with the documentation.
Other Business
The Selectboard confirmed interview times, which may be under executive session, for the EMD position. There was a discussion of having Linda Lyon and Everett Wilson join the EMD interview committee. There were no objections.
Items to be added to the next agenda:
Sue Kelly- Health Officer
Truck Specs
Green-up Day and Arbor Day Tree City designation
Tree and bank erosion issues and follow-up
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:28 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jessica Bruno
Secretary