OFFICE OF THE SELECTBOARD
TOWN OF HALIFAX, VERMONT
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
July 28, 2025
6:30 AM at the Halifax Town Garage; recessed & reconvened at Town Office at 8:45 AM
CALL TO ORDER
Edee Edwards called the meeting to order at 6:33 AM. Other Selectboard members present were Rhonda Ashcraft, Randy Pike and Lori Marchegiani, with Karen Christofferson coming in about 5 minutes late. Members of the public present were Highway Department staff: Michael Fournier, Keith Stone, Ben Barnett, Wade Janovsky, and Travis Stone. Upon reconvening at the Town Office, the Selectboard members were all present and Mike Fournier, Tim Jones (GMP), Kristin Carlson (GMP), John Riggs (GMP contractor), and Dennis Annear (Halifax Fire Company, Inc. Chief)
CHANGES AND ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA
None.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Edwards made a motion to go into executive session for annual employee evaluations of the Highway Department crew under 1 VSA § 313 (a) (3) [for] the appointment or employment or evaluation of a public officer or employee. Marchegiani seconded. Motion carried 4-0.
At 8:33 AM, Edwards made a motion to come out of Executive Session. Marchegiani seconded. Motion carried 5-0.
The board recessed and traveled to the Halifax Town Office.
Reconvene at Town Office/on Zoom
At 8:47 AM, Edwards reconvened the meeting at the Halifax Town Office and on Zoom. Attendees are noted above.
OLD BUSINESS
GMP Petition to continue Jacksonville Stage Rd Phases 1 & 3
The board and GMP discussed the request for electrical infrastructure work including underground wire burial to continue on Jacksonville Stage Road, spanning from both directions away from work done in Phase 2, which was from Vaughn Road to Amidon Road. For that phase, the trenching is done and conductor roughed in. Cabinet, pole and electrical work continues.
Phase 1—overhead, up the hill from here, not under the pavement, but underground to the extent possible from there.
Phase 3–Amidon to town line in Guilford along Jacksonville Stage Rd.
This is all that can be done this year. The program runs through fall of 2026, but these 2 are the only jobs that are ready to go now and will complete Rte. 100 to Guilford. If approved, there will be a couple more weeks of trenching on Jacksonville Stage Road. Ideally they will be wrapping up on JSR in mid-September for this year’s work. The new project completion schedule was noted, which will indicate that at least this base 2 inches of gravel has been done with work continuing.
Last week, Mike Fournier had agreed to a plan for GMP to put the first 2 inches of the required 6 inch final amount in order to get the roads to a smoother finish for now, in light of the Halifax Fire Company Clam Bake which is a major town traffic event this weekend. Next fall or later this year they will add the remaining 4 inches.
Tucker and Old County to the 4 corners past the clam bake are at least mostly done. Stowe Mtn is next.
The timing of when to allow work to restart on Phase 1&3 was discussed. There have been communication challenges about what work is actually being done and some work being allowed to carry over to the next day, which resulted in things like private pay trash pickup being delayed. Some information has been missing or incomplete on the provided schedule.
Fournier suggested trenching start next Monday. Edwards noted that if we are not approving it to start today, what are we buying with that extra time? This will inconvenience the JSR residents and travelers for another week.
After discussions of improving the level of detail in the work plan, and communications patterns with emergency services & EMD, the board and GMP agreed that focusing on the grading improvements made sense. The earliest the GMP crew could start with trenching would be Wednesday, anyhow.
Pike made a motion to allow GMP to start Phase 1 & 3 of Jacksonville Stage Road plans as presented on Monday, August 4. Ashcraft seconded. Motion carried 5-0.
NEW BUSINESS
ZBA/PC Secretary paid appointed position opening.
Edwards noted Tina Blais was resigning this paid position as of August 31, due to personal reasons. She will post a generic notice, but the board should consider the pay rate at a future meeting.
HEARING OF VISITORS
Christofferson, who was not present at the very start of the meeting asked to mention a cost overrun for the Hatch School Road project due to ledge and asked about billing options. The board suggested the original amount should be billed; an overage could be discussed after consultation with the original agreement wording, and VTRANS, who is funding the bulk of the grant. Guardrails should be considered as well.
ADJOURNMENT
Ashcraft made a motion to adjourn. Marchegiani seconded. It was 9:53 AM. Motion carried 5-0.
Respectfully Submitted,
Edee Edwards, Secretary Pro Tempore
Meeting Recording (in 2 parts):