Select board members present: Eric Osgood - Chair, Margo Warden, Doug Molde, Howard Romero.

 

Others present: Rosemary Audibert; Duncan Hastings, Steve Smith; Road Foreman, Jessica Flores; Selectboard Secretary, Jim Tomlinson Jr; Green Mtn. Access TV, Tim Pudvar from Deere, Inc.  

 

Eric called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 

 

 

 

Rosemary says the budget is right on track. The Town has received the 4^th installment of state aid. Rosemary has contacted Sharon Green about a second tax sale. David Jones, the Town’s 2^nd dog catcher, picked up a cat. He billed us $50.00 for this, what does the Board want to do? Eric suggested that Rosemary send Dave Jones a letter explaining the Town policy is just for dogs. 

 

 

Since the last meeting we’ve received one inch of snow on the lower elevations and as much as three inches up high. The Highway department sanded one time and used 2800-3000 yards of sand for the season. Since April 1^st, we’ve had 2.2 inches of rain. Since we’ve has very little mud this year only 200 yards of gravel has been used, and a minimal amount of stone. The mud is all but gone. All of the snowplows have been painted and the wings will be painted tomorrow. The Highway department started trying out road graders: a Deere, Cat, & a Volvo. Beaver and Steve liked the Deere best before they found out that the Deere was the lowest price. Duncan has information on bidders for the old grader. 

 

Steve briefly described the specifications and prices of each machine. Caterpillar: $185,908, Volvo: $164,430, & Deere: $159,789 with a trade in. Without the trade the Deere grader is $197,789. Duncan mentioned the importance of warranties and asked Tim how long the Town had to add a warranty. Tim answered that the Town would have until the end of the year, he will price up different warranties for Steve to look at. Tim said delivery of the new grader will be in mid- June.

 

Action item #2: Grader bids- The Town of Tinmouth bid $54,113.13, Woods CRW bid $50,650, and Daryl West bid $36,501. 

 

Action item #4: Highway Paving outlook- Duncan and Steve handed out the paving outlook for 2010. Railroad Street paving was discussed, as well as a shim coat on the Hogback. Duncan expressed the importance of putting a crown in the road on Railroad Street as drainage is a problem there. 

 

#6: Class IV road policy review: The Board will revisit this at a later work session when Rocky is present.

 

Action item #3: Grader financing- Duncan presented the Board with several financing options for the grader. Duncan asked the Board how much they wanted to borrow. Deere costs $197,789-53,113.13= $144,675.87. The Board decided to wait until next meeting to decide which finance option to choose as now they have definite figures to work with. 

 

Action item #5: Applications for liquor licenses from Plum & Main, Grand Union, Winding Brook Bistro, & River Valley store.

 

Action item #7: Appoint someone to Lamoille County Planning Commission- Doug suggested Lea. Bob Selby said he’d do it if no one else was interested.

 

 

The Planning Commission had a productive meeting. Bob has contact John Mandeville from Lamoille Economic Development Corp. about the Jewett property. In doing this, the Town will be proactive in the search for businesses for the new light industrial/commercial park. Johns will attend one of the Planning Commission’s meetings. Duncan suggested the select board and himself attend that meeting as well. April 28^th the public hearing for the Jewett Property. Doug suggested a site visit by the Board, planning commission, and John Mandeville before the public hearing. The site visit will be at 6:00pm on April 28^th. 

 

The purpose of the grant is to create a Town Plan. Lea would like to apply for the competitive grant as she would like to review the Town initiatives and add in the data from the housing study. 

 

Eric asked Lea about the walking path on the Butler property. Lea has been in contact with Karen Thomas-McQuilken. 

 

Casey Romero came in to talk about Johnson Elementary School’s bottom ten rating in the State. Casey stated that the No Child Left Behind Act is foolish and the Federal Laws are ridiculous. She stated that their math is all wrong for calculating the effectiveness of a school. Casey went on to say that the school now has the option for a school improvement grant of $600,000-$800,000. In order to qualify for the grant, the school must be one of the lowest performing 10 schools in the state. On May 4^th there is a meeting for Johnson Elementary School and Lamoille Union High School. Both schools could vote to accept the grant. Casey asked the Board for permission to use the Municipal Office equipment to oppose this rating from the Department of Education. Casey states that it’s a Town problem because the ill rating of the school affects the Town and community as well as the school. Eric suggested that the school initiate this opposition, not the Town. Casey went on to discuss the high population of special needs students in the school, which doesn’t help the bad school rating. 

 

Action item #8: Noise ordinance waiver request for Lamoille County Field Days on July 23,24,&25^th.   

 

Action item #9: bridge status report. 

 

Action item #10: 2010 Mowing bids. Duncan told the Board that the Trustees went with Robert & Sons Mowing. Though not the lowest bid, they’ve done a great job in the past and have a great track record. 

 

Action item #11: VT Reggae Fest is looking for a site for a reggae Fest this summer. They suggested the Talc Mill property. They estimate about 2500-3000 people would attend.   The general consensus of the Board was that VT Reggae should find another site in Johnson. Having something that big in the Village could be a big traffic problem.  

 

Eric asked Jessica to put the Public Hearing for the Jewett property on the web site.

 

Howard mentioned that Tatro Brothers is selling a piece of their land to Brosseau Fuels. They will have underground storage tanks which will not be in the flood plain. This project will be subject to Act 250. 

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:58pm. 

 

 

Respectfully submitted by,

Jessica D. Flores