HALIFAX — Selectboard members on Oct. 7 took up the issue of pay and benefits for the town clerk/treasurer's position, and decided to look more closely into how other towns account for people who fill multiple roles in determining benefit eligibility.
The board may craft a warning to outline when elected officials are eligible for benefits, according to draft meeting minutes.
Edee Edwards noted that taxpayers voted in 2003 to give the town clerk benefits, then cited Vermont League of Cities and Towns guidelines which say that giving elected officials benefits is open to discussion when not voted consistently.
VLCT, Edwards said, recommends having an agreement with the town clerk regarding a benefits arrangement. Federal law requires any employer who offers health benefits to provide them to all full-time employees: those over 30 hours per week.
According to Edwards, who reviewed the VLCT compensation report, the town clerk wage here is based on 24 hours per week at $14.43 per hour. The average is $20.50 per hour and the median is $19.98 per hour.
When possible the Selectboard would like to take salary changes to the voters, the minutes read.
Meanwhile, board members have asked Town Clerk/Treasurer Patty Dow to review VLCT compensation reports and submit a salary proposal based on her responsibilities.
Town to erect temporary fix for Green River Road bridge guardrails; where's the gravel?
According to Road Commissioner Brad Rafus, the town lacks the proper equipment to fix the guardrails at the Green River Road bridge.
During a briefing before the Selectboard on Oct. 7, Rafus said that in order to put in galvanized posts and uprights, he'll need to get the existing bolts out of the ground and replace them. The town lacks the equipment to re-bore concrete, he said in draft meeting minutes.
That said, Rafus does believe he can effect temporary repairs, as recommended by Agency of Transportation project manager John Alexander, whose letter was not with the original AOT bid package.
Rafus also noted that to put up the jersey barriers on the bridge at the bottom of Hubbard Hill, one would still have to drill and put studs in them. He does not advocate erecting the barriers there due to the bridge's narrowness.
The Selectboard has asked for the cost to repair the bridge guardrails based on state suggestions, “and not based on what the one contractor wants to do.”
In other road news, Rafus reports that he is having difficulty in getting the final deliveries as part of the town's gravel contract. It has been six weeks since the most recent delivery, and he has called numerous times.
As it has been a year since the contract was originally signed, Selectmen asked, is there a need to terminate the contract?
The town is still expecting 1,600 cubic yards of gravel, though there is no due date for it in the contract. An initial 6,000 cubic yards were delivered by stated dates. The Selectboard will draft a letter to its contractor requesting the remaining gravel be delivered by Nov. 1.
Hydrology study delay holding up Bridge 37 engineers
Selectboard member Edwards reported on Oct. 7 that she is having trouble getting the state to confirm when its hydrology study of Bridge 37 would be available.
According to draft meeting minutes, Mark Pickering of the AOT estimated that the town might receive it in late October. The state was preparing the study at no cost to the town.
According to Edwards, the delay is holding up progress for Holden Engineering, which says it can prepare the study for $620 and can complete it within a week.
According to the minutes, the Selectboard called Holden Engineering's Bill Rossignol that morning to discuss the impact of the delayed hydrology study: Rossignol expressed that he felt if the state can complete the study in two weeks, his firm can move on within its timeframe and have the engineering wrapped up by the end of November.
He also noted that as they move forward, they may need to interact with the state to be sure they are OK with the bridge's design.
Generally the state wants to speak with the town and not the engineer, he reportedly said, but Holden is asking that the state speak with it on engineering matters on the town's behalf.
“It is a courtesy to have the state review the design and determine if they are agreeable to it, but if they choose not to participate, that is fine; they will still build a bridge that will work,” the minutes read.
That said, the Selectboard decided to go with the state hydrology study for now in hopes that they will receive it as promised.
Town, Ken Boyd must work together over ditch
The Selectboard had viewed some changes to the old town garage site that were effected without their knowledge by an unknown party. At their Oct. 7 meeting they discussed a letter to the adjoining property owner to find out if he knew anything about it.
Ken Boyd responded, and the Selectboard called him at 9:35 a.m. In that conference call, Boyd conveyed that he had a problem with standing water on his property. It is his understanding, he said in draft meeting minutes, that the ditch was on his property.
Boyd had the opportunity to get an excavator onto his property so he dumped a pile of rubble to fill in a spot and moved some dirt across the road to make the property look better. He said he was trying to clean up his property and didn't mean to cause any trouble in any way.
The minutes show that Boyd noted that the site looks nicer than it did before, and he was trying to clean up the rubbish wrought by Tropical Storm Irene.
He also noted that the ditch remains.
Edwards expressed that the town garage site “is not looking good either,” and that the Selectboard are intending to bring the issue to the voters to decommission it.
Member Earl Holtz expressed that the Board was not sure who had made the changes to the property, and that if there was a water issue that the two neighbors find a remedy.