ROCKINGHAM — In recent weeks, town manager Willis “Chip” Stearns III reported separately to the Bellows Falls Trustees and the Selectboard regarding the fiscal year 2014 and 2015 municipal budgets.
On Nov. 16, Stearns told the Selectboard the budget was essentially level-funded for fiscal 2015, but “one of the major costs is the sidewalk and wall on Cherry Hill, from Green Street, at an estimate of $180,000.”
Cherry Street loops from School Street and past the Bellows Falls Elementary School, to connect with Green Street down a hill.
Stearns said there is also a $114,150 expense to mill down and repave Rockingham Street from the Arch Bridge to the Windham Antique Store at the edge of The Square.
He told the board that the state will be paving from the Westminster town line to south of the Village, as well as up Atkinson Street to 231 Rockingham St. “the following year,” presumably 2016.
Noting a failing substructure in front of American Legion Post 37 on Rockingham Street that could be simultaneously rebuilt by the Water/Wastewater Department, the Selectboard agreed to try to work with the Village Trustees to get this done.
Stearns suggested to the board that attempts should be made to “try to save the roads that are in fairly good condition, instead of waiting until these have deteriorated” before they need to be completely rebuilt.
In a move that is gaining popularity in municipalities around the country, two roads have been suggested to have pavement removed and be put back to dirt roads: Herrick's Cove and Port roads.
Stearns told the board that Pleasant Valley Road needs culvert work. He continued that Parker Hill and Brockway Mills Road work may qualify for state and federal funding if Brockway Mills Road gets reclassified to a Class 2 road.
He noted that outside services would be estimated at “$25,000 to crack-fill Parker Hill, $45,000 to put fog lines on Route 121 and Pleasant Valley, Brockways Mills, and Parker Hill roads.”
At the Nov. 19 board meeting, Stearns reported that a $174,600 grant for a new box culvert grant was received for Brockways Mills Road.
Also at the same meeting, Stearns informed the board that Green Mountain Railroad had requested the Town “throw up” Bezanson Road “now that the railroad owns all the property surrounding it.”
Stearns stated that when he spoke with the Vermont Highway Superintendent, he had expressed his agreement to this. It was the consensus of the Board to pursue this request.
At the Oct. 8 Village Trustees meeting, Stearns gave a fiscal 2014 budget update.
“We are now one quarter into the fiscal year and the budget is showing around 28% [spent],” Stearns said. He also informed the Trustees that they should expect a $51,000 deficit in the fiscal 2013 budget when an audit is completed and this will have to be made up this year. But he noted the fiscal 2014 budget status “is looking fine.”
Wastewater update
Ron Wheeler, head of the Water and Wastewater Department, told the trustees the RBC (rotating biological contactor, a biological treatment process used in the treatment of wastewater following primary treatment) project had been completed in September. He said it was working well.
He noted that “seven pumps have been rebuilt, and the last two were re-installed,” and that the two new pumps had been ordered, one which would be used to replace the failed Industrial Drive pump. Wheeler told the trustees the old pump, from 1988, had been sent out to be refurbished.
He warned the trustees the contract overseeing the Saxtons River Wastewater Facility, with the Saxtons River Trustees, was in its final year and would need to be re-negotiated sometime in the next few months. He noted that Saxtons River had entered into a design agreement to explore options for their plant, and this should be considered in any new agreement.
Saxtons River Trustees chair Louise Luring told The Commons, “The village has (just) contracted with Marquise and Morano of Bellows Falls to do the preliminary engineering study of our proposed upgrade to the wastewater system, which would convert the Saxtons River wastewater system to a pump station with a force main that would send our sewage to the Bellows Falls wastewater treatment plant to be treated.”
Cathy Bergmann asked what the dollar amount was on the Saxtons River contract, and Stearns replied it was around $50,000, with 3.5 percent increase each year.
Police update
Bellows Falls Police Chief Ron Lake informed the Trustees that one of his officers, Mario Checchi, had adopted a dog from the State Police and they were considering the possibility of using this dog in the Bellows Falls Police Department as a “nose dog” to find people and drugs.
Lake told trustees there would be no costs to the Village, that the equipment for the animal is free and the training would be done at the Police Academy along with the dog's handler. Lake stated that Officer Checchi owns the dog and there has been no cost to the department at this time.
A second constable was hired by the village in October, and Shane Harris now fills that salaried position.
Also, the overnight parking ban has been in effect since Nov. 1.