NEWFANE — Selectmen acted on a variety of issues at their meeting April 17, a 2½-hour session that seemed to have spring on the mind.
The safety of Arch Bridge was discussed early; the town constable set the record straight that he's not the town's animal control officer; and residents got a stretch of road renamed to their liking, with the promise of better traffic signs to come.
But first Selectmen heard two pieces of seasonal news that were most welcome.
According to Selectboard Vice Chair Todd Lawley, “Mud season isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be; crews are shaping up a lot of the dirt roads and fixing potholes. We seem to have more of a pothole issue than mud this year.”
Newfane Hill Road, in particular, is drying faster than expected, he said. “It's usually one of our worst roads, and this year it's one of our better ones.”
Lawley added that bids for roadside mowing and paving should go out shortly.
Also in a farewell to winter, later in the meeting, during a report from Gunther Garbe, Michael Granger, and the Town Office Committee, Selectmen heard that building improvements were paying off in cost savings.
“We're pleased that the winter from hell actually saw us use 150 gallons less heating oil. That's from buttoning up the basement” and other improvements to Town Hall, Granger said.
Selectmen devoted a chunk of time to discussing ongoing building improvements, which will come back for discussion at later meetings.
Arch Bridge languishing
All that said, the condition of Arch Bridge is a problem, albeit one that doesn't seem to pose an immediate risk, Selectmen said.
“The state is trying to move this project along as fast as it can, but it will depend on funding,” Lawley reported.
The single-lane, concrete bridge, which spans Rock River in Williamsville, needs rehabilitation or replacement, but state officials say relief isn't coming anytime soon.
In the meantime, in the wake of a state inspector's report, the town should consider pulling down nonessential concrete parts of the bridge that appear loose.
A Vermont Agency of Transportation, Structures Division, inspector noted that Newfane should “knock off any loose concrete on the side of the bridge.”
Explained Lawley: “There may be grant money for that but [John Alexander, AOT district project manager and I] are not sure if that'll happen, seeing as how he's going to give us money for Hickey Road Bridge.”
Lawley said the town would need to call for requests for proposals to take down “something that somebody years and years ago put on the bridge to make it look better, and that's what's coming off.”
Selectmen said debris could fall to properties below, and agreed unanimously to notify property owners of the risk. They also approved a motion to put out signs warning of the possibility that material could fall.
Selectmen said erecting a net beneath the bridge to catch debris would be too costly - and likely ineffective.
Responding to a question from Garbe on whether the town would need to limit weight permitted on the bridge, Lawley said no.
“According to the bridge inspectors' report, and after talking to John Alexander, there's no need to restrict the weight limit on it. He said as long as the barrel of the arch hasn't got anything falling out of it we're fine. He said obviously if one of the railings falls off we'll have to close it.”
Board Chair Gary Katz put in, “The bottom line is that as ugly as that bridge looks it's stable at the moment.”
Lawley agreed.
Constable doesn't handle dogs; needs identification
First Constable of Newfane Carter van Iderstine raised three issues at the Selectboard meeting: The town lacks an animal control officer to handle dog issues; he asked for gas money and a $15 admission cost so he could attend constable training out of town; and he said he lacks his badge of office - and that to his knowledge, no one's seen the badge for decades.
The dog issue took up several minutes of conversation during which van Iderstine repeated that he was not the town's animal control officer - indeed, he said, the last person to hold that office, George Friend, had declined an invitation this year to continue in that post. Meanwhile, there have been complaints of large, loose dogs.
He said his position nowadays was largely ceremonial, but that statute does permit him to begin proceedings to put down unlicensed dogs - a responsibility that, as a pet owner, he said he would not bear.
Two large, white, and unlicensed dogs have prompted multiple calls to town officials and the sheriff's office. The dogs likely belong to a nearby sheep farm, the officials agreed, and van Iderstine and Selectboard member Gloria Cristelli, who has fielded dog complaint as well, said they would approach the dogs' owner or farm manager to work out a solution.
The dogs were not regarded to be dangerous.
There seemed to be no progress made on establishing a town animal control officer, though Cristelli said she would inquire with the Humane Society on their possible role as a dogcatcher service, with occasional costs to be borne by whoever's dog wound up being caught.
Selectboard members then agreed to pay for van Iderstine to attend Vermont Constables Association training May 9 out of town. He asked only for gas money.
Of greater concern to van Iderstine is that the town constable badges “seem to have disappeared. Near as we can track back, they went missing sometime in the 1980s,” he said.
He explained that without them, he has no way of identifying himself to others in his official capacity, and admitted that these are relatively expensive to replace.
It's not the badge he worries about but rather the history behind it: “It's just a piece of tin to me, but I knew a lot of guys who wore that in good faith and with honor. Back in the early 1970s when I was a constable the first time, we had full statewide jurisdiction of all laws.”
He said he supported the state in subsequently stripping constables of most of their power, given that many were poorly trained, and then asked whether the town would want to pay for dozens of hours of new training for him to get a new badge.
Lawley dissented.
“My feeling is that if you can't do anything [by statute], and you're not going to be dog officer, what do we need the badge for?”
Selectboard members agreed to keep their eyes open for the town's original constable badge, which might be at the historical society “or on someone's wall in a frame.”
They also proposed that van Iderstine have an ID card created for him at the Sheriff's Department.
Welcome 'Upper Oak Hill Road'
Selectboard members granted resident Arthur Sarr's request to rename the stretch of 41-66 Oak Hill Road “Upper Oak Hill Road,” and agreed that signage to sort out confusion at Miller Lane was in order.
The name change caps a long process, Sarr said.
Board members said they would initiate a standard process for notifying mutual aid and other interests when a road is renamed, and said they would work with the Windham Regional Planning Commission on the best way to roll out signage.