Town of Danville

Selectboard Minutes

Aug 16^th, 2007

The Selectboard met at the Danville Town Hall on Thursday August 16^th, 2007. Michael Walsh called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. Selectboard present were Marion Sevigny, Michael Walsh, Denise Briggs, Doug Pastula, and Marvin Withers. Also present were Kevin Gadapee and Merton Leonard and visitors Jared and Jeremy White.

Marvin Withers moved to accept the Aug 2^nd minutes as written, Marion Sevigny seconded the motion, the Aug 2^nd minutes were approved as written.

Jared White was present to inform the Selectboard of his senior project which is to work with the Town’s Historical Society and Conservation Commission in cleaning out the old cellar holes in the town forest that are the remains of the town poor farm. In addition, he will be doing research into the history and the purpose of the poor farm and interview residents that might have recollection of it’s operation. Teacher Jeremy White is his school advisor and will be assisting Jared in his project. Marion Sevigny moved to approve Jared’s project in the town forest, Marvin Withers seconded the motion, which was approved.

Kevin reported that the road crew has continued working on the roads damaged by the storm of July 11 with the permanent repairs being done on Young Farm Road and Morrill Road. Next week, they will be starting the reconstruction work on Brainerd St which will involve digging up the blacktop and 1 ½ ft of old material and adding fabric, stone, and crusher run, prior to repaving. There will be some delays and this has been posted in the paper and on the radio station to advise motorists of the construction.

Merton reported that Rodger Pearson has requested to collect the scrap metal that will be gathered at bulky day on September 15^th, he has obtained contractors liability insurance as required by the town’s insurance. After some discussion, Michael Walsh moved to allow Rodger Pearson to collect the scrap metal that is brought into be disposed of on bulky day September 15^th; it will be for this one event and he must cleanup the area and remove all the metal within a week. Doug Pastula seconded the motion, which passed. Rodger Pearson also had another request, to receive a fireworks permit from the Fire Chief, Howard Gadapee. Chief Gadapee declined to issue a permit as he had decided prior to July 4^th not to issue any permits to individuals. Merton reported on June 21^st he investigated the legality of this action first with Garrett Baxter of VLCT whom noted the law is rather vague but the League does not believe that it was intended to apply to private individuals, but is intended for federally licensed operators of public fireworks displays. Fire works vendors and some towns & fire departments have interpreted it to include allowing permits to individuals. However, the Department of Public Safety has defined the law as follows “All fireworks, not including sparklers and novelty sparking items, are illegal in Vermont except for permitted, supervised public fireworks display”, this is also upheld by trooper Brian Tallmadge of the St Johnsbury barracks. Deputy Sheriff William O’Hare advises that he knows of no fire chief in the area that has signed the permit as it would leave the fire chief and the town open to liability should anything go wrong. After some discussion, Michael Walsh moved to support Fire Chief Howard Gadapee and not allow non-federally licensed individuals fireworks permits, Denise Briggs seconded the motion which was approved.

Merton reported that he will be attending a FEMA meeting on the July 11 storm, on Wednesday Aug 22 in Hardwick. Caledonia County will be added to the disaster area shortly, and each town must attend this meeting to qualify for assistance. He also noted that the re-roofing of North Danville School is complete, but the roofer is requesting additional money for removing and disposing of the 3^rd and 4^th layers of old roofing. The roofer checked the front side that had just two layers, but the back had four layers and the side’s three layers. After some discussion, which noted that even with the extra charge he was lower than the next higher bidder and still under budget, Denise Briggs moved to pay Murphy Construction’s final invoice #737 of $16,758.50, which includes the extra charges, and is the total balance for roofing the North Danville School, the motion was seconded by Marion Sevigny, and was approved.

The fire marshal visited the Green prior to the Danville Fair and found multiple wiring violations, the Danville Chamber of Commerce will be looking to correct these prior to the fair next year. High School Senior Britney Thrasher is requesting to use the Green on Oct 13^th for a town wide walkathon for diabetes, her senior project. While the Board was in favor of the project, they were concerned with the route the walkers would take. After some discussion Doug Pastula, moved to approve the use of the Green by Britney for her senior project; contingent on the Board approving the route that the walkers would take. Denise Briggs seconded the motion that was approved.

Merton presented the new contract with the Sheriff for traffic control for ten hours a week during the school year. Marvin Withers moved to accept the contract; Denise Briggs seconded the motion, which was approved. Steve Willis has applied for a sewer connection at his property at 139 Route #2W. On a motion by Denise Briggs that was seconded by Marvin Withers, the connection was approved. There have been some reports of unauthorized use of the bandstand in the Green. The Board confirmed that all use of the Green must receive prior approval, and directed Merton to place a lock on the breaker box to prevent unauthorized use of the electrical power.

The Board reviewed the budget and expenditures for the past two weeks, and signed the current order sheets.

With no further business, the Board adjourned at 7:33pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Merton Leonard

Clerk of the Selectboard

Town of Danville

Send mail to Mert.Leonard@DanvilleVt.com with questions or comments about this web site.