Town of Danville

Selectboard Minutes

February 18th, 2010

Marvin Withers called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. Selectboard present were, Doug Pastula, Marvin Withers, Michael K Walsh and Denise Briggs. Also present were Wendy Somers and Merton Leonard, visitors Paul Chouinard, Ken Linsley, Janet Givens and reporter Sally Anderson. Michael K Walsh moved to accept the minutes of the February 4th meeting as written; Doug Pastula seconded the motion, which was approved.

Marvin Withers called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. Selectboard present were, Doug Pastula, Marvin Withers, Michael K Walsh and Denise Briggs. Also present were Wendy Somers and Merton Leonard, visitors Paul Chouinard, Ken Linsley, Janet Givens and reporter Sally Cook. Michael K Walsh moved to accept the minutes of the February 4th meeting as written; Doug Pastula seconded the motion, which was approved.

Paul Chouinard was present to discuss the progress he has made organizing a trip to Danville Quebec, to participate in their 150th anniversary celebration on July 3rd. He found that transportation could be provided if 50 people are interested in riding in a bus coach. The cost would be about $40.00 for each passenger. He also had a large framed photo of Danville Vermont he proposes to take as a gift to Quebec. He would have the matting lettered with appropriate greetings etc. He inquired about how to pay for it. The Board believes that local people would be very willing to donate as a gift from the townsfolk. He also proposed to invite the people down from Quebec to participate in the parade on Danville Fair Day, along with local dignitaries. There was a general consensus to continue along this plan and Paul would compose a letter in response to the original invitation from Quebec.

Janet Givens was present to request to join the Development Review Board, as an alternate. She moved into the area several years ago, and would now like to become active in town activities. The DRB had recommended her application. Denise Briggs moved to appoint Janet Givens to the DRB as an alternate; Doug Pastula seconded the motion which was approved.

Andrea Lawrence did not return for the continued discussion on using the town hall auditorium during the day for her dancing request. The Board had scheduled to continue discussion at the next meeting. Michael started by expressing his feelings, that we should follow the current policy and not schedule any activities for the hall during office hours, as it is too disruptive, there is limited parking available, and others would want lower rents. Marvin and Doug expressed their sentiments agreeing with Michael. Denise felt that it would be possible to add a daytime usage as a separate policy, that would not interfere or change the current policy. Merton added that there have been many more people that would have rented the hall at a lower price. The final consensus was to stay with the current policy. Ms Lawrence is welcome to rent the hall at the usual rate and time.

Wendy Somers was present to discuss article #16 on the Town Meeting Warning that appeared to have a problem. It was later determined that there was no problem with article #16, as the official Warning was correct at the time the Board signed it. Wendy also brought two liquor license applications and a tobacco license application. Michael K Walsh moved to approve the liquor license applications from GoodFella's and from Marty's First Stop, and the tobacco license for Marty's Quick Stop; Doug Pastula seconded the motion which was approved. She also had a request for an executive session for a personnel question.

Kevin reported that the quiet weather continues, and has allowed the crew to continue doing work at the shop, cutting wood and also road side brush. Shop work included organizing the parts room, painting, cleaning out some of the outside buildings, getting organized for their spring and summer time projects, repairing the safety barricades, safety cones, signs etc. With this type of work equipment hours, fuel, equipment maintenance, materials, as well as overtime labor continues being less than in the past couple of years for winter time work. He expects to start preparing for spring work soon, which will depend on the weather and the depth of the mud. Plows will not be taken off any time soon, as we could get the return of winter at any time, the equipment is still ready for work. Ted Lane did the maintenance on the backhoe which included installing new pins and bearings in our swing cylinders and replacing the 2 main pins on the hoe. This was planned regular maintenance work to get the backhoe ready for the upcoming spring and summer work season. Kevin also attended a meeting with the fire district and the engineer from Stantec, to discuss the options with the Hill Street Project paving. The consensus was that the paving money in the project could be “transferred” to the Town and the town would become responsible for the final paving on Hill St

Merton reported NVDA has requested an update of our emergency management information transferred to their latest form entitled, the "Basic Emergency Operations Plan". He has updated and transferred the information as requested. This is a typical request every year or two to insure the data and people listed are current. Michael K Walsh moved to accept the new emergency form as written, Doug Pastula seconded the motion which was approved. Merton also attended a Transportation Advisory Committee meeting at NVDA on Feb 9th. As the regional planning commission, NVDA collects information from the NEK communities on various subjects. This committee looks over the proposed transportation projects, such as roads and bridges proposed for next summer and passes on their suggestions for priority to the AOT. This is a good way to get road projects recognition especially if a town is looking for State or Federal aid for the construction. Danville has Route#2 construction on the list.

Merton also reported that Ken Robie of VTrans called a meeting on the route #2 project Tuesday with the artists, he and Marvin attended. Ken requested the details on the enhancements projects and their site requirements to coordinate them within the road construction plans. The artists will gather their construction details and meet with Ken Robie by April 15th. There was also discussion about including some of the Dole Oak wood in the bandstand and/or on benches in the park. Ken Robie suggests we get started with that part of the project asap. The town will investigate arrangements with a logger and saw mill that can handle the tree, and work out the details with Ken Robie. Final use of the wood will depend on the tree condition itself. In other discussion it was determined that the light poles on the green will have all the same features, including an outlet for holiday lighting near the top of the pole and vendor outlets at the base. The West Green vendor outlets will be connected to individual 20 amp breakers on the power panel on the bandstand. The East vendor outlets will be connected to individual 20 amp breakers on the lighting panel located on the East Green.

VTrans requested the Board sign off on the closure of Brainerd St. This wouldn't happen until construction was ready, but they request the agreement to be in place. Michael K Walsh moved to approve the closure of Brainerd St through the Green area, as indicated on sheet 102 and 103 of the project construction drawings, Denise Briggs seconded the motion which was approved and the agreement was signed. VTrans also requested the Board determine the placement of holiday outlets on the route #2 poles. After a short decision, the Board came to a general consensus to have the holiday lights only on the five Route #2 lights, that border on the Green. A question was raised if there was any further information about the article requesting the institution of the Australian Ballot. Wendy offered that from her discussion with the moderator, that the article maybe too vague to be legal as it is written. Michael questioned if the voters could amend the motion to make it more specific, but no one knew if that would be legal. Doug felt that any change to the wording might not be accepted by the original petition signers, as it has always been the policy to print the petitions as presented. The other possibility raised would be to use the article for a discussion point for this year. The decision was to discuss the article with the Town Moderator and let him research and decide the best way for it to be handled at Town Meeting.

The Board reviewed the expenditures and signed the orders. The Board noted that the pre Pre-town Meeting will be held at the North Danville School on Monday March 1st at 7:00pm and that Town Meeting will be held at the Danville Town School on March 2nd starting at 10:00am. Wendy requested an executive session for a personnel matter. The Board returned from executive session at 7:40 with no action taken. With no other business, the Board adjourned the meeting at 7:40 pm.

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.