Highway Committee Minutes 10-30-2020

Highway Committee 10-30-2020

RUTLAND TOWN SELECT BOARD

HIGHWAY COMMITTEE MEETING

FRIDAY OCTOBER 30^th, 2020

 

The Highway Committee of the Rutland Town Select Board met at 11:30 AM on Friday October 30^th at the Municipal Town Hall. Present was Board Clerk Mary Ashcroft, Board Member Joe Denardo, Town Administrative Assistant Bill Sweet and Town Road Commissioner Byron Hathaway. A conference call line was made available for the public to attend the meeting.

The committee discussed the draft budget proposal for 2021- 2022 from Mr. Hathaway.

1. The committee reviewed the lines on the budget as it was presented.
   1. Discussed sidewalk plowing. Rutland City has done the sections on Route 7 South leading to the Diamond Run Mall but since the mall has closed, they do not plan to do it any longer, so the associated cost has been removed. After some discussion, Mr. Hathaway will see if the city will continue to clear these sidewalks for the same cost. This will be discussed at the full board budget meeting.
   2. Discussed the planned repaving of the Town School and Transfer Station parking lots. Both costs are included in this budget proposal. The transfer station has been put off in the past due to the need to add a restroom and excavation would need to be done. Discussed options and alternatives. This will be discussed at the transfer station committee meeting.
   3. Discussed replacing the current Ford F350 truck. Mr. Hathaway said an appropriate replacement would be a Ford F550 with some upgraded components. The cost for the truck would come from the depreciation account (a copy of the funds projections costs and contributions was presented). Ms. Ashcroft asked Mr. Hathaway to put together specs on a new truck to present to the committee.
   4. Included in the budget are costs associated with engineering for the shared use path to connect Northwood Park to Chasanna Drive. This will be added to the agenda for the next board meeting. Otter Creek Engineering has been approached about this. There is $50,000 designated from the carryover fund for construction of the path.
   5. Discussed merging all stormwater related budget figures and expenses under one account for the whole town rather than breaking it up between departments.
   6. The total budget as reviewed in the meeting is $983,803 which is a 2.82% decrease over the last budget.
2. Mr. Denardo asked about adding a 25 MPH speed limit sign to the dead-end portion of McKinley Avenue. Mr. Hathaway did not have an issue with it. Mr. Sweet will start the process of noticing the change.
3. Mr. Hathaway said Bill Bauer spoke to him about a culvert on his property on Traverse Terrace. Mr. Bauer wanted to know if the town should have an easement in place for maintenance of this culvert and drainage area. Ms. Ashcroft discussed creating a town policy that would address this. Ms. Ashcroft asked Mr. Hathaway to look for a model policy from VLCT on this.
4. Mr. Hathaway said the homeowner’s association for Carmel Place has postponed meeting to discuss the town talking over this road until next spring.

 

There being no other business the meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Bill Sweet