Planning Board

Town of Washington

September 8, 2009

CIP Working Session

Attending: Planning Board - Jack Sheehy, Tom Marshall, Lynn Cook, Nan Schwartz, Ken Eastman, Jim Crandall, Dennis Kelly

Visitors – Ed Thayer - PWD, Scott Dumeny - Fire Department, Arline France – Assessors, Phil Barker – Cemetery, Steve Marshall - Police

Sheehy opened the meeting at 6:30 PM. He said that the meeting was scheduled to have the Planning Board meet with all department heads to go over budget requests for inclusion in the CIP for 2010.

Ed Thayer went over his budget items and spoke about the Freezeland Pond culvert replacement, which was an addition to his submitted budget. The culvert is undersized and needs replacement. The town will apply for an Emergency Management grant to help pay for it with the town paying $7,500 and the state paying $22,000. The grants are prioritized according to need. A wetlands permit would be required and he plans to raise the road a little where the culvert is to help the transition where there is now a dip.

He then discussed his other items –

1. East Washington Road overlay – this line should read "asphalt maintenance", as it better describes what it is used for.

2. Lempster Mountain Road – this is to complete the reconstruction of the road in 2011.

3. Faxon Hill Road overlay – they will lay asphalt from the Lake Ashuelot Estate gates to as far as they can go back towards town.

4. Mill Street Bridge replacement – the bridge is red listed and is undersized. They will need $48,000 for engineering, the project will be eligible for the state program with an 80/20 match.

5. Emergency Management – Ed said they got an EOC grant to cover the cost of 2 standby generators and also of renting a bucket truck to do tree maintenance.

Jack asked about Emergency Communications and wanted to know more about the plan to go digital. Ed answered that we still have 3 more years before we are required to do it. The state is going to a "split" band and some of our radios would then be outdated, although the pagers we have now will still work. $20,000 will be needed for radios when the switch over happens in a few years.

6. Recycling Center - Ed said the new recycling roll-off container would be paid for out of the "recycling fund".

Arline France presented the Assessors' budget. She explained that they don't have a price yet for next year's update, they are sending out bid sheets in the next week or so. There is $61,500 in the fund now and she doesn't think they will need more money for the update but they will need to put money in for next year, it will be a lesser amount than was requested. She will get back to us within a month with a firm figure.

Scott Dumeny then presented for the Fire Department. Their budget items were:

1. New SCBA tanks – Scott explained that the tanks are re-certified every 2 years, but he stated that you have to replace them every 5 or 6 years making it necessary to buy 16 new tanks in 2011 for $20,000.

2. Fire Apparatus – There is $69,648 in the fund now, they are looking to replace a truck in 5 years. Engine 1 (pumper) would move to East Washington and replace Engine 2 (pumper) there, while Center Station would get a replacement vehicle. They will look for a used one, if possible. They are requesting $30,000 this year to add to the fund.

3. Forestry truck – They are saving up to replace the Forestry truck in a few years. This was left out of last year's budget but $10,000 will be added this year.

Steve Marshall spoke about the Police Department budget. He said that the cruiser has a 4-year cycle for replacement but the present vehicle has been getting beat up by doing more patrolling around town. It has 80K miles on it and has had high maintenance costs this year. He would like to keep this car on the road as backup, used primarily as a chief's car, for 2 to 3 more years and buy a second vehicle for $42,000, completely fitted out. We suggested maybe this should be a separate article at Town Meeting. He felt that if he was the only one driving it he could baby the present car and get more miles out of it. He has $30,198 in his vehicle fund right now and wants to add $10,000 each year. Arline said that it is going to be a tough year for tax revenue because of the huge tax exemption ($1.3 million) that the Assessors had to grant to the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary property. The tax assessments for the town are going to be flat this year. Ken suggested that maybe we should limit the number of patrols to keep the mileage down. Steve said that we get complaints that they aren't out there enough. Dennis asked if there is a chance to get a used vehicle. Steve answered yes, but there would be no warranty and there could be problems. A new cruiser is $29,000 and the rest of the cost is equipment such as cages, lights, wiring, etc to fit it out. Ken asked if there was data showing that we need more patrols because there is more crime. Steve answered that they are very busy with 600 calls so far this year as opposed to 480 last year, at this time. He said that they do maintenance themselves to save money. He could push the purchase out 2 years if he had to, but the old cruiser will still need to be replaced next year. Dennis commented that he should look into used vehicles at the Ford dealer. Steve said if we stay with only one vehicle he will need to up the fund request from $10,000 to $15,000 per year to replace it sooner. A suggestion was made that maybe he could buy the needed equipment but lease the vehicle.

Phil Barker spoke for the Cemetery Trustees – they are looking to buy 30 fiberglass mats for ground protection for $3,850. They would be used for protecting the ground when digging graves with large equipment. They could store them in the crypt when not being used and lend them out to the PWD or Fire if they needed them. They also need $1,150 to replace the doors on the crypts. He explained that they had money to do this before but had a hard time finding someone to do the work and the money went back to the town, so they are requesting the funds again this year. Phil explained perpetual care and how the funds work. Tom said that he doesn't feel that the mats should stay in the budget for this year. Ken suggested a warrant article for the crypt doors and put off the mats until 2011.

Jack said we need to speak to Brian Moser about the emergency communications budget and we will ask him to come in when he gets back from his vacation.

We also need to check with Rescue to see if they are all set. They have $30,755 in their Equipment fund with a request for $15,000.

Ken spoke about the Selectmen's budget requests. He talked about getting a bid to paint the Town Hall and School House, which are noticeably peeling. Nan suggested that if we were going to do any work on the Town Hall or School it would be a bad idea to paint first, you would want to paint after the work is finished. We decided to remove this $48,000 request for next year. Ken spoke about their plans to go digital in the Selectmen's office. They would like to buy a projector that hooks to a computer to use for presentations and meetings and get a wireless system for Michelle and the office to start. He said all the boards in town could use this equipment. Everyone thought this was a good idea.

The Selectmen have put in $50,000 for a Town Buildings upgrade fund. We discussed exactly what this would be used for, and decided that more discussion is necessary.

Jack explained that he has added the interest we are paying each year to the bonded debt, so people will have the total picture of what is owed each year.

We adjourned at 8:15 PM, with a reminder of our next working meeting on September 17^th at 11AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz

Secretary, Planning Board