Town of Thetford
Selectboard Meeting Minutes
DRAFT
Thetford Town Hall
Monday, January 9, 2012
Agenda
7:00-7:15
7:15-7:30
7:30-7:45
7:45-8:00
Public Comment
Recycling Center Update - Aluminum Processing
Town Clerk Update - Town Hall Tech
Highway Update - Rock Picking
8:00-8:15 Finalize Tree Policy
8:15-8:30 Sign Ordinance Draft Approval
8:30-9:00 Old Business
Hospital Trust Fund Status
Robinson Hill Road Petition Status
Five Corners Road Status
9:15-9:30 Other Business
Conflict of Interest Policy for Town Employees
Recycling Center Staffing - Gate Attendant
9:30-9:45 Minutes and Warrants
9:45 Adjourn
Call to Order (7:07)
Tig Tillinghast called the meeting to order.
Present: John Bacon, Donn Downey, Casey Huling, Mike Pomeroy, Tig Tillinghast
Attending: Scott Hesser, Selectboard Assistant.
Public Comment
None
Tracy Borst, Thetford Town Clerk, joined the meeting at 7:13.
Warrants (7:15)
Downey motioned to accept the warrants. The Selectboard accepted the warrants unanimously.
Town Clerk Update - Town Hall Tech (7:13)
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Downey and Borst have been assembling information about digitizing Town records from
various vendors. Downey framed the discussion of digitization as a matter of how much the
Town would want to take on this year.
Downey shared the information he received about bringing Town records into a Geographical
Information System (GIS). According to the vendor Downey spoke with, the initial costs for
getting a GIS program up in running would be between $3,000 and $5,000. This would include a
one-time software license, a one-time fee for additional packaged features, and a small annual
maintenance fee. The system would make the Town’s public record tax maps electronically
searchable and make the maps and search features available online. The core software would be
Arcview, which is compatible with the program used by the Thetford Listers. There are enough
people in Town Hall that are familiar with this type of software that new training would be
minimal.
Recycling (7:23)
Carolyn Lorié joined the meeting at 7:23.
Lorié discussed the addition of an aluminum bin at the Town Recycling Center. Aluminum
scrap is of high value and separating it could save the town money. The plan would be to start
with a half-container. The cost to haul the container would be $250. In order for the plan to
work, the half-container would have to fit at least $250 worth of aluminum. The Selectboard had
a lively discussion about how many pounds of aluminum that would be and how many soda cans
would fit inside a bin. The Selectboard determined that it would still be more cost effective to
sort out any redeemable cans from the aluminum bin. The Selectboard asked Lorié if people
would know the difference between aluminum and other metals such as tin. Lorié said they
would have to work out an educational component. The Town currently pays to have comingled metal hauled, so it would not be a problem if aluminum went into the co-mingled bin.
The Selectboard was in unanimous agreement that the aluminum container should be tried.
The Selectboard briefly discussed the fact that the Recycling Center gate attendant resigned and
that the post needs to be filled.
Lorié left meeting at 7:35.
Town Clerk Update - Town Hall Tech - Continued (7:36)
Borst shared the information she had received about digitizing the Town’s land records. After
speaking with various vendors, it appears that it will cost approximately $4,000 to have the land
survey maps scanned into PDF format. That is somewhat less than $5 a map. The software to
index the digitized maps would be a one time cost of $1,000 and an annual maintenance fee of
$150. This software would be compatible with the Town’s current land record indexing
software. Borst said the maps are the best place to begin digitizing efforts because they are the
most difficult to copy. Borst said that the $4,000 for scanning can come from the restoration
fund and the $1,000 can come from the IT fund.
Borst informed the Selectboard that she spoke with another vendor that could digitize the textual
land records. Currently the Town is on book number 143 and there are approximately 90 pages
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in each book. Another software product would be required to index and search those records.
Fairlee has such a system and Downey and Borst agreed that it would be worth while to visit
Fairlee to see their system. Downey suggested that when at all possible, the Town should avoid
purchasing proprietary software that isn’t compatible with current software. Tillinghast
commented that the pricing for such systems is likely to drop in the future. Tillinghast further
said that as long as the records are scanned into PDF format, the digital files could be easily
brought into any program, and so scanning the files is a wise decision at any time.
The Selectboard and Borst then discussed what would be required to bring the public land
records online. The various counties in New Hampshire have their public records available
online. The Selectboard agreed that it would be worthwhile to speak with one of the New
Hampshire Registry of Deeds to get more information about what software they use and what are
the costs.
The Selectboard agreed that digitizing the public records is a good idea and efforts in this
direction should continue.
Borst informed the Selectboard that the laptops for the Recreation Department and Zoning
Department are on their way.
Borst left meeting at 7:50.
Highway Update (7:57)
Doug Stone joined the meeting at 7:57.
Stone informed the Selectboard that with the lack of snow, things have been quiet. The road
crew has continued cutting brush, most recently on Academy Road.
Rockpicker:
Downey expressed that before the purchase of a rockpicker is put before the town, the
Selectboard wants to be able to show an example of another town using a rockpicker in the same
way that Thetford would use a rockpicker. Pomeroy further commented that the alternative to
that would be to purchase a used rockpicker and demonstrate that it would work. Stone agreed to
do more research and find another town that is using a rockpicker.
Robinson Hill Road Paving:
The Selectboard received a petition to pave 130 yards of Robinson Hill Road. The Selectboard
has not responded to this petition and discussed what their response should be.
Stone commented that he would like to pave the Robinson Hill Road, but that he would extend
the paving so that it connects pavement to pavement. This would be approximately half mile of
paving. This would eliminate inefficiencies in bringing different trucks out to treat the different
types of road. This would also eliminate the need to spray the road with magnesium chloride to
keep the dust down.
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Pomeroy asked if there were any potential negatives to this paving. One of the negatives
discussed was speeding. Also, paving would likely require that the guard rails be expanded.
Furthermore, salt from the road may runoff into the lake.
Tillinghast commented that increasing the amount of pavement would increase the budget
required for repaving and other pavement maintenance. Occasionally the Town may decide to
remove the pavement from a road. That would allow for pavement to be added to another road
without increasing the maintenance budget.
After this discussion the Selectboard agreed that there are higher priority paving projects. The
Selectboard did not rule out paving Robinson Hill Road, but agreed that it could not happen in
the immediate future.
Stone left the meeting at 8:25
Tree Policy (8:26)
The current draft of the Town’s tree policy limits the removal of trees to those that have a
diameter less than 6 inches and are smaller than 15 feet. Downey suggested changing this to just
the diameter limitation because that is verifiable even after the tree has been cut down. After
some discussion, the Selectboard agreed that this change would not work because some trees
grow tall, yet remain thin at their trunk for many years.
Sign Ordinance (8:32)
Tillinghast informed the Selectboard that the draft sign ordinance was ready to be distributed to
the individuals that had provided the initial feedback on the ordinance. Pomeroy asked that the
ordinance also be sent to all sign owners that will be grandfathered into the ordinance.
Hospital Trust Fund Status (8:34)
Tillinghast reported that he has been in contact with DHMC about a charitable trust that is being
modified to benefit Thetford residents that use the hospital.
Five Corners Road (8:36)
Downey reported that he called the DEC about this issue and is waiting to hear back.
Conflict of Interest Policy for Town Employees (8:42)
The Selectboard reviewed the Town’s current conflict of interest policy and found that it only
applied to public officials and did not cover Town employees. The Selectboard did not decide if
the policy needed to be changed to include Town employees.
Recycling Center Staffing - Gate Attendant (8:44)
The Selectboard agreed that the position of gate attendant should be offered to an internal
candidate before publicly posting an opening.
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Budget Update (8:55)
The auditor will be in this week. After that, the Selectboard will be able to finish the 2012
budget.
Draft Warning (8:57)
Tillinghast distributed revised Town Meeting draft warning. After some discussion, further
changes were made to the warning language.
Recreation meeting (9:07)
Huling reported on his attendance at the Recreation Advisory Council Meeting. Huling reported
that two students from Thetford Academy have applied to the Recreation Department for a
scholarship for their participation in the Thetford Academy ski team. The students have asked
for money for passes at the Dartmouth Skiway. The Selectboard agreed that this would be
outside the Recreation Department scholarship program. The Thetford Academy ski team is not
a Town run recreation program. Furthermore, the scholarship program generally works by
forgiving fees for recreation programs rather than actually awarding funds.
Huling also reported that there was some difficulty with registration for the skiing program
because the Recreation Department website cannot take credit cards. Tillinghast reported that on
the website’s current platform, it would take $3,000 to add credit card use. The Selectboard
agreed that this was too expensive. The Selectboard then discussed rebuilding the Recreation
Department website on a more cost effective platform and one that would allow for credit cards
to be used.
Health Officer Complaint (9:30)
Tillinghast reported that a renter complained to him about the Town’s Health Officer. The renter
requested the Health Officer to inspect the rental property. The Health Officer did not issue any
violations. The renter was upset with the way the Health Officer conducted the inspection and
accused the Health Officer of improperly favoring the landlord. After discussing the statutes
governing the Health Officer, the Selectboard determined that any complaints or requests for an
appeal should go to the Vermont State Board of Health. The Selectboard agreed to find out who
the renter should contact at the State.
Bacon left the meeting at 9:45
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Minutes (9:52)
Huling motioned to accept the minutes for the 1/2/12 meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Thetford Hill Sidewalk (9:55)
Tillinghast reported that he communicated with Scott Gurly from VTRANS. Gurly is assigned
as the VTRANS project manager for the Thetford Hill Sidewalk project. According to Gurly,
the Traffic Operations Division and the District do not support the conceptual plans.
Specifically, VTRANS is concerned about the pedestrian island. The Selectboard discussed
whether the Town was committed to the pedestrian island. No decision was reached.
Pompanoosuc Mills Loan (9:58)
Tillinghast reported that the State has approved the loan modification and that it should be ready
to be signed sometime next week.
Adjourn (10:00)
Pomeroy motioned to adjourn. Motion accepted.
Warrants:
47.2 $150.12
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