HARDWICK – A deluge of flood response activities floated up at the September 19 select board meeting where the town’s energy use, Hardwick Electric, bike lanes, the future of Jackson Dam, the Jeudevine Library and water and sewer rates all got attention too.
The deck of Riverside Farm Road’s new bridge stretches over the Lamoille River, with the farm’s barn in the upper right, on September 25.
The meeting kicked off with Town Manager David Upson providing updates. According to energy assessments conducted months ago, Upson said Hardwick is considered a “high energy burden”. He said the Community Development Coordinator is working with the town’s energy coordinator and a representative from NVDA on a Municipal Energy Resilience Program grant. The town is eligible for up to $500,000 to cover projects like the furnace at the public safety building, work at the Memorial building, the Depot and Town House.
Upson attended the Neighbor to Neighbor community meeting on Monday, Sept. 16, and said he heard from residents of Granite and Cottage streets, who want an improved system for early flood warning, such as the fire siren used previously.
The Lamoille River flows under a temporary replacement for the Riverside Farms Road bridge that was destroyed in the July 9 to 11 flooding.
The town pulled the old siren out of storage and brought it to an electrician to see if it can be repaired. If repairs are possible, the siren will be relocated from the fire station to a flood-safe location, Upson said the grant for work to replace sidewalks on Church Street has been extended to September 1, 2025. That will give the road crew more time to complete the work, which has been delayed because of the priority required in responding to flooding of roads and bridges the past two years.
Upson mentioned the mandatory lead service inventory project. Every water connection in the town needs to be inventoried to see if there are lead pipes. Due to a lack of response from community members to notices sent with their bills, town employees will have to go door to door to collect information starting in October. Outreach is also being done on Front Porch Forum to reach water system users.
The business manager presented proposed increases to water and sewer rates,.The water base rate will go up by $3 each quarter and the sewer rate by $15 each quarter. The overage usage rate would go from $.0085 to $.0115 for water and from $.0135 to $.018 for sewer.
The board discussed making it a higher priority to complete adding water meters for the remaining unmetered properties, which are all mobile homes.
Road Foreman Tom Fadden gave updates about ongoing projects. The culvert on Nichol’s Pond Road has been upsized to a six-foot culvert from the former four-footer to help with flood prevention.
Twisted beams pulled from the Lamoille River once supported the Riverside Farm Road bridge before it was destroyed by flooding on July 9 to 11.
Other projects recently completed by the road crew include ditching on Cobb School Road., Kate Brook Road and Billings Road. Stagehouse Road. was redone, using grant-in-aid funds. Smith Farm Road. was upgraded from a two-foot culvert to a three-footer, again in hopes it won’t wash out..
Fadden said the crew hauled winter sand all week. The crusher will be coming to the town pit in the next week and they will start hauling gravel when it is available. Blasting at the pit was completed last week, totaling around 5,500 yards of rock. After the crushing company tests the material, some will likely remain behind to be used on future town projects.
In other business, the board discussed at length the possibility of adding bike lanes for North Main Street. However, due to regulations there would not be enough room without removing parking spaces from in front of the Legion and bridge. It was suggested the town put “sharrows” on the road instead. Sharrows are a decal with an arrow and bike symbol indicating to drivers the road is shared with bicycles. Estimates for paint and templates for the sharrows will be obtained.
Adding crosswalks at the intersection of North Main Street, Church and West Church Streets was suggested. Fadden explained crosswalks cannot just be painted at random, they must be ADA compliant which means the town would have to redo the sidewalks.
Hardwick Electric Department (HED) gave the board a number of updates too well, some involving customer policy. Instead of customers paying for 100% of the cost of upgraded equipment, HED will now cost-share based on the value of the device being removed.
HED is building an outage management system to alert customers of outages wherever they are, and when the power comes back on. Once in place, the system will allow HED to reach customers through text, email, newsletter or by other means. The new system will allow HED to better manage and prioritize large storm events, and more efficiently communicate with affected customers.
After a long struggle, the HED line crew is fully staffed. Two months ago, they were down to two linemen. They now have a full complement of six, two of which live in Hardwick’s service territory already. The two hired apprentices have expressed a desire to relocate to Hardwick as well. The department continues to receive and review potential candidates for a general manager.
Emily Finnegan, district manager of the Caledonia County Natural Resources Conservation District (NRCD) attended the meeting to discuss a potential study of the Jackson Dam, next to the Kwik Stop. NRCD works with towns to find funding for clean water projects, such as removing dams. The town has the option of doing an alternative analysis or a feasibility study. As HED owns the Jackson Dam, they also participated the discussion.
Finnegan clarified for the board that previous studies on the dam did not include cost estimates or hydraulic modeling for the full or partial removal of the dam. A new study would provide more detailed information on the effects of full or partial removal, as well as the estimated cost.
Finnegan told the board there are lots of federal funds for clean water projects like dam removals, and NRCD would assist in locating funding of removal or repair if deemed necessary by the study. To move forward, the NRCD needs a letter of support from the town, and representatives to work with. Upson suggested forming a working group composed of a select board member, conservation commission member and someone from the zoning commission.
Ultimately, the board unanimously approved signing a letter of support to have NRDC move forward with a feasibility study on the Jackson Dam.
Daphne Kelmar, chair of the Jeudevine Library trustees gave the board an update on the library expansion project. Kalmar explained construction was done in two phases. Phase one is the exterior, to be completed by the first week of October. The sprinkler, HVAC, and electrical work for the interior is also complete. Finishing touches such as the flooring, gypsum board and trim are all part of phase two.
The library received a $75,000 donation for outside landscaping, said Kalmar. A grant is expected from the Vermont Department of Libraries, but they have not made any formal awards yet. Since they are awaiting funding, the project will be halted after current Phase One projects are completed.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
