WOODBURY – Pay increases, a new Woodbury website, development of a Lake Watershed Action Plan, the usual flood response work, land use planning and a number of issues and concerns involving town residents and Swenson Granite took the select board’s attention at its July 14 meeting.
A pay increase was approved by the select board for the town clerk to $30 per hour and for town listers with $25 for the chair and $20 for the other listers.
The select board learned from volunteer John Reid that the new Woodbury website he worked with volunteer Alex Peltz to design, will be online soon and has been completed on budget. Ben Witte is implementing it and will be maintaining it. Reid noted it will be easier to navigate, the information on it will be kept up to date and it will meet American Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements for accessibility.
A presentation on the Lake Watershed Action Plan for Woodbury Lake and Sabin Pond was given by Lucas Goldflus and Dan Koenemann with the Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District (WNRCD). They said work will focus on Woodbury Lake and Sabin Pond and the up-stream lakes, Greenwood and Valley Lake. They will study the watershed and assess the quality of brooks and wetlands whose waters flow into the lake. Town roads within the lake watershed will also be looked at. As part of the project’s Lake Wise program they will work directly with interested lakeshore property owners to address how to maintain shorelines to minimize erosion and other forms of pollution.
A kick-off meeting with town officials will happen soon and a community forum will be held later to share the work, especially with lakeshore landowners.
Skip Lindsay’s recovery officer’s report noted most of his attention is now on work related to July 2024’s flooding. The last of the 2023 flood repair work on Town Highway 23 and 24 bridges has finally started, with work expected to take less than two weeks, he said. Mitigation projects using leftover FEMA funds from the original bridge project estimate, have also begun.
Alfie Larrabee reported the road crew has finished two of the County Road culvert projects, as well as one on Blake Hill Road.
The board approved a final draft of the RFP for a town hall roof replacement that was prepared by Lindsay, selecting a middle gray color. Board members Chris Casey and Lizzy Higgins will come up with a list of roofing contractors to send the RFP to.
Lindsay is working on RFP’s for basement waterproofing and new windows in the town office that he hopes to have for the next select board meeting after Casey and Higgins review the window options.
Grant agreements for two future road projects were signed by the board. The first provides $200,000 for a new box culvert to replace the old culvert where the Kingsbury Branch passes under Valley Lake Road in the village. The second is for a project yet to be determined.
The culvert’s design estimate came to $278,000, which would leave $78,000 to be covered by the town. Michael Gray will contact Nate Sicard, the design engineer, to get an updated estimate. Sicard will develop the RFP to be sent out in the late fall. In-stream work can’t begin until after July 1, so work on the culvert will not start until FY27, allowing funding to be included in the FY27 budget.
Larrabee said the road crew has begun work on King Pond Road funded by a FY25 grant. Other roads are being graded and mowed as weather permits.
The roadside mower may be causing damage to the hydraulic pump on the bucket loader needed to run the mower, said Larrabee. The pump is a costly replacement and a lengthy flow test for the pump is required to diagnose its health. Larabee said he will get an estimate for the test.
The August 11 select board meeting was set to hear from the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission (CVRPC) about a Regional Future Land Use Map that CVRPC has been developing as part of its new Central Vermont Regional Plan.
The board awarded the winter sand contract to Gravel Construction for $9 a yard at the pit in Wolcott, or $17.75 if delivered.
The owners of 30 still-unregistered dogs will get personal phone calls, said Town Clerk Robin Durkee.
Higgins brought up a letter from a town resident about a trash can damaged by the road crew. Larrabee said it was an old issue that he thought had been resolved, but he’ll buy a trash can to replace the damaged one.
Higgins shared that she received a note saying the property owner is satisfied with the town’s work replacing a culvert on Cabot Road.
Casey had talked with the owner of goats that had been grazing on a neighbor’s property who said they’d compensated the neighbor and found a new home for the aggressive male goats.
Durkee said she’d received complaints about trash at an Ainsworth Road property and the Vermont Department of Health had received a similar complaint that had been sent to Casey, the town health officer. Board member Diana Peduzzi said she thinks the trash may have been cleaned up.
The select board received a complaint from a resident that the Town Animal Control Officer (ACO) had left a threatening note on their door. Peduzzi has contacted ACO Ed Dumas to hear from him about the note.
Peduzzi drafted a letter to Swenson Granite Company some time ago to raise the issue of payments from the company for the wear and tear of Cabot Hill Road caused by the heavy trucks. The quarry is now shipping out large truckloads of grout in addition to the usual granite blocks. The new entrance to the quarry is about half a mile from the old entrance, which means that much more road is being worn down by those trucks. She will resend the draft letter to the board members for discussion.
Following an executive session, in which the board discussed labor needs for the town road crew, it asked Larrabee to make a decision on his future, by the next meeting in two weeks.
The meeting can be watched at hctv.us.
An earlier version of this story had a incorrect name for the Woodbury Town Clerk.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
