CHESTER, Vt. – The Chester Selectboard met for their first of two monthly meetings on Wednesday, April 3, covering a range of topics, with particular focus on the town’s ongoing Wastewater Asset Management Plan.
First, however, town manager Julie Hance gave updates to the board on several ongoing situations in Chester. Hance informed the board that five properties in Chester, which are situated in flood plains, were seeking FEMA buyouts due to repeated flood damage. Two of the properties are on Route 11, one is on Potash Brook Road, and two more are on Fenton Road. The buyout program provides federal money to the town to purchase these properties, which then become town property in perpetuity. The properties are removed from the grand list, and any structures on the properties must be removed. New structures can never be built on them, under the conditions of the buyout. However, the properties may be used as open, public parks.
Hance also brought the board up to date on efforts to establish a townwide alert system. This would be an opt-in system whereby Chester residents or property owners could sign up to receive notifications via text or phone call from the town. While its primary use would be for emergency situations such as July’s floods, Hance did suggest that it could also be used for more general notifications of which residents may want to be aware, such as hydrant flushing. Chester has secured a contract for $3,600 per year with a company called Catalyst to provide the service, and will soon allow interested parties to sign up for alerts through the town website.
The selectboard then approved coin drop applications from two veterans’ organizations. The first was from American Legion Post 67 in Chester, scheduled for May 24, with a rain date of May 25. The second was from Ruck Up, a veterans’ group based in New Hampshire that provides services to local veterans in Chester as well as throughout New England, and has done coin drops in Chester for several years running. This coin drop will be on Aug. 17, with a rain date of Aug. 18. The board discussed the possibility of increasing the maximum number of coin drops allowed, currently set at two per yer, though the issue would need to be properly warned and taken up in a future meeting.
Moving on, the board heard from Naomi Johnson, an engineer with Dufresne Group, who is developing the town’s Wasetwater Asset Management Plan. The purpose of the plan, Johnson said, is to inventory all wastewater assets – manholes, pump stations, piping, etc. – and to “identify which are the highest risk, or the highest priority for doing improvements.”
Johnson said that the surveying of assets was complete, and a second draft of the plan had now been submitted to the state with requested revisions. The highest priority assets were identified as the First Avenue pump station, as well as the force main leading from that station toward Depot Street. Johnson also said that many pipes have what she called “infiltration,” meaning that, “extra water that’s not wastewater is conveyed to the wastewater treatment facility, which then stresses out the facility as far as the capacity…to treat normal wastewater.” This could be groundwater, or storm runoff during larger weather events, Johnson said.
Some of the identified pipes are composed of asbestos concrete. While these pipes are not a concern during normal use, they will require special handling and disposal if and when they are removed from the ground, to keep asbestos particles out of the air.
Johnson also spoke to the town’s ongoing lead line inventory, which is required by the EPA for every municipality nationwide by October of 2024. Johnson said that no lead lines have been identified in Chester, though two lines require further research due to inability to assess them as yet. Seven galvanized lines have been identified, however, all of which are customer lines and not the property of the town. Galvanized lines are required to be replaced if it cannot be proven that they have never been downstream of a lead line, as Johnson said that studies indicate these lines can absorb lead and continue to leach it even after the lead lines are removed. The town is required to notify the customers with galvanized lines in the near future.
The Chester Selectboard meets on the first and third Wednesday of every month, at 6:30 p.m., at the Chester Town Hall.
CORRECTION: This article previous listed incorrect dates for the Ruck Up coin drop. The dates have been corrected. The coin drop will be held on Aug. 17, with a rain date of Aug. 18.