LONDONDERRY, Vt. – The Londonderry Selectboard approved a wastewater operator services bids at their Aug. 17 meeting from Margaret Dwyer, of Windham Contract Water Services LLC, for $55 per hour, with a maximum cost of $17,500 per year. A second bid had also been submitted by Christopher Hayes, of Water Treatment Professionals, for $80 per hour, with a maximum annual cost of $33,288.
Chrissy Haskins, of Dufresne Group, previously gave her recommendation to the town to use Dwyer. The board added that Dwyer runs other local wastewater systems for Stratton Mountain Resort and Magic Mountain, and is familiar with the system itself. The board therefore approved the bid from Windham Contract Water Services.
The board also reviewed two bids for town hall general contracting services for the renovation projects, from GPI Construction and Hunter Excavating. The board discussed that Hunter withdrew his bid after some misunderstanding on what was being bid.
Board members and Liam Elio, of the town hall renovation committee, reviewed the list of projects for the renovation, which included insulation of the walls and attic, remodeling of the front porch, a redesign of the entrance, an ADA bathroom, and replacement of the rear door. They all generally agreed that they needed to fine tune which pieces of the project were priority in order to get the budget down. They also discussed how the bathroom and rear entrance, which both need to be brought up to code for ADA compliance, could potentially qualify for Municipal Energy Resilience Program funding.
Town Administrator Aileen Tulloch cautioned that the town needs to approve a contract for the project by Sept. 30. The board decided to issue a new request for proposal with a prioritized project to-do list, in order to get a more accurate budget, before approving a bid.
Tulloch also announced that she had applied for a Highway Safety Improvement Program grant about three months prior, and had recently received an email that the town was awarded $50,000. The grant is designated for installation of guard rails on various roads, Boynton Road projects which have already been completed, and line striping on a few other roads in town.
On other agenda items, the board approved the closing of construction and demolition waste and the take it or leave it services on Sundays at the transfer station. Members collectively endorsed the effort to pursue the village trust initiative for the historic preservation and revitalization concept at Squeaks House, 2296 North Main Street, with no financial obligation to the town. The board also adopted the old town stamp as the new town logo for letterheads and other town documents.
The next Londonderry Selectboard meeting will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 6 p.m., at the town office and on Zoom, observing the Labor Day holiday.