ROCKINGHAM, Vt. – Just three minutes into the Tuesday, Nov. 3, Rockingham Selectboard meeting, Marty Gallagher, administrator of Greater Rockingham Area Services, shared some encouraging news. The nonprofit organization is responsible for maintaining the buildings and grounds at 1 Hospital Court, the old hospital, and Gallagher said they had been looking for a tenant to occupy the space left vacant with the departure of North Star Health.
“I am pleased to announce we have a possible primary care option,” Gallagher told the board. “It is called Direct Primary Care. The entity that is interested in coming and talking with us is Blue Spruce Health.” The primary care group operates out of Newport, Vt., St. Johnsbury, Vt., and Williston, Vt., and is a subscription-based service.
Gallagher gave each board member a handout that provided an overview of the primary care group. She mentioned that a Zoom meeting was scheduled for Nov. 12 and requested that a representative of the selectboard attend. Additionally, Blue Spruce Health will be coming to Rockingham on Nov. 19 to conduct a “meet and greet and a question-and-answer session so they can get to know us, [and] we can get to know them and make sure that it would potentially be a good fit.”
Much of Tuesday’s meeting centered around financial plan reviews, and there was some discussion among board members and Town Manager Aaron Patt regarding a proposed amendment to the town social services agency appropriation policy. Mainly, the board wanted to revise the review schedule from every five years to every three years.
Patt stated, “You voted for the changes [at the last meeting], now we’re bringing [the document] forward that you’re signing…you’ve started the clock over, so now you have an opportunity in this budget season to look at your list and determine which ones belong and don’t.”
The selectboard recently voted to practice “good meeting hygiene” and began timing the discussion of each action item on the agenda. One such item, the School Street Extension improvement project, was presented by Gary Fox, development director for the town of Rockingham. The item had come back to the board for a final vote.
The project focuses on safety improvements at the intersection of School Street Extension, School Street, and Atkinson Street, where elementary school students cross.
The project has been ongoing since the board’s first discussion more than one year ago. With funding through a VTrans transportation grant, Fox reported, “This contract includes the engineering for the preferred alternative that we chose for the intersection, and for the work on School Street Extension with the crosswalks and the drainage.”
Colin Bratton, from the Windham Regional Commission, was attending online and stated, “The way that these grants are funded is that it is 80% paid for by the state, and 20% of the total is local match.”
Bratton explained that the estimate for the work is $125,000, and matching costs will be approximately $25,000. Fox told the board that the money is available within the highway engineering budget. Relevant portions of the 63-page engineering services contract for the project are included in the meeting packet for the boards and public review on the town website.
The selectboard’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 6 p.m., in the lower theater of the Rockingham Town Hall.