ROCKINGHAM, Vt. – The Rockingham Selectboard held their regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 3, where they ratified their previous approval of a request submitted by Marty Gallagher, administrator for Greater Rockingham Area Services (GRAS).
Gallagher had been present at the Nov. 19 board meeting, where she reported on the biomass heating project, and the recent application for a $250,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) agreement.
In reviewing town service contracts, manager Scott Pickup shared budget documents with the board, reporting that costs within the sheriff’s department had increased, but not significantly. Regarding the town’s contract with the recycling center, Pickup mentioned that they had encountered some frustration in managing expenses there.
“We have been raising rates and trying to reduce our costs by doing glass recycling to try to reduce our overhead at that facility. The real challenge we’re having is the cost of disposing of the municipal solid waste.” Pickup explained that the costs were increasing at a higher rate than town fee hikes.
Pickup told the board that there were a finite number of contractors in the business of hauling that type of waste, so finding an alternative vendor is difficult. The town is locked into the contract for now, but Pickup said he wanted to bring the issue to the board, so they would be aware moving forward that this was one area of the budget where costs continue to increase. The board asked if there may be a need to raise user fees, but shelved further discussion until the Dec. 17 meeting.
Through the Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program, Rockingham received a $24,000 grant, which Pickup said will be put primarily toward a study of rural Rockingham – Route 121 near Route 5, but also the Village of Bellows Falls. The project is part of the Rockingham Safety Action Plan, an effort to reduce the number of serious or fatal roadway accidents through the development of a data-driven strategy.
Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) coordinator Walter Wallace was at the meeting to present the board with a Save America’s Treasures (SAT) grant application to restore two historical murals acquired by the town “through a deed of gift.” The artist, Stephan Belaski, was commissioned by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the mid-1930s to paint the murals to be displayed at Fort Ethan Allen in Vermont. Established as a cavalry post in 1894, “The Fort” was located on the north side of Route 15, on land divided in half between Colchester and Essex.
“One mural depicts the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, a major turning point in the War for Independence. The other is of the moving of canon from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston on the eve of Bunker Hill,” described Wallace.
The murals have been in storage since 1988, and the Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission plans to restore them and install them for public viewing.
Wallace commented that sources for art restoration funding are “few and far between,” but a portion of the SAT funds are set aside for projects other than buildings. “At this point the total is $237,700,” Wallace stated. “It is a 50-50 match, and the federal grant funds would cover about $100,500, and the match share is a cost of $137,200.”
Karen Jarret, HPC commissioner, has volunteered to manage the restoration project, Wallace told the board, and school board member Mike Stack is providing warehouse space for storage, and potentially the studio where the restoration can take place.
The board voted to approve HPC’s request to move ahead with the grant application and to additionally seek private funding to cover costs for the restoration of the murals.
As the selectboard moved into the budget presentation portion of the meeting, Pickup began with the highway fund, and a review of 12 proposed projects for next year which would be at least in part covered by grant funds. Pickup remarked that there are many hands that lend support to applying for grants, and they “receive a hell of a lot” of funding, so when they are turned down it can come as a surprise.
Pickup said that, due to the bridge project delay, this is the time to “really focus on capital investment. It is an opportunity for this board to address a lot of issues that, quite frankly, we’ve had for an extended period of time and just didn’t have the funds or the capacity to really address.”
Additionally, the board reviewed the budget items for capital and debt service, and the fire equipment fund.
The selectboard will meet again this month, on Dec. 17, where agenda items will include a review of the VTrans lease terms for the Bellows Falls train station, and the appointment of a town liaison to the state ethics commission.