BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – At the Rockingham Selectboard meeting of April 1, town manager Scott Pickup announced that the highway department has begun spring cleanup, and asked residents to please be mindful of the soft, gravel roads as conditions change. “It’s always a little challenging until we get back out and get everything graded and back to our regular standards.” The town will begin curbside yard debris collection on April 15.
Board member Rick Cowan requested an update on the recent fire equipment committee (FEC) meeting, and plans for the transition committee. Chair Peter Golec responded, stating that they had begun the meeting by laying out the organizational chart based on a recommendation from Saxtons River Village Fire Chief Art Smith, calling for one chief and two deputy chiefs.
Golec reported that Nick Cushman, EMS chief of Saxtons River, was added to the committee to represent the emergency response team. With representatives from the Rockingham and Bellows Falls EMT teams, Cushman will lead the planning for the shared emergency services department.
The next two FEC meetings are scheduled for April 17 and May 15, at 5:30 p.m., in the third-floor conference room at the town hall.
Pickup told the board that 125 subscribers had signed up through the town website to receive the newsletter, and they were in the process of working on the second email update, which would be sent out soon.
The board voted to approve a 20% local match with 20% in-kind highway services to accept a grant from the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program (VUCFP), to fund a second round of the removal of diseased ash trees. Pickup said the town will be finishing what remains from last year’s removal project, such as stump grinding and resetting some concrete, and the work will continue once the grant is awarded. Additionally, the town is “actively working on” determining where new trees will be planted to replace those removed. “Obviously these won’t be the big, mature ash trees that they are removing,” Pickup stated. “But, hopefully over time they will [fill in] some of that gap in the streetscape.”
Pickup and the board discussed the potential accessibility of federal funds requested for proposed town projects, including the purchase of the Saxtons River Fire Station by the Town of Rockingham. Pickup reported that the availability of the Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) grant “will depend on how the federal budget process resolves in Washington.”
Golec said that the town had been advised by U.S. Sen. Peter Welch’s office to pursue the applications, but Pickup expressed concern that if the funding comes through, it would most likely not be before the July closing deadline for the Saxtons River property.
The board voted to adopt a firewood policy, suggested by Glen Schreiter, highway superintendent, to distribute the wood resulting from tree removal to residents for use as firewood. Pickup said that several folks have already put in requests to Schreiter, and the idea would be that those interested would fill out a request form and follow some guidelines; for instance, they would not be able to resell the wood, which would be supplied only for personal use. Information on the policy and how to make a request will be added to the town website and included in the newsletter.
Golec announced the selectboard’s summer schedule of one meeting per month, on June 22, July 22, and Aug. 12.