LUDLOW, Vt. – The Ludlow Selectboard held its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Monday, May 6, addressing a wide range of issues.
While a discussion of the Jewell Brook Dam spillway repairs was on the agenda for later in the meeting, Ludlow resident James O’Malley rose to speak about it during the citizens’ comments portion of the meeting, prompting the board to address the issue first. O’Malley has been keeping tabs on several of the dam sites, in particular site 5, which has what he called a “phase two defect” in its spillway.
“A static breach [failure] would result in 509 structures being inundated,” by a 25-million-gallon discharge, with a resulting wave height of 48 feet, which would “roll down Route 100,” O’Malley told the board, saying he had run the scenario through AI tools to determine the possible outcomes. O’Malley urged the board to address the problem immediately.
Town manager Brendan McNamara assured O’Malley that the town was working on addressing the issue, and had secured $700,000 of funding via the USDA Emergency Watershed Program for dam site 3 and 5 spillway repairs. The project is currently out to bid, will commence as soon as a contractor is selected, and the spillways “will be repaired, I hope, by July,” said McNamara. In the mean time, he explained, the Ludlow highway and emergency departments are monitoring the dam levels and forecasts, and releasing water when necessary to ensure the water levels remain below the spillways. McNamara said he had spoken with engineers who believe that the risk of a major breach is low, but did acknowledge that, “If you have a 48-foot wall of water coming down [Route] 100, that’s an MCI [mass casualty incident].”
However, McNamara also explained that a full-scale rehabilitation project for all five Jewell Brook Dam Sites would be a longer process, and cost significantly more money. This project is in the engineering phase, and will take two years per dam site, for a total of 10 years, at a cost of about $40 million, for which Ludlow is responsible for 25%. “The reality here is, how are we going to come up with $11 million?” McNamara said, telling O’Malley and the board that he had been in contact with officials at the state and federal level to express the urgency of the project and investigate funding options.
Moving on, McNamara also proposed two open meetings be held to discuss long-running issues facing the town, namely the merger of the Town and Village of Ludlow, and the implementation of a local options tax. Much like the ARPA funds and the STR regulations, McNamara felt that these issues would be best handled at open meetings separate from regular selectboard meetings, to allow interested parties to voice their concerns and have any potential implications explained to them. No dates were set for these meetings, but the board determined to hold the meetings in the near future.
After recommending Jennifer Michalke for a vacant position on the Ludlow-Mount Holly Unified Union School District Board, and approving a FEMA buyout for 21 Meadow Street, the board discussed the relocation and reconstruction of the Ludlow Dog Park. The dog park had been located along the Black River, across from Fletcher Farm on Route 103, but was destroyed in the July flood. McNamara felt that the dog park could be relocated to the West Hill Recreation Area, which would insulate it from further flood damage. He also saw it as an opportunity for utilizing the recreation area more fully, saying it “may help us in…revitalizing West Hill a little bit.”
McNamara then announced that Ludlow had hired Ben Whalen as Ludlow’s full-time fire chief. Whalen is currently acting chief in Chester, as well as being employed by the state as a fire marshal. He also announced that Ludlow Police Chief Jeffrey Billings intended to retire in the near future, and thus a search for a new police chief would need to begin soon.
Finally, McNamara told the board that the Code Red opt-in emergency alert system was now live, and residents are able to sign up via the town’s website, www.ludlow.vt.us.
The Ludlow Selectboard’s next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Monday, June 3, at 6 p.m.