LUDLOW, Vt. – The Ludlow Selectboard met on Monday, April 1, for their first meeting since Town Meeting Day.
The board nominated Brett Sanderson to continue in his role as chair, and Justin Hyjek to continue as vice chair. This was the first meeting for newly-elected selectboard member Noah Schmidt, who was also appointed to serve as selectboard clerk.
Seletboard meetings will continue to be held on the first Monday of each month, at 6 p.m., with the third Monday held as an alternate date if the board needs to reschedule or hold an additional meeting. The Vermont Journal and Rutland Herald will also continue to serve at the board’s papers of record.
The board then appointed interested parties to nonelected and vacant elected positions, a full list of which can be found on the town website, www.ludlow.vt.us.
The board also set a meeting date of Wednesday, April 17, at 6 p.m., to discuss ARPA funds, which are set to expire at the end of 2024 if not allocated. This will be a public meeting, open to Ludlow residents to voice opinions on how the town should use the money allotted to it by the Covid-era ARPA bill.
Town manager Brendan McNamara also discussed with the board a proposal to use the now-vacant Timber Inn Motel property for fire department training. The Timber Inn has recently completed a long running effort to secure a FEMA buyout, and as a result the property now belongs to the town, and the building on it must be demolished within 90 days.
Prior to demolishing the building, however, McNamara suggested that the Ludlow Fire Department could use the building to practice techniques, such as forcible entry, which are otherwise difficult to train in prior to encountering them in life-or-death situations. The board was supportive of this effort, and gave McNamara their affirmative consensus to utilize the building for fire department training.
Two bids were approved for town expenses: one for an F-660 Evo truck for the Ludlow Highway Department, with sanding and plowing capabilities, for a total of $173,837, from Claremont Ford. This was the only bid the town received, of five requests sent out. The other bid was for paving of the Okemo Access Road from the trestle up, funded in part by a Class 2 Roadway grant, leaving the town with 20% of the total cost. A bid from Fuller Sand in the amount of $264,070 was approved. While the town had previously been awarded the Class 2 grant, the village had not, meaning only the area from the trestle up can currently be slated for paving. However, McNamara was optimistic that the village could acquire a Class 2 grant this year, enabling the entire Okemo Access Road to be paved at once.
Finally, McNamara told the board that Ludlow had posted an opening for the position of full-time fire chief, and and a committee had been put together to interview potential candidates. He also acknowledged that several areas of the town would need continued cleanup from last year’s floods in the coming months, among them the dog park and the former Little League field.
The board’s next meeting will be held on Monday, May 6, at 6 p.m., in the Heald Auditorium at Ludlow Town Hall.