Transportation, truck issues steer Weston board meeting

By Cherise Madigan
©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Business moved quickly at the Tuesday, Feb. 13 meeting of the Weston Select Board, where transportation policies and town vehicles where the primary topic of discussion.

Road Foreman Almon Crandall kicked off the meeting with an update on the town’s new Ford 550 truck, a $87,697 purchase authorized by the Select Board in April. While there are some minor issues in need of addressing, including an malfunctioning defroster, Crandall said that his crew could “get by with it until warmer weather.”

The truck’s plow and sander, purchased from Mansfield’s HP Fairfield, will also require repairs in the spring due to faulty wiring in the plow’s lights. For now, Crandall says, he’s found a temporary solution to keep the lights working.

Weston’s former town truck, a 2012 Ford F-550 dump truck, was also sold to the highest bidder at Tuesday’s meeting. Weston Island Logging Inc. came out on top, with a bid of $10,100. The company beat out competitors like Double D Transport ($6,800), Mark Nelson ($3,165), and Tucks Property Services ($6,000).

The meeting kept on truckin’ with a motion to approve the Weston Volunteer Fire Department’s lease agreement, which includes four vehicles: a 1987 Chevy Kodiak, a 2004 KME Ford F-550 Mini Pumper, a 2008 KME Predator Rescue Pumper and a newly purchased 2018 KME Tanker. That motion was passed unanimously, without discussion.

Although the board had planned to discuss vice chair Jim Linville’s revised winter parking ordinance, designed to increase the Road Foreman’s towing authority, that conversation was put on hold due to Linville’s absence. Select Board member Bruce Downer was also absent.

Select Board chair Denis Benson then moved the discussion to the revised Highway Access and Right of Way Policy. Select Board Administrative Assistant Cheryl Barker said that while changes were minimal, the State of Vermont had specifically asked that it be updated since the current policy is 19 years old.

Despite this, board member Ann Fuji’i requested that the board wait to discuss the policy until the following meeting, to be held on Feb. 27, to provide time for a review of the document by board members.

The board then unanimously approved a certificate of compliance for the town’s Road and Bridge Standards, and moved on to approving the minutes from prior meetings.

As the meeting drew to a close, Treasurer Kim Seymour informed the Select Board that the final warrant for county taxes came in at $93 more than was previously estimated. Rather than adding that increase to the discussion at Weston’s 2018 Town Meeting, the board moved to absorb those costs in the budget.

“We wouldn’t want that $93 to take up a half hour of town meeting,” laughed board member Charles Goodwin. “It might be good to absorb it.”

Following that exchange, the meeting adjourned after only 30 minutes. The Weston Select Board will meet next on Tuesday, Feb. 27.