Cavendish board weighing road paving options; discusses police coverage

By Lorien Strange
©2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Cavendish’s March Select Board meeting was also Sandra Russo’s first back on the board, having previously served from 2019 to the spring of 2023. Due to an agenda posting issue, the meeting was held on a Thursday instead of the typical second Monday of the month.

After quickly running through the annual organizational meeting, the Select Board addressed seven items under New Business, three of which revolved around town roads.

Now that the budget for fiscal 2025 has been approved, the town can decide which roads to pave. Town Manager Richard Chambers suggested the board consider Quent Phelan Road, Village Green and the end of Depot Street. Without a quote for paving, the board won’t know if it would have the budget for all three, and Chambers said members would likely have to drop either Village Green or Depot Street.

Select Board member David Norton said he’d rather see the end of Depot Street paved, citing its current crumbling condition. Chambers will get a quote for each of the three roads to inform the board’s decision.

Under old business, Chambers announced that the state will be coming to fix the school zone lights. Until they are fixed, the 25 mph speed limit in front of Cavendish Town Elementary School during school hours remains unenforceable.

At the last meeting, Chambers shared an email from the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department that suggested that the town permanently lower the speed limit in that area to 25 mph. The town could ask the state to conduct a survey to see if this would be feasible, but once they started this process, Chambers warned, there would be no going back: All final decisions about changing the speed limit — including how much of Main Street would be subject to the change — would lie in the hands of the state.

Russo said it would be worth considering. Because she lives on Route 103, she sees a lot of foot traffic at night heading to programs at the Cavendish-Fletcher Community Library, next to the school, and after-school programs at CTES. “There are a lot more events going on at the library at different times,” she said, and the general activity in the center of town might make a permanent slower speed zone worthwhile.

Norton disagreed, saying he doesn’t see a lot of foot traffic there except during summer concerts at the Svec Green. “And if you lower the speed limit, it’s not going to do any good without police coverage.”

Later, Norton said that incoming Ludlow Police Chief Jeffrey Warfle had spoken to Norton about increasing police presence in Cavendish, which is currently limited to four hours per week through a contract with the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department.

“When we need an officer in the middle of the night for something,” Norton said, “we have to wait an hour, and that’s just not right. It’s not safe for us or anyone else.”

Select Board Chair Bob Glidden, who is also Proctorsville’s Fire Chief,  added that a few weeks ago, the Proctorsville Volunteer Fire Department was responding to a call when someone threatened to shoot them if they went on that property again. “So we don’t care if it’s a medical call or the place is burning, we’re not going back there without an officer,” he said.

According to Norton, Warfle said  that Ludlow’s coverage could be for an unspecified number of hours five days per week during daytime hours, along with responding to any calls that came in on nights and weekends, and that  Cavendish may be able to get grant funding for the service, lowering its cost to the town.

The Select Board will discuss the issue at its April meeting, and Warfle is expected to come to the Cavendish Select Board’s May meeting with a proposal.

Some town positions remain vacant

Most of the town positions due to be updated at the town organizational meeting were left unchanged, with the following exceptions:

• Sandra Russo replaced George Timko as clerk of the Select Board
• Chris Marks replaced Robert C. Glidden as Emergency Management director

The following positions continue to be vacant:

• Animal Control
• Budget Committee members
• Town Service Officer
• Alternate Regional Planning Commissioner
• Alternate representative to the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee
• Energy coordinator
• Water Commissioner
• Town representative to the Council on Aging Board
• Town representative to the Black River Valley Senior Center Board

The Cavendish Select Board’s regular meetings are at 6:30 p.m. on the second Monday of each month, at the Town Office, 37 High St. However, due to a scheduling conflict with Chambers, the next meeting will be held on Monday April 21 at the usual time and place.

The Select Board also approved the following contracts:

• Batchelder Associates P.C. for auditing services ($22,250)
• Cartographic Associates,Inc. for yearly tax map maintenance ($1,000 per year)
• Lafayette Highway Specialties to install guardrails ($19,613.25 from FEMA funds and insurance after a crash on Wiley Hill Road)