Cavendish board addresses snowmobile crossings, other road issues

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2017 Telegraph Publishing, LLC

The Cavendish Select Board sprinted through its monthly meeting on Monday night considering a snowmobile club request, selecting a contractor from seven bidders and discussing several infrastructure issues all before entering an executive session less than a half hour into the meeting.

Cavendish Green Mountain Snow Fleas President Joseph Marini asked the board to approve the list of places that snowmobile trails cross public roads. Marini noted that the crossings are the same as last year, but that he has been told that there may be logging this winter near a trail in the Proctor Piper State Forest, which may make changing the crossings necessary. Marini told the board that he would come back to talk with them if that were to happen. The board voted unanimously to approve the crossings.

Assistant Town Manager Bruce McEnaney reviewed the bids for replacement of town bridges No. 21 and 22. McEnaney told the board that there were 20 present at the required site visit to the bridges on East and on Greenbush roads respectively resulting in seven bids.

The bids from Gurney Bros. were the lowest, but they were so much lower than the others, that town officials met with Doug Gurney to confirm that all the specs for the job are the same. McEnaney said he was satisfied that the contractor is on the same page as the town.

Town Manager Brendan McNamara also recommended approval of the Gurney Bros. bids of $160,000 for Bridge 21 and $158,000 for Bridge 22. McEnaney said the funding will be 90 percent state funds and 10 percent town funds, so the board will need to set aside $31,800 in next year’s budget for the match.

McEnaney said that the work would be done after school closes in June so it won’t interfere with buses and that each job will take three to four weeks.

In other business

McNamara told the board that Newton and Greenbush roads are not up to state standards for erosion control under new legislation and that the ditches will need work, including lining them with stone. McEnaney said that there are state funds to assist with this, but the board will need to keep it in mind when budgeting.

The question of which site will host the town garage will be decided on at the Dec. 11 meeting. McNamara said that the state will be issuing a jurisdictional opinion that the town does not need to go through Act 250 to build the garage on the site across from the wastewater plant.

Test borings at that site have shown sand and there are no red flags for building there. Board member Mark Huntley said it seemed the board was leaning toward the new site.

In the meantime, the town has leased space in the former Black River Produce building on Rt. 103 and the road crew has moved into the building, which is owned by M&M Excavating.

And finally, board chair Bob Glidden asked that some sort of flagging be arranged for all the fire hydrants in town before the snow flies.