Select Board Meeting: 7/13/15

Select board (SB) meetings are recorded by LPC-TV and are available at their website and on Comcast Television.  Written minutes are available at the town’s website.  Monday night’s meeting included the following::

 A. Bridge Projects

• Depot Street Bridge: Updated motion from the June SB meeting for the Accelerated Bridge Program to include several elements: replacement of entire bridge; single span replacement; and closure of bridge during construction requiring a detour for approximately 12 weeks.

• Davis Rd Bridge: While the bridge is now open, grating, mulching, seeding etc. remain to be done to the town manager’s, Rich Svec, satisfaction. Final payment will be made once completed. This is not only an esthetic issue, but one that is important to abutting property owners. Please note that the picnic table and trashcan are not town property, rather they were provided by the construction company for their employees.

B. VELCO: Notification has been received that in August VELCO will submit a certificate of Public Good to the VT Public Service board regarding the Connecticut River Valley Project (discussed at the May SB Meeting). VELCO proposes to upgrade the existing transmission line between the Coolidge (located in Cavendish) and Ascutney substations to resolve the overloading and voltage violations. FMI http://www.velco.com/our-work/projects/project-crvp

C. Tax Rate: Set at the July 8 meeting, taxes are down slightly, with the exception of Proctorsville non-residents, which went up slightly, bills have been sent out. School taxes have also gone down.

D. Cemeteries: A new Husqvarna riding mower has been purchased to replace the one stolen. There are now two riding and two zero turn mowers, which are sufficient to do the job. There is a problem with orange lichen on some of the gravestones, particularly in Cavendish High Street. Efforts will be made to start cleaning these stones. Bids have been received to complete the Twenty Mile Stream cemetery expansion. Svec and Bruce McEnaney will be making the decision about which company in the next few days.

E. Recreation: Baseball season is over. There will be no summer camp this year but the director is working on some special activities.

F. Water Department: Well cleaning has taken place and $1,200 worth of tests have been done on Well # 2. Results have not been received, but these are required by the state in order for the town to bring this well on-line.

G. Sustainability

• Solar: The town’s solar project, is right on target with projections, and to date has generated approximately $20,000 worth of credit. You can track the solar energy being produced at the Cavendish Municipal Solar Array site.  An extended payment plan has been worked out for the next year, which significantly helps to reduce costs of the principal, thereby lowering the amount of money needed to borrowed by floating a bond.

• Composting: The Transfer station now has new yard waste recycling in place. Guidelines are available on-line  and have been also been posted to the Cavendish Update and on Cavendish Pinterest Energy and Conservation site. Both the special post and the Pinterest site on composting are being used.

H. Transfer Station: In view of all the changes at the transfer station, a new resource guide is being developed for users. While the facility is in compliance with state regulations, they were concerned about two areas.

1) The building being used to store electronic waste should be replaced due to its deteriorating condition.

2) The state wants to see the cost of municipal solid waste (MSW) born by those who are using it. Currently, Cavendish’s tipping fees are about half the price of Ludlow. Svec and McEnaney will be looking at fee schedules.

The SB voted to make some improvements in the existing electronic waste building and begin to set aside money in the FY 16-17 budget to cover replacement costs. The goal is to replace the building in about five years.

I. Waste Water System Tax Rate: The tax rate has gone up this year, primarily because the positions for both the Operator and Asst. Operator are now full time. In the past, there was a part time Operator and full time assistant. The new rates for wastewater will be as follows per quarter

• Inactive $29 (increase of $1)

• Up to 10,000 gallons $82.23 (increase of $3.90) + $1.85 for every 1,000 gallons over the limit.

7/13/15 SB Meeting Agenda

The Cavendish Select Board will meet on Monday, July 13, 6:30 pm at the Cavendish Town Office. The Agenda will be as follows:

1. Call the Meeting to Order

2. Act upon minutes of the meetings of June 8th, July 1st and July 8th, 2015

3. Sign Orders

4. Review Correspondence

5. Adjust Agenda

6. Hear Citizens

7. Town Manager to follow-up on the Board’s action of June 8th (agenda item #8) with regard to participation in the Accelerated Bridge Program for Town Highway Bridge #58 on Depot Street in Proctorsville. The Manager will ask the Board to re-make their resolution to participate with the inclusion of several project elements to ensure clarity of purpose.

8. Update on the Davis Road Bridge project and anticipated completion.

9. Update on the status of the VELCO Connecticut River Valley Project (follow-up on item #3 of the May 4th SB agenda)

10. Update on various town activities including: Tax rate setting and issuance of FY 16 tax bills; cemeteries; grant program activities and status; recreation department; water department projects, the Cavendish Solar project, etc.

11. Discussion of changes at the Cavendish Transfer Station and review of current fee schedule. Discussion will include changes in Vermont law governing solid waste and recycling. Review of Transfer Station Fee Schedule and consideration of changes to better reflect costs of disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) and costs of special wastes disposal. Discuss capital improvements at the station, especially with regard to the electronics collection shed.

12. Review and Approval of FY 2016 Cavendish Municipal Wastewater System Budget and Rate Schedule

13. Other business

14. Adjourn

Cavendish Update 7/10/15

As Cavendish Connects approaches its first anniversary on Aug 1, we’d like to point out, we’re very good at what we do with one big exception. We suck at fundraising!
 
Think about it-  Is it reasonable to expect the same people who provide the Cavendish community with a completely integrated and seamless news and community networking service to also go out and grovel every couple of months in order raise a few bucks to meet expenses? No. Besides, it’s sucking our soul dry. And you know what that leads to.
 
To save you the trouble of repeating the same two comments we hear consistently on this topic, we’ll do it for you:
• The town should support this effort. If you want original content and investigative reporting, you don’t want your news media funded by a governmental source.
 
• Local Advertising: We had some ideas, tried a few, no response and so we recognize getting business support is not something we do well or really have the time to do. However, we do know the organizations and businesses in town are definitely benefitting from Cavendish Connects.
 
At this point, if you’re wondering where the local news and events are this week, we’ve been too worried about money issues, so it’s limited. See, wouldn’t you rather we spent our time working on the things we do well?
 
It’s pretty simple, if you value Facebook, the Cavendish Update, website, Pinterest etc. then do one of the following:
• Give a donation of any amount. You can do that on-line,  mail a check to Cavendish Connects, PO Box 3, Cavendish, VT 05142 and/or dropping off a donation at the Cavendish Connects booth (Proctorsville Green) on July 25 (Town Wide Tag Sale).
 
• Organize a fundraiser. It can be as simple as giving a certain percentage of your sales from the Town Wide Tag Sale or hosting an event.
 
• Volunteer to work on fundraising
 
E-mail us with your questions or suggestions at cavendishconnects@gmail.com
 
CAVENDISH RELATED NEWS
Tax Rate: At a special Select Board meeting on Wed, the board adopted the tax rates below, all of which are down slightly, with the exception of Proctorsville non-residents, which went up slightly.
 
Fire District 1 (Proctorsville): Residential rate 1.18383; 1.8256 for non residents
Fire District 2 (Cavendish): Residential rate 1.8243; 1.8116 for non residents
 
Cavendish Telecommunications-Ludlow Internet Tower Now On-line: VTel’s Ludlow Tower is now live. For many this is thought to be a long awaited answer to their Internet issues. You can call VTel 802 885-7734 to set up an appointment for a signal test and/ or you can e-mail swhitaker@vermontel.com with your physical address for similar information. The VPR article VTel’s Statewide Wireless Broadband System Approaches the Finish Line, includes an important comment by President of VTel who notes that they may not reach all areas as anticipated. "It doesn’t go as far as expectations were some years ago. The signals simply don’t carry through foliage like people thought they might. The signals simply don’t go around buildings like we thought they might." There are Cavendish residents who have found this out the hard way since they are unable to utilize the wire less service because of tree height as well as foliage. 
 
Having High Speed Internet Impacts Price of Home: A nationwide study released recently by researchers at the University of Colorado and Carnegie Mellon University finds fiber-optic connections, the fastest type of high speed Internet available, can add $5,437 to the price of a $175,000 home—about as much as a fireplace, or half the value of a bathroom. In the last 12 months, we know of at least four Cavendish home sales that were lost due to poor Internet. Wall Street Journal 
 
 EVENTS
Check out the Cavendish Connects Calendar or Cavendish VT Pinterest, that includes separate boards on the Wed. night Concert series, upcoming events, things to do with kids and so much more.
 

Cavendish Update 7/3/14 Vandalism/News/ISO/Concerts

Summer time and the livin’ is easy. However, Cavendish Connects still has their bills to meet, so if you want to continue to enjoy the Cavendish Update, website, Facebook page, as well as the Cavendish Town Wide Tag Sale and the December Abundance Swap please Support Cavendish Connects today. 

                                       HAPPY 4TH OF JULY
 
7/3/15  Edition of the Cavendish Update
1. Vandalism of Cavendish Rural Mail Boxes
2. Cavendish Related News
3. Proctorsville Fire Dept. Needs Vehicles for Training
4. Tiemann Chapter 18 Cavendish Memoirs/Cavendish Mills
5. Town Wide Tag Sale Less Than a Month Away
6. Little Village Farm Now Has a Farm Stand
7. X-Marks the Spot-Bible Camp
8. Sensible Shoes to Perform in Proctorsville
9. Events
 
1. VANDALISM OF CAVENDISH RURAL MAIL BOXES
As reported earlier in the week, a number of rural mailboxes were damaged during the late night hours on 6/29/15 and 6/30/15. Roads that were hit include Twenty Mile Stream, Heald and Newton Roads, High Street and Center Road. One homeowner posted, “They hit ours 2 days in a row...the day before they threw something at it during the afternoon and knocked the flag off of it then the next night they crushed it with something...”  A resident of Ludlow posted to the Cavendish VT Facebook page that a couple of months ago a similar incident took place in Ludlow, with estimates of 70 boxes having been damaged. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Rockingham Barracks 875-2112.
 
2. CAVENDISH RELATED NEWS
CHS Plant Sale-Thanks and Photographs: Many thanks to all those who made the Cavendish Historical Society’s Plant Sale a great success-Pieter van Schaik and his team (Norma Randall and Brian Pelkey); Steine van Schaik;  Kem and Svetlana Phillips; Bruce McEnaney; Lou Choinere; Jen Leak; Gloria Leven; the Tings and Moonlite Meadows Farm (best compost ever); Anna Shapiro; Bob Naess; Cooper Naess; and Margo Caulfield. Nancy Rankin McMillan was kind enough to share photographs of Craig Rankin’s (the originator of the plant sale) original plant list as well as pictures of the plant sale in 2006. These can be seen on the CHS Blog. 
 
LPCTV Elects New Board: At their annual meeting, the public access station that serves Cavendish, Ludlow and Plymouth, LPC-TV, has elected the following board members: Lou Krefski, Don Richardson, George Thomson (CTES Principal), Chris Saylor (Proctorsville resident), Sharon Bixby, and Francis DeVine.
 
VTel Service for Cavendish: Contrary to the initial report from VTel that a tower was now in Proctorsville, it’s actually on a utility style pole located in Cavendish village-White’s Hill near the underpass. At the top of the pole one antenna points west toward Proctorsville and the other toward Mt. Ascutney to connect back to the system. It’s unlikely that Cavendish’s underserved areas will be impacted until towers go up in Ludlow or South Reading. According to VTel, Although we’re unable to distribute a map of exact service availability (with wireless services, line of sight and signal barriers complicate that), I can say that in general I believe that route 131 from Maple Street in Proctorsville on east should generally have good signal, so homes and businesses in that valley should be candidates, and Cavendish locations are also great candidates for this new service, and encouraged to call our wireless team directly at 802-885-4444 to inquire about service availability at their home or business. Much of the rest of Proctorsville is expected to be covered soon once our Ludlow signal is live.
 
Want to Have Your Cavendish Property Evaluated for Solar? Are you interested in a free site visit to find out if your property is suitable for solar? Haven't had one scheduled yet? Sign up on-line, as part of Cavendish Solarize Makes Sense program, and click the green button "Request A Free Site Visit".
 
Getting Rid of Invasive Species on Your Cavendish Property:  As part of the Cavendish Transfer Station’s new Yard Waste Re Cycling it’s important to understand how to dispose of invasive/poisonous plants. Learn more about the leading invasive species in our area and now to deal with them at The Dish. If you aren’t sure what’s an invasive on your property, contact the Black River Action Team (BRAT) Plant Partners program. BRAT will conduct a “Weed Walk” with you to help inventory your greenery, prioritize some different tactics you could try, and strategize a management plan that works for your budget and your schedule.
 
Vermont Laws that Took Effect on July 1: A number of new laws went into effect on July 1 including Six percent sales tax on soft drinks; it’s illegal to use a cell-phone while stopped in traffic; recycling is now mandatory; and the state has a new motto “May the fourteenth star shine bright.” VT Digger 
 
3. PROCTORSVILLE FIRE DEPT. NEEDS VEHICLES FOR TRAINING
The Proctorsville Fire Dept. is actively looking for 1 or 2 junk vehicles for firefighters to train with when our new rescue equipment arrives in a couple weeks. It doesn't matter if it is a car, SUV or truck. We can make arrangements to pick up if needed. If you know someone who has a junker they are looking to get rid of please share this with them. If you have a vehicle to donate please send us a message or call PFD at 226-7281 and leave a message. Chief Glidden will also write up a form so you can claim it as a donation to PFD as we are a registered non-profit organization.
 
4. CHAPTER 18: CAVENDISH MEMOIRS/MILL HISTORY
As the Tiemann family completes its first full year in Cavendish, in Chapter 18, Tiemann describes the various odd jobs that supplemented his income. Interestingly, he never went to work for one of the mills. This week’s bonus feature is a history of the mills in Cavendish and Proctorsville. To read the prelude and other chapters of Tiemann’s Memoirs go to Coming to Vermont (Cavendish): Memoirs of Philip Tiemann.
 
5. TOWN WIDE TAG SALE LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY
The 5th Annual Town Wide Tag Sale will be held on July 25 (Saturday) from 9 – 3 pm.  Sponsored by Cavendish Connects, if you wish to register for space at either of the  Village Greens, or have your site listed on the vendor list (print and on-line) send an e-mail to cavendishconnects@gmail.com or call 802-226-7807. Please note that the more information on sale items you provide, the more shoppers you will attract.
 
For more information and to see who has already registered, go to 5th Annual Town Wide Tag Sale. 
 
6. LITTLE VILLAGE FARM NOW HAS A FARM STAND
Located in Proctorsville, Little Village Farm is Cavendish’s local CSA (community supported agriculture). While many people have “shares” in the farm’s bounty, this year there is farm stand open to the public on Friday’s from 4-7 pm and Saturdays from 9-noon. The farm is located off  Pratt Hill-take Depot Street off of 131 and turn left onto Pratt Hill and follow the signs. Be sure to check out their website for local produce of the week.
 
7. X-MARKS THE SPOT BIBLE CAMP 
Cavendish Baptist Church is excited to announce their 2015 summer program for kids! This year's theme is “X Marks the Spot!” - a high seas adventure where kids use God's treasure map to find the ultimate treasure! X Marks the Spot! is filled with hands-on experiences for kids. Team-building outdoor games, cool Bible songs, and active Bible adventures are just a few of the activities that promote active, real-life learning. Kids will also participate in a Set Sail Service Project, making baby blankets to be handed out at the Upper Valley Pregnancy Center. X Marks the Spot! is free for children ages 3 to 12 years and takes place July 13-15 from 5:00 to 7:30 pm. A healthy dinner is also included. For more information call (802) 226-7131 or visit CavendishBaptist.com. The church is located at 2258 Main Street in Cavendish.
 
8. SENSIBLE SHOES TO PERFORM IN PROCTORSVILLE 
The Town of Cavendish and the Cavendish Community and Conservation Association invite everyone to spend an evening listening to the sounds of Sensible Shoes on the Proctorsville Green on Wednesday, July 15th at 6:00 p.m.
 
ASCAP award-winning songwriter, keyboard player and singer Barbara Blaisdell brings her powerful New Orleans-inspired rhythm piano to the stage. Lead guitarist and singer Tim Utt is widely known as one of Vermont's most gifted players. Pooh Sprague, on bass, guitar and vocals, is a musical master who has played with the Shoes for years. Drummer and singer Steve Drebber, a member of Vermont rock royalty, splits his time with the Shoes and his popular jam band, Dr. Jones. Sensible Shoes has placed original
music in several major motion pictures including “Philadelphia” and “The Manchurian
Candidate.”
 
This will be the third of seven concerts that are held on consecutive Wednesday nights in July and August and is sponsored by the Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company.
 
Cavendish encourages all area residents and visitors to join their friends and
neighbors in front of the gazebo on the green. Bring a blanket or a comfortable chair, have a picnic, or just layback and relax on the grass. It’s a fun way to enjoy the summer weather and either reconnect with old friends or make new ones.
 
As always, the concerts are free and open to all. For more information please call Robin at 226-7736. In the event of rain postponement information will be reflected on the Cavendish Facebook page.
 
9. EVENTS
Upcoming activities for Cavendish this week include:
July 3 (Friday): Cavendish Town Office closed; Ludlow Fireworks, 9 pm West Hill Park
July 4 (Saturday): Happy 4th of July! Banks closed, Arts & Crafts Festival at Fletcher Farms 10-4
July 7 (Tuesday): Community Luncheon, noon at Gethsemane Church
July 8 (Wednesday): Proctorsville Concert featuring bluesman Chris Kleeman, 6 pm Proctorsville Green
 
For more information on these and other events, go to the Cavendish Connects July Calendar. For regional events, check out the Okemo Valley Chamber of Commerce Calendar.