Font ResizeBELLOWS FALLS -- On the second of three agenda items at Tuesday’s meeting, the Village Board of Trustees voted to take the finance director’s recommendation and accept a bid from a nearby auto dealership for the purchase of two water and wastewater trucks.
The Board chose to buy a couple of three-quarter-ton trucks from Durand Toyota Ford in Westminster and authorized Municipal Manager Timothy Cullenen to sign the documents for the transaction in FY2013.
According to a memo from Finance Director Chip Stearns, bid specifications were provided to dealers in Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Springfield and Cuttingsville as well as Keene and Claremont, N.H. It said five dealers responded and Durand Toyota Ford had the best pricing.
Stearns stated that the purchase is funded with the adopted budgets for FY2013 and as such will be processed after July 1, 2012. The water department has a vehicle included in the trade so Stearns said there should be a difference in the price split between and the water and wastewater departments.
Stearns’ memo states the trade value for the 2003 Dodge pick-up offered by the Dodge dealer was $4,500. The water department’s portion of the purchase should be $21,890 while the wastewater’s contribution is $26,390.
With the first item on the agenda, Cullenen spoke for Bellows Falls Police Chief Ron Lake, who is out of town for a couple of days, about replacing a recording
Cullenen also read a letter from Chris Johnson of Beltronics, Inc. -- the company that distributes the recording equipment.
"After a recent service call to Bellows Falls Police main station, and a repair to their Exacom HindSight V.5 voice recorder, it is my opinion," Johnson wrote in the letter, "that it is in the best interest of the Department, town and public safety to consider replacement of the system in the very near future."
Cullenen further read that the recorder is more than 10 years old and utilizes technology -- Microsoft OS/2 Warp -- that is even older than that. Microsoft OS/2 Warp, utilized as an operating system, has not been supported by Microsoft since 2006.
"It is in the Department’s best interest to replace the unit before it completely dies, as all of the archived data will need to be accessed from the current unit," the letter read.
Cullenen told the trustees the current devise records voices but officers are unable to retrieve the information on it.
Johnson, a field technician for the company, gave Lake some estimates for new voice recorders with pros and cons of each device. The estimated costs range from $10,714 to almost $14,000.
Trustee Colin James asked out loud where exactly this money would come from. Cullenen told him it would have to come out of the upcoming year’s budget.
In other business:
-- The trustees reviewed and approved the Wells Street Playground Agreement.
Per the agreement, which will last from July 1, 2012, through Aug. 31, 2013, Rockingham and the village will provide a secure and safe area for the community and jointly participate in the playground’s management and operations.
The town will be responsible for carrying liability insurance on the property through its coverage with the Vermont League of Cities & Towns. The village is responsible for annual water, in the amount not to exceed $1,500 per annual billing cycles.
-- The trustees were initially scheduled to go into executive session to discuss the status of a building deemed unsafe. But Trustee Deborah Wright said she saw no legal justification to enter for executive session. Trustee Andrew Smith agreed and the Board ultimately decided to have the discussion in open session.
The trustees wanted an update on the building, owned by Ed Sauve, at 69 Atkinson St. Bellows Falls Fire Chief Bill Weston and Zoning-Planning Administrator and Health Officer Ellen Howard said Sauve has started work on some of the items that needed to be addressed and that he has been very cooperative.
A couple of trustees took the time to ensure Sauve that there is nothing personal in their criticisms of the building. They are merely concerned about their community, they said.
-- In his manager’s report, Cullenen said the pool at the Rockingham Recreation Center is now open.
He also said evaluations of all department heads should be completed by the end of the month.
Cullenen said the Waypoint Center information booth will open next week. He said there is hope the booth will be open Thursdays through Sundays.
The manager’s final item was to mention the town will be working with a crew from the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps. Work will be conducting during one week in July to construct a recreation trail.
Domenic Poli can be reached at dpoli@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311, ext. 277.
