Board of Selectmen

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of August 19, 2004

Present: Gordon M. Ridgway, first selectman, K.C. Baird and Ken Keskinen, selectmen. Ladies of the Press.

Gordon Ridgway called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m.

Ridgway moved and K.C. Baird seconded a motion:

To add a highway department update to the agenda and to delete bill payment.

The VOTE to approve was unanimous.

The minutes of the August 2 meeting were approved as presented.

Communications: Rep. Roberta Willis has written a letter supporting the town’s application for STEAP funding to improve the Hughes Memorial Library property and the playing fields at CCS.

Bats: Bats in the Town Hall building need to be persuaded to leave before winter comes. Two bids for the job have been tendered. The process involves sealing the exterior of the building and installing one-way vents which permit the bats to leave but not return.

K.C. Baird moved and Ken Keskinen seconded a motion:

To retain American BioTech to remove the bats for $2,200.

The VOTE to approve was unanimous.

Ridgway moved and Keskinen seconded a motion to transfer:

FROM: Contingency (01-466-100-00) $2,200

TO Increase: Town Office Repairs (01-405-571-15)

The VOTE to approve was unanimous.

Town Meeting Call: To finish work on the new recreation area next to Foote Fields, $50,000 is needed for a walking path, signage and fencing. The town has applied to the State DEP to have this amount authorized from the existing STEAP grant. The total for the project will now be $300,000, leaving $50,000 for remediating the Neoweld site on Route 7.

Ridgway moved and Keskinen seconded a motion to call a town meeting for the following purposes:

Upon recommendation of the Board of Finance to authorize the Board of Selectmen to spend up to $50,000 to complete the walking track, recreation and parking improvement on the newly acquired property near Foote Fields on Route 4. These funds will come from the Municipal Reserve with the expectation of complete reimbursement from the state of Connecticut’s Small Town Economic Assistance Program.

The vote to approve was unanimous.

Culverts: Two Dibble Hill homeowners have raised issues with the town about road run-off which, they claim, is damaging their property. Ridgway said that resolution of the two problems does not seem simple since regrading and ditching will be expensive. Arthur Howland will be asked to look at the two locations and suggest alternatives.

The meeting adjourned at 9:25 a.m.

Lisa Lansing

Clerk, pro tem