HALIFAX‑ The selectboard enjoyed a peaceful, businesslike meeting, dealing with citizens’ requests and advisements. Health officer Susan Kelly told the board that the violation that led her to request a health order has been corrected, removing the need for that order.

The listers, Kelly said, “noticed a pipe coming out of a camper into a hole in the ground covered with plywood” and reported the situation to her. Kelly spoke to the property owner, and the pipe has been removed.

Merrill Mundell gave the board a “heads up” regarding a vague boundary line dividing some town property from a lot where he is working on a project. “I’m trying to get that line established in some way that’s comprehensible,” Mundell said. Over the years, vagueness and discrepancies in various deeds have crept into the records. For example, the line is said to go to “the north side of the barn,” but no one now knows where that barn was.

Christina Moore had a request regarding the new, larger road identification signs that are now mandated. Moore told board members that emergency responders who are not longtime residents of the town have a hard time knowing which section of a split (noncontiguous) road a call has come from. Valuable time is lost when a driver guesses wrong. Moore asked if the new signs include directional designations on split roads, such as “North Old County Road” or “South Old County Road.”

Mitchell Green pointed out that there is a legal process required to change the name of a road. Green felt, however, that “Old County Road North,” unlike “North Old County Road,” would not be an actual change of name. Board chair John LaFlamme raised the question of whether the numbering of street addresses would have to be changed along with the names of the roads.

Constable (and fireman and EMS member) Andy Rice cited problems with unposted street addresses. Rice related a favorite anecdote. “A lady called and said, ‘My house is on fire!’ ‘How do you get there?’ ‘Don’t you have the red truck anymore?’” Rice also expressed his wish that callers use emergency numbers, such as 911 or the constable’s pager number. Trying to reach a constable or fireman at home to report an emergency wastes time and creates confusion.

LaFlamme told Rice that the owner of an animal-killing dog who has left town has been found. That person is living in Hinsdale, NH, where he and his dog have already tangled with the Hinsdale police.

LaFlamme reported that the board has received a formal request from Margaret Squires to post a 15-mph speed limit on the stretch of road where her day care operation is located. Phyllis Evanuk pointed out that requests for limits below 25 mph must go to the state and must include “good reasons why it is necessary.” Green said that a sign warning drivers to watch for handicapped children would make more sense. Squires had complained at the last meeting that some drivers are ignoring the currently posted speed limit. LaFlamme said the issue would be put on the agenda for the next meeting.

Board members briefly discussed the Reed Hill bridge project. LaFlamme said that when the old deck was removed, workers discovered that the existing abutments “need modification.” Concrete has been poured to provide more secure support for the new deck. The nasty surprise could have been avoided, LaFlamme said, if the town had spent money on an engineer’s assessment beforehand.