The survey will be short and simple, Alboum told the board. All landowners and other registered voters will receive the survey. Selectboard member Mitchell Green suggested sending “more than one copy” to each household to allow for differences of opinion, observing that he and his wife, for example, do not always see an issue the same way. Selectboard chair John LaFlamme said that allowing copies to be submitted would solve that problem.
Board member Lewis Sumner said the commission must make sure there are “more than one or two people counting” the responses. “That was a problem the last time (the planning commission polled townsfolk),” Sumner said. Green added that the surveys should be kept and made available to anyone who wants to review them. Alboum said the whole commission will be involved in processing the returns, and all responses will be kept available.
Alboum told the board that the commissioners have put their recent difficulties behind them and are “on the right track. We have a good seven-person board, cohesive, and working hard,” he said. He added that an atmosphere of mutual respect now prevails, and that the commission is eager to work cooperatively with the selectboard. “Town government should work together.”
LaFlamme agreed. “The planning commission is doing a good job,” he said.
Alboum was doing double duty, representing the Lions Club as well as the planning commission. He told the selectboard that the Lions are working with state representative Ann Manwaring on the effort to bring high speed Internet service to Halifax. Alboum said he favors working with FairPoint, “who have promised to bring us this service,” rather than bringing in a third party to set up antennas for wireless service.
Christina Moore, who has professional expertise in the field, said that wireless, which works by line of sight, “doesn’t work in an area like this,” where homes are widely scattered over a largely vertical and heavily wooded terrain. “We need to decide what we want,” said Alboum, “and then go after it.”
The board also took up a request from Margaret Squires for a 15-mph zone on Wheeler Road. Squires said that speeding drivers are endangering the children in her care, including a blind child and an autistic child. “We’ve had two animals hit, and they just drove on. They were going at least 60 mph.” The board advised that signs reading “Handicapped Child” would be preferable. The state must approve any proposed speed zone of less than 25 mph, and is unlikely to do so, they told Squires. LaFlamme said he thought drivers who are already ignoring the current limit would be more responsive to signs marking a handicapped child area. Squires agreed to the change. Highway commissioner Bradley Rafus will order the signs.
Moore gave the board the latest quarterly report from the Halifax Emergency Medical Service. Sumner said that WASI has sent in its report as well. Moore noted that WASI’s response times over the past year have been excellent, averaging just over 20 minutes. WASI and Halifax EMS have just signed their annual contract, Moore said, and the two groups have been working well together. Moore also enthusiastically thanked the road crew for making Hatch School Road. level with Gates Pond Road.
In other highway business, Rafus told the board that all FEMA paperwork dealing with ice storm damage is complete, and that work on the Reed Hill bridge is proceeding on schedule. Rafus and the board also discussed an application for a driveway permit on a town trail, Josh Road. The 80 feet or so of trail from the bridge to the proposed driveway are not town maintained, and LaFlamme said language stipulating that the owner will be responsible for that stretch will be added to the permit.
Rafus asked the board if there is an “over all plan” for the old town garage. “Ignore it, and maybe it will go away,” quipped LaFlamme. Rafus said he is concerned about potential liability arising from the building’s decrepit condition. In the back half, he said, “you can look right up through the roof.” The road crew uses the building for storage of snow plows and other equipment. Board members will give some thought to what can and must be done with the property, but no specific decisions were made.
Regards