Board to get back in gear
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By STEPHANIE M. PETERS Herald Staff - Published: January 5, 2009
The Board of Aldermen is back in action tonight and will start off the year with an agenda heavy on housekeeping.
Included on that schedule are reports from two of the board's standing committees, Public Works and general. The chairperson of each is seeking full board approval of motions made during meetings last month. In Public Works, it is the wording of a motion that will protect College of St. Joseph's unique water and sewer agreement that states the college will not be charged for its original three halls. (See the end of this column for the exact wording of the committee-approved motion.) In general committee, the issue is the rules of the board, which were recently revised by former alderman and current law school student Charles Romeo. The committee is looking to approve his draft with some additional changes recommended by committee members.
Also presented for approval at the meeting will be one final nonprofit request to be placed on the Town Meeting Day ballot. The Boys and Girls Club of Rutland County is requesting $27,500 to support its partial funding. This will bring the tally of nonprofits on the March ballot to 11 seeking a total of $332,006. On a related note, Treasurer Wendy Wilton has informed the board that she is in the midst of reinstating the practice of requiring these requesting agencies to provide her office with financial statements (audited if available) in order to protect the city should a question about one of the agencies ever arises, according to a letter Wilton sent board members and the mayor last week.
Other department heads set to present to the board include Assessor Barry Keefe, whose office has received the 2008 Certified Equalized Education Property Value Study from the State of Vermont Department of Taxes, and Police Chief Anthony Bossi, who is requesting authorization to put a 2001 police cruiser and a nine-year old light bar up for sale by a bid process. The car, a Ford Crown Victoria, 2001 Police Interceptor with more than 129,000 miles that is currently not drivable, according to the bid sheet, will be sold to the highest bidder who agrees to remove all police markings. Money from the sale of both pieces of equipment will be returned to the equipment replacement fund.
The police department will also soon be purchasing two new 2009 models of the vehicle. At the last meeting of the Board of Finance, the board approved a motion to purchase the vehicles from Formula Ford of Barre at the total price of $47,998, which will come from the equipment replacement fund.
And finally, returning to another long-lingering issue, the Department of Public Works was recently informed that its application to the Agency of Transportation for federal funding to purchase a high-efficiency street sweeper, which will also aid in storm-water mitigation, has been approved. The city is set to receive $150,000 toward this purchase. In November, the city decided to rent a sweeper rather than purchase a new piece of equipment at the time; if the city had, it would have forfeited its opportunity to receive this funding.
Based upon information presented at the Dec. 1, 2008 meeting of the Board of Aldermen, Medaille Hall, Roncalli Hall and St. Joseph Hall, located at College of St. Joseph, will not be assessed fees or charges for city of Rutland water or sewer service. This exemption is exclusively for Medaille Hall, Roncalli Hall and St. Joseph Hall and does not extend to any other buildings owned by College of St. Joseph or located on the campus of College of St. Joseph. This exemption shall terminate, respective to each of the listed halls individually, upon the occurrence of any of the following:
1) Any change to building footprint that results in increase in residential capacity, or
2) Demolition of building and construction of new structure in its place.
If you're looking to dispose of a Christmas tree — or even if you're planning on holding onto yours for a few more weeks — the Rutland County Solid Waste District is allowing residents of the district's communities to do so free of charge at the Gleason Road Transfer Station.
As part of its Merry Mulch program, during operating hours through Jan. 31 the transfer station will accept trees that have been cleaned of decorations and tinsel. The trees will then be ground into mulch and composted in a completely organic recycling process.
According to the district, each year more than 1,200 Christmas trees are recycled through this program.
The Gleason Road Transfer Station is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 775-7209.
Contact Stephanie M. Peters at stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com.
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