BELLOWS FALLS — The Rockingham Selectboard and Bellows Falls Trustees have opted to maintain the summer schedule of monthly meetings for the foreseeable future.
The boards will meet on the first and second Tuesdays of the month, respectively. Special meetings will be called as needed. Here are the boards' August and September highlights:
Cell towers galore
Plans to erect cell towers on two private properties in Rockingham were discussed in August, one by the Saxtons River Trustees, and the others by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Verizon intends to erect a cell tower on the Savage property on Darby Hill Road. Planning and Zoning Commission Administrator Ellen Howard took up the matter before the Selectboard in August. That discussion is ongoing.
Saxtons River's trustees considered Verizon's proposal with Harold Buchner, owner of Warner Center Holdings LLC, on his property overlooking the Village this summer, and on Oct. 6, approved Verizon taking it to the next step by seeking approval from the State.
The Commission also heard and later approved a presentation in August from Verizon regarding a cell tower on Rockingham Road. New Cingular Wireless and Greater Rockingham Area Services applied for a temporary telecommunications facility, at 1 Hospital Court, property of Greater Rockingham Area Services (GRAS).
In the meantime, GRAS owner Michael Smith said, “We are waiting for any appeals prior to locating the tower here. During that period the tower is located on the island in BF."
Merger redux
Merger discussion came before the Joint Boards in September after the trustees agreed to a discussion of a merger in August.
In September, the Joint Boards discussed establishing a merger process, one of the main bones of contention with the proposal put forth nearly a year ago by three citizens who also happened to be chairs of their respective boards: Rockingham Selectboard Chairman Thomas MacPhee, James McAuliffe, and Saxtons River Trustees Chair Louise Luring.
During the Joint Board discussion, Saxtons River Trustees said that if their board voted to be involved, they would call a public meeting to hear from residents.
Both boards voted to proceed with the merger discussion, establish a committee out of the boards that voted to be involved, establishing a one board-one vote process. The boards named Sean Campbell of Saxtons River as discussion facilitator.
Trustees set a date for a public discussion on a merger for Oct. 14. Further details to be announced.
Costs of complaint
A complaint that Bellows Falls resident Deborah Wright filed with the town of Rockingham, alleging that the Village Trustees violated the state's open meeting law on an unspecified date and time, has cost the town $675 in legal fees and 12 hours of staff time.
That's according to Trustee Sanford Martin, updating officials and the public on the cost of the Sept. 11-dated complaint, which has since been found to be without merit.
The complaint alleged the chairs of Rockingham's three municipal boards met improperly and took a vote - violating the state's newly revised open meeting law.
The town attorney was consulted, as was the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT), with both town and village attorneys saying that no violation had taken place and that no further action need be taken.
According to MacPhee and Stearns, the three board chairs had met as private citizens to discuss the agenda of the upcoming joint board meeting. While Martin noted that he is “100 percent in favor” of open government, he said there was “clearly not a quorum present.”
When Saxtons River resident Joel Love told the board the complaint had not been responded to correctly, Town Manager Willis “Chip” Stearns II responded that both VLCT and the town attorney consider “no response” a denial for purposes of enforcement.
Wright is a vocal critic of the spending and budgets of public bodies, and has made numerous public records requests - as has Love - of many public officials here. Wright has also lodged numerous complaints requiring legal council for the town, as well.
Town officials have complained publically that requests from Love, of hundreds of pages of documents, requiring up to 40 hours a week to gather at times, were requested but never picked up.
Resident Mary Barber noted at last year's Open Meeting Law workshop that she would prefer this to the opposite scenario. Secretary of State James Condos concurred.
Building demolitions
Demolition of several buildings in the Village has taken another step forward.
A public meeting as to the fate of 42 Green St., a building vacated in 2012 following a health order, was held this summer. A lien was placed on the Green Street property, allowing the town to investigate costs of demolition.
The TLR Buildings also came under scrutiny, having stood vacant just off the Square for decades. A request for proposals the town put out for the TLR Buildings has failed, garnering a single intent to submit a request: from Sustainable Valley Group, which bought and renovated 30 Island St., now home to several incubator businesses.
Stearns and Development Director Francis “Dutch” Walsh voiced disapproval of the SVG's intent to respond, saying they wanted the property - now owned by the town - to be put to its “highest taxable” purpose and have a bondable developer/contractor committed to the project.
Walsh said the proposal from SVG failed both of these criteria. Stearns told the board it was SVG's recommendation to tear down both buildings and replace at least one of them with a parking lot.
When SVG's Gary Fox was invited to respond, he noted that taxes would be assessed and paid in the same way projects owned by towns such as Windsor, as well as the SVG-owned Island street property, and TLR taxes would be paid by SVG.
The project that they intended to propose - three likely partners were said to be standing by - was to develop a river heritage center that could connect to rail tours - something Fox said was of interest to museums and heritage site tours that had come through town this summer.
The board agreed and denied the intent to submit.
That said, the SVG group was successful in garnering a letter of support from the Selectboard in early September for a solar furnace project.
Island development gets traction
Responding to a request by Trustee Charles Hunter for an update on Chroma Technology's stated interest in possibly relocating to The Island, both boards have agreed to support a Bellows Falls Area Development Corporation (BFADC) application for $350,000 of Vermont Yankee money, through the Windham Regional Commission, for “Island” development.
Finalization of that application is set to appear on the Oct. 7 agenda.