Gassett Road building burns
PUTNEY — PUTNEY - The abandoned house at 15 Gassett Road that has plagued the town of Putney has burned down.
Putney Fire Chief Thomas Goddard confirmed this in a telephone call with The Commons. Goddard said the fire was deemed “suspicious."
Because the Vermont State Police are investigating, he provided no other information.
For months, the Selectboard has weighed what to do about the building. The building's owners have not responded to repeated communications from Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard, and its condition posed a danger to public health and safety.
The Selectboard and Stoddard had been in the process of reaching out to local firms to get quotes on its demolition, and the board planned to place a lien on the property to cover the costs.
At the May 20 Selectboard meeting, upon hearing the news of the house's demise, board member R. Scott Henry said “mark it done” on the board's “Old Business” list of tasks. Henry's colleague on the board, Josh Laughlin, said the fire “is not the way I would have chosen to get there."
Goddard recommends VT-Alert
PUTNEY - Putney Fire Chief Thomas Goddard recommends the town enroll in the Vermont Alert (VT-Alert) system.
According to its website, vtalert.gov, VT-Alert is the “Vermont All-Hazards Alert and Notification web-based portal... is part of Vermont's ongoing commitment to provide Vermonters with information so that they will understand the risks and threats that they may face and know how to respond accordingly.”
Anyone can sign up to receive “critical emergency-related information including instructions and recommended protective actions developed in real-time by emergency service personnel,” via email, cell phones, and various media outlets, says the website.
Goddard told the Selectboard at the June 3 meeting that, should the town sign up as a provider, “we can access VT-Alert on the other side, and distribute notifications and emergency messages to the citizens of Putney.”
Some of those local alerts, he said, “could be specific infrastructure issues in town, road closures, water main breaks, road detours, utility outages, telephone outages, things like that.” Goddard said alerts can also be for “anything major” such as “if we have to evacuate.”
Should the town enroll, Goddard said, “we have to get the word out to people to sign up,” and the town also needs to notify the state which individuals can send out alerts, and they will need training.
Goddard noted there is no cost to individuals, or the town, to sign up for VT-Alert. Training is also free.
Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard offered her support for Putney participating in VT-Alert, saying the Community Resilience Team (CRO) can include a brochure on VT-Alert in the emergency packet it is creating for town residents.
The Selectboard decided to follow Goddard's suggestion, and the town will enroll.
New street in Putney
PUTNEY - Fire Chief Thomas Goddard asked the Selectboard to assign a street name to the driveway at the former Putney Inn complex to comply with Vermont's Enhanced 911 (E-911) rules.
As Goddard explained to the board at its June 3 meeting, because the driveway contains four different addresses, the driveway needs to be reclassified as a street.
Vermont's E-911 Emergency Response System says that “a shared driveway of any length having three or more addresses on it shall be defined as a private road.”
Goddard said the town had previously attempted to make this change, but the process was delayed by the pending sale of the former Putney Inn.
Now that the building has new owners, and the owners have chosen a name for the new street, Goddard asked the Selectboard for their approval. Then Goddard can reassign the buildings with their new E-911-approved addresses.
The Selectboard authorized the new name, Patel Way, which Goddard said is the surname of the property's new owners.
Tire pile update
PUTNEY - Putney's man-made wonder, the pile of tires on Old Route 5, is now under the purview of Health Officer Thomas Goddard, who also serves as the town's Fire Chief.
Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard announced at a recent Selectboard meeting she would refer the issue to Goddard to see if the pile of tires presented a health and safety issue.
She did, and it does.
Goddard said he would look into the history of the tire pile, examine it from a health and safety perspective, and seek the state's Environmental Compliance enforcement officer's opinion. He said the officer is coming to town soon on separate business, and “we'll see if we can fold it in."
Stoddard told the Selectboard at their June 3 meeting, “I haven't heard anything from the owners. There was no response to the letters I sent."
BCTV visits Putney
PUTNEY - As part of its periodic contract-renewal process, Brattleboro Community Television (BCTV) paid a visit to the Putney Selectboard.
Executive Director Cor Trowbridge told the board that part of renewing its contract was making sure it is serving the community, and that includes Putney.
Trowbridge said BCTV is funded by a small percentage of cable subscriber fees. “It's part of the public benefit the town receives for allowing cable into the town,” she said.
She told the board BCTV films all of Putney's Selectboard meetings. She detailed how often the station replays them, and where links to the meetings can be found on BCTV's website.
Her presentation was not just “tell.” During the “show” portion, Trowbridge demonstrated Putney's pages on a large-screen computer monitor. She pointed out where BCTV's programmers had listed the agenda items, with their accompanying times, on the page of each meeting's video so viewers could skip ahead to items that interested them.
Trowbridge said BCTV can be a “richer resource” for Putney, and recommended putting a link to the town's BCTV page on the municipal webpage. She said the town can also issue alerts there by logging in and posting them.
She reminded the Selectboard members that they can come in to BCTV's studios to produce shows about “more complicated” issues like Planning Committee meetings, and BCTV can produce graphics and other audio-visual features. “You can talk directly to the viewers,” she said.
“I didn't realize there was so much going on,” said Selectboard Chair Steve Hed. “I think the public might like to know."
Putney resident Honey Loring, who attended the board meeting, said she recently visited BCTV to talk about broadcasting public service announcements. “You could not have been more wonderful,” she said to Trowbridge about her staff.
“There's so much going on around here,” Loring said, noting BCTV is a good way to “find out about all of it."
Dog run proposed
PUTNEY - Resident Honey Loring, former owner of Camp Gone To The Dogs, wants to create a dog recreation area for the town and its visitors. Her proposal is to put this area in part of the 50-acre parcel of land that Nat Hendricks donated to the town earlier this year.
But, she said, it is not a “dog park.”
“Don't use the 'park' word around me,” she told the Selectboard at the June 3 regular meeting. “It's like a four-letter word,” she said, explaining a dog park “usually means to me some area that's too small, and all the dogs do is fight and pick on each other."
Loring, a self-described dog enthusiast, wants an area of “15 acres, max” where people can allow their dogs to run off-leash without endangering the dogs, other animals, people, or property. She said the dog area would be “totally philanthropic,” “not a business,” and should generate income for the town.
She said she was inspired by a visit to Maine's Acadia National Park with her dogs. Wanting to allow her pets to run off-leash, she said she asked a park ranger where she could do that. According to Loring, the ranger told her of a somewhat secret spot where dogs could run free.
Loring wants to recreate that in Putney, and has offered to collaborate with the town. She said she has done “tons of research on possibilities” and will deal with fencing, lighting, and other considerations.
She suggests making the area members-only, and connecting it to dog licenses. She said this will “weed out the worst owners,” and increase dog-licensing in town. Visitors can buy short-term memberships as long as they have proof their canines are licensed in their hometowns.
Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard said the process would need to begin with a community discussion on what it wants to do with this parcel of land. “We might have to run it through Town Meeting,” she said.
Board member Joshua Laughlin asked Loring who her target audience is.
“It's really for humans,” Loring replied. “They love to sit around with other dog people and watch their dogs have a grand time. It's a very happy kind of place,” she said.
Stoddard said she and Loring would visit the site together this week to assess its suitability for this project, and go from there.
Loring expressed her appreciation to Stoddard and the Selectboard for “being so open” to listening to her idea.
“I'm so happy you're not giving me bad faces,” she said. “I love seeing people and dogs happy.”