GUILFORD — The Selectboard on Aug. 26 voted to explore dissolving Algiers Fire District No. 1 in preparation for absorbing it into the town, and to bring on an attorney as early as October to help guide the work.
Residents of Guilford established the district in 1993 to provide sewer service to those who lived in the village of Algiers. Since then, it's outlived its usefulness, the Selectboard said, so they'll turn again to Town Meeting voters to see if they'll authorize its dissolution.
In the meantime, as part of their unanimous vote to start the ball rolling, Selectboard members agreed to bring in Jim Barlow, a senior staff attorney with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, for approximately $1,200.
“It's pretty technical, and he's done it before,” said Selectboard member Troy Revis Jr.
Beyond Barlow's cost, selectmen agreed, whatever nominal expense was accrued in dissolving the district could be borne in part by the fire district.
End users will experience no difference in cost or level of service in the town taking on the sewer system.
Many will recall Algiers Fire District No. 1 from an unrelated story, when in July 2012 a federal jury in Brattleboro found Sherry Roebuck, former treasurer of the district, guilty of federal program embezzlement and mail fraud after a two-day trial.
The convictions stemmed from charges that, from 2007 to before her retirement in 2011, Roebuck embezzled more than $80,000 from the fire district.
She was sentenced in February to 18 months of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The court also ordered Roebuck to pay slightly less than $83,000 in restitution.
Even before Roebuck's departure the district was thought to be unneeded, Selectboard members said in published reports.