JAMAICA — The Selectboard is looking into sources of funding, and seeking bids from engineers, to arrange for permits to site and dig a well to provide Town Hall with potable water and to test for contamination from nearby septic systems.
Two engineers have been identified, but bids were not complete in time for discussion and vote at the board's Jan. 27 meeting.
Currently, Town Hall depends on a running spring for potable water, but that water source isn't always reliable, Board Chair Lexa Clark told The Commons .
She explained that often people must bring bottled water in to drink, and when water is in short supply staff and visitors have had to rely on portable toilets.
The recently restored Jamaica Town Hall was built in 1851.
Selectmen renew contract with Rescue Inc.
By unanimous vote Jan. 27, the Selectboard renewed the town's contract with Rescue Inc. for emergency medical transportation.
The contract is level-funded, roughly $13,000, Board Chair Lexa Clark told The Commons.
Brattleboro-based Rescue Inc. is a nonprofit, independent service with ambulances and emergency medical technicians responding to calls in 15 communities in southern Vermont and New Hampshire.
The organization says on its website that it handles more than 5,000 emergency responses per year, trains approximately 1,000 people a year in first aid and CPR, promotes child safety through its Windham County Safe Kids Coalition, and operates a Technical Rescue Team that provides high-angle and swift-water rescue services.
It also has approximately 40 nationally certified EMTs working 12- and 24-hour shifts throughout each month.
Board can't close Pikes Falls Road
Acknowledging - and effectively denying - a traveler's request, Selectboard member Paul Fraser said the town can not close Pikes Falls Road, a Vermont Class 2 road and one of the major routes to and from Stratton Mountain.
Evidently there have been issues with some operators being led astray by GPS and not driving with the road conditions in mind, selectmen noted.
“Whether or not the GPS goes out somewhere in the valley isn't our municipal concern. If somebody's GPS goes out and they stop, as opposed to going on where the GPS tells them, isn't really our concern either,” Fraser said.
“People just have to realize it's winter, and if you come up here without snow tires, and you don't know how to slow down, there's a good chance you're going to get in trouble,” he added.
Board Chair Lexa Clark put in: “Get a paper map. A paper map is always good to have.”
Sander sought for shorter roads
According to Board Chair Lexa Clark, Road Foreman Keith Hazard is investigating getting a small sander to attach to a town truck to tend to winter sanding on shorter roads.
Hazard reportedly is gathering information on three possibilities. Currently a large town vehicle is dispatched for shorter roads.
At the Jan. 27 Selectboard meeting, selectmen acknowledged the diligence of town workers in tending to this season's road conditions, and acknowledged that one or two residents asked for speedier service to clear Cole Pond Road and Coleman Hill Road.
To that, Selectboard member Paul Fraser offered an explanation he said he appreciated hearing from Road Foreman Keith Hazard:
“When snow comes it builds up over time. When ice comes, it's really, really fast, and there's no way anybody can get to all the roads at once and clear them. Somebody's got to be last.”
Fraser said town road crews “certainly are not slacking off by any means. They have a full team, and there's another gentleman that's joined us.”
Two named to Route 30 traffic-calming committee
The Selectboard unanimously approved two volunteers to serve on a Route 30 traffic-calming committee coordinated by the Windham Regional Commission.
On the committee representing Jamaica as of Jan. 27: Selectboard member Paul Fraser and Town Clerk Patricia Meulemans.