Coordinator report - January 16, 2014 There are three sets of minutes to be acted upon. They are the previous meeting and one each in October and November. No ethics exemptions expected. Conservation Commission requests authorization of the Selectboard to submit a grant proposal to Department of Conservation and Recreation for a grant to survey and mark the boundaries of the Town owned black gum swamp. The match will be met by in-kind contributions of townspeople to paint and blaze and otherwise support the activity. MBI says that construction will be complete on the middle mile fiber network by the end of next week on the fiber project. Neither of the lateral fiber runs to our towers will be completed in that timeframe because of permitting delays and tower grant ineligibility. I predict April on Mt Grace and something sooner to the cell tower however the network operator will be very busy provisioning on the completed sections of the network so construction will be slowed. We have installed all the conduit, power and weatherproof pedestal at the cell tower. In the mean time I am taking steps to acquire fiber based connectivity from WiValley in NH utilizing the existing radio link between our networks. Latency has been increasingly high as we push too much traffic thought too small a pipe. We can go from 15 Mbps to 70 Mbps within a few weeks so the MBI project delay won't be so costly. Some folks have expressed concern about the number of elderly folks in town living alone and in the context of PD welfare checks. That got me thinking about ways Warwick Broadband might serve as a sort of first alert. If the board wants I can look into this and as well examine the commercially available services. Our USDA representative doesn't want me to complete the facilities grant application until they have some money released to their region. I'll keep checking back with them. Larry heard via telephone that our highway STRAP grant ($490k) to pave a good section of Winchester Rd is getting approval. We need to see it in writing. We'll be putting $50k of Chapter 90 up as a match. FY15 budgets are beginning to trickle in. Chief Gates wants an additional $5,950 in the FD budget and says he is going to propose leasing a new fire truck for ten years at $40k per year. Borrowing at the current 1% would be better. A truck before a station is questionable. The truck he wants is too big for Warwick. We have been repeatedly told we can get a grant for a truck if we have a station. It promises to be an interesting budget cycle. I will propose to the Fin Com that the FD budget line items for replacement of ladders, turn-out gear, and SCBA be Articles and not part of the budget so we have control over expenditures that we lack under "strong chief". He proposes a pay increase for himself that will have to be voted by the Selectboard as well as TM. This is the year we are going to have to replace the WCS roof. The performance contract to do energy betterments doesn't look feasible so I say we plunge ahead. I think we can do the roof for about $100k and the District is budgeting $200k. Roof is leaking in three places. I don't think the Association is going to be able to get a building permit for the new station without a new well / water source. Current Title V says minimum 100' from well to septic and the plan for the existing sytems clearly show only 50' which was the standard in 1990. At this point in negotiations on capital definitions the District is proposing $1000 or a useful life of more than a year. The current counter offer is $5000 which Northfield opposes. We are standing with Bernardston on this. I went to the meeting this week and missed the fact the notice that said 7 pm was in error and was corrected to 6 pm. I got to pick up the paperwork and watch them adjourn. As soon as I finish the board member package I am going to get working on publicity for the Friday Jan 31 Costume Ball and on arranging refreshments. Building inspector is ok issuing the Town a permit to do the insulation project at the highway equipment garage. I was concerned he might require a licensed contractor, it not being residential. However the work is not structural. The metal storage building is being shipped in two weeks after a production shut down in NC due to severe weather events. Recreation Committee has addressed a situation where out of Town kids are being recruited and played extensively to the detriment of residents. They met and voted a policy. I reviewed their letter. It is the winning and competing at a high level versus building skills, sportsmanship, and participation. The committee to their credit came in favoring the latter. The league has no standards or prohibitions against recruiting out of town so it is up to the local recreation committee. Have not seen the resignation to date but Holly says she is resigning. So we need a ZBA alternate and a recreation committee member. In the 2014 local election cycle Nick is up on the Selectboard, Erik on the ZBA, Liz on BOH, Shoe on Cemetery, Peters at Constable, Jeannette clerk. All of these are three year terms. Library Trustees, Elaine, Freddie, and Andrea are all up, some were appointed; and Transfer Station Commission has David K for three year and Jim for one year. Last day to submit papers to clerk is 3/31. Liz has agreed to run for BOH after being appointed to replace Dick. I mailed her papers to FL last week. A copy of the election notice is included in the board meeting package.