Greenfield voters passed all warrant articles at Town Meeting on Saturday morning and ended the meeting with information about responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Treasurer Katherine Heck kicked off the meeting with an explanation of the town’s budgeting decisions.
“It’s in the best interest of taxpayers to have these long range plans,” she said.
She showed voters the replacement schedule of the town’s 15 vehicles, including a glut of replacements scheduled to start in 2024. Rather than create a tax spike then, Heck said the town decided to “stagger, rather than stack” expenses, including putting away savings for some of those purchases this year. Voters approved $173,500 towards various existing Capital Reserve Funds.
Gravel road maintenance and highway department expenses were the town’s two major budget drivers this year, Heck said, a direct response to concerns raised in last year’s Town Meeting. Voters ultimately approved the two warrant articles related to road maintenance and Highway Department equipment after some discussion. They approved $125,000 for road paving and reconstruction, with 2020 funds scheduled to go to repairs on Old Bennington Road and Cavender Road.
Several voters commented on the amount spent on Highway Department equipment in recent years.
“I think it’s time to quit throwing money at the problem,” resident Gary Russell said.
Voters ultimately approved the purchase of a new 6-wheel dump truck, which will cost taxpayers $205,072 over five years and replace an existing truck that would be sold to offset the total cost. “This new vehicle allows us to plan,” resident Sheldon Pennoyer said, whereas the old truck was too unreliable.
Selectman Bob Marshall said that he was “moved” by last year’s impassioned discussion about the state of the town’s gravel roads, and outlined the town’s plan to address all roads in the way that made most sense economically. Greenfield has about 20 total miles of gravel roads, Marshall said.
“We can do four miles a year, we can’t afford to do it all at once,” he said.
It will take more than one five-year cycle to solve all the road’s problems, Marshall said, but “hopefully we’ll be able to build our way back to good.”
The town’s gravel road plan addresses every road in town over five years, and covers trimming, ditching, stormwater management, culverts, outlets, resurfacing, and semiannual grading. Residents can look up the town’s gravel roads plan on the town’s Department of Public Works webpage.
“If you look at that plan, you can see where your road is,” Marshall said, adding that he is “anxiously awaiting” for when they get to his own road.
With minimal discussion, voters also approved extending a tax exemption for elderly residents, authorized funds for improvements to the George Proctor Recreation Area Town Forest, and approved spending $121,457 for the recycling center, $2,400 for a used oil collection center, $141,119 for the Fire Department, $264,624 for the Police Department, $1,012,517 for the town’s operation and maintenance, $479,013 for the Department of Public Works, $131,786 for the library, $53,620 for the town clerk’s office, and $500 for the Forest Fire Fighters Expendable Trust Fund.
“Look at your watch, we’ve sat in this room for more than nine hours before,” Fire Department Deputy Jeff Lacourse said after voters approved the last article just an hour and a half after the meeting began.
After the votes, residents received updates on various town initiatives. The library is seeking to interview for a new director in the next two weeks, and is looking to purchase an adjacent half acre of land in order to expand parking, Library Trustee Bruce Dodge said. The awning voters approved for the library last year did succeed in cooling the building but did not apparently save in cooling costs, Dodge said, “But no more books are melting, so that’s good.”
Fire Department Captain Michael Borden showed off an example of red 911 address signs, which he said the Fire Department hopes to make available for residents at about $10 each. The signs are meant to help responders find the correct residence in an emergency, Borden said, and can be attached to a mailbox or otherwise stand at the end of a driveway. When one resident asked if the signs could be green instead, Borden acknowledged that would be more fitting for “Green”field, but that the signs would look too much like the town’s street signs.
Katherine Heck thanked residents who elected her to the ConVal School Board on Tuesday, and noted that 52 percent of the town were not in favor of approving the school’s budget this year.
“I appreciate that, it is a $50 million budget, and I’m going to work really hard to make sure those dollars translate to educational value for our students,” she said. “I am tracking, with my financial knowledge, the tax money into the classroom.”
Marshall told residents that the Select Board was still looking into municipal solar, and were planning to do a baseline inventory of the town’s electric use this year. The Board met with several solar providers in the past year. Also in development, Marshall said, is an article for extending tax benefits to commercial and industrial development in town.
“We’re hoping to have something on the ballot next year,” he said.
This was the first Town Meeting run by Moderator William Nichols, who was elected to the position on Tuesday after filling the role on an interim basis since last summer, when the town’s previous moderator Gil Bliss died.
“I appreciate your confidence that I can run a smooth meeting and elections,” Nichols said.
A resident praised Bliss’s skill as moderator, and told Nichols he had big shoes to fill in the role.