Select Board Approves Change to HRC Charge
The Select Board voted to approve a revised charge for the Human Rights Commission.
According to Select Board Vice Chair Taylor Yates, the previous charge didn’t specify how many members would serve on the commission or what their term limits would be.
The discussion to reduce the number of members was first presented to the Select Board at its April 13 meeting. According to Human Rights Commission Chair Kimberly Haley-Jackson, Yates agreed to draft a revised charge, setting seven as the requisite number of members and four as a quorum. Members will serve three-year terms.
Prior to the revision, there were nine seats on the commission, making it challenging to achieve a quorum.
The revision also includes edits to reflect changes in language, such as using “select board” rather than “selectmen”.
Select Board OK’s DPW Purchase
The Select Board approved Public Works Director Jay Marcotte’s request to buy a Vactor RamJet sewer cleaner.
He explained that this piece of equipment is used at minimum twice per week for routine preventive maintenance, but sometimes multiple times a day for sewer backups or construction needs. The DPW’s current one is “well-used” and “on-the-fritz.”
“We have the money,” he said, noting the roughly $307,000 item would come from the capital budget. “It was intended for another piece of equipment, but this one takes priority over the truck we would have bought.”
Sidewalk Machine Declared Surplus
A 32-year-old sidewalk clearing machine has been declared surplus by the Select Board.
According to Public Works Director Jay Marcotte, the machine, which hasn’t been in useful service for several years, has been used for parts.
“It definitely served its useful life,” he said. “It’s one of those things where we do have other pieces of equipment where we could use the parts … but it just got to the point where it’s completely useless. It’s worth more as scrap metal.”
