By : DOMENIC POLI
Source : http://www.reformer.com
Category : Small Business Grant
ROCKINGHAM -- During its regular meeting on Feb. 21, the Rockingham Selectboard reviewed the 14 warrant articles it is sending to be voted on at Town Meeting before getting an update on two bridges affected by Tropical Storm Irene.
All 14 articles had previously been approved by the Selectboard and members of the public will have their voices heard at Town Hall Auditorium (Bellows Falls Opera House) at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 5.
Starting at 9 a.m. on March 6, residents will have the opportunity to cast their votes for town officials at the Masonic Temple.
Selectboard Chairman Tom MacPhee said in a telephone interview that no one in the room had any problem with the articles, which the Board approved at its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17, and are now in the Town Report, available online at the town’s website.
The passage of Article 5 would mean the voters approve of raising and appropriating money to pay the town’s indebtedness, to repair and maintain highways and pay all other general and regular expenses beginning July 1, 2012, and ending June 30, 2013.
The budget for the town’s general expenses, cemetery, highway department, equipment fund, theater and library totals $6,101,120. Municipal Manager Timothy Cullenen, who also gave the bridges update, said that once grants and revenues are subtracted, $3,868,453 is the amount that needs to be raised by taxes.
Article 6 would appropriate $368,632 for the Rockingham Free Public Library’s operating expenses while Article 7’s approval would set aside $41,000 to be used as the town’s required match for a 2012 Transportation Enhancement Grant, awarded through by the state, in the amount of $216,000. The grant money is to be used to repair, replace and extend a sidewalk in Saxtons River from the end of the present sidewalk to the Saxtons River Recreation Area.
Article 8 is to see if the voters will appropriate $99,500 to retire debt within the Highway Capital Fund. A sum of $74,378 would be allocated to 12 social service agencies if Article 9 passes while Article 10 seeks to appropriate and expend the sum of $1,500 to help create, support and operate community gardens in the town.
Article 11’s approval would raise, appropriate and extend $2,300 for the support of Youth Services, Inc., which provides numerous services.
Passage of Article 12 would increase the property tax exemption available to all qualified veterans that are 50-percent-or-greater disabled, and their qualified widows, widowers and children, from $20,000 to of assessed value to $40,000 of assessed value in accordance with 32 V.S.A., to be effective on April 1.
Prior to the review, Cullenen gave the Board members his update of the bridges. He said the replacement of Bartonsville Covered Bridge, which was completely destroyed by Irene, is still under design and the abutments are close to being finished. He said the town is moving forward with a temporary bridge, which should be open by mid-March.
The Worrall Covered Bridge is still standing but is closed, as it was severely damaged by the storm. Cullenen said bids for the repair work are due by March 1.
In other business:
-- With the first item on the agenda, there was a public hearing about the town’s approval of its Disadvantaged Business Enterprises program. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s website, DBEs "are for-profit small business concerns where socially and economically disadvantaged individuals own at least a 51-percent interest and also control management and daily business operations."
It says that African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific and subcontinent Asian-Americans, and women are presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged.
Francis "Dutch" Walsh, economic development director for Rockingham, said the town has been a contractor with the DBE since 2004 and that a revision of what is already on the book assures no discrimination.
Walsh said it is a requirement -- through the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration -- any time federal dollars are used for a project. The money will be used for a federal park-and-ride, used for carpooling, near Exit 6 and a garage bay for bus maintenance.
-- The Selectboard approved an extension of the auditor’s contract.
-- Members of the Selectboard also signed termination forms for Choice Strategies HRA/FSA, as the town has switched its insurance to Blue Cross Blue Shield, instead of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
Source : http://www.reformer.com/ci_20041701?source=most_viewed
Source : http://www.reformer.com
Category : Small Business Grant
ROCKINGHAM -- During its regular meeting on Feb. 21, the Rockingham Selectboard reviewed the 14 warrant articles it is sending to be voted on at Town Meeting before getting an update on two bridges affected by Tropical Storm Irene.
All 14 articles had previously been approved by the Selectboard and members of the public will have their voices heard at Town Hall Auditorium (Bellows Falls Opera House) at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 5.
Starting at 9 a.m. on March 6, residents will have the opportunity to cast their votes for town officials at the Masonic Temple.
Selectboard Chairman Tom MacPhee said in a telephone interview that no one in the room had any problem with the articles, which the Board approved at its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17, and are now in the Town Report, available online at the town’s website.
The passage of Article 5 would mean the voters approve of raising and appropriating money to pay the town’s indebtedness, to repair and maintain highways and pay all other general and regular expenses beginning July 1, 2012, and ending June 30, 2013.
The budget for the town’s general expenses, cemetery, highway department, equipment fund, theater and library totals $6,101,120. Municipal Manager Timothy Cullenen, who also gave the bridges update, said that once grants and revenues are subtracted, $3,868,453 is the amount that needs to be raised by taxes.
Article 6 would appropriate $368,632 for the Rockingham Free Public Library’s operating expenses while Article 7’s approval would set aside $41,000 to be used as the town’s required match for a 2012 Transportation Enhancement Grant, awarded through by the state, in the amount of $216,000. The grant money is to be used to repair, replace and extend a sidewalk in Saxtons River from the end of the present sidewalk to the Saxtons River Recreation Area.
Article 8 is to see if the voters will appropriate $99,500 to retire debt within the Highway Capital Fund. A sum of $74,378 would be allocated to 12 social service agencies if Article 9 passes while Article 10 seeks to appropriate and expend the sum of $1,500 to help create, support and operate community gardens in the town.
Article 11’s approval would raise, appropriate and extend $2,300 for the support of Youth Services, Inc., which provides numerous services.
Passage of Article 12 would increase the property tax exemption available to all qualified veterans that are 50-percent-or-greater disabled, and their qualified widows, widowers and children, from $20,000 to of assessed value to $40,000 of assessed value in accordance with 32 V.S.A., to be effective on April 1.
Prior to the review, Cullenen gave the Board members his update of the bridges. He said the replacement of Bartonsville Covered Bridge, which was completely destroyed by Irene, is still under design and the abutments are close to being finished. He said the town is moving forward with a temporary bridge, which should be open by mid-March.
The Worrall Covered Bridge is still standing but is closed, as it was severely damaged by the storm. Cullenen said bids for the repair work are due by March 1.
In other business:
-- With the first item on the agenda, there was a public hearing about the town’s approval of its Disadvantaged Business Enterprises program. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s website, DBEs "are for-profit small business concerns where socially and economically disadvantaged individuals own at least a 51-percent interest and also control management and daily business operations."
It says that African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific and subcontinent Asian-Americans, and women are presumed to be socially and economically disadvantaged.
Francis "Dutch" Walsh, economic development director for Rockingham, said the town has been a contractor with the DBE since 2004 and that a revision of what is already on the book assures no discrimination.
Walsh said it is a requirement -- through the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration -- any time federal dollars are used for a project. The money will be used for a federal park-and-ride, used for carpooling, near Exit 6 and a garage bay for bus maintenance.
-- The Selectboard approved an extension of the auditor’s contract.
-- Members of the Selectboard also signed termination forms for Choice Strategies HRA/FSA, as the town has switched its insurance to Blue Cross Blue Shield, instead of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
Source : http://www.reformer.com/ci_20041701?source=most_viewed
