Burke Selectboard
Selectboard 
Summary of Activities Meeting Minutes
2008 Summary of Activities
The first two bridges on the Mountain Road are finally getting done. The second bridge is about done and the first one should be completed next summer. The Ginn Company donated $30,000 toward this project.
The Kirby Road had a complete repair this summer. We took up the pavement, put in underdrain the full length of the road, put down fabric, all new culverts, crushed the old pavement into the new gravel, put it back on the road and paved it.
The Newark Street Road is the next road that needs a complete repair. We have used up our state grant money for a while so we will have to repair this road in sections as the town can afford it.
We closed on the Ham property adjoining the Town Garage property. The plans are to build a better salt shed and possibly another garage in the future. We rented the house to bring in a little income until such time as we can afford to build a better facility or possibly find some grants for it.
The sand screen was completely rebuilt this summer.
We put new windows in the town office. This is making a difference in comfort and heat cost.
We took delivery of the new backhoe loader this summer. The new town truck arrived this fall. Our equipment seems to be in pretty good shape now. Even with the bad economy we chose not to lower the amount of money we put into the various equipment funds. We feel it is important to keep the equipment as new as possible to try to keep down repair costs.
Our health insurance costs went up a lot this year. We shopped around and found some cheaper plans. We were quite interested in one plan that would have made our increase about $5000 less than our current plan. The employees preferred to keep the existing plan because of the better benefits. We finally settled on keeping the plan we had with the employees paying the difference between the two. The married employees are now paying $48.30 per week toward their health insurance. The single employees are paying half that amount. We did add an expense in the DRB section to give them a little pay. This board is meeting two or more times a month. They have a lot of research, reading and site visits to do with the two big developments in town. We gave them the same pay rate as the Selectboard receive, which is $300 per year.
We were approached by the West Burke Meal Site to help them find a place for their facility. They need to move from Pilgrim Manor. We looked at an old house as a possible site but it needed a lot of work and would have still been an old house without much room.
The Selectboard had been thinking about an addition for a town hall but kept putting it off on account of the cost. Now these two ideas came together. The addition will be a community town building, which will house the senior center and the senior meal site as the primary tenant. It will also be used for town or informational meetings. The building will have a generator so it could be used for an emergency shelter if needed. In time it could expand to a food shelf or some other uses that would be compatible with the town and the senior center. We are looking at a 36' by 60' addition connected to but offset from the main building with wooden siding to match the town office. We are looking at radiant heat. Our estimates include upgrading the heat, electricity and septic in the main building to supply the addition. We have come up with an estimate of $235,000. This is not including the appliances, tables and chairs. The meal site people have already applied for a grant and are collecting donations for these. We feel there are some grants and possibly donations to build a project like this. If the voters approve the building project we will start applying for some of these. Any grant money or donations received would bring down the amount we would need to borrow. We would spread the loan out over several years to lessen the impact on the tax rate. One cent on our taxes right now raises about $21,000. If we borrow the entire amount, we have been quoted rates of 3.33% for 15 years for a yearly payment of $20,227 and 3.46% for 20 years for a yearly loan payment of $16,549.
We wound up with a surplus of about $29,000.00 in the town budget for 2008. Rather than asking to use it for a certain purpose we would like to just take it off the amount that we would need to be raised from taxes next year. This would drop the tax rate about one cent.
In 2008 we put $133,000 away in various funds for future use:
- $500 in the Conservation Fund
- $7,500 in the Rubbish Truck Fund
- $5,000 in the Recycling Building Fund
- $50,000 in the Equipment Fund
- $70,000 in the Bridge Fund
We put $5,000 in the Office Renovation Fund which will go towards the loan for the window replacements.
We have the West Burke Fire Station Bridge reconstruction ready to go to bid and by spring should have the Newark Street Road ready to go to bid should we find any grants or some other funding source through some of this stimulus money that everyone is talking about.
Please try to attend some of the meetings of the different boards. It is the future of your town that these boards are talking about and planning for. We need and want everyone's input.
Selectmen for the Town of Burke
Kenneth Sande
Emery Noyes,
Michael Harris,
NOTICE TO BURKE RESIDENTS
RIGHT OF WAY ISSUES
The Burke Select Board would like to remind town residents that despite the best efforts of the town road crew not to do so, sometimes items within the town highway rights-of-way get damaged, either by snow removal or other highway maintenance equipment. The town is not responsible for any damages obtained within this 49-112 foot right-of-way, and the select board is asking that residents beware, before leaving or placing objects such as vehicles, fences, trees, signs, etc., within these boundaries. Objects may be removed at owner's expense.
Burke Select Board - Kenneth Sanderson, Jr., Emery Noyes, Michael Harris
Source: 2008 Annual Report, Town of Burke, Vermont