Around Town With The Colchester Town Manager #37

As Town Manager, I receive many “observations” about the Town’s tax rate and its taxes. So as one item for this week’s column I thought I would share how some of that tax money was spent this past weekend in response to Hurricane Irene. Most of the column will be devoted to last week’s Selectboard meeting and open house at Camp Holy Cross.

The State of Vermont’s Emergency Management Agency (VEM) keeps Colchester informed about potential hazards both in Colchester and around the State and remains available to provide assistance to Colchester for any emergency in which the Town needs help to respond to its citizens safety and welfare. As Hurricane Irene developed in the Caribbean and moved slowing up the East Coast of the United States, VEM kept the Town informed of the storm’s progress and potential threat to Colchester.

In following this information, on Friday before the storm was to arrive, the Town’s Technical Rescue Team was called to duty by the VEM for deployment to Brattleboro Friday evening in anticipation of flooding in that area of the State. In Colchester, Police Chief Kirker set up and established the Town’s Emergency Management Center to coordinate and deploy internal resources/services should they be needed in Town to address problems resulting from the storm and also to have the capacity to request State resources which the Town either did not have or of which more were needed. Lastly, the Department of Public Works brought in Highway personnel beginning Noon on Sunday to stay through Monday morning to assure all roads were kept clear of debris.

In Colchester, we were extremely fortunate to experience minimal disruption – 10 trees were downed and we lost electric power in different parts of town for several hours. Our Technical Rescue Team worked tirelessly in Brattleboro and “upstream” along the way to Randolph assisting people stranded by flood waters. They are now in Stowe and being held in reserve to assist with over flowing rivers. All our personnel are safe. Public Safety and Public Works represent 66% of the Town’s budget. This money allows the Town to be prepared for far worse occurrences that what we experienced with Irene.

On a separate note, on Tuesday of last week, the Selectboard held its meeting at Camp Holy Cross and sponsored an open house for citizens to visit Camp and enjoy picnic food donated by area businesses and organized by Sheri LaBarge, June Campbell and Chuck Kirker. The first two hours of the Selectboard meeting was devoted to hearing people share their thoughts and concerns about the proposition should the Town acquire Camp Holy Cross. Several themes arose from this discussion which I will try to summarize.

Two major themes occurred. The first theme appeared to be that Camp Holy Cross was a beautiful piece of land that would “be nice to own” but this opportunity came at a most unfortunate economic time of great uncertainty including the effect of the Town’s reappraisal. The second theme was the “acquisition of Camp Holy Cross “was a once in a life time opportunity” the Town should take for its future citizens. Within both themes there were multiple questions. The biggest unanswered questions were “what is the Town going to do with this property?” In whatever it is to be used for how will the Town protect the property and assure the property rights of its adjacent neighbors? Finally, how does the Town envision funding care and maintenance of this land?

Although the Town had no answers for these questions one observation was noted which produced an offer of citizen help to formulate answers for the Selectboard at its next public hearing on the purchase of Camp Holy Cross, scheduled for 7:30 PM, September 27, 2011, at the Meeting House in Colchester Village. It was observed that when the old airport on Colchester Point Road was closed two options emerged for its use – housing or a park. The Town opted for a park without knowing how the land would be developed or used overtime. Now some twenty five years later this land hosts a number of recreational programs and activities. The very first activity was a playground built by parents and neighbors for our (then) youngest citizens – toddlers.

As the discussion evolved, there appeared to be a movement towards a consensus that the Selectboard needs to formulate and discuss with the Town citizens ideas on how to use the land in a manner that gives options for its maintenance costs and development. Paul Simon, a Landscape Architect and Colchester citizen volunteered to organize a citizens study group that would try to bring back reasonable and doable ideas for both the Town and Selectboard to consider if the voters approved the acquisition of Camp Holy Cross. The first meeting of this citizens group is to be held Monday evening, August 29th, at the Senior Center at Bayside Park. Additional meetings will be scheduled and posted on the Town’s website, www.colchestervt.gov.

Taxes are the “red blood cells” of the municipal body. They transport “oxygen” for our metabolic processes to occur in order to preserve our common welfare/good. The Town does not spend money without the approval of its voters. Historically, townspeople have supported public safety including road maintenance expenses and parks and recreation expenses. Some of those expenses are used for unknown or non-planned but anticipated events. For example all our public safety vehicles including fire trucks have portable defibrillators. The question is can voters find a means to “hold” the camp with minimal expense in order to have it available for an unknown future of our common welfare?

Please participate in the discussions being organized by the Camp Holy Cross Vision Committee. For further information about these meetings and discussions visit the Town’s website at www.colchestervt.gov.