Exchange grows tense over roads
The shoulders of both roads have yet to be completed. The original schedule stated the completion of the roads would be the week of Sept. 12. Killington resident Vito Rasenas spoke during the citizens’ input portion of the agenda and accused management of not having their priorities straight.
“It’s the second most traveled road in town,” Rasenas said of Killington Road. “Town management claims this should be a pedestrian and family friendly place, but I see mothers pushing strollers along the side of that road that doesn’t have a shoulder. That is not family friendly.”
Rasenas went on to address Town Manager Seth Webb, wondering why the extra road milling — sheets of pavement used on the roads — was “given” to businesses in town after construction wrapped up. Rasenas accused Webb of throwing town money away.
Webb calmly stated that Rasenas had factually incorrect statements regarding the road milling and construction of the highway shoulders.
“The shoulders of the roads are next on our to-do list,” Webb said. “We have been waiting on the hired contractor to finish the job with the milling machine.”
Chet Hagenbarth, director of the town’s highway and facilities department, agreed with Webb and explained the situation further.
“We are waiting on an actual shouldering machine, at the mercy of the contracting company,” Hagenbarth said. “We want to make sure it’s done well and done right.”
Rasenas became angry and yelled that Webb was still withholding information from him and not answering his inquiries about the extra milling. He accused Webb of calling him a liar.
Select Board chairwoman Patty McGrath had to firmly ask Rasenas to speak to Webb in a respectful manner.
Webb acknowledged Rasenas’ concern about the pavement milling and let Hagenbarth take the explanation from there.
“We had extra pavement milling after fixing areas of the roads,” Hagenbarth said. “We could have either given it back to the contracting company or made it available to the Killington public.”
He said several business owners on Killington Road approached the town about using the milling for parking lots, exactly where it went.
Hagenbarth said after about a month, the sheets of milling stick together and are no longer usable for anything. The town decided to simply give the businesses the milling instead of selling it to them.
“We would rather see it go back into the town than back to the company,” Hagenbarth said. “And besides, they’ve already paid for it through taxes.”
Rasenas repeatedly yelled that he was “not going to get any facts” from town officials.
McGrath again firmly told him that the issue had been thoroughly addressed, that his questions had been answered and that they needed to move on with the meeting.
Back in August, the town did not receive the Pedestrian and Bike Path Grant to continue construction of the pathway from West Hill road to Schoolhouse Road.
The cost for the remainder of the work is $283,968.
The town plans on requesting another Agency of Transportation alternative grant to fund the project by October 16. If the town is successful, that grant would cover $227,174, with the remaining $56,794 coming from the town.
Comment:
What the article doesn't state is that Seth Webb stated my estimate of the worth of the millings was factually incorrect. He stated that the millings weren't worth millions which I never said. What I did state was the millings that were given away were worth in the area of $50,000, yet Webb make it sound like I made a preposterous claim of millions.
Below is a letter sent to the Select Board regarding the millings program outlining their value. This letter was discussed a few months ago at a Select Board meeting so every in the room Select Board, Webb, Chet Hagenbarth, myself and others knew exactly what the millings are worth.
Vito
To our select
board
July 14 2014
Regarding the
millings program ,
The town has
somewhere between 110 &173 truck loads of millings or reclaimed asphalt that
it is giving away . Residents and businesses that were interested in receiving
some were asked to apply .( The Millings program).
I
was told that the distance from the site to the delivery location would be a
priority .as it costs less to truck things closer .
I priced
reclaimed asphalt ( millings ) at wilkes paving in Rutland , it costs $18.50 per
ton , approximately 21 tons per truck load , + delivery $78 per hour
,
last year when
we purchased this product Wilkes had the best pricing .
If one truck
load were 20 tons as the e mail from the town estimated : 1 truck load would be
$370 with out the delivery or trucking fee .
Why isn't the
town selling these millings as it could be a significant source of income for
the town , .
Looking at the
chart below , and please correct me if I am wrong , it appears that only 7
businesses and no residential properties were selected to receive the free
millings .
One individual
who owns 3 businesses on Killington rd is receiving 67 truckloads , which may be
more then ½ of the total available amount . Please note that I do not find fault
with any business owner or individual applying for this ,But
receiving 67 truck loads is a lot for
one person to receive , considering that many have applied and are
not getting any ,( including one resident who lives on west Hill rd right near
the site) .
The individual
receiving 67 truck loads would be getting a gift from the town with the
approximate retail value of $24,790 with no delivery fee .
This has angered
many residents , simply because it is really unfair .
Because of the
value of this , the town should be selling the millings at a reduced rate of
maybe $100 a truck load to tax payers . That would cover the towns expenses and
put money into the general fund .Any un purchased millings should be given away
by lottery or a fair equitable system that includes residents . Right now not a
single residential property was awarded any millings .
A gift of
$24,790 is inappropriate for a town employee to be giving away , unless a fair
system is implemented so all tax payers can benefit from this .
If you only want
to do Businesses this year , give each business its fair share ,divide the
amount of millings by the number of business that applied , if you own 3
businesses you can get 3 shares , and next year allow only
residents to apply .I am sure many businesses would be happy to pay any expenses
that the town would incur for trucking expenses .
Another way
would be to give the millings to the highest bidder ,
Anything that
puts more money into the general fund would greatly help the tax payers in the
town of Killington.
Nicole
Levesque
Comment: Nicole Levesque is a business and property owner, and a former EDT commissioner.
If we go by her number, and about half is worth $24,790, then it is no stretch to say as I did in my presentation to the Select Board (below), that what was given away was worth about $50,000.
Vito
Presented by me to the Select Board 9/23/14
I’ve got to say the Killington Road business properties’ parking lots look
great with the tens of thousands Killington Road millings. That however begs the
question why West Hill Road’s shoulders are not done, as Seth stated at the last
Select board meeting would be done . The Killington Road businesses are a
private concern and certainly West Hill Road should merit priority status over
them. In fact I would venture to say West Hill would have priority over the
park and ride and the golf course as it is the second most traveled
thoroughfare the town is responsible for.
The powers that be have been making a lot of noise in recent years
about making the town more pedestrian and family friendly. Yet I have witnessed
mothers walking their strollers and youngsters in the middle of West Hill Road
since there is no shoulder. I would not call that pedestrian or family
friendly. I would think that the town management would get their priorities
aligned with what their supposed strategic plan is beyond giving freebies to
the Killington Road businesses. Although I suppose that’s one way spur economic
benefit for those businesses.
And as to the cost to the town, I don’t know if there is a stockpile of
millings that are going to be used for finishing West Hill Road’s shoulders.
But even if there is that will cost the town as it would have been way more
efficient to move them to West Hill during the milling process when the
trucking was paid for. If there is in fact a stockpile somewhere, then the town
will have to bear the additional cost of loading and trucking the millings to
West Hill.
If there is no stockpile, it’s even worse as the town will have to
purchase additional material and truck it.
If the town has to buy additional material to finish West Hill’s
shoulder, I would say it’s bordering on criminal
that private Killington Road business were given somewhere in the neighborhood
of $50,000 of millings while a public thoroughfare, West Hill Road, went wanting.
The town administration needs to get a proper balance in its priorities
instead of continually catering to the businesses in the name of economic
development.
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