BY MAT CLOUSER
PITTSFORD — The town of Pittsford met on Wednesday, October 5, to discuss several upcoming and ongoing projects, including revisiting potential ARPA fund allocations, the town’s health insurance policies, and to hear from representatives of the Pittsford Historical Society (PHS)about a request for an increase in their annual appropriation which led to a change to the town’s appropriations procedures.
ARPA funds
For several months, the town has been surveying residents about potential uses of its federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds after a loosening of the restrictions on what can be done with the money has paved the way for a much wider variety of uses. While no decisions were made during the meeting, there was discussion about several potential uses—specifically from the Recreation and Fire Departments.
On hand to give the Rec. Department’s presentation was Rec. Director Jenn Popp who outlined three primary needs, all of which pertained to the town’s recreation area. First, Popp mentioned that a $20,000 quote was received to repair the dock—of which a $10,000 match has already been raised; the second was an estimated $25,000 for resurfacing of the tennis and basketball courts; and third was dredging of the swimming area at the park, for which a bid had been requested from Richard Reed but had not been formally submitted—dredging which no one at the meeting remembered as ever having happened before and generally agreed was a good idea for safety.
The Fire Department was not on hand to discuss their requests but did file it in writing, asking for approximately $62,000 to cover the cost of 10 sets of turn-out gear, boots, helmets, air packs, and air tanks to assist in the outfitting of their 40-plus firefighters. The board acknowledged the higher cost of new equipment, as well as the expiration of certain items like the air-packs and air-tanks, which tend to last around “7-10” years.
Insurance
Town Manager Brenda Fox-Howard spoke to the board about issues the town’s employees had getting certain procedures denied by their current provider, MVP. She also mentioned that MVP’s rates would soon be increasing more than 18% but that they might be able to switch to Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Fox-Howard said that while the Blue Cross Blue Shield would still increase about 11% from the current rate, town employees generally agreed that they had had better luck getting treatments okayed on their prior Blue Cross Blue Shield plans than they have with the current MVP plan.
There was additional discussion about the Vermont League of Cities and Towns’ potential move to a one-insurance company structure. However, it was unclear when or if that might happen, and the board decided to switch to Blue Cross Blue Shield by a unanimous vote.
Historical Society appropriation
Tome Browe and Barb Willis were on hand to discuss a letter that had previously been submitted to the board on behalf of PHS requesting an increase from their current $4,052 to $10,000. While the board was not at liberty to make the change themselves, they did make Browe and Willis aware of the next steps needed to petition the town and have the potential appropriations added to the next town meeting ballot.
PHS attributed the big jump to an outdated number—which Browe said was arrived at so long ago that there was currently no living member of the board who knew why it had been set at $4052— and to a building that was in drastic need of improvements.
“This has been a bad, bad year for us,” said Browe, outlining furnace malfunctions, chimney deterioration, outdated security systems, and the need to install heat pumps. “We do fundraisers where we can—we have a small endowment—but [all our costs] are going up majorly.”
New appropriations policy
Growing outwards from the conversation with PHS was a review of the town’s current process regarding organizations that receive ongoing taxpayer appropriations. The town has been sending a letter to each organization, checking with them to see if they would like to be added to the list of requests for the upcoming year. This process differs from neighboring towns, where the burden is on the organizations to petition the town each year.
The board agreed that they didn’t see the wisdom in mailing out the letters, preferring that the organizations are the ones to proactively seek the funding as opposed to the town. It was decided unanimously to cease sending out the letters in future years.
In other business, the board;
- Heard from Ms. Fox-Howard’s Town Manager’s report, in which she discussed that this year’s Route 7 construction had been completed. However, Fox-Howard mentioned that she was unhappy about how the Agency of Transporation (AOT) had left things, stating that things “were left a little bit in disarray” and that she would be reaching out to them to follow up. Rep Butch Shaw was on hand and offered his assistance acting as a go-between should the town need assistance dealing with AOT.
- Rescheduled a vicious dog hearing. The hearing was initially slated for October 17 and will now occur at 5:30 p.m. on November 2.
