By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—The Brandon Fire District #1 held its annual meeting at the Brandon American Legion on Monday evening. The Fire District oversees the Fire and Water Departments in Brandon and is separate from the Town of Brandon. It is overseen by the Prudential Committee and not by the Brandon Selectboard.
The meeting began with the election of Karen Rhodes as Moderator, replacing Seth Hopkins. Ms. Rhodes then managed the remainder of the evening’s agenda.
The centerpiece of the meeting was a presentation by Raymond Counter, who heads the Water Department. Mr. Counter explained the need to replace the District’s underground water tank, which was built in 1908 and is one of three water tanks currently in use.
The underground tank and the District’s main aboveground tank are adjacent and feed into a single pipeline. It is not good practice, Mr. Counter said, to have the two main water-storage tanks depend on the same pipeline, since if the line were damaged or clogged, the town would not have an alternative source of water. The third tank, a tower located off Arnold District Road, does not hold enough water to supply the town, should the other two tanks become inoperable.
Working with Otter Creek Engineering from East Middlebury, the District identified 3 sites in Brandon that made sense as the location of the new tank: Richmond Road, North Street, and Birch Hill Road. A primary criterion is that the new site be at the same elevation as the current site, because the system relies on gravity for water delivery.
The particularities of topography of the three sites have led Mr. Counter and Otter Creek to favor the Birch Hill location: it’s level and easily accessible. It’s also located closer to areas of Brandon where there is still room for development.
The project comes with a hefty price tag: the North Street site would cost approximately $5 million, the Richmond Road site would cost approximately $10.5 million, and the Birch Hill Road site would cost approximately $12.5 million. These estimates include purchasing the land and installing the tank.
“Birch Hill is the most expensive,” said Mr. Counter. “But there’s the most to gain there.”
Ultimately, the citizens present at the meeting voted to allow the District to begin negotiations with the landowners of the sites. Before any contract is signed, however, the District will ask voters to approve the specific deal.
Also at the meeting, Kristy Pinkham was re-elected as both Clerk and Treasurer. Kathy Bilodeau was elected 24 to 12 over Linwood Bovey to replace Michael Markowski, who leaves the Prudential Committee after 8 years.
Scott Trask, Amber Lee, and Catherine Bresette were all re-elected as Auditors.
The attendees voted to retain the same compensation structure as last year:
- $800 per year for each member of the Prudential Committee
- $100 per year for the Treasurer
- $25 per year for each Auditor
- $10 per meeting for the Moderator
- $10 per meeting for the Clerk
The voters also approved general-fund expenditures of $1,030,958, of which $337,600 will be raised by taxes. They also authorized the District to spend any unbudgeted, unanticipated income as long as the expenditure does not create a deficit.
