Unstable Bridge Is A Danger In Grafton

by Alex Brooks
A bridge on Dunham Road that was damaged by Hurricane Irene has deteriorated and may need to be closed, Grafton Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck told the Town Board this week.
[private]The speed and power of the water from Hurricane Irene scoured away underneath the footings. Subsequently the metal culvert was observed to be moving in relation to the footing, and the bridge was reduced to a 7 ton weight limit. Last week Town Engineer Russ Reeves came out to inspect the bridge and it had moved more. The weight limit was lowered to 3 tons, and Hasbrouck said if it moves any more, he may have to close the bridge completely and do some kind of emergency repair. He is working with FEMA to develop a plan to replace the bridge, but that would be a project for July or August. In the meantime the Highway Department is monitoring the bridge every day. School buses have to go around to get to the houses on the other side of the bridge.
Grafton Trail Riders’ Outhouses To Go
Grafton Supervisor Ray Darling said he had met with officers of the Grafton Trail Riders, along with Town Code Enforcement Officer Tom Withcuskey and an official from the Rensselaer County Health Department. The Trail Riders will be seeking a variance from the Town again this year to allow camping at several of their events this summer, but neighbors have complained that the sanitary facilities on the property are not adequate for the number of people who come to these events.
Darling said the Trail Riders now have two handicap-accessible bathrooms connected to a County approved 2,000 gallon tank, and they have agreed to remove two outhouses that were in use last summer.  Darling said no variance will be granted until the outhouses are removed and the area where they were cleaned up and the water tested.
At public comment time, Linda Laveway, who lives next to the Grafton Trail Riders property, described some of the problems she is having with activities there. She said increasingly large numbers of people are coming to the property and camping while attending the club’s summer events, and the gatherings are loud and the noise continues late into the night. She said the sanitary facilities are inadequate and the outhouse situation is made worse by large motor campers emptying their holding tanks into the outhouse pits. She said only seven of the club members are from Grafton and none of the officers are from Grafton. Visitors who come to their events come from all over New York and Vermont and other states and many of them are non-members paying “a nominal fee” to camp there.
Darling repeated that no variance will be issued until the outhouses are gone and cleaned up and the water has been tested. He said that there will be specific dates and times when camping is allowed and that the Code Enforcement Officer will monitor the situation to see that the rules are being followed.
No To Lighting Upgrade
The Board entertained proposals from National Grid to upgrade lighting fixtures in the Town Hall and the Highway Garage to more efficient ones that would use less electricity. The cost to do this is $1,707 for the Town Hall and $6,316 for the Highway Garage. The request for a quote for this project was initiated in January of 2011, and no one seemed much interested in it anymore. Marie Claus said spending significant sums on the current Town Hall when they are considering vacating it doesn’t make sense to her. Barbara Messenger said it looked to her as if many of the items on the list involved nothing more than changing light bulbs, and she suggested it might be possible to reduce electrical cost for less money than this proposal. Others wondered how much would be saved on the electric bill and didn’t seem satisfied with the assurances given in the proposal.
Grafton Elementary School
Supervisor Darling said the School Board has agreed to ask the School District voters if they would like to sell the Grafton Elementary School to the Town of Grafton for $1. He said if that is approved, the Town of Grafton will then ask its voters if they would like to accept the building for $1. In the meantime the committee will do research on how the Town might use the building, what the costs would be, what renovations might be necessary, where the money would come from to maintain the building, and that sort of thing. The committee, consisting of Town Councilperson Barbara Messenger, former School Board member Doug Sauer and Fire Chief Jim Goyer, has not met yet but plans to meet this weekend.
At public comment time, there were comments both pro and con about acquisition of the building. Bill Middleton said he thought it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to renovate the building for Town use, whereas if a business bought it, there would be tax revenue. He also wondered what would happen to the buildings vacated if Town agencies moved to the elementary school. “It’s not the bargain it sounds like,” he concluded.
Fire Chief Jim Goyer said he doesn’t know why people think the building will need extensive renovation. “It’s a turn-key operation,” said Goyer, adding that he thinks it is “the opportunity of a lifetime” for the Town.
Seniors Use Of The Senior Center
Supervisor Darling said he had received a verbal request from one of the seniors for permission to use the Senior Center for an event on Saturday, June 9. Mike Crandall said dubiously, “The seniors are asking permission to use the Senior Center?” He said he thought it was their building and others who wanted to use it had to ask permission.  Some seniors who were present said they thought so too, but the County Director of the Senior Center has told them it is only open from 9 am to 3 pm on weekdays. Herb Hasbrouck said the standard practice has been that the President of the Grafton Seniors has a key and can open the building for senior functions whenever they are planned. The Board was unsure exactly what the deal is, but they said they will look into it.
Special Meeting
The Board set a Special Meeting for Wednesday, April 18, at 5:30 pm to interview applicants for the Town Secretary position, and to choose someone to make the Town a new website.  Darling said there are five or six applicants for the Town Secretary position, which will be “up to 30 hours a week.” The Town has identified four or five companies interested in taking on the website project.
The Board also approved a $50 expenditure for a Dog Control Officer seminar, as well as mileage reimbursement for travel to the seminar. They also approved an expense of approximately $800 for Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck to go to a program referred to as “highway superintendent school.”
The Board made a series of budget revisions to alleviate overdrawn accounts. They increased State Retirement in the Highway Fund by $11,229 and State retirement in the General Fund by $8,367. To pay for these increases they reduced Snow Removal by $5,723 and Machine Equipment by $6,229 in the Highway Fund, and they decreased the unappropriated Fund Balance in the General Fund by $8,367.[/private]