Current Issues and Thoughts
August 27, 2006

The next selectmen’s meeting is Monday, August 28, 2006, at 5:30pm. The agenda for the meeting is available by clicking the link to the left.

Here are some of the items that may be of interest:

  1. Water. At 6:00pm the Water/Wastewater Commissioners are coming in to give an update on the reorganization of the town’s water and wastewater operations. This area is now under the commissioners’ control.

  2. Police Station. At 6:30pm Joe Stella of the police station building committee will give an update on the progress at the station. The background materials for the meeting include a letter from the building committee to the contractor stating that the committee is withholding all further payments to the contractor “until all outstanding issues are resolved and all punch list items are complete.” The letter further states: “If all punch list items are not completed by September 8, 2006 the Town of Milford will proceed with all available options under the contract to insure our occupancy by October 1, 2006”.

  3. Badger Hill. Lee Mayhew will update the selectmen regarding the Badger Hill (BH) development. There has still been no answer to the letter from several weeks ago signed by more than 50 BH residents asking for an independent safety study of the road layout. The residents set out their safety concerns and asked for this study prior to the start of the next phase of 90 more houses. Lee will also update the selectmen on the meeting with one of the town’s lawyers, Bill Drescher, about the potential for a “cease and desist” order to stop further construction until the conditions of the development approvals are met.

  4. Ethics Policy. We will discuss the potential adoption of a town-wide ethics policy. The selectmen had proposed a simple ethics policy that follows almost word-for-word the state ethics law applicable to state employees. The department heads subsequently recommended unanimously against any ethics policy. Lee Mayhew is bringing up an alternative ethics policy that is backed by an association of government employees and sets out different standards.

  5. 2007 Road Paving/Maintenance Priorities. We will review a new memorandum from DPW that sets out proposed road paving and maintenance priorities for 2007. We had asked for this update so that projects would be shown in the order of importance (judged by DPW). The memo states: “Monetarily the priority list for 2007 costs more than the amount that the BOS allowed to be budgeted in 2007”. In other words, the priority list does not, as yet, fit inside the proposed 2007 budget.

I’ll put up some posts on the blog tonight and tomorrow with some additional information and thoughts on the issues for the selectmen’s meeting.

Please call, email or post on the blog with your questions, comments or suggestions.