July 12, 2018 • The Essex Reporter • 1
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{ Thursday, July 12, 2018 }
Urban tree protection plan underway By AMANDA BROOKS
T
he selectboard officially adopted the Town of Essex Street Tree Management plan last month, setting into motion strategies to enhance Essex’s urban forest and protect it against the looming threat of invasive pests. Developed through collaborations between
Feds award town $54k toward windstorm repairs
the planning department, Essex Conservation and Trails Committee and the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program, the plan outlines several goals for Essex’s urban forest, including monitoring and maintaining its health, preventing pest infestations and obtaining Tree City USA designation for the town. The potential threat of the emerald ash borer and other tree pests was a major catalyst for the 2016 street tree survey that ultimately informed this plan, said Darren Schibler, Essex town planner. “The timing of the final document coming together and its adop-
tion I’d say worked out well in terms of when the emerald ash borer hit,” Schibler said. “Even though that was an unfortunate event, it was good that it was ready to go when it happened.” The emerald ash borer was discovered for the first time in Vermont in February of this year in northern Orange County, and as of June, has been found in five towns: Montpelier, Plainfield, Barre, Orange and Groton, according to VT UCF. Per their name, emerald ash borers threaten ash trees and can kill them within three to five years of infestation, according to VT UCF.
They can easily spread once a tree is infested and are also transported by humans when moving infested firewood and other products. Essex’s management plan recommends a combination of several strategies to deal with a possible future EAB infestation, including physical removal of ash trees, chemical treatments and public education and outreach. To reduce the town’s risk of EAB infestation, the plan recommends removing approximately 59 ash trees to reach the goal of 10 percent green ash. Currently, Essex’s
Let there be light!
'Expect delays' Construction projects kick off around town By COLIN FLANDERS Two construction projects in town are expected to cause traffic delays over the next several months. A road rehabilitation project along Route 117 kicked off late last month beginning in Essex where the state highway starts and carrying through to the Jericho town line. The Vermont Agency of Transportation and Pike Industries, Inc. plan to rehab the existing roadway sub-base and a new travel surface while widening the shoulder where feasible. The project will also upgrade drainage, guardrails and signage and place a new traffic signal at the intersection of the 289 off ramp and Route 117. Officials expect to maintain one-way alternating traffic during construction hours and motorists should expected to travel on a gravel surface from mid-July through August. The project’s anticipated completion date is Oct. 11, 2019.
By COLIN FLANDERS The town of Essex will receive $54,000 in federal funds to help offset repair costs from last October’s windstorm that downed trees and left hundreds of residents without power. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursement covers 75 percent of the town’s $70,000 bill in response to last year’s storm, a price tag that includes staff labor and subcontracting costs. However, a portion of that reimbursement – $17,000 – has already been earmarked to replace a cut from the town’s operating fund vehicle budget for fiscal year 2019, leaving about $37,000 left to offset the town’s repair costs. Public works director Dennis Lutz shared the final calculation in a memo to the selectboard. Lutz explained staff has needed to learn how to use FEMA’s computer-driven reporting system, but good record keeping and photographic documentation moved the process along. He said the key in this storm, as in the past, was mobilizing resources and finishing as much work as possible in the first three days. That’s because work completed during that key timeframe doesn’t require the town to use FEMA cost reimbursement codes or competitive bids, allowing the town to complete the repairs quickly while avoiding any nit-picking from FEMA, Lutz wrote. The risk is that FEMA declarations are often made weeks or months after an event, so the town may have to absorb early costs if a FEMA disaster isn’t declared. FEMA’s reimbursement announcement comes nine months after hurricane-force winds topping 75 mph tore through the state, downing trees and causing See FEMA, page 2
See TREES, page 3
See DELAYS, page 4
Essex Jct. house 'total loss' after fire By COLIN FLANDERS
PHOTO BY JEREMY LACLAIR
Fireworks paint the fields in kaleidoscopic hues at Maple Street Park last week during the annual July 4th festivities.
A house fire that drove a tower of smoke above the treetops in Essex Jct. last week sent a woman to the hospital for treatment of minor burns. Despite extinguishing the blaze within 20 minutes, fire officials say the two-story home at 12 Juniper Ridge Rd. is a complete loss. They believe the cause of the fire was accidental. Local departments responded to the scene shortly after noon when a woman called the Essex Jct. station to report her garage was on fire. A firefighter who happened to be at the station at that time fielded the call and alerted Essex emergency dispatch. Minutes later, firefighters tore down Main Street See FIRE, page 4
United Way cuts prompt additional funding from selectboard By COLIN FLANDERS The town of Essex will provide an extra $1,000 in one-time funding to Steps to End Domestic Violence, which is facing a shortfall in the wake of changes to United Way’s grant process. The decision comes weeks after Gail Beck, a town resident who serves on the Steps board, asked the selectboard for $1,000 to help the organization withstand a blow
to its funding model. The United Way of Northwest Vermont typically funds area nonprofits, including Steps, on a threeyear cycle. But a new giving strategy this year saw some of those organizations lose out on reliedupon funding. Steps, which asked for $120,000, received nothing. “We've had to make some dramatic and drastic cuts,” Beck said at the June 18 meeting. Beck said the shortage forced
the organization to eliminate four positions and cut back on its emergency shelter program, which aids people who flee violent situations at home. She said they don’t even have enough money to provide snacks for children playgroups or extra food for the shelter. Funding human services agencies with taxpayer dollars is not a new concept: The selectboard has distributed 1 percent of the general fund budget toward such
initiatives dating back to the mid1980s. But members typically finalize their funding breakdown in late spring and did so June 4 for this cycle, distributing just over $140,000 to a slew of agencies, including an initial $3,5000 contribution to Steps. Still, some selectboard members Monday night said they were disappointed the organization had come back to ask for so little. Andy
Watts, explaining why he supported the $1,000 donation, said the town is already spending a lot of money on the potential changes to the shooting ordinances, a topic that impacts a “significantly smaller” number of people in town. The town is among Steps’ biggest benefactors, with more than 180 residents from Essex or Essex Jct. seeking the organization’s help last year alone, according to See STEPS, page 2