Killington
posted
Aug 9, 2012
KILLINGTON COMPARATIVELY
Bob Montgomery said he believes that other Resort communities are
outpacing us because they are using bonding to improve tourism
infrastructure. He believes the town should use its borrowing power
to fund a major tourism attraction and do the project in
partnership with the resort.
Selectboard member concerns: Jim Haff said that tax sale data
from the State of VT showed Killington way above Jay Peak and
Ludlow and others in terms of rooms, meals and alcohol sales tax.
He said that he agrees we need to grow our town but we shouldn't
use the wrong numbers and make unreasonable comparisons to Jay Peak
and Okemo.
TOO MANY COMMITTEES
Bernie Rome made comments about why he thinks the idea of the Golf
Committee is flawed. We have a golf manager and town manager and
committees dissipate the accountability and can lead to other
problems. Rome thinks we've had a lot of initiatives including the
Growth Committee, the Tax Committee, EDT, Fireside Lodge, TIFF,
Bills Country Store, Route 4 Beautification, and others. He says
these all have some merit; alone they don't do much, but together
they could.
FLOOD RECOVERY CONT.
The municipal budget counts on $2,090,364 in reimbursements from
FEMA. To date Killington town has filed for reimbursement on all of
our projects (51) which represent $2,707,472 in claims.
All projects have been fully reviewed by FEMA /NRCS and we've
received confirmation that we have been approved for just over $2.2
million. There are only two projects which we have not received
statements of reimbursement, which were expected in July.
Of that $2.2 million, the town has received $1.6 million to date.
The plan was to have $1.5 million by August and have $2.2 million
total. It looks like we're going to end up with $2.4 million on the
same amount of expense.
The reason for that increase is that FEMA raised its
reimbursement rate from 75% to 90% and the state legislature
approved a limit on what towns have to pay. We've been capped at 3%
of our equalized grand list, which means our maximum contribution
for eligible work is $250,000. For ineligible work we have to cover
the full expense. The net is that we will be about $200,000 better
than we expected.
Due to the good news, we are going to be able to do some of the
capital projects that we had planned to defer. We will replace
culverts on Estabrook Rd. Brad Mead, Cricket Hill, and near
Wiffletree, and we will pave a section of Roaring Brook.
The board asked questions about projects that are not being
reimbursed and if the town is using local contractors for
repairs.
TEEN CENTER DAMAGED
Regarding the repairs to the Teen Center, the selectboard has
halted repairs because pre-existing structural damage was
discovered that may alter initial plans to repair the center. The
damage includes:
• The rear wall has several courses of cinder
block which are not well mortared and are leaking water into the
basement.
• The parking lot wall has chunks of block and
mortar missing which lets water in.
• All the basement windows are more or less
rotted or water damaged by proximity to ground. Removing them and
sealing the openings should be considered.
• The basement door is below grade and has
problems with seepage. At the door the footings are exposed and
undercut by water.
The long and short is that we have a significant problem. The
foundation should be exposed in its entirety, sealed, and properly
drained. This should include consideration of removing the basement
door and sealing the opening.
Repair of the stairs to the basement from the first floor cannot be
made in their preset location as they cannot meet code. The
constraint is joist height.
We can proceed with a contract for design build or we could have
an architect prepare a new design. Or we could consider demolishing
the building and starting over.
The Board requested that Mel look into costs to raise the building
and information on retaining the insurance payments made to help
determine next steps.
EDT UPDATE
Suzie Dundas gave a presentation that provided updates on summer
advertising, the AJGA Jr. Golf Championships, Cooler in the
Mountains concert series, wedding advertising, social media
activity, website traffic and trends with discoverkillington.com,
the Byways, golf marketing, current partnership opportunities for
businesses, feedback from the Stage Race, and Hay Festival
progress. Highlights included:
The AJGA brought 144 players to town plus their family and friends.
There was strong positive feedback from players about the June
event.Wedding marketing: EDT completed a very attractive 8-page,
full color response piece, launched weddingsinvermont.net and is
doing advertising on key wedding sites as well as attending top
wedding shows.
The golf marketing effort which was a combined initiative with EDT,
Green Mountain National, Killington Resort and the State of Vermont
sold over 190 packages for the 2012 season.
The Stage Race brought in 568 participants this year and the EDT
estimates a conservative economic impact is $222,879. The EDT is in
talks about renewal for next year.
The Hay Festival was designated a top 10 event by the state of
Vermont.
The board asked questions about the golf sales. Ed Fowler asked
about overall website traffic. Suzie indicated she would follow up
with him on the answer.
Act 250 Letter regarding Killington Village
Seth presented a letter, which SP Land requested, to respond to the
questions raised by the Act 250 committee around water, sewer and
road maintenance. Seth indicated he had made minor changes and
presented it to the Board for its signature. All in favor.
TOWN MANAGER REPORTS
Seth reported that his office had mailed all the tax bills, the
road crew had paved East Mountain Road and is replacing many
culverts, he and the town planner are meeting with AOT to deliver
the Streetscape study.
He reported on the Recreation Department's interest in taking over
the management of the IDIC 15 Run/Walk and asked for the board to
support the plan. Jim made a motion to proceed with the management
of the race and for the Town to back the race if the registration
is low and the costs are high. All in favor.
Jim mentioned the proposed bylaws for Route 100 Byway Committee. He
recommended Seth work with the Town Attorney to ensure the powers
of the Byway committee are well articulated and can't contradict
the will of the Selectboard, especially related to its support of
the ski village.
Tagged:
Killington, Selectboard
