Potential Charlotte town garage presents financial and legal challenges
Charlotte has begun the process of building a town garage after the Lewis Excavating building burned down last December, costing the town all but one of its plows.
The state loaned Charlotte three plows to get through the winter, according to an article from The Trucker, but this cannot go on forever. As of now, Road Commissioner Jr Lewis is operating his plow business out of the town’s salt shed on Root Road, he said.
“It's pretty small and we're not even able to get one truck in without removing the plow to get it inside to work on it. So it's pretty tight,” Lewis said.
Lewis has also had to replace the plows lost in the fire, and is in the process of ordering two plows from neighboring towns, he said.
“As soon as they get their new trucks, then they would be selling me the two that they are getting rid of,” Lewis said.
Charlotte has started the process of building a town garage, and the goal is to start construction by October 1, said Selectboard Chair Jim Faulkner.
“The first step is to find a location,” said Faulkner.
The town is looking at four possible properties. The Selectboard will evaluate the merits of each property in this coming week, said Faulkner. They hope to decide on a location at tonight’s Selectboard meeting, on Feb. 28.
The project also presents challenges down the road, such as funding. Funding for the garage does not fall under the stringent regulations of the American Rescue Plan Act, Faulkner said. This means that the town will need to fund the project itself.
Every year, the road commissioner puts a portion of his budget into a capital reserve fund in case of events such as this. A sum of around $600,000 can be provided from the road commissioner’s capital reserves, Faulkner said.
Lewis said he believes there's $400,000 in the current road commissioner budget, and another $200,000 could come from not doing any paving this year.
This amount will not be enough, as the amount required will most likely be in the $1.3 million or $1.4 million range, Faulkner said. He suspects the rest of the funds will have to come from a bond or a bank loan.
“We'll have to have a special town meeting probably in July, maybe June to have the taxpayer approve a bond,” said Faulkner. “Or not approve, but we will go and get a bond or a bank loan; one or the other.”
Another pressing issue is the fact that Lewis Excavating is a private business. Because Lewis was operating out of his own garage, his business was legally contracted to the town for plowing, which he has been doing for the past 23 years.
Now, the building will be owned by the town, so the Selectboard faces a challenge as to how Lewis’ private business will operate out of the town garage.
“We know about towns that do that,” Faulkner said. “We're just trying to get their information on how they were able to do it.”
The Selectboard is conducting legal research to find a way to do this, Faulkner said. Once they figure it out there will be a report on it.
“It will not be swept under the rug,” Faulkner said.
In the coming months, the Selectboard will also have to work through drawing designs for the building, obtaining the correct permits in order, and getting a builder, said Faulkner.
The next Selectboard meeting on Feb. 28 will provide more details on which property the town will decide on.
Original story can be found at the Charlotte Bridge.
