Ten of 11 capital items approved

08/03/2006

By: Barrie Tait Collins, Special to the Bulletin

BETHANY - In a more than two-hour long special town meeting last week, about 75 voters approved 10 of 11 proposed capital items, some after prolonged discussion.
Totaling almost $800,000, the items will be paid from the town's Reserve Fund for Capital and Nonrecurring Expenditures. A vote on the capital items was delayed more than a month because it could not be held until the 2006-'07 town budget, which included an appropriation to beef up the reserve fund, was approved. The revised $17.9 million budget was finally passed in a second referendum June 29.
The only capital item not approved was a $32,000 authorization for a new tractor for the highway department. It was deemed unnecessary this year.
The ten items approved at the meeting were:
* $450,000 for a fire pumper truck and related equipment for the Bethany Volunteer Fire Department to replace a 33-year-old vehicle.
* $160,00 for a GIS system to serve many boards and departments, to be paid over a four-year period with a first payment of $50,000 this year.
The need was assessed through an 18-month feasibility study by the agencies that would utilize it. GIS will permit digital mapping so each agency has the same maps to the same scale and they can be updated at the same time, said Planning and Zoning Chairman Sharon Huxley. At present the maps are scattered, on fragile paper and to different scales and cannot be updated with present software. The overall funding can be voted on annually. "We can buy this in pieces or cut," Second Selectman Steven Thornquist said.
* $115,000 for a five-yard dump truck for the highway department to replace a 1987 truck. Highway Foreman Cliff Rosson said new emissions standards would increase the cost of a truck by $12,000 next year.
* $62,880 for the second payment of a five-year lease-purchase of a fire tanker truck and related equipment for the fire department. The vehicle is already in service.
* $43,000 for replacement of Community School's 1950s Annex I roof.
* $27,000 for replacement of the school's 1970 refrigerator-freezer. It has to be custom built for the space.
* $20,000 for a new well for the Town Hall and Community school to increase pressure from the present three gallons to seven gallons per minute.
* $14,800 for a communications survey for the fire department because the current system is out of date and firefighter safety is involved. The department will seek a federal grant for the $200,000 cost.
* $10,000 for a professional economic survey of Bethany. The town needs one because its population is growing and it has a limited business tax base and non infrastructure. "We need a definition of Bethany friendly," First Selectman Derrylyn Gorski said. "We will end up with an action plan and where to get funding to help."
* $5,800 for evaluation for future uses of Center Station. The present building doesn't meet OSHA standards, depending on use. The town will be able to make an informed decision from the study, Gorski said.