Economic uncertainty, but town tackled big projects last year

SALISBURY — The year 2009 found the town scrambling to make ends meet, with big projects underway and the education budget a source of particular concern. The election season had a rare petitioning candidate for first selectman, there was a change in leadership at the Planning and Zoning Commission, a consultant recommended an overhaul of the town’s zoning regulations, and a group of citizens actually asked to pay more taxes.

The town established (with Sharon) a new transfer station authority, with the Board of Selectmen as the initial representatives.  (This prompted some criticism, which died out when selectmen Jim Dresser and Bob Riva got themselves off the new board as soon as was seemly.)

And work began on the new firehouse at the site of the former ITW facility on Route 44, and on the new Town Grove building.

In October, The Hotchkiss School announced a matching grant of up to $400,000  to help finance the new firehouse. Hotchkiss will contribute the money over a five-year period on a matching basis of $1 from Hotchkiss for every dollar and a half raised from other donations. If other donations total $600,000, then Hotchkiss will contribute the entire $400,000.

A plan to replace the dam at Long Pond was approved by state and federal agencies, but lack of state funding stalled the project. Federal stimulus money will pay for most of a sidewalk replacement project in Salisbury village.

Faced with decreasing tax and fee revenues, the Board of Finance asked the selectmen and the Board of Education to tighten their belts. For the Board of Education, this meant a lengthy discussion of class sizes and a couple of trips back to the drawing board.

The education board’s task was further complicated by the discovery that board clerk  Lori Tompkins had stolen at least $110,000 from board and Salisbury Central School accounts between March 2005 and December 2008. Tompkins pled no contest to larceny charges Oct. 20, and will be sentenced Jan. 22. She faces between 18 months and five years in prison.

The discovery of the missing funds forced the Board of Education and the school to produce a “zero-basedâ€� budget — an extremely time-consuming and cumbersome process in which every single line item must be set at zero. Board Chairman Roger Rawlings said at the time that even with the zero-based budget, it would take a full fiscal year to get a completely accurate assessment.

The board has since instituted a new accounting system and made the board clerk position part-time.

Mike Flint, manager of CATV-6 and a broadcaster frequently critical of First Selectman Curtis Rand, ran for the top town job as a petitioning candidate, which provided the only suspense in the 2009 municipal elections. Flint lost to Rand, 915-204.

After the election, long-time Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Jon Higgins was replaced by Cristin Rich in an election among commission members.

Consultant Donald Poland, hired by the selectmen at the request of the Zoning Board of Appeals to conduct a top-to-bottom survey of the town’s land-use boards and administration, issued a sweeping report that concluded that the town’s zoning regulations are inadequate to meet the combined pressures of wealthy, litigiously minded residents and the desires to preserve open space, protect the environment, provide affordable housing — and the traditional New England belief that a landowner should be able to do what he wants with his property.

A group of residents around West Twin Lake took the rare action of petitioning to form a new tax district, to raise funds for weed control and dredging of the lake. A meeting was called, but opponents quickly defeated the measure and the tax district proponents agreed to work with the Twin Lakes Association to resolve the problems.

The cupola on the Academy Building (home of the Salisbury Association), long rumored to contain a bell, was examined and a bell was indeed discovered.

And the Salisbury Association, with Elaine Hecht as editor and Lou Hecht handling the design, produced what Rand called “an extraordinary document,â€� a Natural Resource Inventory. The document contains what Elaine Hecht called “descriptive  science-oriented data to provide baseline resources of the town for the commission members.â€�

It identifies nine resource areas — Geology and Topography, Water Resources, Forest Resources, Agricultural Resources, Critical Habitats, Open Space, Scenic Roads, Recreational Resources and Historic Landmarks.

Each section has maps and recommendations. Several provide bibliographies. All include photographs, some modern, some historic.

Copies are available at the Academy Building. The cost is $25 (to help offset the costs of production).

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