The Sherman Board of Selectmen convened for its Special Meeting on June 30th regarding items to be moved to the Town Meeting agenda.
Multiple expenditure requests were previously submitted to be drawn from the Capital Non-Recurring Fund; authorization will be voted on at the next Town Meeting.
The Sherman Volunteer Fire Department requested two expenditures of $9775.07 for repairs on Engine 5 and Tanker 8, and $52,000 toward the purchase of a 2017 Ford F-350 pickup truck; Business Administrator Liz LaVia clarified that the $52,000 would be an 80/20 % split with the Volunteer Fire Department.
The Parks and Recreation Commission requested two expenditures as well. The first is not to exceed $8,400 to replace the 350 linear feet of chain-link fence around the basketball courts at Veteran’s Field, and the second is not to exceed $43,000 to replace five docks and the connecting floating walkway at the town beach.
Old Town Hall (the current Senior Center) is in need of new paint around its exterior; an expenditure not to exceed $10,000 was requested to complete the project.
A separate expenditure of $1,551.16 was requested to be drawn from the Happy Acres Operating Account for the repairs to pipes, the silage loader, and the manure spreader at Happy Acres Farm.
Authorization will also be voted upon for the appropriation of $20,000 funded from the accumulated cell tower revenue and farm rental income from Happy Acres Farm for the fiscal year of July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018.
Selectman Don Lowe inquired to the nature of the appropriation; First Selectman Clay Cope and Selectman Bob Ostrosky explained the $20,000 is only used for maintenance on the farm. First Selectman Cope went on to explain that “per the agreement between the will of Tony Hapanowich and the town of Sherman,” there is an additional $25,000 per year set aside “for the major capital expenses” (i.e. repainting all of the buildings).
The Sherman BOS will vote on the aforementioned authorizations at the next Town Meeting on July 15th at 10 a.m. All are invited to attend.
By Ann Marie DiDomenico