39-3: EFUD voters approve $750k water line bond
May 14, 2023 | By Lisa Scagliotti
At the front of the room (left to right): town and district Clerk Karen Petrovic, Municipal Manager Tom Leitz, EFUD Commissioners Cynthia Parks, Lawrence “Lefty” Sayah, P. Howard “Skip” Flanders, Natalie Sherman, Bob Finucane. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
With just 39 votes, a $750,000 bond won approval from voters in the Edward Farrar Utility District last week, giving the OK to replace Waterbury’s oldest section of water line.
Wednesday May 10 was the annual meeting and election for the district that runs the municipal water and wastewater departments. On the all-day paper ballot was just one question along with elections to fill three seats on the district’s Board of Commissioners. The three incumbents were all unopposed. Lawrence “Lefty” Sayah and Natalie Sherman received 37 and 35 votes respectively to be elected to new one-year terms; 38 votes were cast for Robert Finucane who was elected to a new three-year term.
A total of 42 ballots were cast and the bond passed 39-3, according to the tally by district Clerk Karen Petrovic.
Voting for the EFUD Annual Meeting is held at the municipal offices. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
The turnout represented just 2.7% of the district’s 1,552 registered voters who live within the boundaries of the former Village of Waterbury which dissolved in 2018 to be replaced by the utility district.
The annual May elections for EFUD have yet to gain much traction and attention of local voters to participate. Last year, 44 ballots were counted which was more than double the 21 cast in 2021. Prior to the district’s formation, village elections attracted light participation as well despite them being held in March, the day after Vermont Town Meeting Day.
An outlier turnout was last October’s special meeting where district voters were asked to approve the sale of the property at 51 S. Main Street, formerly owned by the village and passed on to EFUD, to Downstreet Housing & Community Development. The question drew nearly 300 to the in-person meeting where they voted 208-69 in favor of the sale for $138,000. The Barre-based nonprofit now is working on plans to build two dozen apartments on the 8/10-acre site.
14 people attend the EFUD annual meeting. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
A handful vote in person
The water line project that voter approved will replace a line installed in 1959 that connects a 1.4-million-gallon reservoir at the end of Blackberry Lane to the water system at a point near the Best Western Hotel. The project likely will be done this fall and will involve excavation through the Ashford Lane and Kennedy Drive neighborhood. The streets there are in need of repaving, Leitz noted, and will be redone in 2024.
In addition to the paper ballot, the Board of Commissioners convened an in-person annual meeting at the municipal offices on Wednesday evening. The commissioners along with Petrovic and Municipal Manager Tom Leitz sat at the meeting table with 14 others in attendance. The group included four of the five Waterbury Select Board members, former Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk, and several EFUD staff members and residents.
The annual meeting does not include voting on district budgets. Those are approved by the Board of Commissioners and the 2023 budgets and updated water and sewer user rates were approved at the board’s April meeting.
The articles to be voted on by the group were the customary items of business and all were approved unanimously on voice votes:
Accepting the reports of the district officers including both Shepeluk and Leitz and the commissioners. Those are printed in the district’s Annual Report available online and in paper copies at the town offices.
Approving annual compensation for EFUD officers: $1,450 for the commission chair; $1,200 for each of the other commissioners; $1,200 for the district clerk/treasurer.
Authorizing the commissioners to borrow up to $200,000 for no more than five years if necessary for water system improvements.
Authorizing the commissioners to borrow up to $115,000 for no more than five years if necessary for wastewater system improvements.
District resident Tom Gloor in attendance asked several questions related to various details in the Annual Report. One pertained to the Moretown-Duxbury Fire District that Waterbury has operated since 1996. The district is in the process of dissolving with the intention of EFUD taking ownership of its infrastructure in the near future, Leitz said.
Gloor also asked about a legal dispute recently resolved regarding EFUD access to a landlocked spring on property near Sweet Road in Waterbury Center. The matter was resolved in late March, and EFUD commissioners in April approved an agreement made through mediation between lawyers for the district and landowner Glenn Andersen. There was no financial settlement, Leitz noted. The agreement outlines the municipality’s rights to the spring established in 1896 and to spell out steps for EFUD staff to access it when needed, he said.
Presentation of the Keith A. Wallace Award
Carla Lawrence receives the Keith A. Wallace Memorial Community Service Award from Waterbury Select Board Chair Roger Clapp (left) and Edward Farrar Utility District Commission Chair P. Howard “Skip” Flanders (right). Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
The meeting also included a presentation of the annual Keith A. Wallace Memorial Community Service Award. It went to Carla Lawrence who retired last fall from her posts as clerk and treasurer for both the town of Waterbury and EFUD.
The district’s Annual Report is dedicated to Lawrence and its cover bears her photo. Waterbury Select Board Chair Roger Clapp joined Flanders in presenting the plaque to Lawrence and thanking her for her 13 years of service. They acknowledged that the presentation was tardy. “We slipped up and didn’t do a Wallace Award at Town Meeting,” Flanders said.
The presentation typically happens at March Town Meeting. This year, as town officials returned to organizing an in-person town meeting after skipping the annual gathering for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a few of the customs were overlooked.
“In fact we made three mistakes at town meeting,” he told the gathering. “We neglected to pledge allegiance to the flag. Second, we neglected to invite the Community Band, and third, most importantly, we forgot to present the Keith Wallace Award.”
Lawrence beamed as Flanders handed her the plaque with the inscription: “In recognition of dedicated service for the betterment of the community and its citizens.”
The award is named in honor of Keith Wallace, a Waterbury farmer with a long resume of public service including decades as town moderator, a school board member, a state representative and senator, and two decades heading the Vermont Farm Bureau. Wallace died in 1996 and the award has been given each year since, often with Lawrence assisting in preparing the plaques for the recipients.
“It has been my honor and privilege to serve for both the select board and the commissioners for all these years and the residents of Waterbury,” Lawrence said. “Waterbury means so much to me.”
She returned the thanks to the commissioners, select board members, Shepeluk, and firefighters Gary and Sally Dillon present at the meeting, all for their service in their various roles. “Waterbury’s just an amazing community and we’re very blessed and very lucky to have people like all of you serving the community,” she said.
Acknowledging Edward Farrar
Flanders ended the meeting with a note that there will be a small ceremony this summer to add a plaque to the gravestone of Edward Farrar in Hope Cemetery to acknowledge his role, service and sacrifice to the community.
The namesake of the utility district was a water commissioner and village president as well as a firefighter and police officer. He died on Oct. 14, 1904 at the age of 60 from injuries he sustained in a tragic accident when a trench that he was working in for the new sewer system at the intersection of Main and Elm streets caved in. His story and the decision in 2018 to name the utility district after Farrar are described in a story in the Waterbury Record newspaper.
Flanders said an announcement will be made when the ceremony honoring Farrar is scheduled.