Masks off, select board resumes in-person meetings, green-lights public events
June 11, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti At its first in-person meeting in more than a year, the Waterbury Select Board voted to rescind the resolution adopted last year requiring individuals wear masks in public to slow the spread of COVID-19. It also approved multiple requests for permits connected with public events which signal a return this summer to community gatherings and celebrations.
Given that state public health guidance around the COVID-19 pandemic no longer mandates that masks be worn in public if individuals are vaccinated and the state’s vaccination rate is just shy of 80%, the select board took the step to drop the local requirement.
A new camera installed in the Steele Meeting Room at the municipal offices allows for hybrid public meetings where the public may attend in person or via Zoom online. Here, the select board meets in person June 7 with a panorama view of the meeting table and larger panels showing those speaking: Chair Mark Frier (left) and Town Clerk Carla Lawrence (right) Screenshot from ORCA Media
State officials are expected to soon drop all remaining restrictions regarding COVID-19 based on the benchmark of having 80% of those eligible for the vaccine to have received at least one dose. As of Friday, the Vermont Department of Health data showed that just under 1,400 more Vermonters needed to be vaccinated to reach that milestone as the vaccination rate had reached 79.8%. Health officials are conducting dozens of vaccine clinics a day across the state, many of which are in public places, workplaces and do not require appointments.
State guidance does note that businesses are able to ask customers to continue wearing masks indoors if they feel that is important for the health and safety of their workers.
Waterbury since March 2020 has logged 184 cases of COVID-19, according to Health Department data. For the most recent seven-day stretch released Friday June 11, no new cases were reported June 4-9. This was the first week since early November that Waterbury had no increase in cases, according to the Health Department. Cases statewide have also slowed to a trickle in recent weeks.
Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk told the select board that town staff have set July 12 as the reopening date for the municipal offices. Currently members of the public may meet with town staff by appointment only. The Waterbury Public Library is scheduled to reopen June 16.
Summer celebrations in the works
The board reviewed and approved requests for permits connected with several upcoming summer public events.
The Vermont Antique & Classic Car Meet returns this summer, Aug. 13-15, at Farr's Field. The event includes a parade through downtown and a dance on Stowe Street. File photo by Gordon Miller
The Not Quite Independence Day celebration organized by the Waterbury Rotary Club is scheduled for July 10. Usually held on the last Saturday in June, the event was pushed into July earlier this year as organizers aimed for a time when they expected COVID-19 restrictions to be mostly if not completely lifted. Although it appears Vermont will reach that point sooner, Rotary President Dan McKibben told the board that plans are moving ahead to stick with that date. The select board approved the Rotary request for a festival permit that will involve temporary fencing around Rusty Parker Memorial Park for the NQID event. That will allow organizers to create two entry and exit points and vendors selling food and beer will be located within that boundary. The festivities this year, themed “The Roaring 20s,” will include a parade at 4 p.m., a picnic and concert at Rusty Parker Park and fireworks behind the state office complex at dusk.
Next the board heard from Robert Chase regarding the Vermont Antique & Classic Car Meet which is scheduled for Aug. 13-15 at Farr’s Field this year. The event was not held in 2020 due to the pandemic. The request to the select board was to allow for lower Stowe Street to be closed for music and dancing on the Saturday evening of that weekend following a car parade through town. The board unanimously approved that permit.
Another event will close the lower block of Stowe Street on July 17 when WDEV radio station celebrates its 90th anniversary. The board approved a request to close the street between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. The station will broadcast live outside its offices; the event will be open to the public to attend and there will be refreshments.
Blush Hill paving a go
Shepeluk told the board that he has received just one request from a Blush Hill resident asking that the town refrain from milling all of the pavement along the road this summer and leaving a section unpaved until 2021.
The town plans to repave Blush Hill Road from Kimberly Lane to the end of the paved section starting this summer but finishing next year. A wrinkle involves a culvert near Misty Hollow Road that needs to be rebuilt and won’t be completed until next year.
The project will involve scraping up nearly a mile of existing pavement that will be replaced and putting down new asphalt stopping short of the culvert. Once the culvert work is done, the paving will be extended to the end of the project. The work also involves repaving and extending the asphalt on Lonesome Trail Road, a side street to Blush Hill Road.
The concern raised by the resident was about dust, rough road conditions, and mud in the area where pavement will be removed and left unfinished for a year. In addition to residential traffic, the road is particularly busy in the summertime with traffic to and from the Waterbury Reservoir.
Shepeluk explained that it will be more costly to remove the pavement in two phases. He also pointed out that after the milling is completed, the roadway will not be a “standard gravel surface.” The milled asphalt will remain on the roadway which will also be treated with calcium chloride, graded and possibly rolled. “It should compact well over the course of the next year and should be a good base for an asphalt overlay next year. Dust and mud should not be too much of a problem. I cannot guarantee that potholes or washboards won’t appear, but the road will likely be in as good condition as it is now,” Shepeluk explained in his report to the board.
The project will move ahead as planned with pavement milling scheduled for next week, likely Wednesday-Thursday, Shepeluk said. Weather could affect the schedule, however.
Kids meals get $60,000 grant
Waterbury Recreation Director Nick Nadeau told the board that Albertsons, parent company to Shaw’s grocery stores, has approved a $60,000 grant request he submitted to pay for summer meals for children enrolled in the town recreation camp program starting June 21.
Past years have relied on the Waterbury Area Senior Center for meals to feed kids in rec camp programs. The senior center is not open yet for meals and given the timing, Nadeau said having a meal program in place for the start of camp was a priority.
The funding should provide breakfast and lunch for campers through its eight weeks, Nadeau said, explaining that he plans to work with local restaurants to help prepare meals. It may even be adequate to include children enrolled in the smaller Camp Koda day camp run by the Greater Burlington YMCA using Thatcher Brook Primary School.
Albertsons previously awarded the Recreation Department a $10,000 grant that it used to help purchase a van.
The town recreation camp has 130 kids from kindergarten through seventh grade enrolled. It will operate at three locations: the recreation building at Anderson Field, Wesley United Methodist Church and St. Leo’s Hall behind St. Andrew’s Catholic Church.
In a separate request, Nadeau asked the select board to approve using the $2,000 it would have paid St. Andrew’s for rent for the summer camp to instead install a sturdy basketball hoop on church property.
Temporary hoops set up at the church have been very popular with youngsters from the rec camp and in the community, Nadeau said. The new hoop would become property of the church but Pastor Matthew Rensch said it will be available for the community to use. The board approved the request.
Anti-racism message persists
During public comment time at the start of Monday’s meeting several local residents continued their calls for board Vice Chair Chris Viens to step down from his leadership role on the board. Erin Lander spoke representing the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition which last fall called for Viens to resign over statements they said demonstrated racism and lack of awareness for racial equity.
Viens stepped down as chair but at the March board reorganization was voted to be vice chair by a unanimous vote of the board. Criticism since that decision was made, however, has included new calls for him to step aside from the leadership role.
“We either name and dismantle racism or uphold it,” said Alexia Venafra during the comment period. “[Vice chair] is a position of power.”
Viens was absent Monday and board Chair Mark Frier acknowledged the request saying he did not want to discuss it at length without Viens. “I’m not sure how to proceed here,” he said.
Board member Mike Bard noted that the board plans its session on racial equity training for June 21 and the matter would best be taken up afterward. The training will be the only topic for the board at that time and it will not be a public meeting.