The Lincoln school board is looking for a replacement for senior board member Donny Sargent, who resigned from the board. Sargent’s resignation was accepted at the school board’s May 16 meeting.
A new candidate will be appointed by the school board to finish out Sargent’s term. Voters will elect a new board member at town meeting next March.
“The hope is that at our next meeting, we’ll fill the spot,” said school board Chairman David Venman. “If anybody is interested they are welcome to attend our meeting on Monday, Aug. 15, at 6 p.m.”
The Lincoln selectboard dealt with the loss of a key town official over the summer. On May 17, road foreman Les Tracy announced to the selectboard that he was resigning from his position and Mike Cram also resigned from his position as assistant attendant at the dump because he now has a full-time job.
On June 7, the selectboard acknowledged that as of June 24 Les Tracy would be done working for the town. Selectmen appointed Tim Thompson, who was already on the road crew, as interim road foreman for the period ending on July 30.
In July, Ken Zeno was hired on a temporary basis of five hours per day or 13 hours per week at a rate of $18 per hour as a road grader driver and to teach Thompson how to grade roads.
Thompson was made full-time road foreman as of July 31.
Town and school officials have been busy with other activities in recent months. At the selectboard’s May 17 meeting, Tory Prouty and Anna Blackwell talked with the selectboard about the half-marathon they are organizing, slated for Sept. 3 that will begin at Burnham Hall and lead down into Bristol.
At this same meeting:
•  Tina Scharf asked the selectboard to amend the conservation committee constitution to allow a teenager to serve on the conservation commission.
•  Larry Michael was appointed to be a representative for the town of Lincoln for Addison County Solid Waste Management District
•  Les Tracey told the selectboard that the rear suspension on the town’s Freightliner truck was falling out. It has since been fixed.
On June 7, Will Sipsey was reappointed Lincoln’s representative for the Addison County Regional Planning Commission Transportation Advisory Committee.
Additionally, it was announced that Lincoln Animal Control Officer Nate Reynolds will conduct the dog census for Lincoln in late summer or early fall, and the selectboard agreed to computerize land records.
It was brought to the board’s attention that about $80,000 in taxes had yet to be paid as of the June 7 meeting.
On July 5, the selectboard decided to adopt a new warrantee contract for the town’s International truck that will cost the town about $6,300.
“The town will easily come out ahead,” read the minutes.
Interim road foreman Thompson reported to selectmen at that meeting that he’d been applying sodium chloride to the roads to cut down on dust.
The following real estate sales are among those that have been recorded in Lincoln since September 2010:
•  Sept. 17: North Middlebury Sand and Gravel LLC to David Daniels, home on 2.4 acres at 28 Ripton Road, $195,000.
•  Nov. 29: A. Johnson Co. to Thomas and Rhonda Gadhue, 195.2 acres of open land on South Lincoln Road, $487,500.
•  Feb. 2: James Michaud to Pamela Larose, home on 1.99 acres at 1105 Quaker St., $67,500.
•  March 1: Bradley and Elizabeth Friesen to Wanda Oteros, home on 10.12 acres at 544 Lincoln Gap Road, $396,500.
•  April 12: Meetinghouse Farms Inc. to Benjamin and Meghan Wyatt, 16.80 acres of open land to be turned into a home on Quaker Street, $200,000.
•  June 8: LVTReal LLC to John Illig, home on 11.60 acres, $158,000.
 
Starksboro’s road crew works overtime
STARKSBORO — Due to the overtime required of the Starksboro road crew this past year, dealing with heavy snowfalls and floods, workers were unable to take vacation time. In what was called a “one-time decision” in the June 21 meeting minutes, the selectboard agreed to pay workers for any vacation over one week that they were unable to take by June 30.
At their May 24 meeting, the selectboard appointed Jan McCleery to the transportation advisory committee as a representative, with Richard Warren as an alternate. At the same meeting, Susan Reit de Salas was appointed as the Starksboro representative for the Addison County Solid Waste Management District.
George Wyckoff, animal control officer, discussed with the Starksboro selectboard the legality of killing animals that are nuisance to the community and was directed to see if the Vermont League of Cities and Towns had any recommended guidelines. He is planning to conduct a dog census for Starksboro.
Resident Hal Clark explained that people shooting large caliber guns at the town sand pit for hours on end were disturbing his horses, and he asked for a sound ordinance. Selectman Peter Marsh suggested a chain be put across the driveway of the sand pit.
On June 7, the selectboard approved a 3 percent increase for the salaries of the road crew, the zoning board administrator, town clerk, treasurer and assistant town treasurer. The raises took effect on July 1 and are included in the fiscal year 2012 budget.
On June 21, the selectboard decided that the sum to replace windows in the town hall is not to exceed $30,000 out of the fiscal year 2011 budget, which ended on June 30. The minutes read, “Any additional costs will be reviewed and decided in future budget years. The windows have not yet been installed.
Also at this meeting, employee sick day compensation was clarified. At the beginning of every fiscal year, employees get six new sick days. If they don’t take all of their sick days, they are reimbursed at a rate of $10 a day.
On July 5, the selectboard approved the loan documents to borrow $115,000 to finance a loader, which was approved by voters on Town Meeting Day
At the same meeting, the selectboard approved the expenditure of $231.85 to purchase standard building cost data from Marshall and Swift, which is used by the town property assessors.
On July 19, the selectboard accepted a bid for $486 from Don McCormick to install surge protectors at the town office. The board determined that the roof over the porch at the town offices needs repair and that a metal roof should be placed over a portion of the town offices to prevent ice dams. No official action has been taken on that project.
Also at this meeting, Marjorie Dickstein, Rob Liotard, Chris Zeno were all appointed to the Development Review Board, each for terms of three years.
The following real estate sales have been recorded in Starksboro since the end of 2010:
•  Dec. 30, 2010: Laura Smith and Vanessa Riva to Ryan and Renee Mobbs, home on 10.24 acres at 1409 Big Hollow Road, $277,000.
•  Jan. 7, 2011: Peter McNaull to Sapling Properties LLC, commercial property on 2.6 acres of land at 22 Varney Hill Road, $1,44,238.29. Records indicate employees at Foam Laminates of Vermont formed Sapling Properties and bought the business and property from McNaull, who founded Foam Laminates of Vermont.
•  Jan. 27: Craig Livingston Trust to Michael and Marguerite Purdue, home on 7 acres at 2174 Big Hollow Road, $234,900.
•  March 18: New England Federal Credit Union to Shane Tetreault, mobile home at 16 Hillside Drive, $11,650.
•  March 24: Randy Mayo and Shirley Provoncha to Chris and Trixie Zeno, home on 3.05 acres at 357 Big Hollow Road, $55,000.
•  March 24: Merlin Thompson to Fletcher and Louella Clark, mobile home at 4 Birch Lane, Lot 42, $14,000.
•  March 25, John Lomas to Bradford Johnson and Ellen Yount, secondary residence on 3.25 acres at 57 Brown Hill West Road, $330,000.
•  June 27: John and Nicole Steele to Aaron Pollack, home on 93 acres at 344 Gully Hill Road, $900,000.
•  July 1: Loretta M. Scott to Kurtis Kling and Roselin White, 284.23 acres of land with farm buildings and a mobile home at 774 Big Hollow Road, $168,430 for buildings and land and $1,000 for the mobile home.
•  July 6: Estate of Laurel Avis Merril to Kurtis Kling and Roselin White, home on 299 acres at 774 Big Hollow Road, $174,800.
Reporter Andrew Stein is at [email protected].