In other action at their Tuesday meeting, the Middlebury selectboard:
•  Unanimously endorsed an effort by Verizon Wireless to replace the telecommunications tower on Chipman Hill with one of equal height and essentially the same mass as the current one.
•  Awarded a contract to Peck Electric to install a lighting system in the parking lot of the Memorial Sports Center. The project calls for four light bases, poles and LED fixtures. The lights will be programmable in a manner that will ensure they can be shut off during the day and when the center is not in use. Peck’s bid of $11,939 was the lowest of two bids received by the town for the project.
•  Agreed to support the town’s participation in the new “Vermont-Alert Emergency Messaging Service.” This free messaging service, Police Chief Tom Hanley explained, allows participating communities to alert people (on cell phones and other electronic devices) of serious incidents/emergencies in town. The service will complement Middlebury’s existing email distribution list for communicating emergency information.
•  Agreed to warn, for a public hearing, Middlebury’s proposed nuisance ordinance that is designed to crack down on chronic noise and other disruption caused by tenants at some of the rental housing in town.
•  Agreed to a series of change orders for the new municipal building on Main Street and new recreation facility on Creek Road. Those change orders include $3,500 to upgrade to “Sport Flooring” in the multipurpose room in the recreation facility; $10,000 (courtesy of Middlebury Rotary Club) for wood wainscoting, ceiling upgrades and other improvements to the small conference room of the new municipal building; and $3,477 to help pay for an emergency generator switch for the town offices.
•           Agreed to support an effort by Middlebury College to secure tax-exempt status for the new student dormitories being built by a private company off Adirondack View. The college has asked Kirchhoff Campus Properties to finance and build the dormitories and hold title to the structures, while the college will retain permanent title to the land and enter into a ground lease with the developer. The title to the dormitories would revert to the college upon expiration of the ground lease, or earlier if the institution exercises an option to purchase. Town officials agreed that while a private company will hold title to the two structures, they will have an educational purpose and therefore could rightfully be exempt from local property taxes.