MIDDLEBURY — Members of the Middlebury selectboard on Tuesday unanimously affirmed Dave Shaw as the town’s fire chief for the next three years.
Shaw took the reins of the Middlebury Fire Department a year ago from former Chief Rick Cole. New fire chiefs are expected to serve their first year on a probationary basis before being appointed to an official term.
Selectboard members praised Shaw for his leadership and for the professionalism of the department.
Also on Tuesday, selectboard members discussed the latest cost estimate and construction timetable for replacement of the Merchants Row and Main Street rail bridges (see story, Page 1A) and were told that an important commercial property — Greg’s Meat Market — will likely be auctioned early next year (see story, Page 1A).
In other action on Tuesday, the Middlebury selectboard:
• Agreed to enter into a five-year lease/purchase agreement with Government Capital Corp. to finance four new in-cruiser camera systems to replace the existing systems in police cruisers; the current ones have outlived their usefulness.
• Adopted Middlebury’s “hazard mitigation plan.” An adopted hazard mitigation plan is one of four planning components the Vermont Agency of Administration requires in order for towns to be eligible for supplemental state funding under Vermont’s Emergency Relief and Assistance Fund. That funding will be critical if the town is to follow through with its East Middlebury Flood Resiliency Project for areas of the Middlebury River.
That project calls for, among other things, restoring roughly 5 acres of floodplain between Lower Plains Road and Grist Mill Road, repairing the existing floodwall downstream of the Grist Mill Bridge, armoring 1,400 feet of the protective berm off Ossie Road, and extending the floodwall downstream of the Grist Mill Bridge by about 110 feet.
• Heard that the new town offices at 77 Main St. and the new recreation facility off Creek Road are both on budget and on target for completion within the next few months.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].