Board OKs hiring crew for reservoir work

The Springfield Select Board has agreed to hire nonviolent prison inmates from the state prison work camp in Windsor to cut brush and trees at the overgrown Weathersfield Reservoir.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100329/NEWS02/3290362/1003/NEWS02       # # # # Board OKs hiring crew for reservoir work  •  Rutland Herald  •  By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER - Published: March 29, 2010  •  SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Select Board has agreed to hire nonviolent prison inmates from the state prison work camp in Windsor to cut brush and trees at the overgrown Weathersfield Reservoir.  •  Town Manager Robert Forguites said he contacted the prison about the work crew, and, he said, the crew had an opening in early spring.  •  Townspeople overwhelmingly rejected selling the reservoir at town meeting earlier this month. Forguites said the cost to the town was $30 a day per inmate, and he said he expected a crew of 10 inmates would need to work two weeks to clear the face of the reservoir's dam.  •  Forguites told members of the Springfield Select Board at a recent meeting that clearing the brush was the first step in assessing the condition of the dam and its long-term future.  •  "The brush and trees need to be cleared off," Forguites said. After that, the town will hire an engineer or consultant to assess the condition of the dam.  •  "We need an updated study about repairs and the cost of repairs," he told the board. In addition, the town will seek possible state or federal funds for any repairs.  •  In addition, he said, the town needed to seek a back-up drinking water source.  •  The reservoir, which was built in the early 1900s, served as the town's source of water for decades, but it was abandoned in the late 1970s in favor of deep groundwater wells off Fairground Road, next to the Black River.  •  Town voters spoke strongly in favor of not selling the reservoir and associated property at town meeting, overwhelmingly rejecting two articles that called for selling the reservoir and a piece of land in the reservoir's watershed. Both properties are owned by Springfield, but are in the town of Weathersfield near Wellwood Orchard.  •  Forguites said he planned to use the interest from the $100,000 that voters set aside 20 years ago toward repairing the dam.  •  Forguites stressed that the inmates working on the project were not from the Springfield state prison, which is a high-security facility.  •  The Windsor work crew is made up of inmates serving less than 27 months in prison, and are considered minimum custody, and are nonviolent offenders. None of the inmates are serving time for sex charges, he said.  •  Select Board member Michael Knoras said he was in favor of hiring the state prison work crew as long as they were properly supervised.  •  Former Select Board member David Yesman, who had strongly supported holding onto the reservoir, suggested appointing a five-member citizen committee to work with the Select Board on the reservoir's potential and future use.  •  Yesman and others praised Forguites and the board for acting quickly on the reservoir issue, which has lingered as a problem for more than 20 years.  •  Yesman said the committee would help ensure "this doesn't start out strong and die."  •