Selectboard reviews half of town plan

The Springfield Selectboard received seven completed chapters of the new town plan from the Springfield Planning Commission at a regular selectboard meeting on Monday, Aug. 22.

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2016-08-24 / Front Page Selectboard reviews half of town plan By Tory Jones Bonenfant toryb@eagletimes.com Downtown Springfield at dusk, Monday, Aug. 22. — TORY JONES BONENFATN Downtown Springfield at dusk, Monday, Aug. 22. — TORY JONES BONENFATN SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Town Plan is moving toward completion, several chapters at a time. The Springfield Selectboard received seven completed chapters of the new town plan from the Springfield Planning Commission at a regular selectboard meeting on Monday, Aug. 22. Selectman George McNaughton moved on Monday to “acknowledge receipt” of the seven chapters — Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11 and a “plus” chapter, Flood Resiliency. McNaughton said upon looking over the chapters that he would prefer the selectboard receive the chapters one at a time for review, rather than in condensed bundles. “We have fought and fought and fought to prevent that,” McNaughton said. He also asked Town Manager Tom Yennerell to “get word” to the planning commission to start sending chapters one at a time. McNaughton compared the method in which they are now sent to the selectboard as a “Sears and Roebuck catalog.” “Don’t stockpile them,” he said. The selectboard members, with member Walter Martone absent, voted unanimously 4-0 to acknowledge receipt of the chapters presented on Monday. Yennerell said that if the selectboard thinks it would be “too much” to review the accepted chapters all at once, that the board could break up that task into more than one meeting. A few board members said that since more chapters were on the way at this time, the board would proceed as planned for now. All chapters of the town plan that the selectboard has reviewed will be included in a public hearing in late September. That hearing will include all chapters already accepted, such as Chapter 10, for Economic Development, which the selectboard accepted in January and which was approved in March. The chapters turned over to the selectboard on Monday included Natural and Scenic Resources, Recreation, Housing, Education, Energy, and Land Use along with the “plus” chapter on flood resiliency. The town plan includes 12 chapters, the “plus” chapter on flooding, another on health, and three appendices: Historic Building and Sites Composite Inventory List, Recreation Resource Inventory, and Housing Tables. Up next for the selectboard’s review will be those chapters now with the Planning Commission, which include Chapters 1, 2, 7, 8, 12, the appendices and the health chapter. Board Chair Kristi Morris said he did not have a definite timeline for those chapters to be completed because they are in the hands of the Planning Commission at the moment. The public hearing for completed chapters is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26 at the Springfield Town Office. In other municipal news, the selectboard unanimously approved a request by the town manager for municipal credit cards, which would replace an existing system in which employees were using their personal credit cards and requesting reimbursement. “More of our purchases are Internet based, and credit cards are a necessity,” Yennerell wrote in a statement including with the town meeting packet. “Having a town credit card is more appropriate, more efficient and creates a better paper trail for audit purposes.” The selectboard approved the request 4-0 for a new town credit card with a $5,000 threshold.