Windsor select board addresses public works, transfer station concerns

by The Town Line staff

At the April 11 meeting of the Windsor Select Board, attendees discussed various town topics, including the Public Works department, the Transfer Station, the Cemetery Sexton, and the Town Manager’s items.

Public Works Supervisor Keith Hall reported the department would start stripping trucks of plow gear in about a week. They still have some salt left over, and the heat in the garage has been turned off. They are currently cleaning up roads and intersections want to make roadways as safe as possible for the public during the warmer weather.

The department is working with Town Manager Theresa Haskell on an MMA grant valued at almost $3,000. If granted, the funds would be used for new safety equipment for public works. Roadside mowing is still to be done, and the roadside mowing contract will go out to bid again.

Sean Teekema, the Transfer Station Supervisor, reported there has been community interest regarding the Windsor Transfer Station offering composting on-site. The select board proposed reconvening the transfer station committee to meet and discuss several things, including the startup of a composting program on-site at the transfer station. The board wants the committee to bring thoughts and ideas back to the select board as soon as possible. The meeting was scheduled for April 18, at 6 p.m.

The select board also discussed hiring a transfer station attendant, which has been posted on the town of Windsor website and is being advertised on the sign at the town office. The monthly transfer station report was handed out, and it was noted that March was down from last year by $1,575.40, making the overall number under $1,988.79 for the year.

Cemetery Sexton Joyce Perry spoke about the troubles she has had getting the cemetery website together and making it user-friendly for the public. She spoke of roadblocks she has encountered with the current web host, IPower. Perry asked the select board to change the current hosting company to Dummy Solutions, owned by Windsor resident Dustin Hinds, who has volunteered his previous hours in helping with the website. Hinds offered a 10-hour bundle rate for service at $50 an hour, and he has already paid for a software widget plug-in. The total cost for the hosting package and set up from an existing provider plus 30 minutes a month of professional in-service is $824.08.

After discussion, William Appel Jr. made a motion to approve Dummy Solutions as the new website host for Windsor Town Office.

Haskell gave an update on the RSU #12 meeting. There had been revised calculations reported that made an impact on the original figures that RSU#12 Superintendent Howard Tuttle presented at the March 28 select board meeting. One of the biggest impacts was that the Maine Department of Education ED279 had errors. The new figures are good news for Windsor townspeople. The RSU #12 district budget meeting will be held on May 24 at Chelsea Elementary School, at 6 p.m., and the community is encouraged to attend.

Daniel West, a resident of Windsor, presented himself to the select board as a potential member of the planning board. Andrew Ballantyne made a motion to appoint West as an alternate planning board member, seconded by Richard H. Gray Jr., and approved $1,166 to the Cemetery Fund for the Windsor Veterans Memorial Fund.

Finally, the meeting concluded with some select board items. Ray Bates mentioned having Joel Greenwood at Kennebec Valley Council of Governments (KVCOG) look into legislative bills LD2003 and LD2014 to see if they would pertain to Windsor, while nothing was reported for the Town Hub.