Barre Select Board reorganizes, approves transfer station RFP, sets June Town Meeting

BARRE -- April 17, 2018, Barre's Select Board reorganized leadership and set the Annual Town Meeting for June 19, 2018, at its April 17 session. The board elected a new chair and clerk immediately after the annual election, with the outgoing chair, who declined a second term, making the nomination. A one-year transfer station management RFP was approved four to nothing with one abstention, after a board member cited undisclosed ties between the contract consultant and the sole bidder, Solway Solutions; a second firm had declined to bid due to compactor capital costs against the short-term contract length. The board opened the town warrant effective that evening, with a May 10 midnight closing deadline and a public hearing on all articles set for June 6. A letter from cannabis applicant Caregiver Patient Connections, signed by Katherine, was unanimously forwarded to the Planning Board after the applicant argued the Planning Board's draft zoning regulations amounted to a "de facto ban" that would disqualify its industrial-zone site despite a 57-percent ballot approval for recreational marijuana. The board also approved a PILOT reassignment for a Walnut Road solar facility from National Grid Solar One LLC to NRG Solar Walnut Wind LLC, accepted the resignation of library assistant Elizabeth Garrett effective April 20, and authorized recruitment of up to three part-time police officers to return the force to its allotted six.