BETHEL — At a selectboard meeting on Sept. 20, Sharon Jackson, the new interim town manager, sat in the audience and the board voted unanimously to appoint her.

The board accepted an $11 dollar donation for power for the Ethel Bisbee School ice skating rink from former Recreation Director Mary Scanlon.

Resident and EBS abutter Tom Zicarelli, said while he has supported both ice rinks of the past two winters, he and his neighbors have experienced drainage and other issues more recently.

Zicarelli asked, as a condition of going forward with the skating rink, the board try to “undo the damage that was caused a result of grading work.” He suggested they bring in someone with some grading expertise to alleviate some of the issues that have occurred on his property that came after three weeks of  50-100 dump trucks of fill and flattening of the property by excavators. He invited the selectboard to come and take a look.

Zicarelli said he has lived there 30 years and has never had any drainage issues.

“The water doesn’t drain, there are puddles everywhere. It is useless for summer sports,” he said of the site.

Janet Stevenson at 13 Philbrick Street, said she lives beside the rink and is a huge supporter but would like the board to consider re-directing the lights.

Sheila Reardon, 16 Spring Street, said she didn’t notice the twinkle lights the first year, but last year’s light came in to her kitchen.

Kelly noted that the flood light on the building (and the building) are gone now.

New Recreation Director Nate Crooker said last year they had ordered lights to go under the liner in the rink. But the liner that arrived was black, not white as they had ordered. Crooker and Public Works Director Scott Sumner agreed they will work with the neighbors on favorable lighting which will likely be twinkle lights around the perimeter.

Mahoosuc Kids Association Executive Director Amy Connell said they have secured 30 pairs of skates and 30 helmets for ice skating this winter. “It would be really awesome if we could all work together to figure it out.”

A resident asked if other locations were considered. Sumner said they looked at all town-owned properties, five in all. Jim Bennett said the EBS was considered the best location because of the access to water.

Parking and headlights and running motors are also an issue, said Zicarelli. He suggested they build a warming house so people don’t need to run their cars to warm up.

Del Duca asked where the fill came from. Sumner said the fill was donated and this was the first he’s heard of the drainage issues. Kelly said according to the town code she was reluctant to micromanage land use and also direction of department heads.

Kelly said while she was not fond of it, the Planning Board had decided not to do a site plan for the rink. Cole said she would like to see reconsideration by the planning board.

Andrews asked the board to look past the details, acknowledging the ice rink will be on the Ethel Bisbee lot, so they can approve the CMP connection which may take awhile.

The board unanimously approved the location of the ice skating rink at the Ethel Bisbee School.

Town manager

Andrews said there was an incident at the airport where an airplane went off the runway. “944 feet of rubber was on the runway before the airplane went sliding off.” She said the airport coordinator followed the appropriate investigation procedures.

At the waste water treatment plant they treated 4.3 million gallons in August. There was 3.69 inches of rain.

At a town manager meeting with Woodstock, Greenwood and Newry, Andrews said there was concern of  accurate records of cemeteries in the area. She encourages the town to use a computer system called cemetery information management, which gives accurate plot dimensions.

Andrews said there are no green burials in this area, the town managers talked about working together to have a regional green burial site.

Restoration of the town sand shed will cost $88,000

“That is it for my last town manager report,” said Andrews, who resigned as of Sept. 22.

State Representative Mike Soboleski (73rd district) attended the meeting with two updates.

He said he handled the legislation for the sludge disposal, “the bio solid disposal that comes from your waste water treatment plant.” He said the bill they passed puts a 24-month pause on what was causing the problem that effected thirty communities.

They stopped out of state construction debris from being brought into the state. That debris had been needed as a bulking agent at Juniper Ridge.  The Department of Environmental Protection contracted with Brown and Caldwell, a bio-engineering firm, to do a study to figure out the best way to move forward.

They are considering either more pressing of the bio solid itself or anaerobic digestives to better eat it up.  The old system was very expensive, he said. They have twenty months left out of 24, “Still working on it, still trying to get it down,” he said.

Soboleski’s said he submitted a bill to amend the EPS (essential programs and service) funding formula. He said at one time the state paid all school transportation costs. His bill asks the state to absorb transportation costs, again, out of the surplus. His bill is part of a “resolve”  with two other bills, that he expects will pass in Feb. or March. “There is relief [to school districts] coming down the road on that, too,” he said.

The board voted to support the Explorer Program at Bethel Rescue. They were one of five programs in the state chosen to participate.

Waste agreement

Cole made a motion to postpone the interlocal solid waste agreement approval until Oct. and Del Duca seconded the vote. Kelly opposed the postponement, while the rest of the board voted in favor of the postponement.

Former selectboard member Lori Swain had urged the board to approve the agreement. She said she worked on the committee for two years. She said the interlocal solid waste committee began in the 1970’s.  Talk of charging contractors to use the transfer station likely began later. “It’s been a long time coming,” said Sumner, (before they postponed the vote).

Other business

Randy Autrey asked if they could waive the live music permit of two guitarists at the airport’s Oct. 7 Fly-In. He said Sunday River and a private citizen donated to the event. He will work with CEO John Steward about participants parking in the field. Cole said the live music permit is moot because they are not serving alcohol.  They voted to support the event.

Del Duca suggested they give Butcher Burger nine days to pay an overdue victualer’s license. Fees are at the discretion of the selectboard. They decided a $200 overdue fine will be administered if the license fee is not paid.

The board voted Frank Del Duca to be the official voting delegate and Sarah Southam the alternate delegate at the Maine Municipal Association Annual Business meeting on Oct. 4.

They tabled the ordinance committee’s rules and procedures updates.

Kelly noted that their October meetings may be re-scheduled and may not be the first and third Wednesdays as typical, because of a conflict. The new dates will be posted.