FIRE DISTRICT #1, EAST MIDDLEBURY, VT WINTER NEWSLETTER 2018

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1 MARK YOUR CALENDARS: FIRE DISTRICT #1, EAST MIDDLEBURY, VT WINTER NEWSLETTER 2018 COMMUNIT Y PICNIC: Sunday, June 3. This year we will be recognizing lifelong residents of E. Middlebury. There will be 3 categories: birth thru college; 50 years old and under (with absences for military, early employment, etc. but now settled back here); 51 years old and above. There are lots of people who fall in these categories and we hope you will join us for the fun. COMMUNITY WIDE YARD SALE: Saturday, July 7. We have experimented with dates, last year s being the least popular. Now the set date, hopefully, will be the Saturday after July 4 th. BEING A COMMUNITY MEMBER: A wonderful example. About three years ago George and Nancy Marcus moved into a house on E. Main St. They responded to an invitation to help set up for the picnic and then volunteered to oversee the serving tent, which they agreed to do the following year also. This year Nancy has been gracious enough to sign on as the treasurer for the Historical Society. We appreciate the help of this couple and well as all the rest of you who contribute to the life of our community. It is what makes East Middlebury special. HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Thanks to Sarah Wakefield and Linda Kelton for decorating the parlor for the holidays. WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT HENRY? He solicited the donation of a Christmas tree from Paris Farmers Union and a door wreath from Martin s Hardware. Both items added to the charm of the Community House during the holidays. Henry has been rewarded with a new vacuum cleaner. VALLEY BIBLE CHURCH: One word to describe the new elevator- Great. The regular schedule of activities continues- luncheons on the 2 nd Friday of the month, Bone Builders on Tuesday and Thursday, and Awana on Thursdays. 1

2 SELECT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE: Susan Shashok has represented our community very well during her 7 year tenure on the Middlebury Select Board. She is not running for re-election. It would be wonderful if a local resident decided to run but time is short to submit an application for the office. METHODIST CHURCH: The holidays were a busy time at the church. The food at the fall sale was about bought out and the proceeds were $1638. The Church Woman s group thanks all who support their functions. Part of the money raised was directed to help a single mom and her 3 daughters. Each month the church collects for the food shelf. In 2017, appx. 500 lbs. of food was donated. Pastor Bob Bushman officiated at the Memorial Tree Lighting sponsored by the Fire District Auxiliary. A reception was held at the church after the ceremony. The Christmas Eve service was nicely attended. The church facilities were also used for the funerals of Bob Murray and Eugene Lerent (father of Claire Thomas). Stay tuned for the spring soup and bake sale- the date has not been set. FIRE DISTRICT ANNUAL MEETING: This year the meeting was over in 45 minutes. It was reported that the basketball court and new furnace projects were ongoing. The new Ilsley Librarian, Dana Hart, was introduced. All officers were re-elected. There are no delinquent water bills from 2017 and delinquent taxes were $3650- mostly for unoccupied houses. Many thanks to Sally Laframboise, treasurer, for her ongoing efforts to collect monies due. Here is the interesting feature of the meeting: OTHER THAN THE PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH FIRE DISTRICT DUTIES, THERE WERE ONLY 4 RESIDENTS PRESENT. It is time for the next generation of residents to step up and be active! WATER SYSTEM: Leaks were repaired on E. Main St. and Lower Plains Rd. The water system is funded by the $315/year water rent assessed to users. The water system budget is level funded for 2018 but is becoming tight. It is anticipated that the water rents will be raised in the near future to provide a cushion for unexpected repairs for an aging system. THANKS to Jack Brown who places the Rotary flags in E. Middlebury on national holidays. 2

3 SARAH PARTRIDGE LIBRARY: It was a busy fall and early winter, with popcorn and crafts after school on Thursdays, book sales every Saturday, and story times on Tuesday mornings for the children from the preschool and toddlers from the neighborhood. The adult knitters finished the squares for a baby afghan which will be given to the Parent Child Center. Now starting is a knitting project that will supply hats and sweaters for children around the world. Visitor attendance in 2018 totaled 2,445. Sixty people attended the Holiday Open House and Bazaar, with sales netting $58 for the library book budget. There was a film presentation in early December. Later in the month the book club enjoyed the annual holiday luncheon. Mona had a successful right hip replacement and offers a big Thank You to all the patrons and friends of the library who continue to make Sarah Partridge Library a vital part of the East Middlebury community. TRUE STORY (editor): My family celebrates an early Thanksgiving and we rent the Community House as a convenient place to hold a larger dinner. Relatives come from NYS and Bennington, and that includes 3 children of the run around age. They enjoy being near the rec park and take the opportunity to play there. To get to the playground from the community house downstairs involves running across the grassed area. This year the car carrying the kids back south began to smell very strongly of dog poop. Sure enough, one of the kids had stepped in poop that hadn t been picked up by the dog owner. The smell did not add to the enjoyment of the trip home at the end of a nice day. Please dog owners (and that is about everyone in E. Middlebury)- CLEAN UP AFTER YOUR DOG. THE PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE MEETS ON THE SECOND THURSDAY OF THE MONTH AT THE Sarah Partridge Community House parlor at 7:00 PM. water05740@gmail; phone ; Jason Larocque, chair; Bob Wells and Todd Desabrais, members; Peggy Peabody, clerk/editor; Sally Laframboise, treasurer; Eli Erwin, Justin Allen and Tim Dragon, water system operators 3

4 THE 2017 SANITARY SURVEY Both the federal and state governments have stringent rules for water systems to follow to insure that residents served by a municipal water supply are receiving pure water. Besides regular testing of water samples and a daily check of the system, each year an employee of the State Dept. of Environmental Conservation visits to carry out an onsite inspection. This year Megan Young visited on Nov. 8 th to meet with Eli Erwin, our water system operator, and to tour our system. Your editor invited herself along so she could report to you on the process. The meeting started in the office of the Community House where the Fire District records are kept. Megan began by telling us that the Source Protection Report had been due in March and it had not been received by the state. This report concerns potential contamination sites of our water supply and is kept on file by the state and has to be updated every 3 years. No reminder had been received that the new revision was due and that item had been missed. This was not a great way to begin the inspection. Eli produced notebooks of information and statistics. There are 264 users on our system. We could produce 316 gallons of water per minute but average about 85 gallons/minute. There was some discussion about working toward submitting data electronically instead of on written forms. Megan then approved the Operator s Manual- a detailed set of operational procedures and information specific to our system. Eli offered that our hydrants are flushed and maintained yearly. The tour then moved to Well 2, which is located on Ossie Rd. across from Green Mt. Electric (our daily testing site). This is a gravel well and is monitored remotely using an electronic system installed several years ago. Megan said we do not need a backup power source for our pumping system (very expensive) because we have plenty of water stored in the reservoir, from which the water is gravity fed into the distribution system. Then followed a discussion about chlorination. Our water is very pure and only a minimal amount of chlorine is added to provide protection in case of an unanticipated contamination. The well house contents, cleanliness and organization met with approval. 4

5 Well 1, next to the Methodist Church, was the next stop. This well is not online but is still sampled so it could be used as a backup water source in an emergency. It was pointed out that our system is not outfitted with pressure reducing valves. These are found in individual homes. The last stop was the reservoir, located on the right going up Sand Hill (just after the Rt. 125 bridge). The concrete reservoir has a plastic liner and is covered by a metal roof which was built about Divers are hired to clean the reservoir and to inspect it for potential problems. It is required to be cleaned every 5 years but is currently being cleaned on a 3 year schedule. Megan used the word impressive that she could see the bottom of the reservoir- she compared it to a swimming pool. She thought it looked great for a large tank. The large metal cover is very unusual. Perhaps because it is working so well, we have been allowed to keep it instead of having to upgrade to something more modern. It is imperative that the cover adhere tightly to the concrete of the reservoir to prevent external contamination. Funds/effort will be spent in 2018 to insure that this is so. It is also suggested that we begin to plan ahead to accumulate funds for an eventual cover replacement. The meeting ended on an upbeat note. Megan said she would not be writing up the day s survey results right away. In the meantime, if she received the updated Source Protection Report she would not count that against our system evaluation. The Source Protection report has been submitted and approved. WE COMPLETED THE 2017 SANITARY SURVEY WITH NO MARKS AGAINST OUR SYSTEM. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME FOR US! It has taken years of work to reach this point for our system. Thanks to Eli, Susan, Justin and Tim for their great work. Thanks also to the members of the Prudential Committee who are always supportive and open to suggestions concerning the water system. 5