BOS warns against vigilante tree-trimming

CORNWALL — A resident unhappy with the lack of attention by the town to needed tree work was reprimanded by the Board of Selectmen for hiring a tree service. Bobbi Tyson came to the Nov. 20 board meeting looking for reimbursement of $530. She was told approval had been given at a meeting two weeks prior, and that the check would be signed that night. She also was told that the town does not normally reimburse for work done without prior authorization.“We could have sent the town crew to do the work for a lot less,” First Selectman Gordon Ridgway said, adding his objections to being accused of not inspecting the situation on Perkins Road, which he did prior to a discussion at the Nov. 5 board meeting.But Tyson, in a September letter to the board, said it had been two years at that point since she had called the selectmen’s office, and was told the dying maple would be put on “the tree list.” She also described trees damaged in the 1989 tornado that threatened her property on College Street.Perkins Road is a short, dirt, dead-end road, but it is still a town road, Tyson told The Lakeville Journal. This past July 19, a tree fell in a storm, damaging another maple and blocking Perkins Road. Tyson called Merchant’s Tree Service in Cornwall, and later that day the tree and limb were removed. Tyson said she paid the bill so the business did not have to wait for the town to pay it. As a senior on a fixed income, she said it was money she could not afford.Ridgway said that going forward, the town will not pay for work residents have done at their discretion.In other business, the board discussed bumping up fire safety in Cornwall Bridge with a more readily available water supply.Although the Housatonic River courses through the town center, it is not as accessible as one might think. During a recent drill to evaluate the water supply, it was discovered a hydrant under the bridge is broken. Adding to the problems, it is difficult to get fire trucks over the railroad tracks and to the hydrant site. Any use of river water requires tying up two trucks and laying a lot of hose.A proposal has been made to bury a tank at the firehouse. It would likely be a 10,000-gallon tank that would supply an initial water supply until a tanker relay could be organized. The selectmen discussed the potential to use a water supply that will be part of the soon-to-be constructed Bonney Brook senior housing, next to the firehouse. But that is a dedicated supply for a sprinkler system there and, under fire code, cannot be tapped for other uses.Ridgway suggested another, intriguing idea: build the tank into the ledge behind the firehouse. That portion of the property has no other potential use, and with gravity on the right side of the equation, the water flow could be pressurized faster.