Construction, ethics and transfer station at selectmen’s meeting

SALISBURY — The Board of Selectmen approved three contracts for work at Town Hall at its regular monthly meeting Monday, Aug. 1.Lakeville Construction will handle replacing the Palladian-style window on the staircase for $2,850 and the work on the building’s cupola, including replacing the windows, replacing flashing and trim work, for $14,400. The scaffolding for that job is handled by an outside firm, for $12,800. The contracts are all part of the state Local Capital Improvement program (LOCIP) funds approved at a town meeting last week.McAuliffe Masonry will repair the Town Hall steps for $4,100. The town is also going to fix the wobbly railings.The selectmen agreed to a request from Anne Kremer of the Salisbury Housing Committee to write a letter supporting the committee as it seeks predevelopment funding for an additional six units of housing at Sarum Village.First Selectman Curtis Rand reported that advertisements seeking credentials from engineering firms have been placed in newspapers with statewide circulation as an early step in the process of restoring and repairing the Amesville Bridge. Firms are to submit their qualifications by the end of August, and then bid on producing a preliminary design.Rand said he told representatives of two firms that called to express interest that the public consensus was to keep the bridge one way and to retain its historic character.Ethics plan resurfacesRand reported that after meeting with the first selectmen of the towns of Warren and Washington, there are now three towns interested in forming a regional ethics commission — an idea that has been floating around the Northwestern Connecticut Council of Governments (COG) for several years.Rand said the idea is to have a regional ethics commission with a representative from each town to hear ethics complaints.There are a lot of things to be ironed out before such a commission ever takes shape, however. Rand said he is uncomfortable asking municipal employees and elected and appointed officials to abide by a draft ethics code that does not spell out sanctions, and reiterated the arguments that come up whenever towns take a look at such codes.Such as: If the rules are too onerous, would anybody volunteer for anything? Rand gave a hypothetical example of an architect or an engineer serving on a building committee, and then being prevented from working on a behalf of a client by a provision of an ethics code that prevented a public official from appearing on behalf of a private concern.“We think there’s a difference between elected and public officials,” Rand said. The three selectmen have all recused themselves from recent votes: Jim Dresser from the sidewalk replacement project, because part of it runs in front of his house; Bob Riva from the new firehouse, because he is in real estate; and Rand from the vote on new signs on Academy Street, because he owns property there.“We can live with it, but now we’re talking about everybody,” said Rand.All the selectmen agreed that any ethics code or participation in a regional ethics committee must be done by ordinance, which means with the approval of a town meeting.And Riva and Dresser both said they would like to see more than three towns participating.The selectmen agreed to support the concept of a regional ethics committee through the COG.Transfer station concernsDuring public comments, Bill Kelsey from Sharon said he was concerned that people without valid stickers were getting into the Salisbury-Sharon Transfer Station. Rand said he would check with transfer station management.And Mark Gomez of Lakeville asked how sticker sales were this year. Rand replied, “Better than last year at this time.” Stickers are sold beginning in July of each year.