BRISTOL — Landowners at Fox Run have offered to swap land with the Town of Bristol, and selectmen have agreed that town departments should swap services without charging for them.
Pacino Realty Trust, through its representative, Alan Barnard, approached Highway Superintendent Mark Bucklin about resolving a problem with the cul-de-sac at the end of Fox Run, a development off Route 3-A. When Ray Prudhomme created Fox Run and installed the roadway which became a town road, the cul-de-sac accidentally encroached on Lot 52. Pacino Realty Trust suggested swapping an equal area of the adjacent land parcel, which the trust also owns, with the town to restore full ownership of Lot 52, which contains a house, to the Pacino firm. The trust agreed to cover all of the costs associated with the land swap.
Bucklin told the selectmen at their Oct. 1 meeting that the cul-de-sac would remain in place, so the transaction would be a paper transfer only, with no additional action needed by the town.
“Our only cost is for town counsel to review the trade,” Bucklin said.
Selectmen agreed to allow Barnard proceed with the land transfer.
They did not agree to allow the police department to charge the water and sewer departments for providing traffic control during a line break at the junction of Lake and Pleasant streets.
department should bill another for manpower costs.
“In the past, we’ve always kind of swapped,” said Water and Sewer Superintendent Jeff Chartier. “I’ve always looked at it as an exchange.”
Police Chief James McIntire explained that the department normally does provide traffic control when the water and sewer departments need to dig up roadways for line repairs. In that particular case, he said, he had to call an officer in at 2 a.m. because he could not tie up an on-duty officer for the six hours it took to make the repair.
“We can’t block a state road, and there were two state roads here,” McIntire said. “On other town streets, it’s no problem, but on a state road, it’s us, the State Police, or a flagging company, according to [Department of Transportation] rules.” He decided to call in a special police detail to provide the traffic coverage.
“It’s got to come out of somebody’s purse,” the chief continued. “The officer gets the ‘detail’ rate.”
Selectman Leslie Dion commented, “It looks like we’re changing a policy we’ve had for a long time because of an isolated incident.”
Wayne Anderson, chair of the Bristol Board of Selectmen, said, “The reality is that taxpayers are paying the bills, and we have budgets for both of you.”
Town Manager Nik Coates pointed out that the town has a contingency fund to cover emergencies, and “the account stays pretty healthy throughout the year.”
In the end, the selectmen unanimously agreed to waive the charge to the water and sewer departments and asked the department heads to get together to address how they should handle such incidents in the future, especially with the potential expansion of the sewer system to Newfound Lake.
Voters gave initial approval to a potential sewer expansion in 2019, with the details still to be worked out. Selectmen have said the the project would go forward only if the town received grants to make the project affordable. Coates says the United States Department of Agriculture has approved a grant and loan to the town for the sewer project, and an economic development development grant also has come through.
“The last grant we are waiting for is the [Community Development Block Grant] which we’ll know about in about a month,” Coates said. “At that point, the board will then spend a lot of time (a year is what I’m recommending) talking through options, listening to the public, coming up with a business plan, and then making a final decision on whether to move forward with the project in whole, part, or not at all.”
